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The future of Big Cup, and England's exceptionalist officiating
A MESSI BUSINESS
It has been a momentous week in European football, with the eliminations of Juventus and Barcelona meaning that the Big Cup quarter-finals will take place without either Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi for the first time in 16 years, which, coincidentally, is the average lifespan of carefully maintained goats. The duo did not dominate immediately, of course, for back in 2005 Luis García was the undisputed king. But their rises had certainly begun and they have reigned supreme since then, give or take the odd 8-2 Müllering, and a few international no-shows by one of Argentina’s finest.
Ronaldo and Messi have been ushered through the Gate Marked Also-Rans as the players set to replace them in the affections of YouTube editors worldwide shone again. Erling Braut Haaland did the business for Dortmund while Messi was relegated to a sideshow by Kylian Mbappé’s PSG and Ousmane Dembélé’s bracing exhibition of terrible finishes. Trooper that he is, Messi fought defiantly to retain top billing, outdoing his teammates’ misses by botching a penalty. At that stage, Barça still had qualification if not within their sights, then at least detectable by the sort of high-powered technology English officials are deploying with thrilling randomness.
Related: Messi's penalty miss helps PSG sail through against Barcelona
Yes, all this week’s talk of changing of the guards and the beginning and ending of eras presumably referred to the most compelling evidence yet of the alarming expansion of England’s exceptionalist officiating. First, Stockley Park boffins deployed state-of-the-art cameras to not see Phil Foden being tripped in the Premier League in an incident that Pep Guardiola described, pointedly in slow motion, as “IN-CRED-I-BLE, IN…. CRED… I …. BLE”.
Then, a team of elite English sticklers in Paris used similar equipment to award PSG a penalty that no one reasonably asked for after Clément Lenglet didn’t jump out of the way of Mauro Icardi, in an incident that might as well have happened at Sydney Opera House given how much it actually affected events at the Parc des Princes. Mbappé converted the penalty, and then the same officials failed to spot Marco Verratti encroaching when Messi goofed from the spot a few minutes later. Farewell, Messi and Ronaldo? There’s really no telling what the future holds.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Big Vase ahoy! Join Paul Doyle as he kicks off our clockwatch with Manchester United 2-1 Milan and Slavia Prague 1-2 Rangers (both 5.55pm GMT), before Ben Fisher takes the reins for Olympiakos 1-2 Arsenal and Tottenham 3-0 Dinamo Zagreb. Phew!
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I thought it was quite tame really, it was a grey padded blazer. I was expecting more about the result we just got and how well we played. Then [the press officer] hit me with my jacket’s been getting a little bit of grief. It’ll be on again and it’ll stay on if we get positive results. Whatever I wear is a reflection of the football club and the team and that’s it” – Fulham’s Scott Parker on that jacket, which caused a stir at Anfield.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Football Weekly is here! Join Max, Barry, Jonathan Liew and Mark Langdon for all the latest Big Cup chat.
FIVER LETTERS
“It was interesting to see José Mourinho say of Daniel Levy, who is just about to celebrate 20 years in charge of Spurs that ‘it would be nice for him to celebrate my 1,000 official matches winning a trophy for Tottenham’. Apropos of nothing, according to a piece in the New Yorker, the main trait of narcissists is grandiosity. They exaggerate their achievements and what they are certain will be their future triumphs, believe they are special, can be understood only by special people and cannot take criticism, Everything is about them, even other people’s success, and an opportunity to brag about yourself. Just a thought” – Noble Francis.
“Enough! Please resurrect STOP FOOTBALL now! I (and 1,056 others?) are now totally reliant on The Fiver to have the fortitude to do this [uh oh – Fiver Ed], lest we all die of boredom. Oh for the days of very infrequent live football on the telly, untainted by the dreadful ‘punditry’ drivel endlessly pumped out by massively overpaid has-beens currently employed for our ‘viewing enjoyment’” – David Pugh (and no others – yet).
“Liverpool 2-0 Leipzig. I’m so relieved that the Reds are scoring goals at home again!” – Peter Oh.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. And you can always tweet The Fiver via @guardian_sport. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’the day is … David Pugh. No more prizes this week, but readers can still get 15% off From The Jaws of Victory (and free UK shipping) with the promo code FIVER.
NEWS, BITS AND BOBS
Middlesbrough have condemned “vile and unacceptable” racist abuse directed at Yannick Bolasie on social media, while Bournemouth have also spoken out after Arnaut Danjuma received abuse. “This has to stop,” a club statement said. Quite.
The former Milan CEO, Adriano Galliani, has been admitted to hospital following complications from Covid-19. Serie B side Monza, where Galliani is now a director, confirmed the news but added it was purely a precautionary measure.
Manchester City have swept Fiorentina aside in Women’s Big Cup, winning 5-0 in Florence to complete an 8-0 aggregate win and join Chelsea in the quarter-finals.
A protest in Buenos Aires, led by Diego Maradona’s ex-wife and two of his daughters, has called for “justice” amid an ongoing investigation into his death in November.
The Livingston manager, David Martindale, has said only lockdown prevented Rangers fans’ title celebrations getting further out of hand. “I thought to myself, ‘thank God we’re in lockdown’. Can you imagine if we weren’t?” Martindale said. “Everyone knows my background and the fact I’ve been to prison. The amount of people who are in prison as a result of Rangers and Celtic games, it’s incredible.”
Newcastle are in deep relegation trouble and Bernard Cribbins has said “the buck stops with me”, before swiftly attempting to move the buck on. “We were going along very, very nicely until Covid hit, and then the injuries to our big players has been a real, big problem to handle. I don’t think people want to use that as an excuse.”
Trip the Goat and he will fall: Shaun Goater thinks the Phil Foden incident will encourage players to go down in the area. “If I’m a player watching that today I’m making sure that I’m going down,” Goater fumed. “Why stay on my feet now?”
And VAR has an unlikely advocate in Diego Simeone. “I still believe that VAR has improved football and made decisions more just,” the Atlético Madrid manager gesticulated. “There are people who work every day to improve it.”
STILL WANT MORE?
It was in November 2002 that Jeff Astle’s death was recorded as “death by industrial disease” so why is the belated inquiry into concussion so woefully under-resourced? Andy Bull reports.
Is Zoran Mamic Dinamo Zagreb’s master coach, a criminal – or both? Alex Holiga on the Croatian club taking on Spurs in Big Vase.
North London derby classics, Soccerball genius from Roberto Cabañas and that Paulo Otávio tackle in this week’s Classic YouTube.
Big Jürg played Fabinho in midfield and Liverpool looked loads better. Well, that was obvious, says Jonathan Liew.
How exactly did ‘Dundee United’ become an insult in Nigeria? Liam Kirkaldy tells the tale, and it’s a corker.
Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO!
