HEROES AND VILLANS
Nottingham Forest’s quest to emulate Tottenham continues. For all of Spurs’ ongoing misery, they remain something of a model club: Forest’s quarter-final victory against Porto on Thursday night keeps that twisted dream alive, to finish 17th in the league and lift Bigger Vase. Naturally, Ange Postecoglou started the run, getting a point at Real Betis in September before passing the baton to Sean Dyche, who did most of the group-stage slog. He then handed over to Vítor Pereira for the knockouts. Should Forest go all the way, they’ll need to cut the manager’s medal into quarters; Nuno Espírito Santo was the man who got them into Europe. Yes, what a healthy way this is to run a football club.
By comparison, Aston Villa have been all boring and responsible, reaching the last four with one man at the helm. Unai Emery – whose love for Bigger Vase is one of the great romances of the age, its anthem presumably his ringtone – is still on for his fifth title after a tension-free evening at Villa Park, turning their two-goal advantage from the first leg against Bologna into a 7-1 aggregate whooping. Villa and Forest on the edge of European glory and another Top Gun in the works? The 80s are so back, baby.
The two sides will meet in the first all-English European semi-final since 2009, when Cristiano Ronaldo sent a 40-yarder past Manuel Almunia as Manchester United strolled past Arsenal in Big Cup. But think of Our League™ on the continent and the mind goes straight to the Chelsea-Liverpool ties of the Noughties. The teams met in five consecutive seasons, three semi-finals among them. We got Luis García’s ghost goal, a penalty shootout at Anfield and a 4-4 at Stamford Bridge – worth a rewatch just for the cheek of Fábio Aurélio’s free-kick. Probably best to ignore those goalless draws in the 2005-06 group stage.
Over in Tin Pot, the victorious farewell is very much on for Oliver Glasner. A 2-1 defeat by Fiorentina didn’t matter, the bulk of Crystal Palace’s work done at home last week. They’ll face Shakhtar Donetsk in the semi-finals and got their late-night celebrations on around the streets of Florence. Glasner, who will leave Selhurst in the summer, won Big Vase with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022 and he’s trying to stay consistent. Comparing the two sides, Glasner roared: “What’s exactly the same is the players’ aspirations to go out tonight. This was the same as what the Frankfurt players asked when they won the quarter-final. I agreed a few years ago that the players can go out, and I agreed tonight that the players can go out. Hopefully the ending of the story will be the same.”
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“At this stage, our primary focus is on our safety, our health and beginning the process of rebuilding our lives … The compassion and support shown to us during this challenging time has provided us with hope for a future where we can live and compete in safety” – Fatemeh Pasandideh and Atefeh Ramezanisadeh, two members of the Iran team who remained in Australia after the Women’s Asian Cup, express their gratitude at being granted the opportunity to build new lives.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
It comes as no surprise to fans of both Burnley and Blackburn that Vincent Kompany rates his victories as the Clarets’ manager over the Rovers, as up there with his Bayern side beating the cry-babies of Real Madrid (yesterday’s Football Daily). In fact, his team (sadly for this Blackburn fan) clinched the 2022-23 Championship title at Ewood Park. That was the night Kompany earned mine and many Rovers fans’ respect when he curtailed the Burnley players’ raucous celebrations right in front of the hurting Rovers supporters. A class act” – John Myles.
I’m afraid that a 35-year career in science has made me somewhat of a pedant when it comes to measurements. I am completely confused by the Michael Carrick scale of ridiculousness in refereeing decisions. Is ‘the most ridiculous decision’ the sending-off of Harry Maguire for pulling a player down in the area? Or is it the hair-pulling red card? Or is it the extra game that Maguire got for swearing at the refs as he left the pitch? A scale requires an upper and lower limit to allow people to assign a number; constantly sliding scales make no sense. And don’t get me started on the Real Madrid scale” – Pat Condreay.
The ‘boots to the face’ image in Football Daily earlier this week reminded me of the occasion when, playing Monday night seven-a-side on the astroturf pitches behind Dulwich Hamlet many moons ago, I received a boot in the chops from a young lad on the opposing team. His dad, who was also on their team, was at pains to let me know how minor the injury was … until I unintentionally poked my tongue through the gaping hole under my bottom lip. At which point he grudgingly conceded I might need to pop to the local A&E” – David Madden.
If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … David Madden, just to ease his pain all these years later. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here.
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