Elegant German midfielder revelled in the space and time he was afforded by a Liverpool who are down but certainly not outWith 35 minutes gone at the Estadio Alfredo di Stéfano, Toni Kroos was yet to misplace a pass, or indeed, break into a jog. He looked fresh. He looked unhurried. At times he seemed to be carrying his own respectful green space around the pitch with him, ringed by discrete royal protection, like Edward VIII having a game of golf.With 36 minutes gone Kroos finally missed his mark. Unfortunately for Liverpool his diagonal pass was met with a terrible defensive header by Trent Alexander-Arnold, and the ball nodded straight to Marco Asensio, who bundled it past Alisson to put...
Dortmund forward made a telling intervention but, even if Man City did want to sign him, is he Pep Guardiola’s kind of player?Erling Haaland’s big moment arrived on 84 minutes: Europe’s hottest young talent dropped into a pocket of space and steered a cute round-the corner pass into Marco Reus. It splayed Manchester City’s defence and Borussia Dortmund’s captain beat Ederson for a precious away goal.Haaland had shown the kind of cute play Pep Guardiola schools his team in. Yet this was a rare chance for the 20-year-old to shine as City squeezed his supply-line for most of the contest. Instead they were a blue blur of creativity throughout and, after Phil Foden struck a late winner, Haaland may have...
The manager made headlines for switching to ‘fan mode’ after winning the Copa del Rey having endured all the lean times“If you’ll allow me,” Imanol Alguacil said, as if there was anything they wouldn’t allow him any more. He was one of them after all, the communion about to be made very loud and very clear. He had also just done what no one had done for 34 years and only two men had done before; what no man had done, in fact. It was after midnight on Saturday and Alguacil had just led Real Sociedad to their first major trophy since 1987, back before even he was at the club, and the fourth in their history, securing victory in...
The La Liga side rightly left the pitch against Cádiz over alleged racial abuse, so why did they end up coming back on?Every time the camera focused on Mouctar Diakhaby sitting in the stands, and Juan Cala still on the pitch, it felt worse. An opportunity lost, everything the wrong way round. On Sunday afternoon Valencia became the first top-level team in Spain to walk off the pitch in protest at alleged racist abuse suffered by their player, only to turn and come back on again.Now the game, which no longer felt like a game, had started again – without the abused and with the alleged abuser. Diakhaby sat in silence, arms crossed, the mask over his face not really...
In a time of economic hardship, it is right to feel appalled at the potential sums involved in Erling Haaland’s impending transferAt this time of year it was a common thing for elegant young men of the 19th century to set off on a Grand Tour of Europe. Shuttered inside his velveteen stage coach, the brave traveller would wind from royal court to ancient city, taking in the rites of passage: harpsichord studies in Bologna, a marzipan banquet in Nîmes, a wonderful six-month tuition in the fine art of Etruscan wrestling from a youth called Hercule on the Istanbul docks.It was interesting to see Erling Haaland embarking on a kind of modern-day superstar athlete equivalent this week. According to reports...