Morning.
That’s what happens after night. You get morning. Daytime. The sun comes up. And Real Madrid win the Champions League. I watched the game last night, and beyond the feeling of inevitability that was present throughout, my overriding thought was that it must be absolutely exhausting being a fan of Borussia Dortmund. We’ve been through some stuff as Arsenal fans, but my goodness, the opportunities they have squandered in recent times would be too much for me to cope with.
How they didn’t score in that first half … but they didn’t score in that first half. When you’re clean through with just the keeper to beat in a Champions League final – especially against that opposition – you have to score. They hit the post, and were by far the most threatening side. But you can’t fluff your lines like that because in this competition Real Madrid will always find a way, and so it proved in the second half. Nice header, bad defending, and as soon as it went 1-0 you knew that was that. 2-0 from Vinicius Jr and the fat lady was singing already.
Obviously I have no love for Real Madrid, and their Champions League Juju is one of the most powerful forces of nature. And it’s quite funny that they dominate a competition Florentino Perez would happily have left to go and play in a Super League, but maybe next season’s format will see him cool his jets a bit because that’s basically a version of that. That said, Carlo Ancelotti really is something special.
His pre-game teamtalk probably consisted of him firing up a massive Cohiba, raising a quizzical eyebrow, and sending them out to ‘play’. I’m doing him a disservice, clearly, but it’s still amazing to me that it was only a few short years ago he was the manager of Everton. Football is a bit mad.
Speaking of Everton, their takeover by 777 Partners has fallen through, which is undoubtedly a problem in the short-term, but I would suggest in the longer-term this is the best thing that could have happened. If you follow the investigative work Philippe Auclair and others have done about this group, primarily via the excellent Josimar website, you’ll understand why this is a bullet well and truly dodged for Everton.
It is being reported that Crystal Palace’s largest shareholder is looking to sell his stake and is ready to go in on Everton, which is kinda a new development in the summer madness. We’re well used to players moving, even managers and coaches, but I can’t remember a part-owner selling their shares in one club to buy another. Even when Alisher Usmanov sold to KSE, it was his partner Farhad Moshiri who officially bought the stake in Everton.
With plenty of eager-eyes looking at a couple of Palace players this summer, it will be very interesting to see how this plays out, and whether or not it impacts any outgoing or incoming business from Selhurst Park. I just want a single Michael Olise without any complications, is that too much to ask?!
Right, there’s not a lot happening from an Arsenal perspective, and as it’s a bank holiday weekend here, I’m gonna leave it there for today.
Have a lovely Sunday folks.
