The 23-year-old Argentinian forward, an immensely talented player with ‘PlayStation moves’, will be key as the Italian side take on Monaco in the Champions League semi-finalThe 24 years since Argentina last won a trophy are frustrating enough but they have been given additional edge of late by the suspicion that the conveyor belt that brought five Under-20 World Cups between 1995 and 2007 is not delivering talent at anything like the same rate. Lionel Messi, Sergio Agüero and Gonzalo Higuaín will all be older than 30 by the time of the next World Cup final: when they are gone, who can replace them?The answer probably lies in Turin, with a 23-year-old who could have played for Poland. Paulo Dybala has...
Tuesday’s farcical goings-on at Real Madrid came a matter of weeks after Barcelona’s tainted comeback against PSG and are damaging the Champions LeagueIt would be a great service indeed if Uefa ditched the Champions League anthem for the remainder of this season’s competition and replaced it with Dance of the Cuckoos, the theme tune from Laurel and Hardy. The players could still line up and listen to it with awed reverence, of course, because that would provide an amusing and instantly shareable meme for folks wishing to illustrate the contrast between what the competition purports to be and the farce that it often is.The quarter-final between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich was trailed as a high-brow duel that would offer...
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more goals than any other Real Madrid player and yet he was whistled by supporters against Bayern Munich. How is that possible?There are supposed to be about 1,300 words in this article. It is tempting to just spend 1,287 of them listing the things that Cristiano Ronaldo has done at Real Madrid – and there are more than enough of them to take up all that space, that is for sure, from the two Champions League titles to the 395 goals – and then leave just enough room at the bottom to add: “On Tuesday night at the Santiago Bernabéu some Real Madrid fans whistled him. Dicks.” On one level at least that would probably sum...
It was a big ask for the Foxes against a fine counterattacking team but they put on a great display, on and off the pitch, in exiting the Champions League Related: Saúl Níguez gives Atlético Madrid the edge and valiant Leicester fall just short Related: Leicester’s fury and craft taken out by Atlético Madrid’s swat-team defence | Barney Ronay Continue reading...
Craig Shakespeare’s side raise the roof but mastery of visitors hauls down the shutters on a glorious Champions League campaignAnd, breathe again. For Leicester City the dream did not so much die at the King Power Stadium as bleed away, at first quietly before expiring in a defiant blizzard of noise and hustle. With an hour gone at a ground that crackled all night Jamie Vardy revived this second leg with an equaliser to make it 1-1, and 2-1 to Atlético Madrid overall, as the score would stay to the end. Related: Saúl Ñíguez gives Atlético Madrid the edge and valiant Leicester fall just short Related: Leicester’s taste of Champions League can spark return, says Shakespeare Continue reading...