Vesper

Estevao Willian leaves pitch on stretcher after vomiting in Palmeiras win on 18th birthday https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6308719/2025/04/25/estevao-willian-Chelsea-palmeiras-vomit/ https://archive.ph/M6p6A Chelsea-bound forward Estevao Willian left the pitch on a stretcher after vomiting during Palmeiras’ game against Bolivar on Thursday. The teenager, who is set to officially join Chelsea from Palmeiras this summer, turned 18 on Thursday and celebrated his birthday by scoring in his side’s 3-2 Copa Libertadores win over Bolivar. However, later in that game, Estevao dropped to the turf and vomited, subsequently leaving the pitch on a stretcher and being substituted just before the hour mark. The Brazil international explained after the game that he struggled to get used to the high altitude, with the match played at an elevation of around 3,650 metres at the Estadio Hernando Siles in La Paz, Bolivia. “It took me a while to get used to it and unfortunately I couldn’t continue,” he told Paramount+, as reported by Globo. “It was really a matter of the altitude. It’s surreal here.” The teenager was treated by the Palmeiras medical staff after returning to the bench. “I told the players that they would suffer,” head coach Abel Ferreira said of the conditions. “Here they would have to look for air to breathe. I climbed the stairs and I’m tired, imagine the players.” snip

5 goals in his last 2 and half games

Inter in the process of blowing the Scudetto they lost earlier today and now Napoli are up 2 nil McTominay on a hat trick already Napoli now clear top of the table by 3 points

Is Enzo Maresca’s tactical approach exacerbating Cole Palmer’s goalless streak? https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6312832/2025/04/27/cole-palmer-form-enzo-maresca-Chelsea/ https://archive.ph/nHYpd “Enjoyment” One word — accompanied by a beaming smile emoji — captioned the story posted on Cole Palmer’s official Instagram account earlier this month, commenting on a clip of his spectacularly impudent first of four goals in a 6-0 home win over Everton a year ago. Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca alighted on a rather more sombre concept to describe Palmer’s contribution as Everton were beaten 1-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday: sacrifice. “Nico (Jackson) finally found the goal today,” Maresca said. “Hopefully, Cole soon can score goals. But I think Cole’s performance was very good. He sacrificed, he was pressing well. So it’s just a matter of time for all of them and for sure they’re going to help us.“ Palmer’s streak without a goal now extends to 17 matches across all competitions, and he has arguably never looked further from scoring than he did on Saturday. In 91 minutes on the pitch against Everton, he had zero shots — only the fifth time that has happened in the 61 Premier League games he has started for Chelsea — and only one touch in the opposition penalty area. The touch map above is consistent with a pure midfielder, which is a problem considering that Palmer has firmly established himself as Chelsea’s best finisher. His only notable run beyond Jackson on Saturday was picked out by a brilliant floated pass from Levi Colwill, before the ball was picked off by the recovering Jarrad Branthwaite after he chested it down. Maresca had already responded to an increasingly popular narrative in his Friday press conference at Cobham by insisting that Palmer’s struggles are not the result of his tactics. “The style of football we play is the same one,” he insisted. “The manager is the same one. The club is the same one. So nothing changes around Cole and Cole doesn’t change. It’s just mentally at this moment. For sure, you can see that he is a little worried because he wants to help the team.” Mental or tactical? Evidence could be found in the Everton game to support both theories. Palmer spent a large proportion of his time receiving and passing the ball too far from goal to threaten Jordan Pickford. But on the occasions when the ball did find him around the box, the cocky assurance that saw him nutmeg Branthwaite en route to scoring a 29-minute hat-trick in last season’s corresponding fixture was nowhere to be seen. At times, he also appeared uncharacteristically hesitant to shoot. snip

they easily could have scored 4 goals IF Palace play like they did yeasterday and Citeh do not show up, I could, perhaps, see Palace winning not predicting that, but it could happen

Slot the first Dutch manager to ever win the English topflight league title

imagine Arse winning both the mens and womens CLs in the SAME SEASON 😕

wow Arse crushing Lyon AT LYON

Pool draw even with Manure for most all-time English league titles 20 each

Pool win the league Slot gets the trophy in his first try

Pool crushing spuds

2 massive misses by Gibbs-White especially the 2nd

no way spuds score 3 without reply so crown the scousers 🤮

I have so little faith we are going to have even a decent transfer window and I truly fear Maresca is not going to be replaced

BlueCo thinks Fofana is a god-like CB and the club defence will be built around him 🤮

nil 1 Citeh Lewis

if it had went to pens the game would have finished after 1 am

shit pass from Modric set up Kounde for the winner Rudiger might be banned for the rest of the season

crazy game

3 2 FT what a shitshow ending by Real shameful

Real bench throwing thinsg at the ref from the sideline

Rudiger gong beserk, trying to fight the ref red carded

yep offsides no pen