This article first appeared in the January 2020 issue of FourFourTwo magazine. Subscribe now for less than £3.80 an issue and get £29.97 worth of bookazines!“Don’t get too close…”FourFourTwo is pitchside at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium, where moody darkness and a swirl of lifeless mist make today’s photo shoot a haunting one. But there’s nothing scary about our subject, whose early warning is supposedly for our benefit. “Rough-looking Irishman,” smiles Brendan Rodgers, while attempting to pull off a surprisingly tricky facial expression at our snapper’s behest; a peculiar side-on glance that even the pros struggle to get right. Apparently, he’s a natural. “Now let’s bring a bit of flair into these,” grins Rodgers. He’s getting into it.It’s bitterly cold,...
Wolves went into the second leg against Espanyolin cruise control as they led the tie 4-0 on aggregate.But Nuno Espirito Santo's men had an early scare as their opponents, who sit bottom of La Liga, drewfirst blood.Wolves soon leveled but were behind again before too long thanks to Jonathan Calleri, who scored his second from the spot.The Premier League side pulled it back to 2-2 through Matt Doherty, and the game was suddenly there to be won for Wolves.Neto had the chance to put the game beyond all doubt – and everyone watching was beyond all doubt that he would do exactly that.As the Portuguese winger capitalised on a misjudged backpass,he was offat full throttle, speeding toward the goal. He...
Ten minutes on the clock, 52 playersto guess - that's11from 1968,13from 1999 (they used two subs) and 14 each from 2008 and 2017 (three subs used).Remember to tweet your scores@FourFourTwoand share with your friends - why not send it to a United fan?NOW TRYQuiz! Can you name Jurgen Klopp's top appearance makers for Liverpool? Manchester United have enjoyed some triumphant nights in Europe.In 1968, Matt Busby's side became the first English side to win the European Cup, just 10 years after the tragedy of the Munich Air Disaster.31 years later, the Class of 92 came of age and Ferguson's Red Devils capped off a superb decade with their second European Cup. Ferguson repeated the feat in 2008, beating Chelsea in...
Seven minutes on the clock, 60 clubsto guess.Remember to tweet your scores@FourFourTwoand share with your friends - how quickly did you get 100%?NOW TRYQuiz! Can you name every current Premier League manager? 2019 saw a historic first: adouble ofall-EnglishChampions League and Europa League finalists.We've always known how good our league is. We've produced more European Cup winners than any other nation and if you check down the list - barring the European competition ban of the 1980s - the longest we've gone not seeing a British name in a European final, is just four years.Whether it's the European Cup (later Champions League), the UEFA Cup (later Europa League) or the Cup Winners' Cup (later retired to a home for old...
It was Jose Mourinho that popularisedthe phrase“football heritage”. It was Zinedine Zidane that gave it weight.In three successive seasons, he proved that that history floats. That the name of Real Madrid is too grand notto succeed. That heritage matters; that if all else fails, an established football club triumphs over a newer name, with or without a tactical template.Building a European superpower is more difficult than it looks - just ask PSG. Really, only Roman Abramovich at Chelsea has managed to take a club who'd never won the Champions League and make them look capable of regularly challenging for itin a hyper-competitive era. Arsène Wenger couldn't do it. Tottenham are trying. And let's face it - Manchester City have never...