PSV took the Dutch Cup over Ajax on Pens.

Spurs be Spursin'.

Top 4 is probably settled.

Liverpool, Brighton, Villa and Spurs fighting over the remaining three European spots. Though West Ham could make that only two if they win the Conference (which would be a HELL of a signoff from Moyesy).

Leeds falling apart and forgetting the fans. Them, Everton, Leicester and Forest battling over who has to join Southampton in the Champ.

HAPPY DAMN BELTANE!

At a sold-out Emirates. Free to watch on DAZN's Youtube channel.

A depleted Arsenal team from injuries, but they are coming in from a 2-2 comeback away last weekend. Trying to make the final against Barcelona. Arsenal are the only English team to have won the Women's Champions League in the past, did the quadruple that year. But this Wolfburg club has won it twice and might make for a better finals.

The best storyline of May

Hopefully Madrid takes care of the team from that bloated Super League

>PSV took the Dutch Cup over Ajax on Pens.
>
>Spurs be Spursin'.
>
>Top 4 is probably settled.
>
>Liverpool, Brighton, Villa and Spurs fighting over the
>remaining three European spots. Though West Ham could make
>that only two if they win the Conference (which would be a
>HELL of a signoff from Moyesy).
>
>Leeds falling apart and forgetting the fans. Them, Everton,
>Leicester and Forest battling over who has to join Southampton
>in the Champ.
>
>HAPPY DAMN BELTANE!

Orta's gone. Gracia to follow. THAT'S BIG SAM'S MUSIC, KING!!!

god forbid a Red Bull coach doesnt cure world hunger, achieve cold fusion, and discover a new habitable planet in his first calendar year or two at a "prestige" club or in a "prestige" league

so of course Feyenoord (who also hasnt beaten PSV this season) is going to win the league bc PSV dropped like 13 points to teams 13th and below

coolcoolcoolcoolcool

If I'm a Arsenal fan, I take little joy in beating up relegation fodder Chelsea.

Plus, Villa offered a good template of how to push past Newcastle-- I can imagine Trossard and Ødegaard eating in Trippier's general direction on the Arsenal left, which will allow Zinchenko to push forward.

Man, him and Emery runnin things is going to be something spectacular.

Fabrizio all but here we going over this.

Plus RM is my Spanish team so I'm happy about that as well.

i don’t ever recall you joining in on talks, analysis, or overviews
of Madrid games.

And I’m not even snarking

I’m seriously asking

“I might be 68 and look old but there's nobody ahead of me, in football terms - not Pep, not Klopp, not Arteta.

"They do what they do and I do what I do, but in terms of depth of knowledge, I'm up there with them."

God love im.

saying he was looking forward to matching wits with Big Sam when Pep came to Citeh, so....there that for Sam's bona fides? LOL.

to take over from SAF.

https://fourfivetwodotcom.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/the-only-man-for-man-u/

Might have been the move. I mean, Moyes was NOT the move that's for sure.

>Might have been the move. I mean, Moyes was NOT the move
>that's for sure.

well done, heck of a season from them

To go from champions of Europe to the inevitable qualifiers of Europa is
just sad…They deserve better, much better.

Casemiro is only 31, and probably has about 4 more great years in him…
He should have stayed with RM

Cuz he (Casemiro) has been ass juice since he came back from suspension and I'd consider him not getting a red card today (which he should have) as much of win as actually winning the match.

So, yes, I welcome the "too good for Man U Casemiro" to come on down.

If Varane could stay healthy you might be right about him too. Until then...

They go to MU and start running into misfortune?

Varane can’t stay healthy and Case doesn’t look like the best DM in the
world anymore.

so sounds like it's on him and not the team.

personally, i don't even care about this season outside of making top 4.

anything else is extra frosting.

He has never had an incident like the one with Sane, the injury was unfortunate for him, and I get that Tuchel might not want him, but I read something where it was said he 'lacked technical skills'. WTF.

I hope he leaves and returns to burn Bayern down in Champions league.

its an easy life taking seeing eye long balls down the line from andy robertson and driving straight to the goal, or running at the far post for TAA crosses. But Bayern plays through the midfield, rather than over top of it or around it.

this new version of him cant even stay onside. Seriously, google "Mane Bayern offside"

We will not be relegated



Rejoice

Also shout out to DeGea.

https://theathletic.com/4457622/2023/05/04/napoli-serie-a-title/?access_token=963646

Serie A has been the most competitive and entertaining league for 4 years now, 4 different title winners in 4 years with all kinds of storylines.


I wish Maradona alive to see this and Argentina win the WC

cest la vie


When Paolo Sorrentino went on stage to collect the Oscar for Best Foreign Film nine years ago, he wanted to thank his sources of inspiration “Federico Fellini, J.R.R. Tolkien, Martin Scorsese and Diego Armando Maradona.” As a Neapolitan it would be remiss to overlook Lui (Him) and anyway the film director has always claimed “Maradona saved my life.”

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During the glory years, Sorrentino used to beg his father Sasa to let him go and follow Napoli on the road. One Sunday he left their holiday home in Abruzzo to watch Maradona play in Empoli. When Sorrentino returned, he rang the doorbell but no one answered. A neighbour informed him there had been a tragedy. A carbon monoxide leak had killed his parents. D.10.S as Maradona is still known in Naples, God in a No.10 shirt, intervened to prevent him suffering the same fate. The Argentinian has regularly featured in Sorrentino’s work as divinity and artist. “He was my friend even though I never knew him,” Sorrentino said. “He made a gift of his football just as Pino Daniele (the great Neapolitan musician) made a gift of his music and Massimo Troisi (the great Neapolitan comic) made a gift of his cinema.”

Winning the league in the years AD (After Diego, 33 long years ago) has long felt impossible in the absence of a player considered not of this world. It’s why Maradona is venerated as a saint, exhibitions about his life are held in churches rather than museums and fans continue to make a pilgrimage to the murals in the city’s Spanish quarter. The rational is replaced by a magical realism. Superstition is the way.

Napoli, fans
Napoli fans celebrate in Largo Maradona in Naples (Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images)
Sorrentino even deleted a scene from his television series The Young Pope out of scaramanzia. He was worried leaving it in would hex the team. The clip showed Angelo Voiello, the conniving cardinal and incurable Napoli fan, rejoicing a Scudetto under a fountain.

Recent visitors to Naples honestly won’t know what to make of it all. On the balcony of an apartment facing the rebaptised Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, a banner has proclaimed Napoli “Champions of Italy 2022-23” for weeks. Market stalls on via Giulio Cesare have been selling t-shirts showing Vesuvius erupting in the colours of the Italian flag. The entrance to a bar on the corner where Carabinieri sip coffee is now heart shaped and lit with blue LED lights. A tricolour with the No 3 (a third league title in Napoli’s 96-year history) has been fixed to it. They are everywhere, fluttering in the wind like the blue and white streamers strewn overhead in every street in town.

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Any fear at upsetting the cosmos has lifted like a low cloud over the bay. By being 17 points clear at the top of Serie A ahead of last weekend’s round of fixtures this Napoli team has even cured the city of heptadecaphobia, the long held belief as written down in the Neapolitan Smorfia, a book used to interpret dreams and play tombola, that the No.17 brings disgrazia and bad luck. Even Salernitana’s party postponing draw at the Maradona on Sunday did not cause too much despair. Luciano Spalletti looked at it this way: Napoli get to enjoy that winning feeling for longer. It’s what kept them warm in Udine tonight, all the way up there on the Slovenian border; the place where Victor Osimhen scored the title-clinching goal.

Think of this Scudetto as a superstition buster, a masterpiece rather than a miracle touched by the Hand of God. No divine intervention has been necessary.

Napoli’s movie mogul owner Aurelio De Laurentiis will no doubt keep the film rights for his Filmauro studio. His father Luigi and uncle Dino grew up in the shadow of Vesuvius in Torre Annunziata, the last stop before the frozen-in-time Pompeii. Dino produced a couple of Fellini’s Academy Awards-winning flicks as well as Serpico. If you happen to have seen Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood it evokes the time when De Laurentiis’ uncle used to attract US film stars over to Rome where the costs of production were a fraction of what they were in Los Angeles.

Raised in the Eternal City, a passion for Napoli was passed down to Aurelio by his father who took him to games in Fuorigrotta. He long dreamt of buying the club. He tried without success in 1999 a year after Napoli’s traumatic relegation. The whole thing went to court and De Laurentiis reluctantly gave up on the idea. Five years later the club had fallen on even harder times and was in the process of being wound up. De Laurentiis could not believe it. “Wound up?” he said incredulously. “What do you mean wound up?” All of a sudden — un giorno all’improvviso — he had his chance. De Laurentiis abandoned the red carpet and Hollywood boulevard to, as he puts it, be spat at by crowds in Serie C. It was quite the break with what he was used to.

To think one of his films Star Captain and the World of Tomorrow starring Angelina Jolie, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow was in post-production at the time and about to premiere. As he got to work on making Napoli a phoenix from the flames, De Laurentiis warned his actors against any Diva-ish behaviour while he flew back to Italy. He did the deal on the island of Capri with its steep cliffs, dappled in green, plunging into turquoise water. ‘De La’ had promised to meet Danny DeVito while he was there but they never saw each other. He even managed to sneak away from his wife Jacqueline and the kids to work in secret on his football project.

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“Napoli practically no longer existed,” he said. He tried to find a notary on Capri but to no avail. He caught a boat to Naples, lawyered up and paid €32million (£28m; $35m) for the club. All it got him was a stack of papers. All that was left of Napoli was the brand. Nothing else came with the club. It was the first week of September, 2004, the season about to start. “We bought jerseys from the shop on the corner, assembled a team late, and trained on the Ariston pitches in Paestum.” Napoli’s old training ground in the Soccavo neighbourhood of town, nicknamed Paradiso when Maradona practised within its walls — (Heaven) — lay abandoned and destitute. “I didn’t know anything about football,” De Laurentiis admitted. “I came from the film industry. At school I played hoops.”

Victor Osimhen, Napoli
Victor Osimhen celebrates his goal against Udinese (Photo: Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
Napoli were a third division team and lost a play-off to Avellino at the end of his first season. Over the last two decades Napoli fans have watched their team climb back to Serie A, return to Europe after 13 years, play Champions League football for the first time and win the Coppa Italia three times under Rafa Benitez and Gennaro Gattuso. They have bought Pampa Sosa jerseys, made up songs to sing about the Three Tenors, Marek Hamsik, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani, idolised Jesus Datolo for clinching Napoli their first win over Juventus in Turin since 1988, lived vicariously through one of their own Lorenzo Insigne, cursed the traitorous Gonzalo Higuain for joining Juventus the summer he equaled the league’s single-season scoring record and replaced him with adopted son Dries ‘Ciro’ Mertens who became one of their own as well as the club’s all-time top scorer.

None of these teams won the league. Not even the Maurizio Sarri vintage that Pep Guardiola and Arrigo Sacchi tuned in to watch. They came close in 2017-2018 when 91 points was not enough to finish in front of a decade-long dominating Juventus and the view crystallised that if that Napoli team could not do it, then no Napoli could. “In the history of football there are teams that define an era,” Sarri consoled himself. “Everyone remembers the Holland side from the 1970s, not who won the World Cup. I’m convinced people will remember this Napoli team in 20 years’ time.”


Falling short played into old stereotypes about football from Italy’s south where Napoli often played passionate, slick and groundbreaking stuff — notably under Luis Vinicio in 1975 — but lacked the cold blooded, ruthless practicality of the north. In that era, trophies and the manner of victory decided the culture war over Italian football’s identity. It pitched the southern sportswriter Antonio Ghirelli, a Neapolitan, against his disproportionately influential northern counterpart Gianni Brera who, emboldened by Milan and Inter winning the old European Cup playing catenaccio, used his mighty pen to argue that defensive, counter-attacking football was innate and the only way for Italian football to succeed. It was a rejection of the south and Napoli’s style whose lot in football was to be beautiful losers.

Luciano Spalletti’s appointment seemed to conform with that notion. His revolutionary Roma team led the title race for an hour on the final day of the season in 2008 only for Inter to get their act together and break hearts under the pouring rain in Parma. In a second spell at the club in 2017, 87 points and a 29-goal league season from Edin Dzeko were not enough to secure the Scudetto against Juventus. If anyone can relate, it’s Sarri. When De Laurentiis called at Spalletti’s apartment in the Bosco Verticale — Milan’s Vertical Forest — on January 20, 2021, he did so behind the back of Napoli’s then-coach Gattuso who was mired in a bad run of three wins in seven league games. Spalletti was on the pay-roll at Inter but no longer in the dug-out. They had sacked the Tuscan and his staff at a cost of €25.8m just months after rewarding him with a new deal for ending the club’s exile from the Champions League. It was a vote of no confidence in Spalletti’s ability to win the league as Inter’s new chief executive Beppe Marotta ditched him in order to hire Scudetto sure thing Antonio Conte.

Fired insensitively at a time when his brother Marcello had just passed away, Spalletti, who we will profile in greater detail in the coming weeks, withdrew to his farm in Tuscany where he made wine, rode horses and fed his ducks. His mission if he chose to accept it was as follows. “When I first got to know Aurelio he offered me a Napoli in transition,” Spalletti recalled. “The books needed balancing, the squad rejuvenating, we had to get the team back in the Champions League after two years. To get back on track, we were going to have to play good football in order to generate some demand for our players because in the last two years, no one was interested in them because of the results.”


De Laurentiis had, by his admission, gotten carried away during Covid, paying a club record €75m for Victor Osimhen, a transfer still under investigation by magistrates in Naples, without anticipating more lockdowns, new variants and another failure to make top four. Gattuso’s last game ended with the team blowing Champions League qualification at home to a Verona side with nothing to play for on the final day of the season. Holding their destiny in their own hands, Napoli let it slip and the mood in the fanbase fell with it. Spalletti’s hope was to make supporters “fall back in love” with Napoli. He spoke at his unveiling about the team reflecting the city in its style of play; “sfacciata” and “scugnizzo”, happy-go-lucky, cheeky and streetwise, 11 artful dodgers.

LUCIANO-SPALLETTI-NAPOLI
Spalletti arrived to take charge in May 2021 after a chastening time at Inter (Photo: Matteo Ciambelli/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
On the back of the training bibs, Spalletti got the kitman to print the opening lyrics of the chant he liked most from the Curve at the Maradona. “Saró con te / Non devi mollare / Abbiamo un sogno nel cuore / Che Napoli torna campione.” I’ll be there for you. Don’t give up. We have a dream in our hearts. That Napoli are champions again. Already in Spalletti’s first season, they hinted at that. Napoli won the first eight league games. They did not lose until a visit to San Siro to play reigning champions Inter. Piotr Zielinski gave Napoli the lead but things fell apart.

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Osimhen’s eye socket was smashed by Milan Skriniar’s elbow and he spent a couple of months on the sidelines. Three league defeats in a row at the Maradona dampened enthusiasm. The Africa Cup of Nations borrowed Kalidou Koulibaly and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa for most of January, causing De Laurentiis to vent in a fit of pique that he would no longer buy African players unless they promised not to play in the tournament. Expiring contracts proved a distraction as Insigne was pictured signing for Toronto FC in a Roman hotel two days before a Juventus game. Mertens, a fan favourite, found it “strange” the club did not take the option to extend his deal when he had offered to take a pay cut such was his desire to stay.

Top going into March, a 1-0 defeat by bogey team Milan ended Napoli’s challenge. “If we’d won that game I’m convinced everything would have changed,” Mertens said. A weird atmosphere was created. Napoli had not set out to win the league. The objective had been to qualify for the Champions League and they comfortably did so, finishing 15 points inside the top four.

But there was a palpable sense of disappointment and missed opportunity. Spalletti’s beloved Fiat Panda was stolen. A banner left outside the ground told him it would only be returned if he left the club. “It depends on what knick it’s in,” Spalletti tried to joke. “How many miles they’ve put on the clock and what state the tyres are in. If my Pino Daniele CDs are gone I won’t be taking it back.”


Napoli have flair on the field and plenty of flares off it (Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images)
During the penultimate home game of the season, a 6-1 win over Sassuolo, disparaging chants about De Laurentiis were drowned out by fake whistles played over the PA system at the Maradona. Irrespective of De Laurentiis’ role in saving Napoli and all the times he has broken the club’s transfer record for Higuain (€39m), Hirving Lozano (€45m) and Osimhen (€75m), the ultras have always felt he has never spent more than he has had to.

Protests over ticket prices have continued this season. Turning a profit in 10 of his 16 seasons in Serie A has not made him popular. It has created the impression football is first and foremost a business particularly now that football rather than film accounts for 92 per cent of the revenue going through De Laurentiis’ Filmauro studio. As always fans equate cost cutting — Napoli’s wage bill came down by 15 per cent — to a scaling back of ambition and so the summer clear-out at Napoli did not augur well. When Spalletti appeared on stage at the club’s annual summer training camp in the Dolomites, fans heckled him. “Wake up!” they shouted. “Shut it!” he replied. “Get him over there to shut it, will you?”

Spalletti was listing the players that left. His first choice goalkeeper David Ospina, the flying (but grounded by injury) left-back Faouzi Ghoulam, an exquisite midfielder and long range shooter in Fabian Ruiz, and club legends like Il Kommandante Koulibaly, Lorenzo Il Magnifico Insigne and Mertens who had touchingly named his baby boy Ciro as a gesture of his affection for Neapolitans.

“No one believed in us,” De Laurentiis said. “Maybe a few people did but not enough to go against the tide of popular opinion and dissatisfaction with our transfer window. Almost no one knew any of the guys we were signing.” There was Kim Min-jae, a centre-back from Fenerbahce, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, a winger from Dinamo Batumi, who has been the revelation of this season in European football. “A Georgian and a South Korean. It sounded like the start of a joke,” De Laurentiis laughed.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
Kvaratskhelia, the Georgian winger, has been one of the best players in Europe this season (Photo: Francesco Pecoraro via Getty Images)
Instead of walk into a bar, these guys raised it. Napoli broke the league. The chasing pack stayed with them until October but could not keep up. Eight points was the gap at the World Cup break and it became double digits at the half way mark. Any concern over a 1-0 defeat by Inter in the first game back after the World Cup break was allayed by the biggest win over Juventus since 1990, a memorable 5-1 demolition. Napoli were in a league of their own and found themselves closing in on records held by the Grande Torino of the late 1940s for the winning margin and games to spare at the point of being confirmed champions.

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The competition needed to be at its best but were all over the place. Holders Milan were unable to match the pace they set last year which was still slower than that needed to go wheel-to-wheel with Napoli. Inter lost the league on the final day last year and were expected to be better after bringing Romelu Lukaku back. But they regressed in Serie A. Scandal caught up with Juventus. For a city used to struggle this season has been hassle-free. They have not needed a rebel leader to stand up for them against the discrimination Naples has faced, another Masaniello or Maradona. They haven’t needed a miracle. Being exceptionally good at football has been enough.

When Napoli decided to move on from Koulibaly, Insigne and Mertens they let go of the emotional baggage gathered in league titles lost. This new Napoli possessed a freshness, a fearlessness, the element of surprise. The team continued to be Serie A’s best defence but went about it differently. With Alex Meret between the sticks Napoli’s goalkeeper played out from the back less than Ospina. The back four courageously kept a higher line and took on more responsibility for playmaking. Mario Rui, who looks like an extra from a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, has often figured as a No 10 at left-back. “Have you seen Kim?” Spalletti asked legendary centre-back Giorgio Chiellini. “He’s an animal. When he senses danger he’s able to speed up everything he does. He always wants to play. At Castel Volturno I have to stop him joining in the game our reserves play.” He’s “the best centre-back in the world” in Spalletti’s opinion.


Kim, the South Korean centre-back, has been compared to Chiellini by Spalletti (Photo: Giuseppe Maffia/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The midfielders complement each other perfectly. Napoli are the only team in Italy that average more than 60 per cent possession and play more than 600 passes per game. Giving the ball to the diminutive Slovak Stanislav Lobotka is like putting it in a safe. “He gives us the chance to attack the spaces,” Spalletti said. “He’s like Iniesta. He looks easy to catch but then he gets away from you and he accelerates.” How Napoli attack this season has changed. Last year, players like Insigne and Ruiz tended to curl goals in from distance. Only Man City (15) scored more from outside the box than Napoli (13). This year, attempts from long range are down 20 per cent and only Kvaratskhelia has scored a single, solitary screamer.

The explanation? First of all, Kvaratskhelia dribbles differently to Insigne. He is ambidextrous and so rather than cutting inside and shaping to shoot on his right, the Georgia winger drives into the area and looks to tease a foul or work an opening closer to goal. Second, if you have a striker like Osimhen who has the acceleration and telescopic limbs to get in behind and the height Mertens lacked to win everything in the air, is it any wonder crosses are up nearly 30 per cent on last season. Seventeen of Napoli’s goals in Serie A have been headers. Opponents are asked to pick their poison. Sit deep and Napoli will either get Kvaratskhelia to dribble past you, find a line-breaking pass, or toss it up in the air for Osimhen. Press them high and they will go long for the Nigerian to chase down. You are never safe. Napoli have even scored 22 goals from set-plays.

When Osimhen, who will become the first African ever to be crowned Capocannoniere, has not been fit it largely has not mattered. Substitutes have come up with 15 goals this season. Big ones too. When Osimhen went off against Liverpool in arguably Napoli’s first statement performance of the season, Giovanni Simone came on and scored. He got the winner at San Siro against reigning champions Milan too. Giacomo Raspadori came to the fore in the 6-1 shellacking of Ajax in Amsterdam and, most memorably of all, got the title celebrations underway with a stoppage-time winner in Turin on April 23 as Napoli did the double over Juventus for the first time since 2009-10. The reception on their return to Capodichino in the early hours of Monday morning offered a glimmer of the delirium awaiting them once the title race is mathematically over.


A fleet of mopeds followed the bus home like a swarm of wasps in the slipstream of their queen. A mock funeral was held for all the other teams in Serie A, the scarves of Milan, Inter and Juventus laid across a coffin. Much delight was taken in Milan’s technical director Paolo Maldini and Juventus’ coach Max Allegri getting so ruffled by Napoli winning the league. “Well done,” Allegri was overheard shouting last weekend. “You’ve managed to win one Scudetto.” But one Scudetto in Naples is worth 10 in Turin and the city will party all summer long.

“Don’t come,” my taxi driver Marco recommended when I was in town for the Champions League quarter-final again Milan. “You won’t be able to walk or breathe.” Not everyone has followed that advice. Police in Naples have already arrested a fugitive from Georgia who risked capture in order to see Kvaratskhelia play in person.

Nicknamed Kvaradona, his approximation with Diego has been amusing. During Maradona’s seven years in Naples, 515 newborn babies were named Diego. One of Kvaratskhelia’s team-mates, the German midfielder Diego Demme, was named after him too. The same thing is happening to Kvara now. Earlier this month, Napoli fans Armando and Clara had a baby boy at the Santa Patrizia clinic in Naples. They looked into his eyes and thought the name that suited him best was Daniele Khvicha. As for Osimhen, he has inspired Naples’ pastry chefs and cooks into new creations while the lucky mask he no longer needs after recovering from surgery on his cheek bone has been blown up in cardboard and fixed to a washing line over some streets, bestowing good fortune on anyone who walks under it.

Lately every day in Naples has felt like waiting Christmas Day. They have known it has been coming for months. All the decorations have gone up. “Napule è mille culure,” as Pino Daniele sang. A city of a thousand colours including the red, white and green of the Scudetto. De Laurentiis may even see the family’s other club, Bari, earn promotion. “I’m amazed everyone is getting so excited,” De Laurentiis said. “Napoli have always put together extremely competitive teams. I didn’t say the strongest, I meant the most honest.”

The “great northern machine that spurs teams from the north on” as evoked by Roberto Saviano, the great Neapolitan investigative journalist who has been under police protection ever since his reporting into Neapolitan organised crime came to light in the book Gomorrah, never got going. Nor did the World Cup break disrupt Napoli’s rhythm. Only five members of this eclectic squad were in Qatar anyway. Napoli stayed hungry. “Today I saw something I’ve never seen in all my life,” Spalletti observed in genuine astonishment after his team beat Sassuolo in February. It was the photograph of a Scudetto-winning team and it captured the commitment and desire his players showed to stop a counter attack from their own corner. No one wanted this Scudetto more.



For a new generation, this group of players has emulated Maradona without any Ma-Gi-Ca (as Maradona, Bruno Giordano and Careca were known). With no recourse to the super natural. When Maradona skippered Napoli he seemed paranormal.

The club’s captain this time around, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, could not, on the other hand, be any more more normal after playing at every level of Italian football. He was even made redundant when Matera went bust. A great director like Sorrentino can now count on new sources of inspiration. If he wishes he can dedicate his next Oscar to Kvaratskhelia or Osimhen. “No city loves its heroes like Naples,” Spalletti said at his unveiling. “My team and I would like to be remembered by the people. That’s what I’d like.” And that is what they have ensured.

(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Sam Richardson)











>PSV took the Dutch Cup over Ajax on Pens.
>
>Spurs be Spursin'.
>
>Top 4 is probably settled.
>
>Liverpool, Brighton, Villa and Spurs fighting over the
>remaining three European spots. Though West Ham could make
>that only two if they win the Conference (which would be a
>HELL of a signoff from Moyesy).
>
>Leeds falling apart and forgetting the fans. Them, Everton,
>Leicester and Forest battling over who has to join Southampton
>in the Champ.
>
>HAPPY DAMN BELTANE!

just gotta beat Spurs on Saturday.

maybe a Europa league spot by that pt only.

MacAllister too, but he looks like a City or Liverpool player

I honestly can’t remember last time I saw that

cool.

Courtois should have stopped that KDB shot.

guru, enjoy the finals

>guru, enjoy the finals


Grazie mille fratello

I'm certainly conditioned to expect a sponsor's name plastered in the middle, but something about that empty space just looks preseason-grade to me. Would love to get used to it though

>

What a week , spent the last 4 days in Aruba w my girl and family, celebrated my bday yesterday and Inter win today

Life is good , Man City and Madrid DO NOT scare me one bit

Beating Milan 4x in a season is amazing enough

https://theathletic.com/4508884/2023/05/11/inter-milan-tactics-champions-league/


“We know what derbies are, we’ve played seven in 20 months,” said Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi pre-match.

“We’ve won or lost, they’re derbies that can give us important ideas, at the same time we know that each match is unique. There will be times when we’ll be more attacking and others in which we will be more defensive.”

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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.

It was déjà vu in the Champions League semi-final first leg on Wednesday as Dzeko opened the scoring and Dimarco played a key role in the second as Inter raced into a 2-0 lead inside 11 minutes. They are only the fourth team to take a two-goal lead that early in a Champions League semi-final.



Stefano Pioli’s biggest selection headache was coping without injured left-winger Rafael Leao, but his decision to stick with a 4-2-3-1 was confusing for three reasons.

First, Milan’s success in the last two rounds (conceding just one goal in four games against Napoli and Tottenham Hotspur) came from matching up their opponents, a 3-4-2-1 against Tottenham, and a 4-1-4-1 which kept Napoli’s 4-3-3 that has just won the Scudetto quiet.

Second, Inter are tactically predictable, a 3-5-2 with advancing wing-backs that look for wide overloads and early crosses, which defends as a flat back five and has a fairly fixed front two of Dzeko and Lautaro Martinez.

Third, Pioli said pre-match: “We need to take into account that this tie is played over 180 minutes”, and given the absence of dangerman Leao, a more defensive approach to ensure they were well in the tie would have made more sense.



Inter’s build-up
After the game Pioli said Inter were “more precise technically, better at winning the duels and second balls”, but a lot of their success in individual battles was facilitated by the system.



Inside the first 90 seconds of the game Inter found a way to exploit Milan’s pressing scheme. They defended out of a 4-2-3-1, which gave Olivier Giroud little support in the press — as the wingers were deep, having to consider the positioning of the Inter wing-backs — and the central midfielders tightly marked Inter’s midfield three.



Here, Nicolo Barella and Hakan Calhanoglu drop deep, bringing Ismael Bennacer (who went off injured early, but Milan’s approach stayed the same) and Rade Krunic with them.



This opened space for goalkeeper Andre Onana to play direct to Dzeko, who dropped deep to assist his team in the build-up phase.



Dzeko (6ft 4in) had the better of Fikayo Tomori all game, with Inter two-v-two against Milan’s centre-backs, though on this occasion his pass to wing-back Denzel Dumfries is misplaced.



Dzeko scores the opening goal, from a corner, which originated from a wide free kick, won by the striker.

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At the start of that sequence, Inter are trying a different build-up approach, with central centre-back Francesco Acerbi pushing forward, pinning Giroud deeper.



Inter build short down the left and recycle, but Giroud is isolated because Alexis Saelemaekers cannot overcommit given Dumfries’ positioning on the right, and Brahim Diaz has moved inside to cover Calhanoglu.



Here Diaz is gesturing for someone to cover the pass to left wing-back Dimarco — Milan’s ‘wingers’ were constantly trying to defend two players at once, and Inter had few issues playing out.



Once more they skip the midfield and go direct to Dzeko.



The Milan centre-back Simon Kjaer has moved tight to Lautaro, so Dzeko is again isolated against Tomori.



And the England international resorts to fouling him.



At 2-0, Inter spent most of their time attacking in a 4-3-3 — Dumfries pushed much higher and Matteo Darmian became the right-back, which pinned Saelemaekers.





Milan had no answers, and Inter easily accessed their wing-backs. Here Alessandro Bastoni found Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who bounced a pass wide to Dimarco.



Right-back Davide Calabria presses him, and Milan’s central midfield marking has left space for Calhanoglu to run into…



Dzeko beats Tomori in the air and flicks Dimarco’s pass onto Calhanoglu, who ends up losing possession, but Inter were fantastic at not making build-up errors — which Milan did — and consistently got into Milan’s half.



Inter’s pressing
Inter kept their seventh clean sheet of the Champions League campaign against Milan, their fourth in five knockout round games.

An early injury to Bennacer and the absence of Leao made Inter’s defensive task simpler, but Milan asked significantly fewer questions. They had played a 4-2-3-1 in the 4-0 win away to Napoli in Serie A last month, making a functional back three in-game by dropping central midfielder Krunic deeper.

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They made no such rotations against Inter, consistently building with a back four and double pivot. Their No 10 Diaz looked to roam laterally but Inter always had a spare centre-back ready to step out and mark him. At times, Dzeko would drop in to make a 5-4-1 for Inter rather than a 5-3-2.





Even after an hour, Milan’s approach was the same: recycle the ball across the back four, get boxed into wide areas by Inter’s wing-back and central midfielder pressing pair, then eventually play long towards Giroud.





Inter were not just better in both boxes but between them — it was not a sit-back-and-absorb 2-0 win. They smartly tweaked their shape to press with a 3-1-4-2, pushing both wing-backs forward to press Milan’s full-backs.



Rather simply, this matched Milan’s 4-2 build-up shape with a 4-2 press, admittedly leaving four-v-four at the back, but Inter had aerial advantages.



With Milan’s central midfielders inaccessible and full-backs redundant, Inter would press with a wing-back and outside central midfielder to make a two-v-one, Pioli’s side were forced to play long.

Here Tomori, out of short options, fails to find a forward.



Darmian makes the regain and Inter have the ball in the Milan half.



It was the same 3-1-4-2 press that forced the Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan to play long in the build-up to the second goal.



Between the grabs, Sandro Tonali has moved away and been replaced by Krunic, tracked by different Inter midfielders.



This shows where Inter could be exploited, leaving a four-v-four at the back. Giroud wins the aerial duel but fails to flick it on, instead heading it back toward the halfway line.



The recovering Barella collects the ball, and immediately pops it in behind for Dimarco.



Milan’s back four is exposed and Dimarco has multiple options: Dzeko is in position for an early cross, Lautaro is in space to pass for feet, and wing-back Dumfries is locking off the back post.

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Instead, Dimarco picks out Mkhitaryan’s run from deep.



Mkhitaryan waltzes through the remaining Milan defence, none of whom press him as they are all marking other players, and keeps his composure, lifting the ball past the diving Maignan.

This win is Inter’s third of the season against Milan. They have beaten their ‘cousins’ twice in cup competitions (also the Supercoppa) and once in Serie A.

It is the first time since 1994-95 they have three derby wins in a singular season and after their performance in the semi-final first leg, Opta’s prediction model gives them a 95 per cent chance of reaching the final for the first time since 2010.

With their impressive cup record under Inzaghi — they won the Coppa Italia last season and are in the final this time round against Fiorentina — they could prove way more than a support act in a Champions League final.

https://theathletic.com/4507684/2023/05/11/inter-ac-milan-champions-league-analysis/



How Inter embraced their ‘Nazionale’ stars to put Milan in their place

MILAN, ITALY - MAY 10: FC Internazionale players celebrate at the end of the UEFA Champions League football semi final first leg match AC Milan vs FC Internazionale in Milan, Italy on May 10, 2023 (Photo by Piero Cruciatti/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
By James Horncastle
May 11, 2023
38

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Federico Dimarco could have been a greengrocer. His father Gianni still gets up at the crack of dawn to sell fruit and veg in Milan’s Porta Romana neighbourhood. Lifting the shutters must have been a sweet experience this morning. He probably reminisced on the times he took his boy to watch Inter at San Siro. Dimarco was six when a Derby della Madonnina was also a Champions League semi-final. He was at San Siro for it, too.

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“As an Inter fan, I don’t have the fondest of memories,” Dimarco said. His team went out on away goals that night in 2003 and, to compound his misery, Milan finished the job and went on to win the trophy. Dimarco never thought he’d get a chance to set things right. But on Wednesday night, he climbed the stairs leading up to the pitch at San Siro and must have had goosebumps as the Champions League music blared out of the sound system.

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“It’s an unbelievable feeling to think I was here 20 years ago to watch a semi-final and now I’m playing in one.”

The 7,000 Inter ultras looked down and saw one of their own. Dimarco stood with them as a teenager. When Inter won the Coppa Italia last season and then the Super Cup, on both occasions he grabbed a megaphone and led the travelling fans in song.

go-deeper
GO DEEPER

Inter were made from AC Milan. Never forget that - The story of the Milan derby

“This isn’t a derby. It’s the derby,” Inter coach Simone Inzaghi said on the eve of the game. No one knew that better than Dimarco. Milano born and raised, he’s steeped in it. The 26-year-old’s cut-back for Henrikh Mkhitaryan clinched Inter a 2-0 win that should have been more. It was Dimarco’s fifth assist in the Champions League this season. Only Vinicius Junior can match him.

On the face of it, Inter’s triumph felt quintessentially Internazionale. They opened the scoring via a corner kick. A Turk, Hakan Calhanoglu, whipped a ball in for a Bosnian, Edin Dzeko. “It was a scheme we practised this morning,” the veteran striker revealed. Not long afterwards, Mkhitaryan, an Armenian, doubled Inter’s advantage as the self-proclaimed ‘Brothers of the World’ raced into the earliest 2-0 lead a Champions League semi-final has experienced in 14 years.


But under Inzaghi, this club — a club that, in 2006, became the first Serie A team ever to send out a starting XI made up entirely of foreign players — has felt more Nazionale than Internazionale.

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Five Italians started against Milan. Alessandro Bastoni, the left-sided centre-back with a tattoo of San Siro on his right calf, sent Dzeko through one-on-one with Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan in the second half; a gilt-edged chance to bury the tie regretfully spurned. Next to him, Francesco Acerbi did not get the run around from Olivier Giroud in the way Fikayo Tomori and Simon Kjaer did from Dzeko at the other end.

Acerbi is one of Inzaghi’s trusted lieutenants. He joined on loan from Lazio on the final day of the transfer window to little enthusiasm as he was neither Gleison Bremer, the Serie A Defender of the Year who left Torino for Juventus and not Inter, and because the dithering over bringing in the 35-year-old underlined how reluctant a financially distressed club was to add to its wage bill. Completing Inter’s all-Italian back three was the versatile Matteo Darmian, who delivered a heroic performance away in Porto in the round of 16.


Inter’s Matteo Darmian challenges Divock Origi (Photo: Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
As with Dimarco, both Acerbi, Darmian (and Calhanoglu) know what this rivalry is about, but for different reasons. Darmian was an Inter fan who came through Milan’s academy. “When I was doing my first trials for Milan in 2000, the youth coaches asked us all to name our favourite players and I said (Clarence) Seedorf who, back then, was playing for Inter.”

Acerbi, on the other hand, was signed by Milan from Chievo when he was 24 and was hyped as the new Alessandro Nesta. The club even gave him Nesta’s old No 13 shirt. But it was too much, too soon. “I didn’t think like a professional,” Acerbi confessed. “I’d often go to training tipsy without sobering up from the night before. Physically I was fine because I’ve always been strong. All I needed was a few hours’ sleep and I could still perform on the pitch.”

Testicular cancer changed him. Twice Acerbi came back from it and the experience gave him a greater appreciation for how short life and careers can be. The potential Milan identified in Acerbi went on to be fulfilled at Lazio and Inter. The centre-back has had to fight to make it to this level. The same goes for Dimarco.


Inter’s Federico Dimarco (Photo: MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)
Inter have tended to take a short-termist approach with academy graduates like him. If sold, homegrown players represent all profit and there was a time when Inter regularly cashed in on their kids in order to balance the books for FFP purposes. Dimarco was one of them. Inter sold him to Sion in Switzerland for €3.5million and included a buy-back clause for double, which they exercised before sending Dimarco out on loan. The wonder goal he scored against them for Parma was enough to persuade Inter to bring him back and he hasn’t disappointed.

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Dimarco was the one who set up Calhanoglu’s winner against Barcelona in the group stages and he made sure to lay on another couple of assists in the quarter-final just as things were getting nervy against Benfica. The man of the match that night was Nicolo Barella, the midfielder Romelu Lukaku nicknames ‘Radiolina’, as having him around is like having the radio on 24/7.

These are the players Inzaghi has turned to when the going got tough this season. Inter have lost 11 league games, the most in 12 years, and regardless of reaching another Coppa Italia final and a Champions League semi-final, their coach has often appeared on the brink of the sack. Inzaghi’s solution has been to put his faith in a quintet of players who know what it takes to get the job done in Serie A, not to mention what it means to play for Inter.



His substitutions on Wednesday night spoke volumes (and highlighted Inter’s re-emerging depth). Two-nil up, Inzaghi brought on Stefan de Vrij, Marcelo Brozovic and Lukaku — the spine of Antonio Conte’s Scudetto-winning team. Inzaghi deserves credit for transitioning this team. He dropped his captain Samir Handanovic for Andre Onana. Darmian replaced the injured Milan Skriniar, who has been marginalised ever since he decided he will join PSG on a free in the summer. Dimarco, meanwhile, stepped into Ivan Perisic’s boots and held off competition from the brittle Robin Gosens.

Wednesday’s win was Inter’s sixth in a row in all competitions. Inzaghi’s reputation as a cup specialist and knack for delivering in the big games has been enhanced further. When it’s a derby and a semi-final, he tends to come out on top. That was the case when Lazio knocked Roma out of the Coppa Italia semis in 2017 and Milan last year, too. In elimination games, he is to coaching what his brother Pippo was to goalscoring. Inter severely bruised Milan as they did in the Super Cup in Riyadh, bashing the likes of Brahim Diaz off the ball, intent on showing their cousins who is boss. “We weren’t aggressive enough,” Milan coach Stefano Pioli said.

As Inter’s fans left San Siro towards midnight, they lit a few more flares and sang one of their favourite songs. The lyrics are about Milan acting tough but never fighting, talking the talk without walking the walk, “idiot Bandito from the (Curva) Sud,” what an imagination you have. It’s a song Dimarco sings. A song one of the most Italian Inter sides in recent memory knows off by heart.

(Top photo: Piero Cruciatti/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

https://theathletic.com/4507368/2023/05/10/milan-0-2-inter-result-champions-league/




Inter beat Milan 2-0 in one of the most one-sided Champions League semi-finals in recent memory.

In a first half that left Milan shell-shocked, Inter dominated from start to finish. An expertly guided volley from Edin Dzeko opened the scoring in the eighth minute, swiftly followed by a sucker-punch second from Henrikh Mkhitaryan just three minutes later.

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Things could have been even worse for Milan but for the intervention of the VAR to overturn a penalty awarded to Inter after a foul from Simon Kjaer on Lauaturo Martinez.

The second half wasn’t quite as intense, with neither side managing to score.

Seb Stafford-Bloor, Mark Carey and Liam Tharme analyse the key talking points…

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Milan should have played a back three
“We know what derbies are, we’ve played seven in 20 months,” said Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi pre-match, “We’ve won or lost; they’re derbies that can give us important ideas. At the same time, we know that each match is unique.”

Inter might have learnt from their three meetings against Milan this season, but Stefano Pioli’s side had not. Overlooking the absence of Rafael Leao, it was surprising to see Milan stick with the 4-2-3-1.



They had matched up Tottenham (3-4-2-1) and Napoli (4-3-3) in the last two rounds, conceding just once in those four games, and tweaked to a 3-5-2 when Inter won 1-0 in February. That was shortly after being embarrassed 3-0 in the Supercoppa in Riyadh, where they played a 4-2-3-1 and were picked apart in an almost identical first half.

Inter adjusted to press Milan’s back four and double pivot with a 3-1-4-2, pushing both wing-backs high. With the ball, left wing-back Federico Dimarco kept overloading Milan’s back four, notably in the build-up to the second goal.

Dzeko and Lautaro competed excellently against Fikayo Tomori and Kjaer, who would have benefitted from an additional centre-back for support.

Milan’s midfield three man-marked Inter’s three central midfielders tightly, but rather than play through, Inter dragged Milan’s midfield wide to open passing lanes straight to Dzeko and Lautaro, or found wide combinations where Milan were outnumbered.

Liam Tharme

Dzeko’s experience shines
Ten years ago, the quickening pace of the game suggested that the days of the wily, veteran forward were numbered. Not so. In fact, is there a more precious commodity to a certain type of team?

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Even before his goal, Dzeko took a 60-yard diagonal on the chest and bought a cheap free-kick inside the Milan half. A minor moment, maybe, but a sly bit of play that helped Inter gather some early momentum and find their footing.

And the goal? Well. That was the work of a player who knows how to manoeuvre his marker, understands how to keep him off-balance, and is so assured of his technique that he can worry about all of that while executing a ludicrously difficult roundhouse volley to absolute perfection.



It’s interesting, though, because as the game has become quicker — more immediate, more literal — the easier it has become to appreciate the method within the chaos. For instance, while Mkhitaryan may have scored the second goal and certainly timed his run into that yawning gap to perfection, it was Dzeko’s movement that helped create that chasm, his dash to the near-post parting the Milan centre-backs.

It was so knowing and wise. There are times when you watch forwards like him and you wonder whether they might just play on forever, always enjoying these incalculable little advantages.

Seb Stafford-Bloor

Inzaghi, and Inter, are at it again
Inzaghi absolutely loves cup competitions — there are certain clubs around Europe that ought to be looking at him.

As a player at Lazio, he only won the Scudetto once (1999-2000) but was a three-time winner of the Coppa Italia (1999-2000, 2003-04 and 2008-09), twice lifted the Supercoppa (2000 and 2009) and won the UEFA Super Cup (1999) too.



His Inter side are developing quite the reputation for being a cup side. They beat Milan 3-0 in January to secure the Supercoppa, a trophy they won last season as well, having also secured the Italian Cup. Admittedly, their final-day second-place finish to Milan in Serie A clouded those titles somewhat, but their first-half performance this evening at the San Siro — technically the away side — was as effective as they come in knockout football.

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A compact block defensively, dropping into a flat back five (from which they transitioned at lightning speed), Inter were threatening at set pieces and adjusted their shape to build out and press Milan’s 4-2-3-1. Their ceiling is not ridiculously high — Inter have won 20 and lost 11 of their 34 league games — but they have a higher floor than most teams. There are few (if any) glaring weaknesses.


They give up chances of low quality and can score a variety of different goals from varied methods of attack — and from numerous players. Hakan Calhanoglu is Inter’s fifth player with multiple Champions League goals this season.

Liam Tharme

Milan’s key strength is nullified
Even a pessimistic Milan fan wouldn’t have quite envisaged how badly Pioli’s side were going to start the game.

In the opening 18 minutes, Inter had already had five shots on goal — the same amount they had in the whole of their 1-0 win over Barcelona during the group stage of this season’s Champions League.

It is never easy for any team to chase a tie from a losing position, but this will be particularly difficult for a Milan side that thrives off counter-attacking play.

Before tonight, Milan’s 42 direct attacks — a possession that starts in a team’s defensive half and ends with a shot or touch inside the opposition box within 15 seconds — in this season’s Champions League was more than any of the semi-finalists in the competition.

However, they need the space to exploit in order to implement this — and an organised 3-5-2 block from Inter was unlikely to ever afford them that space. In the first leg, they didn’t manage a single direct attack against their city rivals.

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Sure, it doesn’t help that the bulldozing Leao was not fit enough to play and drive Milan upfield, but Inter have given themselves the advantage in the tie and nullified one of Milan’s greatest strengths in the process.

Mark Carey

A throwback two-man striker pairing
If you’re older than 30, centre-forwards are supposed to come in pairs. Except they don’t really any more, after that second forward was offered up to the gods of possession and defensive control.

So what a joy Dzeko and Lautaro are: a renaissance combination, who have been excellent this season under Inzaghi, but who Milan unfortunately found in perfect harmony.

My colleague Liam Thame made the point during the game that they don’t really contrast with one another. He’s right. They’re not Michael Owen and Emile Heskey or Dennis Bergkamp and Ian Wright. Rather, they complement each other in the sense that they mirror one another’s abilities: they overlap.


Dzeko celebrates with Lautaro (Photo: GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP via Getty Images)
Martinez was asked about the partnership before the game, and he perfectly described what makes it so difficult to defend against.

“With Edin, we keep a close eye on each other and adjust depending on the situation. I am learning a lot from both of them (Dzeko and Lukaku).”

In other words, the roles are fluid. It showed in the most recent Milan derby, which Inter won 1-0 with a close-range header from a set-piece. You’d assume Dzeko scored, but it was Martinez — and that characterises how difficult it must be to play against them. They can both finish, create and move. It makes them a nightmare for defenders.

Dzeko’s contribution to the first two goals has been covered, but watch Martinez as the move for the second builds. When Dimarco cuts the ball back across the box and the Bosnian is heading for the near-post to drag the defenders away, Martinez is actually watching him rather than the ball. He was aware enough to know that Mkhitaryan was well-positioned behind him, but quick enough to process the disruption that Dzeko was causing and also smart enough to capitalise upon it with a little feint.

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This was billed as the also-ran semi-final; the afterparty for anyone not left satisfied by Real Madrid and Manchester City.

Well, not on that advance. It was throwback football, in a way — a callback to a different era — but it was a play that absolutely belonged to a Champions League semi-final.

Seb Stafford-Bloor

An atmosphere to suit the occasion
Play the Champions League music and then crank Brian Moore up to 11. That’s what nights like this are supposed to look and sound like.

Different clubs have different relationships with UEFA. Fine, each to their own conspiracy theory.


Milan supporters’ tifo ahead of the game (Photo: Giuseppe Maffia/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
But without passing judgement on the politicised nature of the Champions League and what its future may be, the obvious reverence for it here — for what the European Cup has always meant — was a welcome change of mood. The galaxy of stars at pitchside and the reminder of this rivalry’s many yesterdays just added more gravity to an occasion which only seemed to swell as kick-off approached.

When you talk to professional players and ask them what it’s like to play in the most raucous grounds, they usually say that either all the atmosphere gets lost in their periphery or that it’s so loud that they can’t even communicate with their teammates on the pitch. This looked like it was both. The pitch would have been framed by a great blur of colour and noise. Being on it, however, must have been like playing within a soundwave.


(Photo: Piero Cruciatti/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
That’s football, right? That’s where you imagine yourself as a child when you dream of playing the game: scoring goals when it matters, but always in stadiums being ripped from their own roots.

To reclaim a cliche, what an occasion.

Seb Stafford-Bloor

Should Origi deputise for Leao in the second leg?
The loss of Leao to injury was a big one for Milan. No one at the club has notched more goal contributions in all competitions than the Portuguese’s 24 in all competitions.

For the neutral observer as well as Milan fans, many will be hoping that Leao can recover and make a return for the second leg on Tuesday. If he can’t, might there be a case to bring Divock Origi out from the shadows for his favourite competition?

Alexis Saelemaekers deputised well on Milan’s left flank in Leao’s absence before Origi’s substitute appearance showed glimpses of promise, with his direct and powerful runs that drove his side forward with purpose. While he has struggled for fitness and form since his move from Liverpool, Origi does remain one of Milan’s most clinical finishers in the squad when given half a chance.

Of course, we need little reminder of the Belgian’s record in the Champions League, with his victory-sealing strike against Tottenham Hotspur in the 2019 final supplementing that semi-final at Anfield against Barcelona.

Milan need goals in the second leg and, given how Inter dominated the first leg, they might need someone to create something out of nothing. If not Leao, could Origi be the one to provide them?

Mark Carey

But evidently Sunderland are in the playoffs. Be kinda nice to have them back up.

but whoever gets him will absolutely get their money's worth, whatever that amount may be (unless it's Chelsea :D )

you should be able to sue your agent for malpractice.

After transferring to MU

Sancho- shite
Varane - shite
Casemiro - shite
Fred- SUPER SHITE

Would you like for me to continue?

Antony and Sancho dont know what to do w/ the ball at the business end of a play. Garnacho makes shit happen

Has his star fallen that far?

Oh wait….

I’m not a fan of Mauricio. He failed at Tottenham and he failed at PSG, and he
has never won any big titles. Our history as champions is rich. We are the most
successful English side of the past decade. No other English side has won more titles
during that time frame.

So we truly need a manager who can continue that tradition, and I think he fits
the bill.

We have had 4 different managers in one season, not even Roman exercised that
type of behavior

I guarantee you we will be looking for a new manager a year from now.

>I’m not a fan of Mauricio.

You don't like him.

>We are the most
>successful English side of the past decade...
>So we truly need a manager who can continue that tradition,
>and I think he fits
>the bill.

But he's the right guy to keep them successful.

>I guarantee you we will be looking for a new manager a year
>from now.

But he'll be gone in a year.

As a side note, define "successful at Tottenham."

Excited by idea of 2 of: Leeds, Everton, Leicester going down.

Leeds, because f'k Leeds. Everton cuz there always been up, nice change up. And similarly for LC. Hope Nottingham Forest stays up.

Bit harsh to want to send them packing.

-----------
you think we playing chess, but i'm playing mad-making. Basaglia

but idk how else you really describe the last few weeks. from 8 points up w/ a game in hand to drawing and losing against all manner of shite up and down the table. the composure and belief in play is just not there anymore when you watch them

NM

Letting Brighton leapfrog like that?

I mean, Bournemouth.

Need Brighton to do some work with Newcastle.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Arsenal need to have a buy back clause when he gets sold

That second goal was coming for sure.

Madrid nor Man city scare me


>PSV took the Dutch Cup over Ajax on Pens.
>
>Spurs be Spursin'.
>
>Top 4 is probably settled.
>
>Liverpool, Brighton, Villa and Spurs fighting over the
>remaining three European spots. Though West Ham could make
>that only two if they win the Conference (which would be a
>HELL of a signoff from Moyesy).
>
>Leeds falling apart and forgetting the fans. Them, Everton,
>Leicester and Forest battling over who has to join Southampton
>in the Champ.
>
>HAPPY DAMN BELTANE!

gonna need Inter to beat City if RM doesn't take em out.

just for you all stah, bum ass xeonphobe maga fuccface

https://theathletic.com/4525991/2023/05/17/inter-reach-champions-league-final-milan/

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.

Inzaghi’s predecessor Antonio Conte had walked out a month after delivering that 2020-21 title, convinced Inter were no longer capable of matching his ambition. A week after winning the league, president Steven Zhang had shown up at the training ground to ask the players if they might waive or cut their salaries to help the club get through the financial damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The situation was desperate. Zhang had spent the previous few months looking for an emergency loan to prop the whole thing up and even when he obtained €292million (£254.5m/$316.4m at current exchange rates) from Oaktree Capital Management, it didn’t stop Inter needing to sell.

Achraf Hakimi went to Paris Saint-Germain in the July. Next out the door was Romelu Lukaku to Chelsea. Shockingly, amid it all, Christian Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest while playing at the European Championship. The subcutaneous defibrillator he subsequently had fitted made him ineligible to play in Italy.

No one would have predicted that, two years after all that, Inter would make it to a Champions League final.

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“The first thought going through my head right now is that when I was appointed, Inter asked me to make the knockout stages for the first time in 11 years,” Inzaghi said after the final whistle last night.

By doing just that in his first season, as a 1-0 win over neighbours AC Milan completed a 3-0 aggregate victory and set up a meeting with Manchester City or Real Madrid in Istanbul on June 10, Inzaghi succeeded where Conte and his predecessor Luciano Spalletti failed. Inter were knocked out by Liverpool in the round of 16 last year but did beat them 1-0 at Anfield in the second leg, and gave Jurgen Klopp’s team as good a game as anyone until they played Real Madrid in the final.

Progress in Europe was overshadowed by relinquishing the Scudetto on the final day of last season to cousins and rivals Milan. The past week has avenged it. “We’re going to Istanbul, you shits,” proclaimed a banner in the Curva Nord at full-time last night. The word ‘Merde’ spelled out in the red and black of their old enemy.


Lautaro Martinez made sure of that by surprising the otherwise excellent Mike Maignan at his near post to make it 3-0 on aggregate, causing San Siro to tremble under the weight of all the bouncing Interisti.

“I’d been thinking about having an operation on my ankle because it’s destroyed,” Argentina forward Martinez said. “During the World Cup, I had pain-killing injections in order to stay in the squad.” Pain turned to joy on Tuesday.


Inzaghi couldn’t quite believe it.

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“After the draw, there was some disappointment. We didn’t get very lucky (landing in a group with Barcelona and Bayern Munich). We went to Plzen (for the second group match, after an opening loss at home to Bayern), knowing that if we didn’t win we might not even make it through the group.” And yet here Inter are. Back in the final for the first time in 13 years.


It’s hard to understate the scale of this achievement.

Inzaghi has done more with less. He lost Ivan Perisic last summer when he left for Tottenham Hotspur at the end of his contract. He then missed out on Paulo Dybala and Gleison Bremer to Roma and Juventus respectively. He will see Milan Skriniar walk for nothing in June as a free agent. “Giovanni Invernizzi was the only Italian to take Inter to a European Cup final,” Inzaghi observed. That was more than 50 years ago. “I’m proud.”

Proud, most of all, because of the circumstances he walked into. Inter overspent in Conte’s two years, breaking the club transfer record twice in the summer of 2019 to sign Nicolo Barella and then Lukaku. “The (last) Scudetto caused some financial problems,” Inzaghi pointed out.

Remarkably, Inter’s unexpected run to this Champions League final may go some way to solving them. It has the potential to be transformative. The club has earned more than €100million in prize money and TV rights from Italy’s market pool. “I’m not saying the Champions League is a competition that enriches clubs, but it does bring the concept of sustainability closer,” Inter’s chief executive Beppe Marotta explained this month during Milan Football Week.

James Horncastle called it in March:



Next month’s Champions League final will be Marotta’s third in eight years. The first was with Juventus in 2015, a year after Conte famously claimed being their coach was like going to a restaurant with €5 in your pocket when the menu is €100 a head. The third arrives two years after Conte once again left a club adamant the project had stopped.

The windfall Inter are now due is like manna from heaven.

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In the spring of this year, they had 13 players nearing the end of their contracts. This was a problem for two reasons. First of all, Inter couldn’t make money from selling players who were going to be available for free in July. Second, there was little value in the squad, which meant that in the event Zhang sold the club this summer, big investment in the team would have to be factored into an already high asking price.

The vast amount of Champions League revenue generated from reaching the final, and the recent surge into Serie A’s top four, will help Inter offer contract extensions to the likes of captain Samir Handanovic, big-game specialist Edin Dzeko and Stefan de Vrij, not to mention Alessandro Bastoni, Hakan Calhanoglu and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. It may even enhance Inter’s prospects of striking another loan agreement with Chelsea for Lukaku.

The exposure of going this far in Europe should enable Inter to attract a premium shirt-front sponsor too.


(Photo: Emilio Andreoli – Inter/Inter via Getty Images)
You may have noticed they played without one in their Champions League semi-final after DigitalBits did not meet some of the instalments on an agreement worth €80million to the club. Raine Group, the bank running the sale process to find a new buyer for Inter, will be hoping the team’s presence in the biggest club game on the planet finally tempts someone into making a bid acceptable to Zhang and owners Suning.

The bigger picture — if there’s one silver lining in defeat for Milan — is that a healthy Inter will help break an impasse and progress plans for a new shared stadium to replace San Siro.

Zhang will still have to pay Oaktree back the €292million it loaned to Inter’s holding company Grand Tower this time next year. But the financial storm clouds lingering over him cleared, if only temporarily, on Tuesday night.

“It’s our seventh year (as owners),” Zhang said. “I arrived here when I was 24. There were players who’d never played Champions League before. Now we have won everything possible in this country and arrive in the final. We’ve brought Inter back to the top. As long as we’re here, we’ll work to keep Inter in this position.”

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Inter vice-president Javier Zanetti, the most recent captain to lift the European Cup for the club, smoothed his never-changing side-parting and looked ahead to Istanbul. “I’d like to avoid Real Madrid,” he said. “Because this competition seems made for them. But the most important thing is we’re there.”

Half an hour after full-time, the players’ kids were having a kickabout on the pitch and wing-back Federico Dimarco was leading the ultras in song. The achievement had not yet sunk in. “We’ll only realise what we’ve done from tomorrow,” Inzaghi said.

Inter have gone from the brink to the jackpot.

(Top photo: Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)

Brentford down bad.

Have the depth to hold us till then and still young. Brentford can't afford to not cash in.

but we won't now for sure (and maybe it wouldn't have been a look for us anyway).

United can't wait for goal help.

>Have the depth to hold us till then and still young.
>Brentford can't afford to not cash in.

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Ancelotti said that Camavinga is good to go.

Los Blancos!

I rep for Maignan but Courtois is still the top pick IMO

They are running on fumes. They look flat and tired.

Might be the time to move off from Kroos and Modric. Lot of mileage on those
legs and they are getting overrun in the midfield…they can’t stop
the penetration of MC.

I’ve never seen Real Madrid look this bad..

I say bring on Mendy and move Camavinga to the midfield and drop
Kroos…need some speed

>PSV took the Dutch Cup over Ajax on Pens.
>
>Spurs be Spursin'.
>
>Top 4 is probably settled.
>
>Liverpool, Brighton, Villa and Spurs fighting over the
>remaining three European spots. Though West Ham could make
>that only two if they win the Conference (which would be a
>HELL of a signoff from Moyesy).
>
>Leeds falling apart and forgetting the fans. Them, Everton,
>Leicester and Forest battling over who has to join Southampton
>in the Champ.
>
>HAPPY DAMN BELTANE!

>

Once the Boehly decline is complete you'll be ready for a new dirty-money favorite to back.

exhausted and old in some areas.

They couldn’t beat a young powerful MC team..not this time around

But what a focking run by this team


Now it’s time to get a new striker and some midfield replacements, and maybe another
CB. Rudiger has been atrocious.

They Got young pieces to build around.

Vinny, rodrygo, Camavinga, militao, valverde, Mendy…

Los Blancos

LOLOLOLOL

won the copa, but a 14 point L in the league to an in-between eras barca and absolutely dominated in the CL semis.


-----------
you think we playing chess, but i'm playing mad-making. Basaglia

not even sure how he won CL last year w/ basically the same squad. that might deserve him a statue.

RM is old. probably gonna get a little worse before it gets better.

losing to a cheating ass City team who built a juggernaut by cheating and buying everyone is no shame.

He will stay if he doesn’t take the team Brasil position. It’s at his discretion.
He has won several titles for RM and the board knows the team needs to be revamped


Worry about Barca finally winning something post Messi.

Jfc.

You guys finally won La Liga post Messi!

And to correct your original posts.

Real confirmed that Carlo is staying

“Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti says the club have told him he
will be staying in his role.”

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/65657580.amp

So close the door behind you as you walk out with your L

-----------
you think we playing chess, but i'm playing mad-making. Basaglia

Congrats on wining La Liga.

Real will be back.

Peterborough came in 4-0 up. Wednesday just scored their 4th in the 98th minute to force extra time. HOLY SHIT.

LEVELER!!

What a damn comeback.

CL will PROBABLY be a bridge too far next year, but if anyone can make it happen . . .

Lazio has 3 cupcakes to play. Inter still has to play Napoli and Atalanta, and manage the roster for Cup finals, but if they beat Torino they're in

thats even less likely than top 4

It's going to be a tight one. (Also, as they said on the Football Ramble, thank Christ it's not an Allegri/Mourinho final).

was flipping shit when United went out to a Sevilla who was really struggling in La Liga, and i was like "no shame in that, Sevilla are one of the kings of Europa, so that makes sense."

well looky here. Sevilla in the final and no longer cellar dwelling.

Coulda been you Spurs but you played yourself.

My man about win the golden boot still wearing his cement boots?!?

Jokes aside, happy for him, good dude. Just not physically built for the EPL

there are possibly going to be 6-7 players who end up at 20+ goals which is virtually unheard of in a league that's usually focused on defensive tenacity.
Regarding Lacazette he's definitely seemed like a player reborn this year, basically him and Anthony Lopes (GK) have kept Lyon alive in what's been a disappointing season

Can’t see United losing their last 2

I was looking forward to my seasonal “ Manchester United, Welcome to Europa”
post.

Dang.

hopefully Dortmund doesn't bottle it again

So much work to be done, so many shite players, and a shite owner. This is going to
be worst than AVB.

I have confidence in only about 2-3 players

James
Chilwell
Mount ( had a terrible season though)

Focus in the off-season: GET A FOCKING STRIKER

Arsenal has to be the biggest chokers in history…totally
fell apart.

It’s sad that L City and/or Everton will be relegated….Everton fans will
go completely psycho If that happens.

Feels like yo-yo thing has been the serenaders for a while. 2/3 go down immediately.

Only team I feel bad about of the 4 still possible is Southampton and they've been done for a minute.

Coventry or Luton town coming up is cool. The later haven't been in to flight since early 70s

within 2 weeks they were out of both cups and blew their lead in the league

this should be an object lesson for professional and amateur sports teams around the world, but Mike Budenholzer got fired after his brother died mid-playoffs with an injured Giannis

exact opposite mentality at play (Bayern entitlement vs MIL knowing theyll never be this good again) but results are the same: spending millions to ruin good things.

Vini gets racially abused by Valencia fans. Gets sent off - is indeed the ONLY player sent off during a brawl caused by this abuse - and Tebas takes to Twitter to lecture him.

Just a fucking clown of the highest order.

obviously the racism is all too common and vile, but then you make it doubly worse by letting Vini get choked from behind, then he gets a red for trying to break free of being choked.

La Liga should be embarassed but the odds of them changing are about zero.

>obviously the racism is all too common and vile, but then you
>make it doubly worse by letting Vini get choked from behind,
>then he gets a red for trying to break free of being choked.
>
>La Liga should be embarassed but the odds of them changing are
>about zero.

Happens in Germany, Italy, Serbia, Greece etc etc

Valencia is a known hotbed of far right rhetoric / anti immigration anti union anti lgbtq antisemtic blah blah ultras,

super repulsive behavior from laliga officials though

Everything related to what Vini has to endure over there makes me welcome it with open arms.

(Not saying Britain is anywhere near perfect. But they're miles ahead over there, as far as I can tell)

i feel like guys like Vini love having the RM crest on their chest, so i don't think he'll leave, but i do wonder if the league basically spitting in his face so far might change his mind.

like, even if Tebas has a point about Vini not coming to a meeting or whatever - does he need to go to meetings for you to condemn racism or at least act like you wanna do something about it?

smh.

people. If it were players or teams behaving in such a manner, that would
be different, but it’s the fans, who are citizens of the country. And that is where
government needs to get involved from a legislation stand point.

That is one of the reasons why I don’t really watch La Liga or Serie A.
I watch La Liga for Real only, but that’s it. They don’t have a lot of black
players in their leagues and the majority of the fans are racist.

>and the majority of the fans are
>racist.
>
>


White English people/ United Kingdom is JUST as racist. They’re just not as overt at football matches .


They throw bananas and yell racial slurs in England too. Ask Saka and Rashford and Sterling

England is JUST AS bad. I can look in the stands of an English match and
see way more diversity than in a Spanish or Italian match. It is not as egregious
as Spain and Italy. They got Ultras who practically celebrate it there.

Especially when there are numerous incidents like these

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBeeZVd6urI


>I can look in the stands of an



>English match and
>see way more diversity than in a Spanish or Italian match.

That's because England is way more diverse than Spain and Italy, but they're doing their best to rectify that with BREXIT (which has failed miserably btw)



It
>is not as egregious
>as Spain and Italy. They got Ultras who practically celebrate
>it there.


There are fan-firms in English football (Premier league and lower rungs) LED by English Defense League supporters and other Right Wing fascist leaning movements.

It's just not as openly tolerated in the STADIUMS, like it is in Italy and Spain, or by the higher ups. So kudos to the premier league for that, but dont ever in life try to tell me that white English fans are more tolerant lol

>White English people/ United Kingdom is JUST as racist.
>They’re just not as overt at football matches .
>
>
>They throw bananas and yell racial slurs in England too. Ask
>Saka and Rashford and Sterling
>
>

EPL is hardly utopia on this one. But the president - the president! - of La Liga is out here trying to gaslight the league's present and future tentpole as things are getting worse, not better. In 20-fucking-23. It's so insanely, surreal-ly fucked.

Imagine something like this happening to Giannis and Silver doing the same thing. Except in this case Giannis is already beloved worldwide and has already won everything at the *start* of his career. In a league that desperately needs to hold onto any of the superstar-level talent that isn't being swayed to the EPL. It's completely insane.

This sort of malicious ineptitude should lead to ruin, full stop.

.

NOT POSSIBLE BECAUSE THEY JUST RUN THEIR LEAGUES, NOT THEIR PEA-BRAINED, DUMB FUCK MOUTHS ABOUT TEAMS AND PLAYERS BECAUSE TEHY KNOW THEIR FUCKING ROLE FUCK TEBAS FORVER

-----------
you think we playing chess, but i'm playing mad-making. Basaglia

Final decision from the FIGC. They have to go against Milan and Udinese and will be a point behind Roma, who have Fiorentina and Spezia. Atalanta will play Inter and Monza and sit 2 points above Juve's new total.

>Final decision from the FIGC. They have to go against Milan
>and Udinese and will be a point behind Roma, who have
>Fiorentina and Spezia. Atalanta will play Inter and Monza and
>sit 2 points above Juve's new total.

Whenever something bad happens to them, the entire country laughs and mocks them in cohesion, JUVE slander might be the only thing that unifies northern and southern Italians

throughout their history: Buffon, Cannavaro, Chiesa, Pirlo, Pogba, Zizou, Del Piero

And I like what the Agnellis have produced outside of football.

But fuck the club as a general going concern.

...then went out and dropped points to Salernatana

gtfoh lol

There are a lot of FFP violations coming their way, and couple that with the fact that
more than likely they are going to get relegated….they could very well have a
Leeds situation on their hands, and it they possibly go decades before seeing the
EPL again.

Previous winners include Saka, Mount, Rashford and Alexander-Arnold. Good company for an outstanding young talent.

i always think its cool when a team that hasn't been before, or hasn't been in decades, makes it.

will be super interesting to see how they build their squad, and how adding in that extra competition with a lot of travel will affect them.

>i always think its cool when a team that hasn't been before,
>or hasn't been in decades, makes it.
>
>will be super interesting to see how they build their squad,
>and how adding in that extra competition with a lot of travel
>will affect them.

At the very least, they'll do better than Leicester in CL

what Howe has done with a group which, though upgraded, is far from CL-level, is undoubtedly impressive. But it's still disgusting sportswashing, no matter how cool the crowd sounds at St James when the team is firing on all cylinders.

fuck them

it'll be everyone's team eventually.

>it'll be everyone's team eventually.

At this rate they may end up giving it Mase next season.

Thank you.

Next thing you know we'll sign L Stah's loverboy Mount, treat him right and teach him right and turn him into a United legend.

if not just save your money

and has conquered Europe.

No need to regress to winning community trophies and wearing wack ass futbol
kits.

What’s Sancho up to these days?

one fucking game left, 1 point to secure CL playoffs, against a quality opponent in AZ, and now some random asst is in charge of the biggest game of the year

that could be a €40M backstabbing

Rutten is hardly a random assistant, but theyre gonna have a hard time against AZ on fire. Lucky for you i don't see Ajax winning from Twente at this point either. Gonna be a thriller ending of the season this sunday

and ive since realized that about Fred Rutten.

but still, what an insane thing to happen.
cant talk about this after the season?? hopefully Luuk can keep the group together; seems like a test of leadership.

but yeah that was WILD for Ruud to leave like that with one more game to go and possibly the most important game of this season.

they pulled it off tho.

Ajax is looking completely lost on the pitch right now. They will have to start from scratch and rebuild the whole team, including a new trainer and probably a new director as well. It's gonna be a tough one in the EL after summer.

https://theathletic.com/4555618/2023/05/26/ivan-toney-betting-ban/?source=user_shared_article

Apologies to comparing sports, but it’s ridiculous Calvin Ridley got what he got in comparison

Pretty crazy

Feel so bad for Dabo skying his, but that was a great session for neutrals

https://blackyellowapp.bvb.de/en/p/florida-sunshine-borussen

absolute rockstar as barca b coach (Gavi, balde, so many credit him in particular)

kinda hoping barca sends him some loans. Pablo Torre, Estanis, almost tempted to say Lamine Yamal (but probably not yet), maybe Tenas.


-----------
you think we playing chess, but i'm playing mad-making. Basaglia

3 teams enter, one team leaves!

All Everton has to do is win, and they will stay up.

However, if they draw and LC win, then LC will go through on GD

Leeds need both teams to lose in order to prevail….their GD is shite.

That’s it for the season…

Chelsea will be back, and there will be glory….again.

We are still the biggest club in London.. Arsenal face planted and bottled the
glory bag

And last but not least FOCK BARCELONA and all their shit followers….Cheaters.

you can find your way back to the top half of the league

Chelsea being owned by a a consortium. That’s a business group, not
an individual owner who is passionate about futbol.

And now Poch is our coach (smh).

I’m excited for a full season with Professor Unai.

possibly the biggest cheating club in futbol history.

Chelsea is seeking 25 million in return.

He had some big moments, and there is no doubting his talent, but
he has trouble staying healthy, and, in my opinion, isn’t as all-around
as Donovan was.

Plus Serie A is a highly defensive league, so I’m not sure it’s a league
where his offensive skillset will be able to thrive.

We shall see.

I mean, PSG is gonna sign him, right? There’s no way we get the best free transfers two years running, right?

>I mean, PSG is gonna sign him, right?

it's not Saudi-level overpaying, but it's not far off

him reuniting with Mourinho seems fitting to me

and i didn't know that til i randomly saw the XI for the final today on twitter.

his team can't even make Europa.

Good for you.

Meanwhile, Chelsea already conquered Europe while MU were Europa peasants.

Last time MU won CL…..,

Wait for it



Wait for it





2008.


I think L’Promo has a better ring to it!

SMH …you try so hard though.

This puts some interesting pieces into play as far as transfers go.

through next year. So... Kane to Madrid?

especially as long as Vini is there at RM (but with all the racism stuff, will he actually be there?) cuz Mbappe and Vini would clash positionally.

Kane is a down the middle striker in the same vein as Benzema so that seems to fit RM's build.

and obviously, Kane has been linked with Man United (and personally i want that move). but whether it's RM or United or someone else, the big question is does Kane have the balls to leave Spurs.

i guess the other big name is Osimhen. i'm less familiar with his game as i don't really watch Serie A like that. i also think that because it's Serie A, people aren't 1000 percent sold on how he'd succeed in a bigger league.

so they are gonna put a 160-180M tag on Osimhen and see if they can get someone to splurge

if not, they will be perfectly happy with that too

great final and a classic moment with a GOAT candidate finally reaching the mountain top is probably what most ppl will remember. Well helped by most media covering it that way

So he will be making 400 milli euros on the entire deal…and 430 in
American dollars.

Dude won everything basically …now it’s time to get cake and walk off into the
sunset…getting that Ronaldo gaup

Los Blancos

but that penalty was wack, all things considered.

>PSV took the Dutch Cup over Ajax on Pens.
>
>Spurs be Spursin'.
>
>Top 4 is probably settled.
>
>Liverpool, Brighton, Villa and Spurs fighting over the
>remaining three European spots. Though West Ham could make
>that only two if they win the Conference (which would be a
>HELL of a signoff from Moyesy).
>
>Leeds falling apart and forgetting the fans. Them, Everton,
>Leicester and Forest battling over who has to join Southampton
>in the Champ.
>
>HAPPY DAMN BELTANE!

>PSV took the Dutch Cup over Ajax on Pens.
>
>Spurs be Spursin'.
>
>Top 4 is probably settled.
>
>Liverpool, Brighton, Villa and Spurs fighting over the
>remaining three European spots. Though West Ham could make
>that only two if they win the Conference (which would be a
>HELL of a signoff from Moyesy).
>
>Leeds falling apart and forgetting the fans. Them, Everton,
>Leicester and Forest battling over who has to join Southampton
>in the Champ.
>
>HAPPY DAMN BELTANE!

of the whole sport

and the media just slurp them up at every opportunity w/ no mention of it ever. im sick of it.

their squad was built and why we'd probably lose since their cheated their way to their squad.

Still, fucking De Gea. SMH.