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...
Thomas Tuchel’s side showed great unity in their emotional win against Frankfurt and while football would love a redemptive narrative in the Champions League tie in Monaco the reality is that trauma is still being processedThis, we are supposed to say, is where the healing begins. Where normal life resumes. Where the terrorists learn that they cannot win, and where good people will find the strength to carry on in defiance of their tyranny. Related: Bayern Munich held to a draw while Borussia Dortmund claim emotional win Related: Dortmund’s Marc Bartra on ‘the longest and hardest 15 minutes of my life’ Continue reading...
The former Arsenal captain flailed wildly on the touchlines as a borrowed team of players who could not understand him or one another were hammered by Celta Vigo’s second-string – and there was little sympathy from fans or pressAt the end of his first game as coach of Granada, Tony Adams strode on to the pitch and, pointing to the stands at Los Cármenes, told his players to applaud the fans. When they did, the fans booed them. Those that were still there did, anyway. A total of 13,442 came and by then most had gone again. It was late: late on a Sunday night, late in the season and too late to save them. Holy week ended with no...
The dramatic end to the Milan 2-2 derby should not hide the fact that the now Chinese-owned clubs should be fighting over a greater prize than sixth place“Closing.” That English word has dominated the Italian sports pages for more than two years now: seven letters that became a shorthand for the day when Silvio Berlusconi would sell Milan. A good many people doubted it would ever arrive. The man they call Il Cavaliere was thought too proud to relinquish his favourite plaything: a football club that not so long ago billed itself as “the most titled in the world”.Owning Milan had granted Berlusconi not only the chance to demonstrate his self-touted sporting acumen but important social and political capital as...
The Frenchman improved on his recent penalty record to keep his team’s hopes of Champions League redemption on track against the English championsAt first it was just a few but very soon everyone joined in, good news travelling fast around the Vicente Calderón, all the way from the Allianz Arena in Munich. The scoreboard was almost as swift: Bayern Munich 1-0 Real Madrid flashed up and this stadium, in its 50th and final year, erupted. The noise, loud from the start, rose a level. Then, moments later, it somehow rose again when Antoine Griezmann put Atlético ahead. They were enjoying this: it had been quite a minute.Their city rivals were trailing 1,500km away while they themselves led. Twice in three...