Emma Hayes’s side must turn around a deficit if they are to become only the second English team to reach the final The scale of the task faced by Chelsea, who have to overturn a 2-1 away defeat by Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final second leg on Sunday, is perhaps best illustrated by a simple statistic. Only twice in the competition’s 20-year history have semi-finalists come back from first-leg defeats to reach the final, and no one has done so in 11 years.In 2010 Turbine Potsdam endured a 1-0 defeat before beating Duisburg 1-0 and progressing in a shootout. Five years earlier Frankfurt lost 1-0 at home against Montpellier but won 3-2 in France to go through on...
Critics are quick to dismiss the Manchester City man as a mere speed merchant, but he is one of the game’s best full-backsIt was about 40 minutes into the semi-final on Wednesday night that Kyle Walker made the first of his trademark overlapping sprints up the right wing. You know the one: the classic jet-powered Walker burst that seems to possess a surreal comic-book quality. Cartoon smoke billows from him as he goes. Cars are hurled aside in his wake. A dweeby looking businessman gets coffee blown all over his suit. Manchester City were 1-0 down to Paris Saint-Germain, and with half-time looming, City’s all-action hero had finally decided to join the party.That run came to nothing, but a minute...
Pep Guardiola’s side suffocated their opponents in the second half as PSG’s collective meltdown gifted City the upper handIt may be that history comes to look back on the past few days as a turning point in the history of European football, as the Super League, a desperate gamble by the impoverished traditional elite, was crushed and the petro‑clubs, having challenged for so long, finally took charge. And in a great time of crisis, of such flux that unlikely alliances have been forged and the quest for at least some good guys in football ownership – anybody, anywhere – landed upon some spectacularly implausible candidates, there is something deeply reassuring that some constants remain: deep down, Paris Saint-Germain still have...
Karim Benzema’s equaliser demonstrated the danger that lurks for Thomas Tuchel’s side if they fail to find composure up frontKarim Benzema’s brilliant equaliser for Real Madrid on Tuesday night was more than a random act of genius. It was a punishment that Chelsea brought on themselves by failing to land the killer blow when they were on top during the first leg of their Champions League semi-final at Valdebebas, demonstrating they cannot simply rely on Thomas Tuchel’s keen tactical mind against Europe’s best.The lesson was not lost on Tuchel, who knew Chelsea had only themselves to blame after missing a chance to put away the 13-time champions. There was no point complaining about Madrid’s goal coming against the run of...
Lazio’s impressive win over the Rossoneri has them closing in on the struggling pair with a handful of games remainingWas Fabio Paratici still in denial on Monday night? Before Juventus kicked off away to Fiorentina on Sunday, their chief football officer insisted nobody at the club was even considering the possibility that they might finish outside the top four. By the time this latest round of Serie A games had finished, his team was locked in a three-way tie for third.One of the teams alongside them was Milan. Between the two, it is hard to know which might feel more dread at the prospect of missing out on the Champions League. As winners of the past nine Serie A titles,...