Just the 6,084 days after his father scored to beat Juve, Giovanni Simeone inspired Genoa against the shambolic champions in Serie AIf you ask Diego Simeone, he will tell you that he does not often talk about football with his son. The Atlético Madrid manager is immensely proud of the success Giovanni has had in carving out a career in the sport but also anxious to avoid adding to the pressure that comes with following in his footsteps. “I’ve never liked to give him pointers about specific aspects of his game,” said Diego during a television interview two months back. He visits his son whenever he can during international breaks and the pair speak frequently by phone, “[But] we talk...
Germany’s league leaders are by no means the first nouveau riche arrivistes to ostentatiously buy their way to the top, but don’t dismiss them out of handThis being their maiden season in the German top flight, it is nigh on impossible to profile RB Leipzig without focusing on their controversial journey to the Bundesliga summit. Previously a fifth-tier team from the east German region of Saxony called SSV Markranstädt, the club’s licence was bought in 2009 by the Austrian energy drink manufacturer Red Bull, who promptly rebranded their acquisition by changing their name, crest and kit before beginning their quick ascent through the divisions.Despite being unable to call themselves Red Bull Leipzig due to DFB regulations (the RB “officially” stands...
The Real Madrid forward scored a hat-trick in the last derby against Atlético at the Vicente Calderón, with the numbers starting to add up for his managerCristiano Ronaldo put his hands on his hips and took a long, lingering look up at the Vicente Calderón. He stood there for a while, alone, striking a challenging pose, chest out and steady in front of the south stand. Beyond the netting, a barrier for flying objects, thousands of Atlético Madrid fans raised their middle fingers and their voices. Others just looked stunned. In the middle somewhere, one of them puffed on a cigarette. So this is how it ends. An hour and a half earlier, a huge banner had engulfed them all:...
Borussia Dortmund’s victory over Carlo Ancelotti’s side has left the Bundesliga champions in a spot of bother at Säbener Strasse“Willpower”, “passion”, “aggressiveness”, “fight”. The message was a familiar one in Dortmund ahead of the match, but the messenger wasn’t. Thomas Tuchel, the 43-year-old head boy of the so-called “laptop coaches” in German, young, cerebral, strategy-obsessed managers who prefer a cold, hard look at the numbers to heated rhetoric, had ventured deep into Jürgen Klopp territory on Friday, proclaiming the need to harness the emotional power of the occasion and to add a crucial “third level” to go with tactics and technique. “That will be the basis of beating Bayern,” Tuchel confidently predicted. And he was right. Borussia Dortmund, by their...
Jorge Sampaoli’s side are on the up and a breathless, brilliant display threatened to deflate Barcelona until the Catalan side’s Argentinian talisman sprang into lifeSamir Nasri has finished training, his heart monitor laid on the window ledge with the others. The scans say he shouldn’t play but he says he will and his manager appreciates it. He’s perhaps La Liga’s best midfielder so far; the man his coach says makes the team breathe. Steven N’Zonzi, perhaps the second-best, ambles by in flip-flops and baggy shorts. Lifesized inflatable footballers lean against the fence; actual footballers ride buggies, alighting at the gym. Sergio Escudero grins and staff embrace him. News just in: he’s in the Spain squad. The groundsman, in cricketer’s shirt...