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European Paper Review
A busy domestic cup final weekend around Europe saw King Iniesta heralded in Spain, Pep Guardiola in Germany and Patrice Evra in Italy.
‘King Iniesta’ is the headline on the front of Monday’s Marca after Barcelona lifted Spain’s Copa del Rey on Sunday night to win the domestic double. Given Iniesta is not a Catalan and is hugely popular throughout Spain after scoring the goal which won the World Cup, it was as palatable a headline as a Madrid-based daily can make about a Barcelona player.
“Barça win the double thanks to an exhibition from the Manchego,” it continued, that’s someone from Castille-La Mancha, the most Spanish part of Spain. ‘Futbol Club Iniesta,’ Marca renamed Barcelona after the player who has won a staggering 28 trophies in his time there.
The paper did admit that Messi was decisive and rightly praised Sevilla, who took the game into extra time when Jordi Alba and Neymar scored after 96 and 121 minutes. What was remarkable was that Barça had had Javier Mascherano sent off after 35 minutes and Daniel Alves followed him on 90. Sevilla’s Carrico went after 120 minutes.
The Catalan daily Sport went simply for ‘Heroes’ as their headline with Iniesta holding the cup in front of the King (an Atleti fan) and Queen of Spain. So Barça won the double and Sevilla the Europa League.
Spain is living a golden age in football and this week’s media will ramp up the excitement ahead of an all-Spanish Champions League final on Saturday.
German football was shocked on Wednesday by the announcement that Eintracht Frankfurt captain Marco Russ had been diagnosed with a tumour after a drugs test revealed elevated levels of the growth hormone hCG. “Marco Russ’ biggest battle yet” said his local Frankfurter Rundschau, but Russ was determined to lead his side in Thursday’s relegation play-off first leg, in which his unfortunate own goal gave Nuremberg a vital away goal in a 1-1 draw.
FAZ, BILD and the Süddeutsche Zeitung agreed Frankfurt were the better side and believe that “all is not lost for Eintracht” after Nuremberg failed to muster a single shot of their own. Russ will undergo surgery tomorrow and has not travelled to Nuremberg for tonight’s second leg.
“Save the best till last!” said Kicker ahead of Saturday’s DFB Pokal final between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. The build-up was dominated by Mats Hummels’ impending move to Munich, a transfer which Dortmund sponsor Evonik cheekily referred to with an advert in Friday’s Ruhr Nachrichten saying: “Dear Bayern scouts, please don’t get mixed up: the numbers on the back of the BVB players’ shirts are not order numbers!”
After a “goalless battle of attrition”, it was a “happy ending for Guardiola” (Zeit) as Bayern prevailed 4-3 on penalties to win their 18th German cup.
But Tagesspiegel was encouraged by Dortmund’s performance, saying: “In a one-off game, Dortmund pose a threat to Bayern. With a little luck – and a different choice of penalty takers – it could have been them parading the cup on Sunday.”
Indeed, Die Welt accused some Dortmund players of “ducking their responsibilities” in the shoot-out, leaving Sven Bender, who had been visibly struggling with cramp throughout extra time, to take and miss the decisive penalty. “I shouldn’t have allowed that to happen,” admitted Thomas Tuchel, “but it was hard to find five penalty takers.” “Why did defender Sokratis have to take one?” asked Welt. “Where was Henrikh Mkhitaryan who has scored 11 goals this season? Where were World Cup winners Erik Durm and Matthias Ginter?”
As for the German double-winners, Tagesspiegel called Bayern Munich a “perfectly functioning ensemble” and believes that, whilst Guardiola will depart, his ideas and philosophy will remain. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said the Catalan has influenced Tuchel’s Dortmund too. “That Bayern’s closest challengers can only match them by playing Guardiola-Fußball is the greatest praise experts can lavish on the tactical genius. Borussia’s rebuilding work has only just begun.” 11Freunde agreed, saying: “Tuchel is the new Pep.” Welt said Guardiola’s presence in the Bundesliga has been “worth its weight in gold.”
In transfer news, BILD revealed on Friday that Ilkay Gündogan had successfully undergone surgery on a dislocated knee-cap and, last night, Kicker and SportBild reported that a €25m move to Manchester City could be completed within days. The transfer should allay Welt’s fears that City are “lacking in Pep-footballers.”
In France last week, RMC announced that Manchester United have formally offered Zlatan Ibrahimovic a one-year contract, a claim denied by his agent. On Wednesday, L’Équipe reported that PSG could look to replace the Swede with 24-year old Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette, but have not abandoned plans to recruit Neymar or Antoine Griezmann either. Lacazette’s brother and agent told Le Parisien on Thursday that it’s “not impossible” that his brother could go to Paris.
Ahead of Saturday’s Coupe de France final between Marseille and PSG, l’Équipe predicted a “fiery classique – a dream billing for the 98th final” and the game didn’t disappoint as PSG defeated the struggling southern giants 4-2 thanks to an Ibrahimovic brace in his final match for the club. “Ibra celebrates easy victory” said Sunday morning’s l’Équipe.
In Italy, Juventus, like Barcelona, won a second consecutive double double after beating Milan in the Copa Italia final in Rome. ‘Our best performance in two years,’ Milan’s Berlusconi was reported to have said to coach Brocchi, despite the defeat, in the Milan based La Gazzetta dello Sport . The famous paper concentrated on Milan’s plight. ‘The Revolution Begins’ is Monday’s headline. ‘Too many flops among the big names, while Donarumma, Romagnoli and De Sciglio are the foundations to build on’.
The paper reports on ‘Napoli’s Alarm’ as ‘PSG dive on Higuain and watch out for Mou’. The striker, the top scorer in Serie A, has a release clause of €94 million. “The French have to replace Ibra and so far have reached €60 million,’ states
La Gazzetta, which notes that for Juventus ‘Five years as the Queen are worth 10’ - five years in which the Old Lady has dominated Italian football, winning ten trophies. They want to stay at the top and will do that, according to Corriere dello Sport, by buying Andrees Gomes, Cavani and N’Kolou. Patrice Evra has also signed a contract which will keep him there for two more years.
The Frenchman has already won five trophies in his two years in Turin. And they used to say that life was downhill after playing for Manchester United.
