The Brazilian has been criticised for a lack of goals but against PSG he led from the front, culminating in seven minutes and 17 seconds in which he won the tie“As long as there’s a 1% chance, we’ll have 99% faith,” Neymar wrote in the aftermath of Barcelona’s 4-0 destruction in Paris – but by the time he stood over the ball the odds didn’t even look that good. They didn’t to everyone else, anyway. 1%? If only. Their first comeback had failed, crushed by Edinson Cavani; the second had barely started and was surely beyond them now: Paris Saint‑Germain’s away goal had left them needing three goals in 30 minutes and 27 of them had passed. Related: Luis Enrique:...
The manager did things his way in revealing his departure but, despite all he has achieved in a relentless job, few tears were shed around the La Liga clubAt the press conference before Barcelona’s match with Sporting Gijón on Wednesday Luis Enrique was asked if he felt tired, worn out by the demands of being manager at the Camp Nou. He had been a little edgy of late, after all – even for him. “No,” he said, a little pointedly, which is how he says a lot of things, “I’m pletórico.” Plethoric, full of energy.At the press conference after Barcelona’s match with Sporting Gijón on Wednesday night, they had finished asking Luis Enrique questions when he announced that he was...
It was raining goals in Manchester on Tuesday but where does City’s 5-3 win over Monaco stand alongside other great Champions League nights?Dynamo Kyiv’s wonderful team of the late 1990s deserved a Champions League final – but on a pulsating night at a packed Olympiyskiy they threw away the best chance they would ever have. It was exquisite fare for much of the evening and, when Andriy Shevchenko squeezed in his second goal of the night two minutes before half-time, seemed to be going precisely as the old master Valeriy Lobanovskiy had designed. Moments later Michael Tarnat’s daisycutter of a free-kick restored some doubt but Vitaliy Kosovskiy’s 50th-minute goal – capitalising on some sloppy defending – suggested Dynamo would cut...
There was something about the win over Leganés, the performance, the whole night, that was deeper than a single game. Barça need something to believe inIt was the 89th minute and it could have been the end; 63,378 people watched, minus those who’d already departed depressed – and there were plenty of them – as he stood alone before them. Standing before him, meanwhile, was Iago Herrerín; Iago Herrerín and disaster. But there were no nerves, just annoyance, and there would be no joy, not even much sign of relief. Leo Messi took the penalty that might just have rescued Barcelona’s season, pulling them from an even darker place and keeping them alive for another week at least, as if...
The 4-0 hammering by PSG has raised questions about a team that has been called a mess tactically and physically, with no youth system or leadership“We tried to score to get back into the tie but they got the third goal and then the fourth,” the Barcelona manager, Luis Enrique, said at the end of his darkest night. His words were telling but not even entirely true.It was not that Paris Saint-Germain had scored a goal; it was that they had scored a third and then a fourth, and anyway it was not as if the visitors had been caught chasing the game, a quick counter or some fluke goal cruelly ending it. When Ángel Di María curled in the...