Youngster’s goal sealed Manchester United’s Champions League victory in Villarreal and he can thrive under a top coachShortly after half-time the Villarreal fans broke into their customary rendition of Yellow Submarine, the song from which the club takes its nickname. Naturally, being English people abroad, the Manchester United fans at the north end of the ground decided to drown them out with their own version. “Number one is Georgie Best,” they sang. “Number two is Georgie Best.”How many other fanbases sing about a player who has not played for them in almost 50 years? It’s easy to ridicule United’s veneration of its past, the interminable appeals to nostalgia, the decision to appoint an episode of Premier League Years 97-98 as...
Manchester United’s Champions League win against Villarreal was ill-deserved – the team are too open and will be punished for itHow much time does love buy you? That Manchester United fans want Ole Gunnar Solskjær to succeed is understandable. It’s not just that he scored vital goals, it’s that he embodied a golden age. Who would not want a returning hero to restore the club to glory? But wishful thinking will not organise a midfield.The win will part the clouds a little. Solskjær has survived another mini-crisis, but each one leaves him slightly weaker. And this one comes with Cristiano Ronaldo. It may not be fair, given Ronaldo is 36 and, for all his goalscoring ability, increasingly an anachronism, but...
The Villarreal manager had to watch as his goalkeeper went walkabouts and his defender headed into his own net in the 95th minuteOh Mandi. All that and it ended like this, everything falling apart on the stroke of midnight. Sunday became Monday and Atlético Madrid had just taken their 16th corner, their last chance gone, when it happened. Villarreal had not taken any and they had only two shots, compared to Atlético’s 23, but both had gone in and so here they were about to beat the league champions. After 14 attempts, Unai Emery was actually going to defeat Diego Simeone. And then a ridiculous 95th-minute own goal changed everything, leaving those who weren’t falling down falling about.Villarreal led 2-1...
The Villarreal manager had to watch as his goalkeeper went walkabouts and his defender headed into his own net in the 95th minuteOh Mandi. All that and it ended like this, everything falling apart on the stroke of midnight. Sunday became Monday and Atlético Madrid had just taken their 16th corner, their last chance gone, when it happened. Villarreal had not taken any and they had only two shots, compared to Atlético’s 23, but both had gone in and so here they were about to beat the league champions. After 14 attempts, Unai Emery was actually going to defeat Diego Simeone. And then a ridiculous 95th-minute own goal changed everything, leaving those who weren’t falling down falling about.Villarreal led 2-1...
The Frenchman’s assist has put Real Madrid on course for the title, but it wasn’t even the most dazzling piece of skill on an extraordinary weekend in SpainSometimes there’s so much brilliance you don’t even know where to begin, let alone which words to use. Stendhal Syndrome, they call it, which is a disappointingly functional phrase to define those moments when you feel overwhelmed by beauty, and Karim Benzema expressed it better. On the pitch most of all, but off it too. Not when he said pfff – because what else was he supposed to say – but when he smiled, shrugged a little and said: “that’s football.” The afternoon before, Fyodor Smolov had said it too without uttering a...