Luka Modric’s departure from England felt insufficiently mourned, yet his performance against Atlético marked him out again as the world’s best midfielderThen there were two. On Tuesday night inside the giant shiny-plated Armadillo that is the Juventus Stadium, as the lights dazzled and thrillingly loud American brat-rock split a hole in the sky, 10,000 Italians held up 10,000 plastic cards to spell the word “Cardiff” in vast shimmery letters. This is, in all likelihood, the first time this has ever happened, and probably the last too.A day later in Madrid as thunderstorms cleared the streets after midnight people in the city centre bars could be heard yelling and chanting and, in one side street off the Calle de Toledo, singing with...
The 23-year-old Argentinian forward, an immensely talented player with ‘PlayStation moves’, will be key as the Italian side take on Monaco in the Champions League semi-finalThe 24 years since Argentina last won a trophy are frustrating enough but they have been given additional edge of late by the suspicion that the conveyor belt that brought five Under-20 World Cups between 1995 and 2007 is not delivering talent at anything like the same rate. Lionel Messi, Sergio Agüero and Gonzalo Higuaín will all be older than 30 by the time of the next World Cup final: when they are gone, who can replace them?The answer probably lies in Turin, with a 23-year-old who could have played for Poland. Paulo Dybala has...
The striker’s reception on Naples return was tamer than expected – as was his display – in a draw that suggested Juve may be slowing down at the wrong timeMaurizio Sarri was looking unusually smart last Monday, shedding his Napoli tracksuit in favour of a white shirt and blue jacket to collect the 2015-16 Panchina d’Oro (Golden Bench). He had pipped Juventus’s Massimiliano Allegri into second for the award, given each year to the best manager in Serie A – as chosen by a panel of their peers.Humble as ever, Sarri expressed surprise at his triumph, suggesting he would expect such a prize to go to the man who finished higher. But with mischief in his eyes he also looked...
Juventus’s last-gasp win over Milan all-but settled the title but the race is on for a top-three spot and Inter’s 7-1 destruction of Atalanta gives them reason to believeA stool smashed, a lamp shattered, graffiti scrawled across the walls. The only thing more dramatic than Juventus’s last-gasp win over Milan at J-Stadium were the reports of what came afterwards, with claims that members of the losing side had gone on a rampage in the changing rooms. Displays celebrating the Old Lady’s 2004-05 and 2005-06 title wins – officially revoked following the Calciopoli scandal – were said to have been daubed with the word “THIEVES”.Such actions cannot be condoned, but it was easy to understand how Milan might have felt robbed...
It was raining goals in Manchester on Tuesday but where does City’s 5-3 win over Monaco stand alongside other great Champions League nights?Dynamo Kyiv’s wonderful team of the late 1990s deserved a Champions League final – but on a pulsating night at a packed Olympiyskiy they threw away the best chance they would ever have. It was exquisite fare for much of the evening and, when Andriy Shevchenko squeezed in his second goal of the night two minutes before half-time, seemed to be going precisely as the old master Valeriy Lobanovskiy had designed. Moments later Michael Tarnat’s daisycutter of a free-kick restored some doubt but Vitaliy Kosovskiy’s 50th-minute goal – capitalising on some sloppy defending – suggested Dynamo would cut...