Chelseas goalkeeper was uneasy around a stunning penalty save but the hosts missed a golden opportunity late onThe man who can teach any bird to sing silenced a football stadium, but not for long. Instead as the final, wild, open, epic minutes went by this place was as loud as anyone could remember it, more than 40,000 people standing to applaud, almost as exhausted as the men collapsing to the floor before them. It seemed almost absurd to think then, at the end of those last seven minutes of additional time when two teams were on the edge, knowing that a win would put them through and a defeat would pretty much put them out, that this place had ever...
Abhorrent and filthy were among the words used to describe the win at Legans there is a reason Messi wanted NeymarBarcelona beat Legans 2-1 at Butarque on Saturday afternoon and are top of the table. Undefeated, they also lead their Champions League group, ahead of Internazionale and Borussia Dortmund. Win on Wednesday night and they will be mathematically qualified from the competitions hardest group with a game to spare. They have lost just one of their last 11 matches, winning nine, and have scored more league goals than anybody in Spain: seven more than second-placed Real Madrid and more than twice as many as Athletic Bilbao in fifth, Atltico Madrid in fourth and Sevilla in third. When they played Sevilla,...
This is the game you can’t afford to lose, and the Sevilla coach’s wild eyes showed what winning the 130th derby meantWhen it was over, Julen Lopetegui started roaring, mouth so wide you could fit his half of Seville inside. He wore a wild look in his eyes and punched the air with the kind of force that dislocates shoulders. Which might not sound so unusual, but it is for him. Éver Banega was the first to leap into his arms, and then others followed, violence in the embrace.Across the pitch, in the far corner where Banega was going now, the rest of Sevilla’s players hopped about, doing that disco thing, waving their arms up and down and shouting. Way...
Lucien Favre had said his side had nothing to lose, but lose they did – their six successive Bundesliga defeat at the Allianz ArenaEvery team has their blind spot, their house of horror, where they can’t put a foot right. On the weekend of Der Klassiker we were emphatically reminded that Borussia Dortmund’s bad place is against ostensibly their biggest domestic rivals.“In Munich,” wrote the ESPN journalist Stephan Uersfeld, “Dortmund are the new Hamburg.” Related: Bayern Munich crush Dortmund thanks to Robert Lewandowski double Related: Frankfurt’s captain sent off for knocking over Freiburg coach, sparking chaos Continue reading...
Midfielder has returned on loan to the club where he made his Serie A debut, and showing Internazionale what they’re missingAfter watching his Internazionale team throw away a two-goal lead against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday, Antonio Conte lamented a shortage of top-level experience in his playing squad. “Who am I supposed to call on?” he demanded. “Nicolò Barella, who came here from Cagliari? [Stefano] Sensi, who we signed from Sassuolo?”These were unworthy remarks from a manager whose club splurged more than €150m on transfer fees in the summer window, delivering him several of the players he wanted most. Barella had been one of Conte’s top priorities. Sensi was Inter’s stand-out performer through the first two months...