I write to you the morning after witnessing two epic Champions League comebacks gegenpressed back into defeat. Watching City-Liverpool on Sunday, and then Real Madrid-Chelsea and Bayern-Villareal. Imagine living in a world where you don't love football.
First of all. Chelsea fans. I feel your pain after that night of Sisyphean endeavor. Sanctioned, humbled, yet defiant. Tuchel’s team fought back to score 3 times in Madrid. Only to depart after extra-time with a 5-4 aggregate loss at the Bernabeu, where they were ultimately undone by the Inevitable Benzema. But first, by Luka Modric. 36 Years of Age. The second Chelsea cough up the ball in transition, Modric takes a sneaky look over his shoulder well before the ball even comes to him. He knows he will receive it and is prepared before he takes possession. A touch to turn. Another one to steady himself. Then that fever dream of a poke. Look at it and tell me it is not conclusive proof Wizards do exist. Calculating angle, trajectory, curl, and wind speed in the blink of an eye. That is like watching Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind find a subset X of R3 such that if V is the vector space of vector fields F on R3\ X with ∇×F=0 and W is the vector space of vector fields F on R3 \ X satisfying F=∇g, for some function g on R3 \ X, then V/W has dimension.
Madrid, aged Madrid, somehow looked the fresher in extra-time. They march on. Chelsea’s season is now reduced to the FA Cup. Sunday’s semi-final clash against Palace now means everything.
All Hail The Yellow Submarine
Villarreal “St.Petersed” Bayern at home with an 88th minute Samuel Chukwueze equalizer on the night that clinched the tie 2-1 and made a mockery of last season’s “Super League” plans.
Regular Bayern-watchers were not surprised by the defeat. A product of consistent tactical recklessness by Julian Nagelsmann (here involving Alphonso Davies) and a squad in dire need of a turnover. As this post-mortem makes clear: “It’s going to be a difficult job. Finance dictates unwelcome constraints … and imagination is required for structural reforms.” Improving the squad is one thing. Doing it when Robert Lewandowski, Manuel Neuer, Müller and Gnabry are out of contract in 2023 is even trickier.”
Huge credit to Villarreal though. How good are they right now? Their Second XI shocking Bayern Munich and about to reach the Champions League Semi-Final. The fact their manager is Unai Emery only serves to make this magical feat feel like one giant subtweet at Arsenal fans.
Tonight We Feast Again: Pep v Simeone. Pacino v De Niro in Cleats
And there is more, much more to come. Tonight, Liverpool are expected to finish the job, 3-1 up at home to Benfica, who insist on fielding a left winger named Everton. Doesn't matter if it's on the front or the back of the shirt... all roads lead to the same place. Defeat.
All eyes then on Madrid, where Atlético host Manchester City, 3:00pm Eastern on Paramount Plus. Atleti trail 1-0 after Phil Foden, that impact substitute nicknamed “Pep’s Lad” by his teammates, slipped in Kevin De Bruyne in the 70th minute in Manchester. This clash is all about the philosophical differences between Pep Guardiola and Diego Simeone, who clash on the sidelines like the Diner scene in Heat between De Niro and Pacino: "There's a flip side to that coin, what if you do got me boxed in and I gotta put you down. Cause no matter what, you will not get in my way." Pep, an obsessive, driven by a fundamental belief that football is a game to be won with control, through avant-garde creativity, dominant possession, and origami-esque passing. Simeone, a Dark Knight Black Hat who believes the battle will be won by the team willing to strangle, smother, and suffer more.
Last week in Manchester, these two contrasting men stood side by side in the coaching area in nearly identical black puffer coat-outfits to brave the rain falling hard on that humdrum town. We saw in that first leg that their philosophically irreconcilable styles pushed each other to extremes. Pick any statistic at random: 71% possession for City, who had 400 more passes completed and 24 crosses attempted to 4. The only shots Atleti managed to get on target were delivered to Jack Grealish’s down belows. When it came to testing Ederson, they put exactly zero shots on his goal. Tonight will be a clash of fundamental ideologies. Pep Guardiola’s genius challenged by his haunted memory of Champions League defeats past. Simeone’s negativity undermined by the knowledge his team must score at least once. This game really is the pen vs. the sword. Paper cuts vs. sledge hammer. Bounty vs. Scorched earth. I cannot wait to watch.
Four Gems I love:
ii. A goal to give you joy. Benji Monreal take a bow, son. This is just art. Well spotted by Pablo Maurer.
iii. A Spanish lower league coach runs onto the field to break up a last minute counter-attack himself. Red Card. Brawl ensues. Mike Tomlin-esque.
iv. The US Women routed an unfortunately outclassed Uzbekistan 9-0. Rose Lavelle loves punishing space.
That is it for today. We will be back tonight on Greenroom at 5 PM ET. Call in your questions for Friday’s Weekend Preview podcast at (646)-450-9472. Come join us, and ask the hardest questions you can post-game.
There are TWO Men in Blazers shows on television this weekend! Including one with Jesse Marsch on NETWORK NBC. More here.
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Big Love
Courage
ROG
