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...
Ole Gunnar Solskjær wants his team to remember glorious revivals from times past when they step out at Parc des PrincesOle Gunnar Solskjær tried his best to sound confident. He insisted there was “never mission impossible” and, not for the first time recently, he was reminded about that seminal match against Juventus in 1999 and the hard evidence Manchester United did at least have previous when it came to almost implausible feats of escapology in Europe’s premier club competition.The only problem with that line is that there is a good reason why so many people reminisce about that semi-final in Turin, when Sir Alex Ferguson’s team were putting in place their unprecedented Treble and produced one of the more spectacular...
Mkhitaryan makes a timely return to form, Bournemouth set unwanted record and Wolves should snap up JiménezHow do you deal with Manchester City? Take them on? Or get 11 players behind the ball and hang on for grim life. It was certainly a curious game at Bournemouth on Saturday – if you can call it a game. Eddie Howe’s side lost narrowly, 1-0, but it is hard to think of a more misleading scoreline. Bournemouth became the first club since Opta has been gathering data to fail to register a shot on or off target in a Premier League match. The home team never even won a corner. Kyle Walker, Manchester City’s right‑back, completed more passes than the entire Bournemouth...
Romelu Lukaku is the 20th most prolific scorer in Premier League history but he gets judged by the wrong standardsRomelu Lukaku’s two goals against Crystal Palace on Wednesday took him to 111 in the Premier League, level with Dion Dublin as the 20th most prolific scorer in the competition’s history. This was only the fourth time he has completed 90 minutes under Ole Gunnar Solskjær and they were his first goals in almost two months, and yet there is a sense Lukaku as much as anybody is benefiting from the burst of Norwegian sunshine over Old Trafford.Perhaps it does not seem like much for the 10th most expensive signing in history to pull level with the presenter of a daytime-TV...