From the majesty of Atkinson’s cup specialists to the might of Cruyff’s dream team, six epic battles between these Euro giantsSir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson brought glory and trophies to Manchester United on an industrial scale, yet they never had an Old Trafford European night such as this. Ron Atkinson’s cup specialists overcame a 2-0 first-leg deficit to overwhelm a Barcelona side that included Diego Maradona and Bernd Schuster. United’s three goals, two from Bryan Robson and one from Frank Stapleton, were scored from a combined distance of around six yards, an apt reflection of a night on which they stormed the Barcelona goal like it was a medieval fortress. Barcelona, used to a slower pace domestically, simply...
It was billed as the title decider, but Atlético Madrid were no match for the league leaders in a race now all but endedIt was half past 10 on 6 April, still six weeks and seven matches from the end of the season, when Barcelona’s fans started to sing about being champions and no one thought it particularly presumptuous. A minute earlier, Luis Suárez had scored the first, skidded on his knees across the grass waving his shirt around his wrist and was engulfed by his teammates, just lying there when he was at last let loose, taking it all in, top held in his outstretched hand. Now, 90 seconds later, a sudden snap of Leo Messi’s ankle and they’d...
Villarreal v Barcelona was something wild and wonderful, a 4-4 draw that was as exhausting as it was exhilarating“A minute after the game, we could say a thousand barbaric things,” Vicente Iborra said, but none of them could ever express it as well as the look on his face as he stood there on the touchline trying to work out what had just happened and how. Behind him, Leo Messi hugged Santi Cazorla and, watching it, you kind of wished you could hug them too. “Peculiar,” Sergio Asenjo called it. “Mad,” Ernesto Valverde offered. “We’ve stabbed ourselves,” Iborra added. “Football’s given us quite a beating,” Javier Calleja said. Which was true, six points in three days somehow becoming just one,...
The Barcelona forward was applauded by both sets of fans in the 4-1 victory over Betis – not because he scored three times, but because of how he scored“Truth is, I don’t remember anything like this,” Lionel Messi said but nor do they and their reaction said more than words, long abandoned as inadequate. There were five minutes left of a perfect performance when he took the shot that transfixed them and then turned them. Not so much hit first time as coaxed, the ball rose softly and curved gently, granting them time to take it in, inviting them to halt everything and watch it orbiting alone, so they did. Only Betis goalkeeper Pau López moved, seeing it float by,...
The most successful British footballer of his era deserves better than the image of aloof corporate excellence he has exuded in Madrid, and still has time to add some deeper textureAt times it seems funny that we still call professional footballers “players”. Mischief, fun, mucking about: these are not the first qualities that spring to mind watching elite footballers at work, hyper-stressed, pattern-running units of human muscle, moving parts inside the world’s favourite leisure machine.And yet playfulness remains the base note of all successful sport. No matter how much we mess around with the product, it is the human qualities that emerge through the bars. Related: Luis Suárez scores twice as Barcelona beat Real Madrid to reach cup final Related:...