Bayern Munich’s supreme home form stood as one of European football’s most startling runs. Since losing at home in November 2019, Bayern had played 30 Bundesliga matches at the Allianz Arena, winning 25 and drawing five. During those 30 matches, Bayern had scored 113 goals at a rate of close to four per match. At the full-time whistle, Eintracht Frankfurt’s players jumped for joy and met in communal embrace to salute their feat.
In France, Paris Saint-Germain have struggled to reinforce their economic might. But despite missing out on the Ligue 1 title to Lille last season, PSG had won 14 of their last 15 league games and drawn the other. For their weekend trip to Rennes, Mauricio Pochettino started Kylian Mbappe, Angel di Maria, Neymar and Lionel Messi. Not only did they lose 2-0, that ludicrous collection of expensive forwards failed even to muster a shot on target.
Barcelona and Real Madrid’s position in La Liga is far less cemented. To greater and lesser extent, these two historic super clubs are being punished for their financial mismanagement and expensive transfer market mistakes.
In a decade’s time, there will be think pieces written about Barcelona’s decision to spend £370m on Philippe Coutinho, Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann. Real Madrid’s missteps came in 2020, when they invested £160m on an injury-prone Eden Hazard and Luka Jovic. But defeat for both clubs on the same weekend will always be front-page news in Spain.
This was the first time since 2003 that those four clubs have lost on the same weekend. Over that period, Barcelona and Real Madrid have enjoyed dynastical eras in the Champions League, PSG have emerged as the new model of state-owned football clubs and Bayern Munich have trampled all over their Bundesliga competition. Before 2003, Bayern had won five of the last 12 German titles; they have now won the last nine.
Bayern and PSG will almost certainly win their domestic leagues. Bayern are only top on goal difference but will surely pull clear as others tail off. PSG may have lost to Rennes but have a six-point cushion at the top of Ligue 1 and will be determined to atone for last season’s humbling. We are not celebrating any changing of the guard in France and Germany.
In Spain, it’s a little different given Atletico Madrid’s consistency. The manner in which Spain’s biggest two clubs desperately clawed after the European Super League plot to stave off self-inflicted financial headaches and ring fence their position of strength belied their grand history and they deserve our scorn. But then Real Madrid are still top of La Liga. Barcelona, for all the cries of crisis, will be two points behind them if they win their games in hand.
That is what extreme wealth and European football’s financial inequality guarantees: repeated insurance policies. If any other club in La Liga spent as wantonly and as unintelligently as Barcelona, they would surely suffer relegation. But at these super clubs, a thick glass floor remains in place to halt their slide.
You can make a series of rotten decisions but you will always be favourites to beat Levante at home. You can fail to have a shot on target against a Rennes team that sold their prized asset to Real Madrid this summer and still walk the title. That will never change, given the status quo.
But then that means we must source our joy when we can. Taking pleasure in the misfortune of others isn’t a particularly wholesome pursuit, but we can surely make an exception here given the domination of domestic leagues by clubs who enjoy the benefits of football’s vast inequalities.
Watching clubs like Espanyol, Rennes and Eintracht Frankfurt bruise the noses of those clubs may only be temporary relief, but it at least provides a valuable injection of romance in an environment where none is usually found.
Normal service will be resumed. PSG will swat aside Angers after the international break. Bayern may well beat second-placed Leverkusen to establish a lead at the top of the Bundesliga. Real Madrid and Barcelona face Athletic Bilbao and Valencia respectively before the first Clasico of the season.
But then the rarity of these weekends only make them more special. As football destroys its mystique by allowing talent to be hoovered by the rich and richer, they will become less frequent. So if they are destined to happen only once every two decades, let us cling to their memory over the next fortnight.
These are the days that supporters of “lesser” clubs will recall far further down the line, when they went toe-to-toe with Goliath and celebrated as the giant writhed helplessly on the floor.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3mmuiNM
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