Two goals against Udinese suggest Juventus’s forgotten wonderkid may just be their Champions League saviourAt a glance, Juventus’s preparations for a season-defining showdown with Atlético Madrid appear almost ideal. After losing 2-0 at the Wanda Metropolitano, Massimiliano Allegri tweeted that his team had 20 days to “GET READY for a [return leg] TO LIVE and TO WIN”. Since then, the Bianconeri have won three games out of three.They have triumphed away to Napoli, and since extended their lead atop Serie A to 18 points. On Friday, Juventus beat Udinese 4-1. Repeat that scoreline on Tuesday and they will go through to the quarter-finals. Related: Angry Bayern let it all out and nudge Dortmund off their throne | Andy Brassell Related:...
It was a great week for the puckish charms of football and its ability to confound hubrisFootball still, it turns out, has the power to fight back. Money is a lot of things but it isn’t quite everything, not yet.Although before we get carried away, it should be acknowledged that it really is a lot of things, most things even, almost everything. The leagues of Italy and France are a walkover yet again. Spain and Germany will probably have very familiar champions. So distorted has the modern view become that not only are Ajax, grandees of the Dutch game, transformed into plucky giant-killers, but somehow Manchester United can be cast as improbable outsiders. It was a great week for the...
Lukaku and Rashford made it all happen on a night which the caretaker had always insisted would not be ‘mission impossible’Whatever substance Marcus Rashford’s spleen, guts, backbone and other vital parts are made from, Manchester United’s official industrial concrete partner would be well-served setting about trying to replicate its precise unbreakable formulaWith 90 minutes gone, and with Manchester United 2-1 up and a VAR-assisted penalty kick away from eliminating the home side, the Paris Saint-Germain players gathered around the referee, stamped at the edge of the penalty spot, sniped at Rashford, and did everything in their power to create some turbulence. Rashford just looked down and waited, ball in hands. Related: Manchester United floor PSG as Marcus Rashford’s late penalty...
Domenico Tedesco’s future as Schalke manager is increasingly uncertain as fans vented their fury at the team’s dismal formIf you thought, before they welcomed Fortuna Düsseldorf on Saturday, that things couldn’t get much worse for Schalke, already saddled with their lowest points total at this stage in the season since 1983 (they were relegated, in case you wondered), then you were wrong. So, so wrong. Ask coach Domenico Tedesco, met with a hot reception as he went to acknowledge the home supporters after the team’s 4-0 defeat, the latest humiliation in a season of chastening experiences. Otherwise, ask Benjamin Stambouli, who began the afternoon wearing the captain’s armband and ended it having a pair of supporters demand it back from...
The most successful British footballer of his era deserves better than the image of aloof corporate excellence he has exuded in Madrid, and still has time to add some deeper textureAt times it seems funny that we still call professional footballers “players”. Mischief, fun, mucking about: these are not the first qualities that spring to mind watching elite footballers at work, hyper-stressed, pattern-running units of human muscle, moving parts inside the world’s favourite leisure machine.And yet playfulness remains the base note of all successful sport. No matter how much we mess around with the product, it is the human qualities that emerge through the bars. Related: Luis Suárez scores twice as Barcelona beat Real Madrid to reach cup final Related:...