Borussia Dortmund’s victory despite an impressive Bayern Munich performance shows how far they have come and how competitive the German league is this seasonThe 95 minutes-plus of Der Klassiker – and every extra second of the 47 over the 95, which was felt keenly by Borussia Dortmund’s coach Lucien Favre, pushed up tensely on to the edge of his technical area, waving his arms maniacally – were part of such a dizzying swirl of fluctuating momentums and emotions that it’s hard to pick a moment to distil it.If we were going to try, though, how about 13 seconds before Paco Alcácer’s winner hit the net as Dortmund, typically for a Favre side, tore Bayern apart at the seams on the...
Barcelona finally shrugged off the ghost of Butarque but Atlético and Real had their own battles as La Liga’s threads all came together in Madrid“The Ghost of Butarque: that’s a good name for a novel,” Ernesto Valverde said. It was coming up to midnight three days after Halloween and, Barcelona’s manager admitted, “everywhere we turned the Ghost of Butarque appeared.” His team were back in Madrid for the first time since September, the final leg of a Grand Day Out in the capital – Leganés v Atlético at 1pm, Real Madrid v Valladolid at 4.15pm, Rayo v Barcelona at 8.45pm – and it was happening again: the same feelings, the same fears. Back then, Barcelona lost at bottom-placed Leganés, their...
Adi Hütter had a tough start at Eintracht Frankfurt but his team have now found their feet as Stuttgart discovered on FridayWhen the opposition is down, keep your foot on the throat. In the infancy of his tenure but already desperate for a result, Stuttgart’s coach Markus Weinzierl would have hoped for opponents without that type of focus as his team opened the Bundesliga weekend at an anxious Mercedes-Benz Arena on Friday night. Unfortunately, he and they bumped into Eintracht Frankfurt instead.Few expected this to be much of a season for last term’s DfB Pokal winners after Niko Kovac’s departure for Bayern Munich even if his replacement, Adi Hütter, was coming off a Swiss Super League win with Young Boys...
In the summer, the midfielder said he did not want to play for Inter again. On Saturday, he was at the heart of their 5-0 winJoão Mário sounded so certain. Interviewed by Gazzetta dello Sport at the start of June – just after he had completed a successful six-month loan at West Ham, and shortly before the start of a World Cup in which he would feature in all four matches played by Portugal – the midfielder insisted he would not return to Inter.“I do not want to try again,” he said of life at his parent club. “I would not have the right motivation. That experience is over now. Zero doubts.” Related: Barcelona’s late comeback denies Rayo, Bayern Munich...
In the last decade, Barcelona had beaten Real Madrid 5-0, 4-3, 3-2, 4-0, 3-1 and 6-2. Now they can add a 5-1 to that listSofi Balbi couldn’t be there the day her husband became only the second footballer to score a hat-trick in 70 clásicos going back a quarter of a century, but fortunately the neighbour was available to take the kids to the game for her. They wouldn’t have wanted to miss this for the world and, off work with a broken arm, he didn’t have anything better to do. Besides, he was taking his son anyway. So, Sofi stayed home with five-day-old Lautaro and watched on telly while Benja and Delfina had a day out with Lionel and...