Spurs looked like they would reach the last eight before the playmaker sprang to life and Chiellini defended for his lifeFor an hour at Wembley, with the quarter-finals of the Champions League beckoning and the scalp of Juventus already partially hacked from its canary‑yellow neck, Tottenham found themselves playing like a team in the process of becoming something else, of forgetting, just for an hour, to be Spurs.It will be a crushing disappointment Mauricio Pochettino’s team failed to hold their momentum long enough to see out this tie. But it is also tribute to the pure footballing will of opponents who seemed at times on the verge of being outmuscled; to the transformative power of a match-changing foul on Dele...
Serie A matches were postponed after Davide Astori’s death on Sunday, casting Saturday’s dramatic results into insignificance It felt so all-consuming on Saturday night. A last-minute winner, a six-goal thriller, a title race turned on its head. Then a young man died, and suddenly it did not seem to matter at all.The passing of Davide Astori put all of Italian football into mourning. Genoa and Cagliari’s players were already on the pitch at Marassi, warming up for their lunchtime kickoff, when news filtered through. Several wept as they retreated to the changing rooms. An announcement that the match had been abandoned was met by the fans with applause. Related: Leader Davide Astori is fondly remembered as Serie A falls quiet...
Turkish forward reaps rewards from Eusebio Di Francesco’s new tactical approach with four goals in three gamesUdinese were served with ample notice of Cengiz Under’s threat. The Roma forward had scored three times in two games leading into his visit to the Stadio Friuli on Saturday but more explicit were the words of his manager. “He has this great quality of being able to line up his shot while still hiding it,” explained Eusebio Di Francesco. “Just like [Vincenzo] Montella used to do.”Forewarned but not forearmed. How does anyone prepare for something they cannot see coming? There were just under 70 minutes on the clock when Under took a pass a few yards outside the area, turned, glanced and in...
Gonzalo Higuaín followed up a stunning volley with a penalty to put Tottenham on the rack but missed a second spot-kick that may prove Juventus’s Champions League undoingFor all the goals and the garlands Gonzalo Higuaín still carries a shadow. There is an argument Lionel Messi would already be safely enthroned as the greatest modern footballer if only Higuaín could finish in the big matches, a wonderful striker who seems destined to fall short at the very, very last. A losing World Cup final, two losing Champions League finals: only in the vertiginously cruel gimlet eye of elite football could this be seen as failure.At the Allianz Stadium Higuaín seemed to be in the process of handing Tottenham and Harry...
The Premier League’s lack of downtime is much maligned – but few clubs are truly idle over an ever more frenzied ChristmasThe Champions League returns this week and, for many, the most thrilling football tournament in Europe and arguably the world starts now. The wheat has been separated from the chaff, the Juves and Bayerns from the Qarabags and Maribors. As the first country in the history of the competition to have five teams through to the last 16, England’s interest in the knockout stages has never been greater, even if José Mourinho believes it will end sooner rather than later because of the absence of a winter break in the football calendar.Speaking in November, the Manchester United manager poo-poohed...