Marco Rose returned to Borussia Mönchengladbach with Dortmund on Saturday but it was his replacement at Borussia-Park who was victoriousThe biggest reaction in Borussia-Park arrived at exactly the moment it was expected. As Marco Rose came out to take his place on the bench – arriving fashionably late, no doubt – there was no sneaking into position without Borussia Mönchengladbach’s fans giving him a hot reception. The faithful of the Nordkurve, at least, had certainly not forgotten the slow and painful end to last season after Rose’s impending departure for Borussia Dortmund was announced, the day after Valentine’s Day.The bad news for the returning coach was that wasn’t the noisiest the 25,000 gathered on Saturday night got. After a far-from-impeccable...
Maurizio Sarri has made a slower start to life in Rome than Mourinho but his team’s fast start left Roma unable to catch upMaurizio Sarri looked at the eagle perched on his wrist and started to laugh. Olimpia, Lazio’s club mascot of the past 11 years, is quite a presence up close: a 12kg bird of prey with a two-and-a-half-metre wingspan. He realised quickly that one arm wasn’t going to manage it, bringing across the other one to support her weight and glancing up toward the Curva. Thousands of fans were packed in there, lost in delirious celebration.OK, so maybe the Rome derby was a bigger deal than Sangiovannese v Montevarchi after all. Continue reading...
Rayo Vallecano’s top-flight return was a miracle and now they have signed Radamel Falcao. But all is not well with the clubThis was the kind of moment you didn’t want to miss and on the corner of Avenida Albufera and Payaso Fofó street, down in the People’s Republic of Vallecas, the opening bars of the Final Countdown boomed out. Inside, in the front row of seats on the eastern side of the ground where Colombian flags joined tricolours and the smoke smells sickly sweet, the fan in the tiger onesie roared and sang along. Around him, they did the same. Or just laughed. There were 3,280 people, plus a dozen or so gathered in the tower blocks overlooking the wall...
Jürgen Klopp will have mixed feelings after a wild, ragged win over Milan that showcased all the best – and worst – of his team“Proper Champions League”. You said it, Jürgen. At times in the second half at Anfield, as the red and cream shapes spun and surged, exchanging darts and overloads, as the crowd generated that rolling surge of heat and noise under the low white lights, this felt like a kind of tribute night, a nostalgia spectacular, Those Famous European Nights redux.Part of the PR puff behind the European Super League – a wheeze the owners of these teams were so keen to embrace – was the sense these autumn games are a trudge, a schlep, cold product....
Crosses went astray and decisions were rushed but manager’s preparation finally yielded 1-0 result thanks to Romelu LukakuAs the half-time whistle edged closer, with openings scarce and Zenit St Petersburg carrying out their containment plan to perfection, an increasingly animated Thomas Tuchel could be seen urging Chelsea to calm down in the final third. There were too many rushed decisions from the European champions, a little too much desperation to force the issue, and Tuchel did not hold in his frustration when he saw Reece James spank a cross into the first white shirt after finding a rare pocket of space on the right flank.“Slow it down,” came the cry from Tuchel, who had spent most of the first half...