This was a night when all there was to do was gawp at the player who can bend the game according to his own physical lawsSometimes you really do just have to stand and watch – and maybe gawp a little, too. The best athletes in every sport give us a glimpse of something else, a remix of the usual physical laws. At Wembley this sensation had an extra depth as Lionel Messi produced a hall-of-fame performance but did so in a Barcelona team who were stretched at times even as the genius at the other end was scoring twice, hitting the post twice and helping to make the other two in a 4-2 win. Related: Lionel Messi’s masterclass gives...
Just seven weeks in, no one is winless in Spain and no one is unbeaten either. Is this season competitive rather than cheap?On Saturday afternoon, leaders Barcelona only managed a 1-1 home draw against 15th-placed Athletic Club Bilbao; without a win in three, they dropped their seventh point in six days. On Saturday night, Real Madrid failed to score for the second game running, drawing 0-0 with Atlético Madrid; they’ve won just one in four now, while their city rivals left the Bernabéu unbeaten for a sixth successive season but have only won three from seven. And in between those matches, Sevilla beat Eibar, taking them third and on to 17 goals in 10 days, including three against Madrid. Before...
Fergus Dowd, an IT systems analyst for Dublin, won the backing of Luís Figo, Roy Keane and a film director to help rescue from obscurity Patrick O’Connell and his exploits at BarcelonaLike absolutely no other middle-aged IT systems analysts from Dublin, Fergus Dowd went to a Blyth Spartans match and wound up spearheading an international campaign to resurrect the memory of a former Manchester United captain who saved Barcelona from extinction. Sometimes, apparently, it takes an extraordinary Irishman to tell the story of an extraordinary Irishman.Patrick O’Connell, a footballer with what might be classed as scoundrel tendencies as well as qualities that enabled him to become a heroic manager, had lain in an unmarked London grave for 57 years until...
Perhaps with time, Ernesto Valverde and his team sealing a first unbeaten Spanish league title since 1932 will be more valuedThe league came to a close at both ends of Riazor, two human circles forming. Deportivo de La Coruña’s players joined together, arms around each other, for a few final words offered quietly and sadly in the rain. As they broke, there were some whistles and they walked slowly towards the tunnel and the second division, relegated again. The manager, their third this season, told them to go with their heads held high, insisting “we’re not angry, we’re unhappy”, but most looked down as they left, eyes lost. In the stands above, there were tears and reproach. Do you understand...
The Netherlands midfielder, the reigning Fifa and Uefa player of the year, on life at Barcelona and the pressures of being a role modelThe girl playing football in the small Dutch town of Bergen in the late 90s did not know there was a women’s game. Instead her idol was Ronaldinho. Why? “Because I was a Barça fan,” says Lieke Martens. “He had long hair like me and great dribbles. I loved him. He was technical, made a lot of goals.”Watch the Netherlands and Barcelona midfielder now and one can tell why she is a fan of the Brazil great. Her Cruyff turn, back to goal, to take out two Belgium players, leaving one on the floor, as she drove...