After a Saudi takeover helped propel them back to La Liga, the minnows pushed the European champions all the wayFor an hour, the 15,238 Almería fans in the Horse Power stadium might have wondered if the almighty was on their side after all. The man who had begun the night floodlit out on the field, collecting the final few shares he didn’t already own from the founder of the club, certainly did. Or so it goes. Almería had returned to primera for the first time since 2015, faced Real Madrid in their opening game, and proprietor and president Turki Al-Sheikh, the minister in charge of entertainment at the Saudi royal court, didn’t have much faith. Not in his footballers, at...
Bayern Munich might win their 11th title in a row, but between now and then we can enjoy another fascinating seasonMeet the new boss, just like the old boss. Though the opening weekend of the Bundesliga had its familiar themes and outcomes, it most definitely had a story to tell. Some will tut or shrug, but they shouldn’t. “You don’t go to the theatre because you’re wondering how the swan from Swan Lake will turn out,” as Süddeutsche Zeitung’s Martin Schneider put it.Let’s start with what the world most expected, or at least feared. Bayern Munich began 2022-23 like a hurricane, not so much pulling back the curtain to the campaign on Friday night at Eintracht Frankfurt as tearing it...
Robert Lewandowski’s exit has made for a rocky summer, but the champions are surely destined for the domestic summit againIs this finally it? Before the start of every season we’re looking for a reason why Bayern Munich might not win the Bundesliga, and it has begun to feel like a vain hope for genuine title competition. In May Bayern were crowned champions for the 10th campaign in a row, and the Rekordmeister has been run to such an exemplary standard that few can see an imminent end to the medley. Yet this time there is a new cast running the show, with Oliver Kahn as CEO in a post-Hoeness and Rummenigge world, having to prove his authority in tandem with Hasan...
Barça are spending money recklessly to maintain a myth, but in the modern superclub era it is unlikely to cost them dearlyRobert Lewandowski has signed a four-year deal with Barcelona, which means he probably has a good 18 months before they ask him to take a wage cut. Give or take. Naturally a good deal depends on how much deeper into their financial quarry Barcelona have managed to dig themselves in the meantime. Perhaps, alternatively, Lewandowski will be asked to defer a portion of his salary, or maybe amortise it into 420 easy monthly instalments, or accept payment in the form of $BAR fan tokens.This is the perk of being the world’s biggest and most incoherent club: there is always...
Milan pipped Inter to the title and José Mourinho brought 100,000 Roma fans to the Circus Maximus. It’s awards time!Serie A lost some stars, but the football on the pitch still sparkled. Without Cristiano Ronaldo, Romelu Lukaku, Achraf Hakimi, Gianluigi Donnarumma or Antonio Conte the league simply had to make do with one of its most compelling title races for decades.It ended as a duel between Milan and Inter, two halves of the same city, clubs who share a stadium and the black stripes on their shirt but are divided by the red and the blue. Rivals who have emerged together from a decade in the wilderness, reminding themselves and each other that this league did not always belong to...