All-action victory against Atlético Madrid was sweet for Jürgen Klopp, but less so for his increasingly ragged back lineThankfully there are only 15 days to wait until Liverpool meet their Champions League irritant once again. The emotions, the anger and the lessons from a pulsating encounter with Atlético Madrid are unlikely to have been forgotten when Jürgen Klopp and Diego Simeone renew what is becoming more than simply a clash of styles.Atlético will arrive at Anfield on 3 November aggrieved at the major decisions that went against them at the Wanda Metropolitano and contributed to only their second home defeat in 32 European ties. Liverpool will find motivation in the prospect of winning a supposedly complex group with two games...
MPs’ report on Covid crisis states 37 people died unnecessarily because of Champions League match – it was not an event staged in ignoranceIt has been the way of the last 18 months that each week seems to bring some new moment of double-take. Horrors, failures, bodge-jobs. They just keep on looming up into view like icebergs in the fog.It happened again this week. Perhaps we all have outrage fatigue by now, or just a shared sense of being beaten down, lassoed by whataboutery and tribalism. But this really did happen, and it happened in sport. Continue reading...
The Villarreal manager had to watch as his goalkeeper went walkabouts and his defender headed into his own net in the 95th minuteOh Mandi. All that and it ended like this, everything falling apart on the stroke of midnight. Sunday became Monday and Atlético Madrid had just taken their 16th corner, their last chance gone, when it happened. Villarreal had not taken any and they had only two shots, compared to Atlético’s 23, but both had gone in and so here they were about to beat the league champions. After 14 attempts, Unai Emery was actually going to defeat Diego Simeone. And then a ridiculous 95th-minute own goal changed everything, leaving those who weren’t falling down falling about.Villarreal led 2-1...
The Villarreal manager had to watch as his goalkeeper went walkabouts and his defender headed into his own net in the 95th minuteOh Mandi. All that and it ended like this, everything falling apart on the stroke of midnight. Sunday became Monday and Atlético Madrid had just taken their 16th corner, their last chance gone, when it happened. Villarreal had not taken any and they had only two shots, compared to Atlético’s 23, but both had gone in and so here they were about to beat the league champions. After 14 attempts, Unai Emery was actually going to defeat Diego Simeone. And then a ridiculous 95th-minute own goal changed everything, leaving those who weren’t falling down falling about.Villarreal led 2-1...
Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos are gone, while Diego Simeone’s Atlético Madrid will fancy their chances of back-to-back titlesZinedine Zidane was the first one out, so early it feels like a lifetime ago. Then Sergio Ramos departed, the full-time whistle finally catching up with him. Now Lionel Messi has gone, flying back into Barcelona to find the contract he had come to sign was no longer there. Arguably the three most significant men in Spanish football over the past decade, along with Cristiano Ronaldo, all gone in a single summer. And Ronaldo had already left three years earlier.This week, Ramos contacted Messi to say he could stay at his place if he liked. There was always respect there – well,...