It may be only two years since the club were last in Europe’s premier contest but it feels like a watershed as a return looms“They’re all talking about that long run in the dressing room,” Gabriel Paulista said. It had been 14 years, after all. On Saturday, Valencia beat Sevilla 2-0 at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, the first time they had won there since May 2004, back when Pep Guardiola was a midfielder, not a manager, Lionel Messi had not played a senior game and Sergio Ramos was just starting out, a 19-year-old dreaming of Claudio Caniggia. Of the 30 footballers who took to the field that day, he and Dani Alves are the only ones still going and now...
The Sevilla stalemate drew mention of betraying United’s identity. José Mourinho is entitled to play the way he believes will get results but football should be about more than successSome Manchester United fans saw a wonderful game in Seville, it just wasn’t the one their team played in. A handful of supporters made the most of their team’s Champions League match, travelling to Spain early, and on Sunday they were at the Benito Villamarín with 50,000 others to see Real Betis lose 5-3 to Real Madrid. Three days later and three-and-a-half kilometres away they were among the 40,000 who watched United draw 0-0 at the Sánchez Pizjuán, on a night when their team had one shot on target.There is something...
United manager’s omission of France midfielder from the starting XI suggests relationship is still subject to turbulenceWell, we got there in the end. Grudgingly, belatedly and against the manager’s better judgment. But with 17 minutes gone in this Champions League first leg, on a breezy, boisterous night in Seville, José Mourinho found himself forced by circumstance and bad luck into playing his most talented midfielder in his favourite position.It is, of course, important not to be drawn too deeply into another Mourinho psychodrama. On a scale of one to Ramos the current half-glimpsed friction with Paul Pogba is hardly likely to rate a top-10 mention in the all-time annals of toxic José-dom. Related: Manchester United overrun by Sevilla but David...
Only Barcelona and Atlético can match Eibar’s results over the last three months as another unlikely run at Europe continuesIván Ramis took off his shirt and put his hat on, a flat red porkpie perched on his head as he stood in the corner of Butarque where a couple of dozen Eibar fans down from the Ego valley were going wild in wigs: some red, some blue and some Scottish, ginger locks tumbling from tam o’ shanters. As he had flung his top high into the air before running towards them shouting, they had thrown the hat on the pitch; so he wore it, along with a smile that even the referee trotting over with a yellow card couldn’t wipe...
From Juventus and Spurs’ intriguing battle to Chelsea’s forbidding meeting with Barcelona and a likely stroll for Bayern, we look over all eight last-16 matchupsTuesday, St Jakob-Park and Wednesday 7 March, Etihad Related: New era edges closer as Tottenham seek to draw a line under austerity years | David Hytner Related: Antonio Conte will not resign as pressure builds on Chelsea manager Continue reading...