25 stitches to his ear but he was discharged from the hospital the same day. I've seen some horror tackles but that one is definitely up there. The even crazier thing...no foul was called. Michael Oliver has long been a running joke of a ref in the EPL and this just confirms it. Why did he need to go to the monitor? At the bare minuimum, it's an extremely dangerous high kick and deserved a red, contact or not.
I personally loved the format. The original made it too easy for the power teams to get through the group stage. Seeing Bayern, PSG, Real, and City finsh where they did while Lille, Brest, Feyernoord and PSV got the chance to get throug and play on is great. I think it brings more fans in. Also, that last day of the group stage was amazing. Not sure how you watch but Paramount + has the Golazo show where they switch through all of the active games when one gets within a scoring change. It was absolute madness going through all of the goals (I think there were something like 64 goals scored that day) and watching the table constantly update.
Agree that a modification has been necessary and the last matchday indeed will be a highlight every year. Still don't like the fact that you don't have a chance to get payback on teams that beat you. Bayern lost to Aston Villa and Feyenoord matches they could've won, still got no chance to play them at home to equal the score. That's a negative factor in the new system, especially since it's a major difference whether you play for example Celtic away or home.
That was a pretty complete thumping of Leverkusen. Other games today were pretty good. Really thought PSG deserved better. What Arsenal did to PSV yesterday was borderline criminal...an absolute raping. Not looking forward to tomorrow's United game at Real Sociedad. We'll only have 4 outfield subs. Maguire and Ugarte now down. Have to hope Casemiro and Erikson can give us 90...especially after we went 120 min in the FA Cup on Sunday.
Glad they did because they'd likely be top. Not happy that it's LiVARpool who's stepped in but glad it's not City again.
I love seeing the lower level teams win like this. Something you'll never see in the States. I'm planning a trip to England in September and one of my goals (other than to see United play at Old Trafford) is to go to a lower league game. Don't even care who or where. We don't get that here. I love minor league baseball but there's no passion for the teams because they're linked to the major league team and the players literally come and go weekly. They're not usually ingrained in their city like a 3rd division team in Europe. I'm sure people in Toledo like the Mud Hens but they have a MLB team they love. I've tried explaining that to non-football people here and they don't really understand what the passion is like. When I was over in 2021, my experience was mind blowing. The fact that the pubs near Old Trafford checked to make sure you had a "home" ticket before being allowed entrance was nuts to us. Then seeing the separation they had in the stadium protecting the away fans made it make sense. The next day, we went to Arsenal v Tottenham at the Emirates. We got off the train and saw some police and could hear their radios. They were alerted to some Spurs fans getting off the train and to get over there to keep them safe while they entered the grounds. Nothing you would ever see here. There's no away section at an Astros game or a Rockets game. Everyone can sit wherever and (other than in Los Angeles) no one's life is literally in danger. That said, I understand why you and many others do not like Bayer Leverkusen...but I appreciate that they ended Bayern's reign. No one team should be able to dominate a league for over a decade like that. And, comically, I enjoyed that it was still a trophyless season for Harry Kane. It's just hilarious at this point. There was a meme I saw recently that said something like "Christian Erikson left Tottenham, literally died on the field, survived, came back and played for 2 more clubs...and won 2 trophies before Kane has won 1."
Really admire your passion for the game, flying over a second time even when your club is struggling. Already looking forward to your travel report, lower league game sounds like a great idea, just do your research beforehands. There are some games even in lower leagues over here in Germany I wouldn't recommend to visit as a tourist, at least not without being aware of the situation. With that being said, no more jokes about Harry in about a month.
I'm traveling with my wife and some of our friends for my 50th birthday in Sept. One of my friends has a friend who apparently has connections to Wrexham...so that might end up being the "lower league" we end up seeing. Can't complain about going to one of the oldest still used stadiums in the world (built in 1807). United is #1 on the agenda. Just sucks we can't plan anything until the schedule comes out in June...and even that is a moving target. I've already made sure we won't be traveling oven an international break. There's no replicating the passion you get there. Got to see CR7 with United the last time but they didn't score which was kind of a bummer. Next day went to Arsenal/Tottenham so I got to expereince that roar. I know and I'm a little sad I won't get to use that joke anymore.
Awesome plan for your birthday, hope everything will work out for you. Wrexham sounds good, since the Hollywood guys took over I think they're up to a more family friendly environment, but that's just what I heard from distance. International break is indeed in the first two September weeks, I'll try to get tickets for Germany/Northern Ireland in Cologne on Sep 7.
It's not until September but thanks anyway Just the 3 of us left in here, huh. I wonder if it's because so many had ATW on ignore.
Even with ATW and Yung-T there were 6 .......all the bball fans don't really talk club football/soccer outside of World Cups and even the WC threads are relatively empty...... I am missing Hispanics, Latinos here.
