Atalanta has been collectively good at pressing this Bayer team to hell... but Lookman won this game. Fantastic hat-trick. Good job Xabi. Almost had the perfect season. And can still get the pokal for the domestic double. Not too bad.
3-0. FT. May 2023, last time Xabi lost. (It’s also not the first time this season I’ve looked beyond Atalanta thinking them easy pickings).
Hmmmmm. Inter’s owners defaulted on a loan this evening. They’ve now been taken over by the US-based investment fund Oaktree Capital Management. This is not a good thing as I understand it.
a little of the Alsonso glitter getting a tad tarnished tonight. a bit more might fade if he doesn't get the German cup .... in which case, cue the whispers and second-guesses about his ability.
He's lost one of 53 matches this year. No shine has come off him. None will come off if they lose the cup match. Nobody was saying Klopp lost his luster after he lost 3 straight finals here to start his career after losing three straight finals while still at Dortmund.
It was still a hell of a season always nice too see different teams take a trophy for the first time.
No Liverpool supporters were - but the media and opposing fans certainly were. "He can't win a final" was the standard refrain. But - yeah - Xabi is fine - no real tarnish. He's done totally unexpected things this season.
Maybe their Chinese ownership shouldn’t have missed a loan payment? https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cx774qp4q9qo.amp https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5504702/2024/05/22/inter-milan-zhang-oaktree/
That third goal...wow. The defending on the first goal was sophomoric. Soft for the second. And Lookman just torched what little resistance remained with that third. Leverkusen looked leggy, exactly like a team who wrapped up the most unexpected trophy and then kept having to expend extra energy to keep their undefeated season going when they were in cruise control in the league.
Definitely deserving of it. Played us off the park. Utterly in control against Leverkusen. That is a team built for a cup run like that. You can see where over 38 matches their intensity could drop and points are given away. Add to that a general lack in overall quality throughout the entire side (Scamaca is good, but a title winner? Probably not) and I can understand how they are only 3rd/4th in Italy.
Bild reporting that Bayern are going for Kompany. Not exactly the kind of manager you would expect to be high on their list of candidates
A look at American ownership in European football. We’re almost the poster boys for very good stewardship. No prizes for guessing the worst American owners, though United come close. (Presume this article was too soon to now include Inter).
Really doubt that. Winning the league, unbeaten, for the first time smashes everything else into pieces.
We got an A. Not an A+. I guess because the first few years of ownership were a bit lacking. And the owners still stick their foot into shit from time to time (big ticket price raise, Euro Super League (like so many other teams), lack of communication with supporters, etc.). Weird that Arsenal and Villa get A- and A's - but haven't really won anything - and have both spent over 500m in the last few years. I guess the idea of "stability" and "moving in the right direction" allows that.
Failing upwards for sure. Craig Bellamy is going to be the assistant manager of Bayern Munich. Harry really isn't going to win any trophies at Bayern, is he?
Paquetá in what looks like very serious betting trouble. The standard betting imbroglio is usually Player bets on other teams, gets caught; sometimes he’s betting on his own side to win, sometimes that he will score. Naughty, yes, but it’s not really looking to influence the outcome, other than trying to play harder, maybe, to win. But Paquetá’s charges involve yellow cards wherein he (supposedly) bet on himself to get a yellow which as we all know, is very easy to do. The more usual charges when proven incur a fine and a suspension from the game. Paquetá’s charges being a bit more insidious would mean, if proven, a lifetime ban from the game.