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The European Leagues & Competitions Thread V2


CHOULO19
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6 minutes ago, communicate said:

Nah, pool were dominant at both games but they played far better at nou camp but they could not score, at Anfield Messi was having a feast, constantly creating chances if Barca had Dembele or messi and suarez wasn't old, pool would have conceded more than one. 

DIdnt barca win 4-0 or was it 3-0? In any case barca should have scored more, dembele had a few splendid chances he fluffed. Barca fucked up at anfield imo, arrogance and lack of planning killed them. They did a PSG.

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16 minutes ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

Turning the clock back 53 weeks. You may need popcorn. 🙂

 

Yeah I remember that one....Troops was adament they would murder us, he put his name on the line....." they sold me down the river blood " :D

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Leverkusen try to keep Wirtz’s feet on the ground after teenager makes history

https://theathletic.com/1858054/2020/06/08/honigstein-florian-wirtz-leverkusen-bundesliga-bayern/

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Florian Wirtz’s fourth Bundesliga appearance for Bayer Leverkusen earned some mixed reviews. His coach Peter Bosz, for starters, wasn’t overly impressed. He felt that the 17-year-old had been “taught the best lesson since he started playing football” in the 4-2 home defeat by Bayern Munich on Saturday. “He lost almost all of the first few balls he received, the pace was much higher than he’s used to,” the Dutchman said, not unreasonably.

Up against the mercurial talents of Alphonso “Roadrunner” Davies, second-half substitute Wirtz was unwittingly cast in the Wile E Coyote role, a hapless assailant unable to lay a finger on his adversary. The youngster’s luck changed five minutes from the end, however. Bayern were leading 4-1. The game — and the league — were effectively won, so Hansi Flick gave another run-out to Lucas Hernandez on the left. The World Cup-winner had hardly been on the pitch a couple of minutes when Wirtz’s quick feet turned him inside out like a fine shrimp tempura roll, and he capped off the delicious move with a curled shot with his weaker left foot past Manuel Neuer.

Bayer’s second goal amounted to little more than Ergebniskosmetik — result cosmetics, as the rather lovely German football cliche has it — but for Wirtz it was a historical achievement. At 17 years and 34 days, he became the youngest goalscorer in Bundesliga history.

Bosz was right to say that Wirtz had struggled for most of his cameo but the verdict reflected pastoral care rather than an intention to throw the player under a metaphorical bus. The 56-year-old knew that the noise surrounding German football’s latest teenage sensation would only get louder after his goalscoring feat against the champions-elect, offering up an overtly harsh assessment to tone down the excitement and keep the player’s feet on the ground. However, he couldn’t resist a moment of praise, saying that Wirtz was “a friendly and intelligent player — and of course a huge talent”.

That much has been obvious for a while. Born in Cologne, Wirtz had been part of the FC Koln youth set-up since the age of seven and developed into one of the most coveted young players in Europe in recent years. Bayern Munich, Porto and Liverpool all tried to lure him to their academies, but his parents wanted him to stay at home and finish his exams, which helped Leverkusen’s cause: they’re only 30 minutes away from Cologne.

Leverkusen were able to offer more money than Koln as well as a proven track record of bringing through young players like Kai Havertz or Julian Brandt (now at Borussia Dortmund) at Champions League level. In addition, Wirtz’s older sister Juliane was already playing for the Leverkusen women’s team.

The player’s ceiling was seen as so high that Leverkusen went against a 19-year-old mutual agreement with Koln and Borussia Monchengladbach that stipulated that the three Rhineland clubs should not target each other’s youngsters. Bayer director Rudi Voller justified Wirtz’s controversial move in January with the fact that he was out of contract this summer. “The player was on the market and willing to go. It would have been grossly negligent not to enter negotiations,” the former Germany international told sports magazine Kicker. Leverkusen also argued that they didn’t break the agreement, strictly speaking: they hadn’t signed Wirtz (16 at the time) for their academy but for the seniors.

In light of his lightning-fast progress, it’s hard to disagree. Wirtz first trained with Bosz’s team before the Europa League game at Rangers in March and went straight into the starting XI for Leverkusen’s comeback from the COVID-19 break against Werder Bremen (4-1) last month. He has since played at least 45 minutes in all but one match (he was an unused substitute against Gladbach) despite top competition in the attacking midfield positions. “Footballing-wise, he’s incredibly advanced,” the Leverkusen defender Sven Bender said.

Leverkusen are careful not to put too much pressure on his shoulders by way of public plaudits, but they also can’t help but feel proud about having such a hot prospect on their hands. Sporting director Simon Rolfes told The Athletic that Wirtz was “the biggest talent of his age group” in Germany, a player who “combines great technique and the ability to find space with a hard-working attitude”. German FA head youth coach Meikel Schonweitz has praised him as “a very fine footballer, a creative midfielder who anticipates situations before they arise. Thanks to his good orientation and his intelligence he can react quicker. He’s our great hope”.

Comparisons with another Leverkusen superstar in the making are inevitable, Leverkusen youth coach Patrick Helmes agreed in an interview with Sport1: “Flo has abilities that cannot be learned, his movement in spaces, the solutions for pressurised situations. He has quite a few similarities with Kai Havertz.”

Koln’s former head of the youth academy, Jorg Jakobs, believes Wirtz might actually surpass the 20-year-old Havertz. “He can do anything,” Jakobs said. “If he stays healthy, he’ll become a player of the Kai Havertz category — at a minimum.”

Bosz and Leverkusen will have their work cut out dialling down the hype in the coming weeks. It’s not the worst problem to have.

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