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In 2011, after two Champions Leagues in three years with Barça, Pep Guardiola was the best coach in the world, dedicated to piling up European successes. He had to wait twelve years, on a Saturday evening in June 2023 in Istanbul, to find the stars. Manchester City finally won their Champions League, at the expense of Inter Milan in the final (1-0), while retaining their title in England. And without giving up the quality of its football, enhanced this time by the goal machine Erling Haaland. “We managed to win in Europe, suffering, but that’s normal. Sometimes you need that chance that we didn’t have in the past,” said Guardiola, at the club since 2016, who doesn’t “remember a match where (he didn’t) tells (his) players not to press when the opponent has the ball, or not to try to construct (our) actions as best as possible. Praise of patience and confidence in the principles adopted by all.
He is 20 years old, has a beautiful face, crazy style and is already the future star of world football. When he landed at Real Madrid last summer for 103 million euros, no one would have thought to glimpse such a crazy first part of the season from the England international. Well made yes, considering the standards he already had at Dortmund, but Bellingham did even better and even finds himself in the potential 2024 Ballon d’Or. With 14 goals for his first 15 matches under his new colors – that’s better than the legends Alfredo Di Stefano and Cristiano Ronaldo – he quickly set the tone. Above all… he is a midfielder. In Madrid, everyone dreams of him. Zidane, Ronaldo, Ancelotti, the supporters, the media… Everyone is ecstatic about this mix of talent, power and class. Can’t wait for 2024. With Bellingham, football has a different flavor.
This is called panicking the meters. This season, between the Bundesliga, the German Cup and the Europa League, Bayer Leverkusen has scored 81 goals in 25 matches, or 3.2 goals/match. That’s one more goal per game than Manchester City. The Schwarzroten (Black and Red), undefeated, are neither a summer nor an autumn hit. The coach Alonso, a former world-class midfielder, emphasizes less on possession of the ball and more on “changing the tempo to get behind the opposing midfielder,” he explained to AFP. He also instilled a mental strength that surprises across the Rhine, with nerves of steel at the end of matches. Tickets for the BayArena (30,000 seats) have never been as sold as today. And never has the title of German champion of Bayern, current runner-up in the standings, seemed so fragile.
The Stade de Reims did not expect so much. In October 2022, the Red and Whites bet on Will Still to succeed Óscar García. A winning bet since the Belgian completely convinced, concluding the 2022-2023 season in an encouraging 11th place with a series of 17 matches without a setback and a style of play as marked as it is pleasant. And in this first part of the 2023-2024 financial year, the 31-year-old coach did better since at the break the Rémois occupied 8th position in the ranking, only a few points from Europe. Impressive.
It’s one of the biggest surprises of the major European championships. At mid-season, Aston Villa is competing with the best teams in the Premier League and legitimately asserts itself as one of the contenders for the podium…or even better. This (nice) surprise, the Villans owe it largely to Unai Emery. Arriving in Birmingham in November 2022, the Spaniard quickly imposed his style based on intensity and verticality to lift the Lions up, then take them to a new level. He thus proves – or reminds – that he is not only a specialist in the Europa League.
In Spain, it is a Catalan club which finished the year 2nd in La Liga, tied on points with Real Madrid. But it is not what the country expected. Stronger than FC Barcelona and the two ogres of Madrid, Real and Atlético, Girona FC had an exceptional first part of the season. Better, much better than the initial objective of remaining in La Liga. This spectacular and offensive team coached by Michel (not to be confused with the former OM coach) is the pride of the City Football Group. The owner of Manchester City, but also of twelve other clubs around the world including Palermo and Troyes, brought Girona into his fold in 2017, equally with… the brother of Pep Guardiola. Promoted to the first division for the first time in their history in 2017, Blanquivermells were relegated in 2019 before returning last year. The best attack in the championship can now dream bigger.
Claws
We may have had the highest education, have a CV as long as an arm or travel the world interacting with the greatest leaders on the planet, but this does not grant a simple quality which is to remain in tune with reality. The International Football Federation (FIFA) and its president, Gianni Infantino, demonstrate this once again, preferring to remain faithful to greed and political calculation. In its choice of “always more” matches, teams, competitions, money, profits, the international body has reached a new level with the organization of the 2030 World Cup. The biggest competition of the number one sport on the planet will take place… on three continents and six countries. The candidacy of Portugal, Spain and Morocco was accepted, but Fifa, to honor its history and the centenary of a first World Cup played in Uruguay in 1930 (with 13 teams in the same host city), was keen to organize a meeting in this country, as well as two others in Argentina and Paraguay. The proximity of the six countries concerned is not obvious, regardless. Whether coaches or players, everyone has been sounding the alarm in recent years about the increase in competitions, matches and injuries. In vain. Fifa doesn’t care. Totally disconnected from reality. His trademark.
May the one who never let money guide his professional choices throw the first stone at Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kanté, Malcom, Neymar, Sadio Mané, Edouard Mendy and all these footballers who left to join Saudi Arabia last summer for a (very) high salary. But the 2023 transfer window of the Saudi Pro League, which will undoubtedly remain one of the most significant in history, is cause for alarm. Firstly by the crazy sums invested – more than 800 million euros, or 14% of total market expenditure according to a FIFA study – by a championship that is still minor, at least belonging to a confederation other than UEFA. Then by the impressive list of big names attracted by Al-Hilal, Al-Ahli, Al-Ittihad or Al-Nassr, some still in full possession of their means. A vast drain of talent that European teams can only deplore.
Here’s one less ugly character in the world of football. On October 30, Fifa suspended Luis Rubiales, former president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), from “all activities related to football at national and international level”. A month and a half earlier, the Spaniard had resigned from the RFEF which he had chaired since 2018. He had given in to pressure following the controversy over the forced kiss on his part towards the player Jenni Hermoso, who had just been crowned world champion with Roja. Rubiales then lied, tried to cover things up, and put pressure on Hermoso and his entourage. He said he was a victim of “false feminism”. Problem for him: Spain is at the forefront of dealing with gender-based and sexual violence and is not ignoring the problems that its football drags in its treatment of women. Several La Roja stars have gone so far as to refuse to play in the World Cup to already denounce the federation’s ways of doing things. That didn’t stop 23 Spanish women from winning the grail. We prefer to keep that.
On the pitch, Lionel Messi (absolutely) does not lack elegance. Outside, this is perhaps less the case as his ingratitude in leaving Paris SG illustrates. Not very talkative during his two years spent with the Rouge et Bleu, the “Pulga” said on several occasions that he had lived “two difficult years” there. Words which stuck in the throats of Parisian supporters – (already) often disappointed by his performance on the pitch – and which gave the impression that his arrival in the French capital was (only) a choice by default…
An unusual situation which could set a precedent. Last February, certain executives of the French women’s team – Wendie Renard, Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Kadidiatou Diani – withdrew from the Bleues, denouncing the “current system” and demanding “profound changes”… Understand: the departure of coach Corinne Diacre, in conflict with several players. And they won their case since a few days later, the FFF terminated his contract…just a few weeks before the 2023 World Cup. It was the much appreciated Hervé Renard who succeeded him.
“Spanish La Liga has a problem with racism. And the problem is not Vinicius Jr. He is the victim,” assured Carlo Ancelotti last May following the racist insults aimed at the Brazilian on the pitch at Valencia CF. The Italian coach of Real Madrid was right because despite the opening of an investigation after these reprehensible and nauseating facts, the merengue striker complained on several occasions of other racist insults during championship matches. of Spain in 2023. We strongly hope that the year 2024 will be different…
