Now that’s that for club football in terms of the big games. Ironic that 4 days after club footballs biggest game, the Scottish FA have the draw for the Betfred Cup, which is our League cup but the initial stages are treated as pre-season friendly’s. Anyway, my team don’t need to worry as the top 4 automatically go into the later stages, so that’s a bonus.
The Wee one…
Now its only wee because the Champions League is the big one…
It was an intense match between Chelsea and Arsenal for the Europa League, with Chelsea lifting the trophy after an unpredictable 4-1 win.
Chelsea took on their typical 4-3-3 lineup, while Arsenal stuck to a 3-4-1-2 formation. Chelseas strong front 3 of Hazard, Pedro and Giroud up top had a great balance of skill, pace and height. Arsenal began with Aubameyang and Lacazette up top with the even more unpredictable Ozil playing in behind.
To say the game started slowly would be kind. The drabest of drab first 45 minutes with not many talking points. A hopeful penalty claim from Arsenal along with one good save by Cech was only met with a close strike from Xhaka as the first 45 came to a close. uckily for them, there was not enough contact to give Arsenal a penalty after looking at it with VAR.
Now i don’t normally like a cliche, but this was a game of two halves.
It started in the best way possible for a neutral, Chelsea opening the scoring in the 49th minute of the match for the lead. Giroud with a fine glancing header against his old side, written in the stars for Arsenal TV. Just 10 minutes later it was 2-0. Pedro who would make history (more on that later) slotting Hazards pass into the bottom right hand corner.
Time for another quick breath, but just 3 minutes later Giroud was fouled and Chelsea had the chance to make it 3-0. Hazard stepping up and cooling rolling the ball past a diving Cech, who was making his last appearance for Arsenal before becoming Chelsea director of football…
Arsenal finally made a statement in the 69th minute when sub Alex Iwobi hit an amazing strike from outside the box which proved to be little more than a personal highlight for him.
The icing came on the Chelsea cake when good play from Hazard put Giroud through, he lofted a great ball back to Hazard who calmly placed the ball into the Arsenal net. A goal fitting to end a great 45 minutes.
It looks and sounds like that was the end for Hazard, his post match interview making it clear he was looking to move on. Real Madrid will be firm favorites to sign him, and with Chelsea’ transfer ban, who knows where they’ll end up next season. Now back to Pedro, he is now the only player to win the “Big 5” football trophies – Wold Cup, European Championship, Champions League, Europa League and the English Premier League. Not too shabby.
The Big one…
Tottenham versus Liverpool. Champions League final, can only imagine what it must have been like for a player or manager in the dressing room before the game. The nerves, the excitement, the chat, the team talks! I’m sure at some stage during all of that, Poch would have said something along the lines of “keep it tight for the first 15 mins, settle into the game” 23 seconds after kick off..Liverpool awarded a penalty….”shit”.
The goal officially goes down as 2 minutes after Salah hammered the spot kick home, what a start, sadly, not a sign of things to come. Tottenhams inclusion of Harry Kane has been much talked since, but he sis start and had Alli, Ericksen and Son as his supporting midfielders. Liverpool played their ever too familiar a 4-3-3 formation.
In another game with little to talk about, a few strikes from Liverpool apart, the game fizzled into half time with neither team really taking control. Onto the second half…
Coming out in the second half, a good piece of goalkeeping by Lloris was followed by a chance for James Milner, but he couldn’t find the bottom corner.
Then came a torturous 10 minutes for Liverpool fans. Tottenham came close to tying it up in the 81st minute. Son weaved his way to 25 yards from goal before he took a shot. The first real save from Liverpool keeper, Allison, pushed the ball away. However, Tottenham’s Rose kept the play alive and fired a ball to the feet of Moura, but Allison saved well again. A couple more chances for Spurs left the twitching bumholes of Liverpool fans on the edge of their seats.
84 minutes on the clock, . Tottenham failed to clear a Liverpool corner which gave Matip the unlikely assist as he delivered to the feet of Origi. His precise finish found the bottom corner with his left foot and it was job done! The relief was clear to see as Van Dijk sprawled across the turf, Andy Robertson sprinting with his arms aloft. That was it, they knew they had done enough.
Liverpool Champions of Europe for a 6th time, and a homecoming well worth catching up on.
Now whats next?!
Well, marmite time – International football, you either love it or hate it…
Cheers!
Post Match Pints 