Sliding out of the Champions League with two goals scored shows the scale of a relentless decline and a long road lies aheadThere were a little under eight hours until kick-off and Joan Laporta had come from Munich cathedral. “You have to have faith,” he said, heading into the Käfer restaurant and out of the snow, but faith is not enough. And although they had always suspected as much, it still hurt when the inevitable happened. Barcelona’s president had asked his players to show “pride” and “dignity”, to demonstrate “who they are”. As it turned out, who they are is a team no longer able to compete with the best. “That’s our reality and it really pisses me off,” Xavi...
Champions League win was a moment of Manchester City perfection with Messi, Neymar and Mbappé left in their wakeFrankly, this could have gone on all night. Did we have to stop? Did we really need to call an end to it? On a chilly, still night at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester City produced a performance that was oddly hypnotic: a brilliantly fluid, delicately stitched, oddly gentle display of how to win a game by simply picking your opponent apart.For the opening 45 minutes they stuck those fine, sharp fingernails into the guts of PSG. It was melodic in the flesh, the ball passed with a thud and a fizz between the sky blue shirts, one of those periods where a...
A brilliant clearance from the 37-year-old was backed up by goals and the movement of Reece James and N’Golo KantéWith 28 minutes gone and Chelsea deservedly a goal to the good on a thrilling evening at Stamford Bridge, Thiago Silva could be seen racing back towards the Matthew Harding Stand, his eyes fixed on the ball as he prepared to pull off a piece of defending that would have left most men of his age vowing never to try anything so ridiculous again.It should not have been possible. For once Chelsea’s imperious defence had been caught out. Alvaro Morata must have thought he was about to silence the taunts from the home fans after reaching Manuel Locatelli’s pass a split...
Youngster’s goal sealed Manchester United’s Champions League victory in Villarreal and he can thrive under a top coachShortly after half-time the Villarreal fans broke into their customary rendition of Yellow Submarine, the song from which the club takes its nickname. Naturally, being English people abroad, the Manchester United fans at the north end of the ground decided to drown them out with their own version. “Number one is Georgie Best,” they sang. “Number two is Georgie Best.”How many other fanbases sing about a player who has not played for them in almost 50 years? It’s easy to ridicule United’s veneration of its past, the interminable appeals to nostalgia, the decision to appoint an episode of Premier League Years 97-98 as...
Right-back’s brilliance against Atlético Madrid helped Anfield move on from the unsettling pre-pandemic fixture of 2020Was this a kind of closure? Not really. But it felt like a marker along the way.This Champions League game will be remembered for two things. First, as a way of putting to bed that unsettling, unloved pre‑pandemic game, Liverpool versus Atlético Madrid, March 2020, the last dance before the shutters came down. And second for a brilliant performance from the local boy, Trent Alexander‑Arnold, who oozed around Anfield reeling off moments of clarity and precision, using that beautifully expressive right foot to sketch in the corners, the details, the shape of the game in a decisive first half. Continue reading...