The Warm-Up: Eden Hazard chooses between steak and lobster
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Updated 09/10/2018 at 07:49 GMT
It's a tough call for sure: Nick Miller takes you through the most pressing stories of the day as some awards are decided.
Eden Hazard (r.)
Image credit: Getty Images
TUESDAY’S BIG STORIES
Will Eden stay, will Eden go?
In the wider scheme of things, Eden Hazard having to choose between two gigantic football clubs at which he is/will be showered with praise and money and probably win trophies, is perhaps not the most crushing either/or the world has ever seen.
But still, it seems the decision whether to stay at Chelsea or go to Real Madrid is giving him at least a moment of pause. Hazard was asked about the poser after Chelsea’s win over Southampton at the weekend, and this is what he said:
I want what’s good for me but I want what’s good for the club because the club has given me everything. I don’t want to say: ‘Yes, I am signing a new contract,’ and then in the end I don’t end up signing. So I will see. Sometimes in my head, I wake up in the morning and think I want to go. Sometimes I think I want to stay. It is a hard decision. It is my future. I am 27 and I will turn 28 in January.
A pivotal moment in his career then. If he was going to go any time, it would be now. Or at least, very soon.
I am really in the game, I am playing good football at the moment. Real Madrid is the best club in the world. I don’t want to lie today. It is my dream since I was a kid. I was dreaming about this club. We will see. I don’t want to talk about this every day. I don’t have time but we will talk about my future soon. I think so.
If he was to leave, would Chelsea fans really begrudge him? Of course this is football fans, who exist on a completely different plane of logic to the rest of society, but he’s served them very well, won them a couple of league titles and will almost certainly command a colossal transfer fee. Can they really complain?
The answer to that, of course, is that they can and they probably will.
Ballon d’Oh
Until a few years ago, the Baftas were dished out a few weeks after the Oscars, at the tail end of award season. By then everyone had taken their frocks and tuxes back to Moss Bros, champagne budgets had been bled dry and everyone was a bit too sore from all the backslapping. In short, nobody cared much, and none of the big stars turned up to the ceremony.
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Ballon d'Or nominees
Image credit: Eurosport
Then, some bright spark decided to shift the awards to before the Oscars, and suddenly it was a hot ticket: this was no longer some consolation prize tacked onto the end, but a key part of the whole cycle, a bellweather for the big prize and a genuine event that people would show up to. Seems silly, but with so many awards to keep track of and frankly care about, it did make a difference.
So then, to the Ballon d’Or. It’s now difficult to work out which award we should give two flying ones about, now that FIFA’s nod to their best player has been separated from the traditional old bauble given out by France Football. But, the shortlist for the Ballon d’Or has been announced, if that isn’t too much of a misnomer.
A list with 30 names on it doesn’t sound that short to us, but that’s how many they have whittled the candidates for the men’s award to, the usual suspects on there and Luka Modric probably favourite to add this one to whatever it was he won a few weeks ago. The women’s list is slightly more sensible, 15 names on it including England’s Lucy Bronze and Fran Kirby, as they have the chance to rectify the apparent travesty of the FIFA Best gong being given to Marta.
Still, do we care about another award, even if it is the old traditional one? We don’t know. What we do know is FIFA were smart to give out The Best award first.
IN OTHER NEWS
Bang!
A decent hit, but all in vain: Bohemians ended up losing this game to Cork City, 2-1. There should really be some rule preventing that kind of thing from happening.
HEROES AND ZEROS
Heroes: Darcy, and England
Obviously much of the time the internet is a pit of putrid filth, where partisanship and snide abuse are often two of the more pleasant qualities on display. But just occasionally something nice pops up, like when Observer journalist Anna Kessel tweeted the story of seven-year-old Darcy on Monday…
…Darcy, who while supported by the boys she plays on a team with, cops plenty of abuse from opponents. So, to make everyone feel a bit moist at the eye, the England women’s team stepped in with an offer…
There is good out there people. You just have to look hard for it sometimes.
Zero: this guy from the Ukrainian league
Not for the foul, more for his utter failure to claim he’d got the ball after the referee produced the card. Come on man, have some self-respect.
RETRO CORNER
While we’re discussing the Ballon d’Or, let’s have a look at one of the guys who used to (jointly) hold the record for most wins, before Messi and Ronaldo came along. Here’s eight minutes of Marco van Basten, although unless you’re a big fan of pounding techno, maybe turn the sound down for this one.
HAT TIP
We all know the usual tropes about dopey footballers, a stereotype that Alexander-Arnold himself – bright, articulate, conscientious – does plenty to refute. But at the very highest level of the game, with its infinite complexities, technical details and tactical nuances, is the very reverse true? Could an innate intelligence actually be a prerequisite for an elite footballer?
Trent Alexander-Arnold plays chess, and is then interviewed by Jonathan Liew for the Independent.
COMING UP
Thin gruel. Thiiiiiiiiiiiiin gruel. Some women’s international friendlies perhaps, with England taking on Australia and Italy facing Sweden? Some FA Cup qualifying games? The EFL Trophy? One for the completists, we think they call this.
Tomorrow’s Warm-Up will be brought to you by Alex Chick, who will be watching all of those games.
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