Atletico Madrid should take a strong stand on Vinicius abuseThis happened before the game outside the Wanda Metropolitano, and it leaves you disgusted. A number of Atletico fans (a few hundred, according to reports ) sang “You’re a monkey… Vinicius, you’re a monkey.” There were contrasting reports of similar racist abuse occurring within the ground, too, and you hope they’ll be fully investigated.
– LaLiga to report report racist abuse of Vinicius
There have been feeble and nonsensical “explanations” regarding why Vinicius is being targeted right now, and they have to do with some people accusing him of showboating and others finding his post-goal celebratory dance disrespectful. (Which is frankly inane, given he’s been doing it for years and given that he’s certainly not the only player to celebrate with a jig after scoring.)
I’m not interested in any of that right now. Get as angry as you like with Vinicius, that’s not the point. The point, as I see it, is that certain public expressions are simply unacceptable and racist abuse is one of them. This happened outside the ground, so jurisdiction might be down to law enforcement rather than the league or Atletico Madrid, but no matter: this is where Atleti have a chance to do something meaningful, something that goes beyond a statement.
These fans — and, reportedly, it’s an organised group — do not and must not represent the club. The club should make it clear not only that they are not welcome but that they expect the rest of Atletico supporters to shun and isolate them as well. It’s not enough to say that it’s a minority and not representative of the club: there’s too much of a permissive attitude out there, not just in Spain either, but in other leagues like Italy as well. Change is coming way too slowly, if at all.
Huge win for Napoli away to Milan as Gio has a better day than his dad Milan hosted Napoli, and both clubs were without their best players: Rafael Leao and Victor Osimhen . For much of the game, I thought the Rossoneri actually dealt with the absence better. Rade Krunic slotted into Leao’s position, but tucked inside, leaving the flank to Theo Hernandez , and they did what they’ve often done so well under Stefano Pioli: churn out chances via patterns of play and intensity, even when individuals weren’t necessarily dominating. The half-time xG of 1.33 to 0.10 speaks volumes.
But this is a low-scoring sport, and incidents matter. Davide Calabria had to go off at half-time and was replaced by Sergino Dest , who gave away the penalty on Khvicha Kvaratskhelia , a foul that was picked up by a single — but obvious — replay angle by VAR. Milan were undeterred and continued to carve out chances, grabbing a deserved equaliser through Olivier Giroud , but a brilliant cross from Mario Rui and a superb header from substitute Gio Simeone condemned them to a home defeat.
Credit Napoli for hanging in there during the first half, picking their spots in the second and making them count. And credit both teams for an entertaining second half.
Arsenal stay top even without Odegaard, ZinchenkoOpposition keeper heroics happen again, but is it time to worry about Bayern Munich ?Di Maria awful, but Juve’s problems run much deeper than him in shock defeat to Monza So you sign a veteran free agent to give you quality and experience, along with that “warrior mentality,” only he gets himself needlessly sent off after 40 minutes. Maybe I’m being harsh on Angel Di Maria, but I don’t think so. That red card he got himself after 40 minutes was an embarrassment and it’s a credit to him that he apologized afterwards. But we can’t forget that, even at 11 vs. 11, Juventus created very little and looked nothing like a team taking on the league’s cellar dwellers who had never won a game in Serie A in their history and had just changed managers. That part is on Max Allegri, who was suspended and in the stands, but obviously prepared the game.
Allegri’s behaviour feels increasingly erratic. A few days before the game, he said it was about shutting up and letting their performances do the talking. Then he opened up to give his version of events to the veteran journalist Mario Sconcerti (full disclosure: Sconcerti is my old boss). It wasn’t an interview — reportedly, Juve hadn’t authorised it — but merely a chat without quotes. And here we saw Allegri complain about the injuries and note how Juve were playing well in his view.
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There was one nugget that said it all. Allegri maintains the team was built to have Federico Chiesa , Dusan Vlahovic and Di Maria up front, with Paul Pogba , Leandro Paredes and Adrien Rabiot in midfield, but that other than Vlahovic, everybody else had been injured. I would hope, for Juve’s sake, that this front six only existed in Allegri’s head and wasn’t part of the club’s plan. Because they already knew that Chiesa wouldn’t be back before 2023 and that Pogba was carrying injuries. Meanwhile, Paredes didn’t actually arrive until the end of the transfer window, while Rabiot nearly left the club in the summer.
Juve reiterated their support for Allegri, possibly because he still has an enormous contract, but the supporters are losing patience with this team that hasn’t won a game since August. Maybe the players are too.
Yes, it’s true: Union Berlin, the Underdog’s Underdogs, stay top after beating Wolfsburg I’ll admit it. I didn’t write about them before because I figured they’d fall away. After all, tiny clubs like Union Berlin aren’t even supposed to be in the Bundesliga, let alone top the table. And yet here they are after their 2-0 win over Wolfsburg, two points clear of Borussia Dortmund at the top. Urs Fischer has them singing from the same hymn sheet, Jordan Pefok is showing that maybe his Swiss League exploits last season weren’t a fluke and Sheraldo Becker is playing like a man possessed.
If you’re getting Leicester City vibes circa 2016-17, I won’t blame you.
Son comes off bench to bag a hat-trick in resounding Spurs win Barca keep rolling against lowly Elche as Depay finds new roleMan City pummel Wolves and Haaland scores his first goal from outside the boxSay it softly, but Dortmund show further growth in derby winInter look limp in Udinese defeat, but Inzaghi overthinking substitutes doesn’t helpRotation is a must given the congested calendar and with five substitutes allowed per game, managers have more opportunities than ever to tinker. However, it feels as if Simone Inzaghi enjoys taking it to an extreme.
Half an hour into Inter’s game away to Udinese, with the score deadlocked at 1-1, he replaced two starters — defender Alessandro Bastoni and playmaker Henrikh Mkhitaryan — apparently because they had picked up yellow cards. Let’s be clear: it’s not the reason Inter lost (their third straight road defeat). They can blame that on some horrendous set-piece defending, a lack of ideas in midfield, the absence of Romelu Lukaku and, lest we forget, Udinese — who were top of Serie A for a few hours after the 3-1 win — playing exceptionally well, with Gerard Deulofeu looking increasingly like the player we thought he would be as a teenager when he broke into the Barcelona squad.
But it does feel like shooting yourself in the foot. Why burn two subs so early in the game? Are you that terrified that they’ll pick up a second yellow? Have you actually worked out the risk-reward of two bookable offences with those two? (Between them, they have 20 odd years of league football and it has happened just twice.) Maybe what Inter need from Inzaghi right now is a little less overthinking.
Messi and Neymar go minimalist in downing Lyon Atalanta down Roma, but memo to Mourinho: Check the replay before you complainAtalanta are an entirely different side this season in terms of the way they approach games — less free-wheeling, more defensive and more through-the-middle — but their results remain stronger. Stronger, in fact, than last season after a gorgeous strike from teenage wunderkind Giorgio Scalvini gave them a one-nil away win over Roma that sees them go joint-top, level with Napoli on points.
Roma didn’t play poorly — in fact, they created tons of chances that they just didn’t take, as evidenced by an xG count that stood at 2.52 to 0.17. So let’s put this in context: Roma were unlucky from the moment Paulo Dybala got injured in the warm-up to the final whistle, after missing industrial quantities of opportunities.
– Mourinho urges Roma players to dive more
No wonder Jose Mourinho was upset. Though his sending off for abusing the referee after Nicolo Zaniolo tussled with Caleb Okoli and fell in the box was entirely needless. Replays clearly showed Zaniolo fouling Okoli first before both players tugged at each other’s uniforms. Mourinho would have a stronger case earlier, when Zaniolo was clearly fouled (more than once) in the box by Merih Demiral without VAR stepping in, possibly because Zaniolo made every effort to stay on his feet.
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