The winger, unbeaten against the Portuguese side in eight matches, scored one and set up another in the 3-1 victoryIn the end, it had to be him standing there before them. Four minutes remained when Luis Díaz was sent dashing way, stepped past Odisseas Vlachodimos and rolled the ball into the empty net to finally secure a victory that had looked like it might slip through Liverpool’s hands during a second half in which they had been made to suffer more than anyone expected. Released at last, he ran to the corner, leapt and screamed. In the stands, Benfica’s supporters did too, a flag pole sent flying his way.They had whistled him all game and indeed before it. Díaz stood...
Foden started on the bench but after little more than a minute on the pitch his dribble and pass led to Manchester City’s goalKevin De Bruyne scored the only goal of the game, and Manchester City’s players gathered by the corner flag in front of their fans. “Celebrated” would probably be pushing it a bit. For the curious thing about City’s winning goal was how deeply unimpressed they all seemed about it. De Bruyne’s features were contorted into a growl. Bernardo Silva bellowed defiantly into the stands. Nathan Aké, to be honest, just looked buzzing to be there.On the touchline Pep Guardiola angrily hurled a water bottle to the ground, furious at himself for feeling such relief. Continue reading...
His winner against Sevilla led to more Messi comparisons, but it is another Barça idol that the teenager more closely resemblesFirst Pedri González put Ivan Rakitic on the floor, next he put Diego Carlos on the floor and then, allowing time to speed up again, he put Yassine Bono on the floor and 76,112 people on their feet. And that’s just those who were in the ground chanting his name, bowing before him. Because if Sevilla fell for the quiet lad who comes to the Camp Nou with his kit in a carrier bag on Sunday night, so did everyone else. “Pedri, Pedri, Pedri,” went the cover of Sport, like a kid calling on the Candyman and soon there he...
Juventus were incensed as the Serie A champions took their first away Derby d’Italia victory since 2012The Derby d’Italia was only 34 minutes old, but already we had seen blood, sweat and tears – and that was just Manuel Locatelli. The game had barely begun when Lautaro Martínez’s high boot caught the Juventus midfielder in the face, opening a gash above his left eye. Locatelli soldiered on, only to injure his knee while raising his own studs into a challenge on Danilo D’Ambrosio.Some journalists speculated that he might have ruptured his cruciate ligament as they saw him hobble to the sideline weeping. Perhaps Locatelli is just a man willing to share his emotions. He cried on the pitch after scoring...
BVB’s first sold-out home game in more than two years should have lifted the team – but RB Leipzig spoiled the partyAs Covid restrictions begin to ease at last, Borussia Dortmund’s first home sell-out in more than two years was a sight to behold. It was something that RB Leipzig’s Domenico Tedesco was keen to pre-warn his young side about – although as he later pointed out in an ESPN interview, it was something the home players were not used to experiencing recently either.The bitter disappointment for most of those in Westfalen on Saturday evening was that while the colour returned to the stands, it was the same old, same old on the pitch. Leipzig coasted to a 4-1 victory...