It was billed as the title decider, but Atlético Madrid were no match for the league leaders in a race now all but endedIt was half past 10 on 6 April, still six weeks and seven matches from the end of the season, when Barcelona’s fans started to sing about being champions and no one thought it particularly presumptuous. A minute earlier, Luis Suárez had scored the first, skidded on his knees across the grass waving his shirt around his wrist and was engulfed by his teammates, just lying there when he was at last let loose, taking it all in, top held in his outstretched hand. Now, 90 seconds later, a sudden snap of Leo Messi’s ankle and they’d...
The humiliation by Ajax led to much mirth at Madrid’s expense but four Champions League crowns in five years is a period of dominance that history will look upon kindlyPlease allow me to introduce myself, I’m a man of wealth and taste. I’ve been around for … well, quite a long time as it happens, most notably as champions of Europe for the last thousand days, an era of oddly room-temperature dominance that has now come to an end.The period of public mourning has been notably brief. Instead Real Madrid’s ejection from the Champions League on Tuesday night was greeted not by tributes and tears, but with a chorus of crowing delight. Sympathy for the devil’s Meringues? There’s not much...
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:...
Madrid’s pre-season is over, just in time for Europe. The question now is whether it is in time for the league tooThe first time Vinicius Junior played against Atlético Madrid, they bit him; the third time, he bit back. If he didn’t do it the second time, maybe that’s because he wasn’t given the chance. A lot has happened in five months – a lot has happened in five weeks in fact, things changing fast – and few embody that better than the Brazilian dashing past Barcelona on Wednesday night and Atlético on Saturday afternoon. “He’s just a kid; some of us could have children his age,” his manager said, but he led Real Madrid to a 3-1 win, only...
From his Russian tumble to a Spain prison sentence, the erstwhile United manager has had a dim week. At least it’s entertainingAfter so many years of refusing to give the public what they want, it’s great to see José Mourinho finally serving up something highly watchable. On Monday the erstwhile Manchester United manager staged a spectacular pratfall at an ice hockey game in Russia. By Tuesday he was being handed a prison sentence. (Suspended, agonisingly, but still.)Barely a week after Gemma Collins made her ice‑fall in ITV’s Dancing on Ice, the Portuguese supplanted The Only Way is Essex star as the most hilariously viral rink‑based tumble of 2019. Related: José Mourinho accepts prison sentence for tax fraud but will not...