Indulge Me On A Special Night
Sometimes football just sweeps you away...
Aston Villa 4-0 Nottingham Forest, in the Europa League semi-finals, was a performance, an occasion and an atmosphere that will stay with me forever.
The 40,000-plus home fans filed out of the stadium at full-time in broad agreement that they'd just witnessed the best night at Villa Park for decades. Anyone under the age of 45 is likely to call it the best they've ever seen – and bear in mind, this is a stadium that has borne witness to remarkable victories over Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain in the last 18 months.
Even 20 minutes before kick-off, the seats were 90% full and the stadium was loud. Song after song was bellowed at the players as they finished their warmups. That's not normal for Villa Park.
En masse, the fans recognised a sense of duty to lift their team. All four sides of the ground turned up ready and willing to do their bit, as a 1-0 deficit against a fellow Midlands side had to be overcome. The result was a kind of unstoppable, symbiotic force: Players and fans bonded together to see each other over the line and into the final.
It was a phenomenal performance; a near-10/10. Forest stood no chance, simply shrinking in the face of raw energy, determination and skill.
Anyway, before Thursday's big fight, there was a pretty decent undercard through Tuesday and Wednesday to warm us all up. Arsenal edged Atlético Madrid to set up a Champions League final with Paris Saint-Germain, who edged Bayern Munich – but in a very different way.
Here are the ESPN talking points from the game, including Viktor Gyökeres, Diego Simeone's substitutes, Kvaradona's outrageous quality, some high-profile refereeing decisions and a prediction for the final:
If you ever needed proof that football is hard to predict, check the career trajectories of the likes of Declan Rice and Ebere Eze. These two dudes are powering Arsenal to potential silverware – yet both were released from their boyhood academies as teenagers, considered not up to scratch.
The sport is littered with stories like that; it's actually much rarer than you'd think for a player like Lamine Yamal to simply rise up and make the transition at one club; so many end up scooting around and taking in spells all over (like Michael Olisé! Four different academies!)
Here's a piece for ESPN looking at this. I sifted through Europe's top teams and identified the ones they let go too soon. It's not intended as a criticism; it's much more an example of just how hard player development and projection is to get right.
This week on The Truth, Dougie & I looked at potential shock transfers for the summer. There's a lovely range of players in here, and in the days since we recorded, the Martin Ødegaard idea has really taken root in my brain...
If you prefer audio only, click here.
Thanks for reading! Please feel free to share this newsletter with anyone you think might enjoy it. See you next week.
