Mats the way to do it

Morning all.

Last night’s Champions League semi-final was a fun watch for a neutral like me, even if I did have a strong preference for Borussia Dortmund over PSG. 1-0 ahead from the first leg, the Germans doubled their lead in the second half with a header from Mats Hummels, and even though PSG threw the kitchen sink at it, they couldn’t find a way through.

Hummels produced a superb piece of defending to deny Kylian Mbappe as he was lining up to take a shot from close range, but based on the way the rest of the game went, even if he had made contact, he’d have hit the bar. So near, yet so, so deliciously far away for PSG, whose continued failure at this level is something that should warm the hearts of all football fans.

I have to say, I love the fact that despite the way the game has developed over the years, where raw pace is often considered sufficient to offset some of the technical inefficiencies of modern forwards, a 35 year old central-defender can be the man of the match. Sometimes you have to dig in, and earn your bit of luck. The xG of 3.25 to 0.77 in PSG’s favour tells some of that story, but that’s also what’s great about football. There’s no doubt Dortmund defended with real heart, but also that the opposition failed to make the most of good chances. I think the result over the two legs was more than fair.

I guess Mbappe will have to go to Real Madrid to win a Champions League now. Obviously the financial aspect of his move to PSG has been extremely favourable to him, but he turns 26 this year, and I wonder will he have regrets about what he might have achieved if he’d gone there earlier. I enjoyed this piece about him from Barney Ronay in The Guardian:

The last time Mbappe started a game in Ligue 1 was five weeks ago. It has been not so much a long goodbye as a meandering, work from home kind of season’s end, extended scenes from Kylian Mbappé’s day off. Football is a long game. It’s about a sustained pitch of performance,…

Source link : https://arseblog.com/2024/05/mats-the-way-to-do-it/

Author : arseblog

Publish date : 2024-05-08 06:53:29

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.