“The way his first coach tells the story, the kid wasn’t even supposed to be on the pitch. It was his older brother’s game. They were a player short. Salvador Aparicio looked over at the stands and saw a small boy playing by himself, in private communion with the ball. When he asked his mother if he could borrow him, she said he didn’t know how to play football. …”
The Athletic (Video)
“In 2019, Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders waxed lyrical to ESPN about the role of Fabinho in the team, describing him as a ‘lighthouse’. ‘Inside the organised chaos that we want, that we like, he is like a lighthouse, he controls it… His timing, his vision, his calmness, it gives another dimension to our midfield play,’ Lijnders said. His arrival from Monaco in 2018 coincided with Liverpool going from a team that challenged for the top four to one that challenged for titles. Along with Alisson, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, Fabinho helped take Jürgen Klopp’s men to the next level. …”
The Analyst
“The summer transfer window is hotting up. Every team is spending (or preparing to spend) millions of pounds to try and improve ahead of next season, while managers and coaching across England will have put in hours of work to try and find a way to get even more from the players already at their disposal. Each team has a weakness – yes, even Manchester City – that the staff will need to address this summer, either through recruitment or tactical tweaks on the training ground. Here, we have highlighted an area of the game that each Premier League team could do with improving (that they haven’t already addressed) ahead of next season. Read on to see where your team needs to strengthen. …”
The Analyst
“… Martyn Margetson, goalkeeping coach for the England men’s national team and Championship club Swansea City, sighs as he thinks about that question. … The role and profile of goalkeepers has emerged as a hot topic during this summer’s transfer window, bearing in mind that Tottenham Hotspur, Brentford, Brighton & Hove Albion and Burnley have all paid substantial fees to strengthen that position, and it is only a matter of time before another Premier League club, Manchester United, do the same. …”
The Athletic
“They knew this problem would come one day. Yet, for Barcelona, finding the perfect replacement for the legendary Sergio Busquets at the base of their midfield has quickly become about finding the sum of his parts before the new season begins. With Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi off the table for at least another year, Barcelona manager Xavi’s options to play as the ‘pivote’ have thinned. …”
The Athletic
“There were two key questions around Liverpool’s midfield rebuild this summer: which players would comprise it, and which formation was the club buying for? More specifically, would Jurgen Klopp return to his traditional 4-3-3 system or continue with the 3-box-3 set-up in which Liverpool ended the season. The addition of Dominik Szoboszlai appears to have provided more clarity because the 22-year-old looks extremely well suited to the right-sided No.10 role of the box midfield. …”
The Athletic
Where Dominik Szoboszlai could fit in at Liverpool in 3 systems
W – Dominik Szoboszlai
“The long throw can be one of football’s most feared weapons. But thanks to a change in the English Football League rules to combat time wasting, the long throw is at risk. From 2023/24 using a towel to dry the ball before a long throw is banned. But why? Will it really make a difference? Written by Nancy Froston. Illustrated by Marco Bevilacqua.”
YouTube
“When Roy Hodgson returned to Crystal Palace as interim manager in April, the question came up time and again. Would he be prepared to stay on for longer if everything went well? His response was to bat the subject away. Firstly, he did not know how things would go, secondly, he did not know what plans the club had for the future. So in the end he simply wanted to focus on the job at hand. …”
The Athletic
“Petr Čech: 202 Clean Sheets. When Chelsea handed over seven million pounds for a goalkeeper who had played just over 50 games in Ligue 1 for Rennes, a few eyebrows were raised. Especially as Manchester United had paid just £800,000 more four years previously to secure the services of FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship winner Fabien Barthez. But while the Frenchman would only keep 30 clean sheets for the Red Devils, Petr Čech would go on to set the record for the most in Premier League history. …”
The Analyst
“Spain’s Basque Country harbors some of the greatest architects in the world. Mikel Sanz de Prit and César Azkarate are great examples of that, the architects who have designed San Mames, one of the most beautiful stadiums in the world. Another Basque architect, albeit of a different nature, would be Mr. Europa League himself, Unai Emery. A serial European champion, Unai Emery has already built himself an incredible CV, with his most recent success coming with Villarreal, leading the Valencian club to their first ever UEFA Europa League, a title he’s claimed 4 times, 3 with his former club and Villarreal rival Sevilla. …”
Breaking the Lines
W – Unai Emery
YouTube: TACTICAL ANALYSIS | Unai Emery’s 4-4-2 / 6-2-2 Aston Villa tactics
The trader of Seville: Ramón Rodriguez Verdejo, also known as Monchi. Now at Aston Villa.
“Udinese knew about Alexis Sánchez long before he had been called up to play for the Chilean national team. It knew about him before he had played in the Copa Libertadores, before the rest of South America discovered him and before he had caught the acquisitive eyes of Europe’s biggest, richest teams. …”
NY Times
W – Monchi
“After 11 years of Hugo Lloris, Tottenham Hotspur are about to sign a new No 1 goalkeeper. It’s a big moment for the club, especially given Lloris has been the club captain for the past eight of those years. The man tasked with replacing 36-year-old Lloris is the Italian 26-year-old Guglielmo Vicario, who will join Spurs for a fee of £16.3million (€19million). …”
The Athletic (Video)
“You imagine when Channel 4 secured the UK broadcast rights for Nations League football, they had high hopes for its showpiece. The 2023 edition came to a climax last Sunday with the final in Rotterdam, 120 minutes of Spain and Croatia not scoring. It was labelled ‘absorbing’ by one of Channel 4’s Twitter feeds. Eventually, the customary drama of a penalty shootout put the remaining uncertainty of the 2022-23 senior European season out of its misery. …”
The Athletic (Video)
“‘No playmaker in the world can be as good as a good counter-pressing situation!’ – the words of Jurgen Klopp a true advocate of Gegenpressing, the art of swarming the ball player as soon as the ball is turned over.”
YouTube
Counter- or Gegenpressing
“It ends, like it almost always does, in the familiarity of defeat. What else would you really expect when, in the only occupied stand, there is a group of fans named Brigata Mai 1 Gioia? Translation: the ‘Never One Joy Brigade’. When you are a supporter of San Marino, officially the worst international team in the world, it can be useful to have a sense of humour. …”
The Athletic (Video)
“Three weeks on from Everton’s latest relegation escape and the focus is on how long Bill Kenwright will remain chairman of a board with a population of one. Him. Sean Dyche would be forgiven for asking if anyone at the club was listening when he delivered that blunt, honest and overdue appraisal of Everton’s predicament. ‘There is massive amounts of work to be done, not just from me but from everyone at the club,’ the Everton manager said after securing the club’s top-flight status for a 70th successive season with victory over Bournemouth. …”
Guardian
“Kylian Mbappé has outgrown Ligue 1. It’s been evident for a few years now, to be honest. So, it wasn’t all that surprising to hear the news that he isn’t planning on extending his Paris Saint-Germain contract beyond 2024. … The 24-year-old has already achieved more than most will in their whole career. After helping Monaco to the Ligue 1 title in his first full season as a professional in 2016-17, he moved to PSG, where he has won the league in five of his six seasons, only failing to do so in 2020-21. …”
The Analyst
NY Times: Kylian Mbappé Tells P.S.G. He Won’t Extend Contract in 2024
“Footballers don’t tend to indulge in comparisons, but it’s hard not to reminisce when Martin Zubimendi has the ball. His position holds a special place in the history of Spanish football, his subtle technique evocative of the best. Quietly composing each and every move, floating across the pitch, speeding things up and slowing them down, he’s the calm, collected controller of the quintessential Spanish midfield. At 24 years old, his emergence feels timely. Sergio Busquets has bowed out at Barcelona, while Rodri has reached the pinnacle with Pep Guardiola by his side. …”
The Athletic
W – Martín Zubimendi
“It was 5.30am and the sun was already rising by the time the last of Manchester City’s jubilant supporters made it back from the Ataturk Olympic Stadium to the beating heart of Istanbul. This vibrant, enthralling, gloriously chaotic city at the crossroads of the world, where Asia meets Europe in the waters of the Bosphorus, was waking to a new dawn. … Empires rise and empires fall. Istanbul — Byzantium in the days of the Greek empire, Constantinople to the Romans — is the perfect illustration of that. …”
The Athletic
“Manchester City secured the trophy they have been missing and completed a superb treble with a 1-0 victory in the Champions League final against Inter Milan. Rodri broke the deadlock in the 67th minute after Pep Guardiola’s side had found it hard to fashion chances in the first half, during which Kevin De Bruyne had to go off because of a muscle injury. … Celtic 1967, Ajax 1972, PSV 1988, Manchester United 1999, Barcelona 2009 and 2015, Inter Milan 2010, Bayern Munich 2013 and 2020… and now Manchester City 2023. …”
The Athletic
The Athletic – Pep Guardiola: The man behind the genius
BBC – Manchester City: The big numbers behind the Treble (Video)
SI: Manchester City’s Champions League Triumph, Treble Is a Dark Day for Soccer – Jonathan Wilson
Guardian: Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola enters his third age as all-time great – Jonathan Wilson
The Athletic: Manchester City win Champions League for first time, secure treble (Video)
NY Times: Manchester City Appeals Its Champions League Ban and Awaits Its Fate
Rodri scored the winning goal
“Nike gloves. Vapors. Socks pulled above the knee. It’s a look ingrained in millennial culture by Thierry Henry, circa 2003-04, whose on-pitch style personified ‘va va voom.’ You knew you were in trouble if you were faced with an opponent sporting this triple threat. Until then, football socks were very much rolled once at the knee, but Henry’s stylistic tweak gave license for players at all levels of the game to pull them as high as possible. …”
The Athletic
“Chances are you’ve watched a football match or two in your life. Sophisticated and stunningly handsome subscriber to The Athletic that you are, you’re probably pretty good at it. There’s no wrong way for anyone to enjoy the sport. But when it comes to understanding what you’re looking at, it turns out that trying to follow 22 people all doing a hundred different things to influence which way a ball bounces around the pitch is really hard. Coaches and players (and, in our own dumb way, even journalists) spend whole lifetimes learning to watch games better. Maybe you want to, too. …”
The Athletic (Video)
“At the start of Pep Guardiola’s managerial career, he seemed intent on creating the type of team that would have suited him as a player. A slender, technical midfielder who lacked physicality but could spread play calmly, Guardiola’s playing career ended prematurely because football no longer suited his type of player; defensive midfielders at the turn of the century were supposed to be about power and ball-winning ability. …”
The Athletic – Michael Cox (Video)
“Football is dominated now as it never has been before by a handful of superclubs. For many of them, winning their domestic title has come to be regarded almost as a formality. There are vast imbalances within leagues and that, of course, conditions the tactical approach teams take. If you expect to win most games comfortably, everything becomes focused on attacking – which can cause problems for the superclubs on the rare occasions they come up against a team at around their level: they forget not merely how to defend, but also how to fight. …”
Guardian
“Things could go spectacularly well for Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham Hotspur. They could also go spectacularly badly. Where some managers can be considered the safe option, Postecoglou is the opposite. He is extremely talented, a visionary, and can be deeply empathetic. But he is also completely uncompromising. He has an almost evangelical commitment to his principles — mainly that his teams play exciting, attacking football. …”
The Athletic (Video)
W – Ange Postecoglou
“For a long time, 40 points was assumed to be enough for a team to avoid Premier League relegation. In reality, it’s nearly always possible to survive with fewer. But which team has won the least points and still managed to survive? Who is the worst team not to have been relegated? Seb Stafford-Bloor explains, Craig Silcock illustrates.”
YouTube
“… It is as simple as that for Manchester City now: one more match to win, one more trophy to lift. Do that, and they will be treble winners. Their joy at beating Manchester United in the FA Cup final yesterday was there for all to see. Pep Guardiola in tears, the players bouncing up and down arm in arm, physios lifted onto shoulders, turned upside down and spun around. Had this been the last game of their season, it would have meant the world, but with it setting up a shot at history next Saturday in Istanbul, it must mean even more. It feels like their time. …”
The Athletic (Video)
The Athletic – Manchester City 2-1 Manchester United: Analysing FA Cup final’s Gundogan opener, treble talk, ‘keeper comparison’ (Video)
The Athletic – Welcome to Manchester City 3.0: The latest great Guardiola team
“… They give it to you straight around here and when you get to Elland Road, the home of Leeds United, it has that vibe about it: visitors welcome and might be slaughtered. There’s no cheese club in this corner of English football, no stadium skywalk tour or adjoining sports village. Ninety minutes in the West Stand feels more and more like a dare. It is one of the best stadiums in England, in the sense that you don’t get this any more, not at the top of the game. It is Leeds’ comfort zone and no one else’s. …”
The Athletic
“Did the Premier League season pass you by? Can you barely remember what took place before the World Cup? Are you a bit unsure of what happened with Bournemouth? It’s difficult to describe a 380-game campaign concisely. But here is an attempt: all 20 Premier League teams’ seasons summarised in 10 choice matches… ”
The Athletic – Michael Cox
“The 2022-23 season has come to an end, with Manchester City winning the Premier League title for the seventh time in the last 12 seasons – five of those coming in the last six campaigns. Pep Guardiola has now won the title in 11 of his 14 seasons as a top-flight manager across spells in charge of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Man City, with Arsenal forced to contend with second place despite spending 248 days atop the Premier League table – the most by a side not to win the title in English top flight history. With the curtain fully closed on the campaign, our data experts at OptaJoe have picked their Premier League Team of the Season for 2022-23 based on the data. …”
The Analyst
“Time-wasting. By all accounts, a massive waste of time… or a means to an end by which a football team can win a match. There have been several high-profile examples this season of what has felt like inexorably painful bouts of time-wasting. Players dropping to the ground one, two, even three at a time in the closing stages of matches, ‘keepers taking an age with goal kicks… it’s felt extremely common. Because it is common. It basically happens in every single match — and that’s nothing new. …”
The Athletic
“Football has a money problem. Rather than being shaded by money trees, the health of the modern game is being antagonised by the very fabric of its ecosystem. Footballers, fans and clubs are all pawns in the money plays of billionaires and nation-states, attracted by the cash flow of the industry. Without them, without their money, this sport which we schedule our lives around looks like a stranger. …”
Football Paradise
“Kenilworth Road is easy to miss when walking along Dunstable Road, a hub of shops and restaurants to the west of Luton’s town centre. It shows itself at the top of the adjoining streets but is soon hidden again by the houses that man-mark three of its four sides. Luton Town’s home is small enough to be concealed by houses, yet with just one more Luton win, in the Championship play-off final against Coventry City at Wembley this weekend, it will be staging Premier League football. …”
The Athletic
The Athletic: How much is the Championship play-off final worth? Coventry and Luton battle for ‘biggest financial prize in football’
“Coventry City is a win away from a return to the Premier League after beating Middlesborough 1-0 on aggregate in the EFL Championship playoff semi-final. A win against Luton, who were promoted to League One in the 2017/18 season alongside Coventry, in the final dubbed as ‘one for the romantics’ by Coventry manager Mark Robins, would see his team reach England’s top division just 5 years on from promotion out of League Two. Reaching the final is an incredible achievement in its own right, and these are the tactics that got them there. …”
Breaking the Lines
“On the Bundesliga regular season’s final day, Borussia Dortmund suffered a catastrophe for the ages to hand Bayern Munich their 11th straight title. Heading into the 34th and last game of a league campaign that began in the first week of August, Dortmund simply needed to beat mid-table Mainz at home to become champions, or hope second-placed Bayern failed to win away to Cologne, another side with little to play for. …”
The Athletic
NY Times: Dortmund, Bayern and the Chance of a Lifetime
“… It has taken years to finally land on a coherent and convincing style of play. After several false starts, failed launches and beta testing malfunctions, Cholismo 2.0 is here and it looks nothing like it’s predecessor. We are still not even sure if the current iteration of Atlético — post-World Cup Atlético — is the real deal. The tactical change is evident and the results have been promising, but the caveat is they have had nothing to play for since after the World Cup. They were eliminated from the group stage of the Champions League, finishing last in a group made up of Bayer Leverkusen, Club Brugge and Porto. Any whispers of a title challenge were hushed with losses to Villarreal, Real Madrid, Cádiz and Mallorca. …”
The Analyst
“Not only was a World Cup parked midway through this football season but — more importantly — it was a campaign of great change in social-media algorithms. The hunt for engagement has never been so furious. Some of the likes-gathering community have reacted in a dishonest way, shifting to a not-exactly-true model, an impressions-first economy. Given the fact that many millions have consumed this content it feels almost ungracious to confirm that, no, Arsenal were not 11 points clear with a game in hand when they signed Jorginho. And, yes, Ederson has conceded a direct free-kick goal in his career. And no, Trent Alexander-Arnold does not have the second-highest number of goals from direct free kicks in Premier League history. …”
The Athletic
“The year was just a few days old but word of disharmony in the Manchester City camp had spread far and wide. It was even being discussed at other clubs. The start of 2023 was rough for City. Yet they have emerged from that period emphatically, storming to a third straight Premier League title thanks to 11 victories in a row — even if they had Arsenal’s defeat away to Nottingham Forest to thank for getting them over the line. Such has been their resurgence, powered by Erling Haaland’s 36 goals in 33 Premier League appearances, they could lay claim to being the best of manager Pep Guardiola’s great City teams. If they go on to win the treble — Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League — in June, they will go down as one of the best sides in history. …”
The Athletic
The Athletic: The Guardiola gear change – why nobody can match Manchester City in the spring (Video)
The Athletic: Manchester City, Premier League champions*? (Video)
NY Times: At Manchester City, Clinical Success Leaves Outsiders Cold
Guardian: Player ratings for Manchester City’s 2022-23 Premier League title winners
“Imagine that Thomas Tuchel had not been sacked by Chelsea at the beginning of September and that Graham Potter had not been lured from Brighton to replace him. Potter, presumably, would still be in charge at the Amex. Would Brighton’s situation now be better or worse? Would they be heading into Sunday’s game against Southampton sixth in the Premier League table and likely to qualify for the Europa League? …”
Guardian
“When Aston Villa’s push for Europe started to gain serious momentum six weeks ago, the only question was which competition could they qualify for. Somehow, finishing in a top-four spot and playing Champions League football in September was still on. The difficulty was that however slender the six points between themselves in sixth and Newcastle United in fourth place felt, what was to come — a brutal set of remaining fixtures as well as rivals catching up on their games owed — was always likely to leave Villa lagging behind. …”
The Athletic (Video)
“Paris Saint-Germain are seemingly a club in crisis, even though they are currently on top of Ligue 1, as their results this season have been disappointing by their high standards, while rivals like Lens and Marseille are too close for comfort. Fans have recently called for the board to resign, criticising the club’s management for a lack of a sporting vision and poor recruitment, including many over-rated talents and mercenaries. They say that too many players are only in Paris for the money. …”
Swiss Ramble
“For Manchester City and their Abu Dhabi owners, the realisation of their grand footballing project is tantalisingly within reach. Domestic dominance has already been achieved, with City just one win away from securing a fifth Premier League title in six seasons, and now the club are closing in on a first-ever Champions League triumph after they progressed to next month’s final against Inter Milan with a semi-final victory over holders Real Madrid. …”
The Athletic (Video)
The Athletic: Gravity – the inescapable force behind Man City’s push for the treble (Video)
Manchester City were utterly superb, but we should worry
SI: Man City Shows the Real Money Is in Charge Now in the Champions League – Jonathan Wilson
BBC – Manchester City 4-0 Real Madrid (5-1 agg): Pep Guardiola says win banishes ‘pain’ of last year
NY Times: Manchester City Dethrones Real Madrid in a Dominant Champions League Performance
Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez celebrates after scoring his side’s opening goal during the Champions League semifinal second leg soccer match between Inter Milan and AC Milan at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, May 16, 2023.
“Rippling down the Curva Nord, the choreography unfurled by Inter Milan’s ultras before their Champions League semi-final second leg showed a knight in shining armour, his shield pock-marked with arrows, a depiction of Inter’s quest for the holiest of grails. If the knight were to have suddenly animated and taken off his helmet, it would not have come as a surprise to see the face of Simone Inzaghi revealed. He may as well have ridden in on a white charger when he joined Inter two years ago. They were champions of Italy at the time. But they did not look like a club who were going to dominate Serie A in the way Inter did between 2006 and 2010, when five domestic titles in a row culminated in an unprecedented treble. …”
The Athletic (Video)
Guardian: Inter’s Champions League progress built on depth and defensive resilience
Guardian: Lautaro Martínez finishes off Milan to put Inter in Champions League final
“This is a defence of Kenilworth Road, not that it really needs it. Scarcely has the home of a football club needed additional defences less than the fortress-like stadium belonging to Luton Town. A trip there always promises a rowdy atmosphere, character in spades and a healthy dose of fear for the opposition. Following their 3-2 win on aggregate over Sunderland in the Championship play-off semi-finals this week, a tie where the Kenilworth Road faithful played their part dutifully in the second leg, Luton are one win away from the Premier League after a 31-year top-flight absence. …”
The Athletic (Video)
“It was not too long ago that Fabinho’s Liverpool career looked like it was drifting towards an unhappy ending. The Brazilian has barely resembled a shadow of himself during parts of this season and, while being far from the only player struggling, his decline was significant and one of the roots of Liverpool’s collective problems. For years, Fabinho was able to patrol the centre of the pitch from touchline to touchline in front of his team’s defence. The lighthouse, the Dyson — pick your nickname and it explains his responsibilities in Liverpool’s 4-3-3 system. …”
The Athletic (Video)
“When Xavi was made Barcelona manager in November 2021, he found a squad that was lacking in confidence. Barca had not won the league title in two and half years, and there were few signs they would be truly ready to challenge for one again soon. Tough losses in the Champions League had left their mark on a group whose ambition was to compete among the European elite. There was still a sense of trauma around the comeback defeats suffered against Roma and Liverpool, in 2018 and 2019. …”
The Athletic (Video)
“It has to be one of the worst jobs in football. The lucky few are fortunate enough to be called by their first name. The majority are just known as ‘fourth’. One or two, spelt out in reports submitted to the Football Association, are called c***s. Either way, the job description should come with a warning that you are pretty much guaranteed to spend an hour and a half being harangued for decisions which almost always have nothing to do with you. …”
The Athletic
“In the moment of full operatic collapse, the pain of a season of dashed and throttled glory reaching its narrative end point, the Emirates Stadium was treated to the sight of Roberto De Zerbi doing a knee slide. A slightly creaky one but with sufficient momentum to get a little purchase on the lime green early summer turf, fist pumping, head up sedately. Brighton had just gone 3-0 up in this game, playing a lovely, breezy, light kind of pass‑and-run football. …”
Guardian
The Athletic – Roberto De Zerbi’s anti-Arsenal blueprint for Brighton: Be direct, be disruptive
“After losing just three league games in last season’s title-winning campaign, Trabzonspor have endured a dismal and disappointing defence of their first Super Lig title in 38 years. In the ten months separating their league title win with the eventual departure of manager Abdullah Avci, Trabzonspor lost nine league games – more than Avci lost in both the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons. This run was made to look all the worse with Galatasaray racing ahead with a record winning streak in the Turkish Super Lig and leaving the likes of Trabzonspor in the dust. …”
Breaking the Lines
“Manchester City had been in possession of the ball for a minute, no more, but to the denizens of the Santiago Bernabéu, it felt like an hour or more. Pep Guardiola’s team moved it backward and forward and then backward again. It switched it from side to side, sometimes via the scenic route, stopping off to admire the view from midfield, and sometimes taking the express. Real Madrid’s players did not seem especially concerned about this state of affairs. …”
NY Times
“In case anyone needed reminding, scoring goals helps you win games of football. For those who like to dig a little deeper, it is interesting to see how often a team scores goals relative to the opportunities they create. Yes, your team might rocket a 40-yard strike into the top corner from time to time, but how sustainable is that method of attack across a season? That’s right, we’re talking about expected goals (xG). …”
The Athletic
“… Inter may well have learned, but Milan did not. Their first half looked almost identical to the 3-0 Supercoppa loss to Inter in Riyadh in January. They were 2-0 down after 21 minutes that night to goals from Edin Dzeko and Federico Dimarco, as their 4-2-3-1 struggled to cope with Inter’s advancing wing-backs and combative front two. …”
The Athletic (Video)
SI: Inter Dominates Milan Champions League Derby But Fails to Finish the Job – Jonathan Wilson
“If there was a list detailing everything Mohamed Salah brings to Liverpool, it would be a very long one. His goals and remarkable consistency would of course be at the top and, with that, all the records that come his way. The assists he provides would be on there, too, along with his speed and ingenuity. …”
The Athletic
“A stunning strike from Kevin De Bruyne earned Manchester City a 1-1 draw against Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final first leg, after Vinicius Junior had scored from nearly the exact same spot on the Bernabeu pitch before the break. City dominated possession in the first half but it was Real who went in ahead after Vinicius linked well with Eduardo Camavinga and Luka Modric. …”
The Athletic
The Athletic: Stones, Camavinga and why Man City and Real Madrid pushed defenders into midfield – Michael Cox
Guardian – Real Madrid v Manchester City: beauty and parity living on the razor’s edge
The Athletic: Vinicius Jr, De Bruyne and the visceral thrill of kicking a football really hard
The Athletic: The important things for Man City in the Bernabeu were the things that did not happen
BBC: Real Madrid 1 – Manchester City 1
YouTube: Real Madrid vs Manchester City 1-1 | 2023 Champions League | Match Highlights
“The message from the Kop could not have been clearer. ‘You can stick your coronation up your arse,’ came the cry from the most vocal section of Liverpool’s crowd during Wednesday’s home win over Fulham, an echo of the sentiment that had reverberated around Hampden Park in Glasgow a few days earlier courtesy of Celtic fans. It was the latest iteration of Anfield’s long-standing antipathy for the British establishment, and which manifests itself most obviously when Liverpool supporters routinely boo the playing of the country’s national anthem, God Save the King. …”
The Athletic (Video)
The Athletic: Liverpool fans and Jurgen Klopp: Is the love affair as strong as ever? (Video)
The Athletic: Why Liverpool want Jorg Schmadtke as their new sporting director
The Athletic: What would make managers improve behaviour towards officials? We asked some
The Athletic: Virgil van Dijk hails Alisson after Liverpool clean sheet century: ‘I’m very glad he’s my goalkeeper’
“Managers can’t perform magic, although some people seem to think they can. They’re not David Copperfield or Harry Potter. They can’t work miracles or sprinkle some magical dust to make players know how to play football. Spending hours on analysis isn’t very useful. It doesn’t put you in better conditions to win the game. The tactics, the schemes, they’re all bull***t. Of course tactics matter, but players win the game. For 45 minutes at a time, players make their own decisions. Football is a continuous sport in which the coach has barely any influence, less than in any other sport. …”
The Athletic
“The Scudetto is heading to Naples. A lot has happened since Napoli’s last league win in 1989-90. A Diego Maradona-inspired team won that title with 51 points — Serie A had only 18 teams and a win was worth just two points at the time. They were then relegated in 1997-98, came back up at the second attempt before going down again immediately in 2000-01. They even spent two seasons in the third tier before getting back into Serie A for the 2007-08 campaign. …”
The Athletic (Video)
“A place in the final is within touching distance. Manchester City and Real Madrid face off in a Champions League semi-final for the second season running, and you would do very well to predict an outright favourite. In many ways, we are fortunate that we get to witness these two heavyweight teams battle for 180 minutes across two legs as opposed to a single 90-minute final — with a strong case to be made that a final-four tie has produced greater entertainment historically. …”
The Athletic (Video)
“German football is seeking new investment. In terms of international broadcasting revenue they sit behind Serie A, LaLiga and the Premier League. So Deutsche Fussball Liga have created a proposal to bring in more revenue. What is the proposal? How will it work? And why is there such opposition in Germany? Seb Stafford-Bloor explains, Craig Silcock illustrates.”
YouTube
The Analyst – Bundesliga Title Predictions 2022-23: The Final Stages
The Athletic: How Bayern Munich’s Dayot Upamecano became pitch-perfect with operatic training
“For all the similarities between this season’s two Premier League title contenders, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, there’s one obvious difference. It’s a philosophical debate as much as a purely tactical one: does adding one record-breaking individual to your attack actually improve the side overall, or does his brilliance come at the expense of others? …”
The Athletic (Video)
Scissors Kick 