The Warm-Up: Liverpool play brilliantly, then Leo Messi happens
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Updated 02/05/2019 at 10:13 GMT
Plus winning trophies isn't really that important, and it all gets a bit too much for one guy at the Nou Camp
Lionel Messi of Barcelona celebrates after he scores his sides third goal during the UEFA Champions League Semi Final first leg match between Barcelona and Liverpool at the Nou Camp on May 01, 2019 in Barcelona, Spain
Image credit: Getty Images
THURSDAY’S BIG STORIES
You have to feel pretty sorry for Liverpool, really
One day, Leo Messi is going to retire. What are we going to do then? Every time we watch a dire football match the thought does occur that we’re all essentially wasting our time with this game, that really if we’re going to invest our energy into watching other people do it and they’re no good, then what’s the point. Then you remember at some stage Messi will be on again, you’ll see a man not just performing Shakespeare as it was meant to be performed but improving it, and you can relax.
Liverpool were brilliant in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against Barcelona. They pressed, they passed at speed, they attacked with purpose, they even had a decent crack at stopping Messi initially with three defenders converging on him every time he got the ball. The problem was they didn’t score a goal, and that turned out to be a bad choice, tactically speaking.
Luis Suarez got the first after a brilliant pass from Jordi Alba, Messi ran the second into an open goal and then he curled the third majestically into the top corner from a free-kick around 35 yards out. It might have taken a slight deflection, but you needed Zapruder film-style replays to spot that and if it spoils your enjoyment of Messi, then we can’t really help you.
So what now for Liverpool? They have, as countless articles over the next week will remind you, overturned a 3-0 deficit in the Champions League before, while Barca have choked from a similar position before too. But unless Messi is involved in some sort of freak yachting accident or he’s bundled into a sack and kept in a vault somewhere, the chances of Liverpool pulling off something extraordinary are…slim.
Sarri prefers the top four to the Europa League
Remember when winning trophies was broadly seen as a good thing? Sure, managers would probably be perfectly happy to get silverware of some description, but it hasn’t been the priority for a while.
Even now, with his team in the Europa League semi-final where they will play Eintracht Frankfurt tonight, Mauricio Sarri appears to think that finishing fourth is preferable to winning the Europa League. Or, at least, that’s his priority.
I have a good feeling for this competition, and had one also while at Napoli, but, at the moment, we need to finish in the top four in the Premier League. We want to play next season in the Champions League. Of course the Europa League is important – it’s a very important trophy. But we need to think about the Premier League. We want to get into the Champions League through the Premier League.
Just to add a quick reminder that the winners of the Europa League qualify for the Champions League. Eeesh.
Vertonghen injury leads to calls for better concussion protocols
The debate about Jan Vertonghen’s head injury will of course continue and it’s tough to take issue with the Tottenham medical staff on Tuesday night because, by all accounts, they followed the correct concussion protocols. The question then becomes: are those protocols adequate?
Not according to a representative from FIFPro, the international players’ union, in any case. Mads Oland told the Daily Mirror:
UEFA and FIFA simply have no excuse, they should install independent doctors at the top level. I can understand it being a problem in the Slovenian leagues but we are talking about a Champions League semi final and we want to see it changed in time for the women’s World Cup this summer. It’s a big pressure being a team doctor and we fully understand the difficulties. We are not questioning their professionalism, but it is obvious that a player will want to carry on, the doctor will feel pressure and that is why you need independent doctors. In the NFL, you have different protocols where a player can be taken out for 10 or 15 minutes, you can take time to make a decision and you don’t have that luxury in football.
So what are the practical solutions? ‘Concussion’ subs? Independent doctors? This is one that will run and run, we suspect.
HEROES AND ZEROS
Hero: Leo Messi
Let’s just have another look shall we?
Zero: This guy at the Nou Camp
Look to the left for the fan who completely goes while celebrating Messi's first goal, via @waatpies...
It all got a bit much for one guy.
HAT TIP
In the immediate aftermath of the latest disappointment against Chelsea, one senior Manchester United player just seemed resigned. “Get ready for an exodus,” he told a friend. That is not just because Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been given the mandate for a badly needed overhaul of the squad. It is because the dressing room is right now such an unhappy place, where many players Solskjaer would prefer to keep want to leave. The sense of drift is unmistakable, with so many long-term problems finally coming together in such damaging but inevitable fashion to push the club away from the top level.
Here’s the Independent’s Miguel Delaney with a run-down of all the very many things going wrong at Manchester United.
RETRO CORNER
Let’s go waaaaaaaaay back: 66 years back in fact, to watch the 1953 FA Cup final – the Matthews Final, as known – which was on this very day, then.
COMING UP
Well, it’s not looking great for the two English clubs to make the Champions League final, so maybe Chelsea and Arsenal can get to the Europa League version. Their first legs against Eintracht Frankfurt and Valencia respectively are tonight.
Tomorrow’s Warm-Up will be brought to you by Tom Adams, who scandalously has never had a cup final named after him.
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