At Bayern, we learned so much from Guardiola – he knows big matches are decided by big playersI remember a lot from Pep Guardiola. “In important matches,” he said to me, “I just pick my best XI.” You have to listen carefully, the sentence contains the core of what football is about: individual quality. Guardiola is a top coach. He loves the skills and talent of his players.Some coaches seek to reduce the complexity of football. Guardiola, though, wants to master it. One can compare his task with a chess grandmaster or with an orchestra director who gets the best out of each instrument. The only thing is that a football ensemble does not play according to given musical notes,...
Critics are quick to dismiss the Manchester City man as a mere speed merchant, but he is one of the game’s best full-backsIt was about 40 minutes into the semi-final on Wednesday night that Kyle Walker made the first of his trademark overlapping sprints up the right wing. You know the one: the classic jet-powered Walker burst that seems to possess a surreal comic-book quality. Cartoon smoke billows from him as he goes. Cars are hurled aside in his wake. A dweeby looking businessman gets coffee blown all over his suit. Manchester City were 1-0 down to Paris Saint-Germain, and with half-time looming, City’s all-action hero had finally decided to join the party.That run came to nothing, but a minute...
Pep Guardiola’s side suffocated their opponents in the second half as PSG’s collective meltdown gifted City the upper handIt may be that history comes to look back on the past few days as a turning point in the history of European football, as the Super League, a desperate gamble by the impoverished traditional elite, was crushed and the petro‑clubs, having challenged for so long, finally took charge. And in a great time of crisis, of such flux that unlikely alliances have been forged and the quest for at least some good guys in football ownership – anybody, anywhere – landed upon some spectacularly implausible candidates, there is something deeply reassuring that some constants remain: deep down, Paris Saint-Germain still have...
Karim Benzema’s equaliser demonstrated the danger that lurks for Thomas Tuchel’s side if they fail to find composure up frontKarim Benzema’s brilliant equaliser for Real Madrid on Tuesday night was more than a random act of genius. It was a punishment that Chelsea brought on themselves by failing to land the killer blow when they were on top during the first leg of their Champions League semi-final at Valdebebas, demonstrating they cannot simply rely on Thomas Tuchel’s keen tactical mind against Europe’s best.The lesson was not lost on Tuchel, who knew Chelsea had only themselves to blame after missing a chance to put away the 13-time champions. There was no point complaining about Madrid’s goal coming against the run of...
Neither of football’s great petrocarbon empires have won the Champions League and now they stand in each other’s waySo what takes precedence here: the football stuff, or the other stuff? Obviously you know about the other stuff. Paris Saint-Germain v Manchester City in the Champions League semi-final has already more than its fair share of alternative monikers. El Gasico. El Cashico. The Sportswashing Derby. Gulf War Three. A proxy battle on hybrid grass; a clash of new money and even newer money; Qatar v Abu Dhabi; the diseased nadir of the modern game; a big night for Kyle Walker.It is, of course, all of these things and less. The meeting of European football’s two great petrocarbon empires feels ostensibly like...