And Barcelona champion again

I could not watch the match between Barcelona and Real Madrid. No matter how many subscriptions to different TV platforms and cable, these special matches are only shown on some other special channel, and it is increasingly annoying.

Money rules, and money rules in particular when these two teams play. Real Madrid will end its second season in a row without a single title and with serious crisis in a squad where the superstar Kylian Mbappe has never won a title, and the club he left, PSG, has only appeared to become better without him. In the meantime, their archrivals of Barcelona have under Hansi Flick taken their second league title in a row, today with a 2-0 victory on goals by Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford.

There is no doubt who is the best team in Spain right now. 

AGF Champions

The first time I went to watch a football match was in 1986 in Ikast, when now foregone Ikast FS was playing AGF. AGF won the league that season, and today, 40 years later, AGF have again won the League.

AGF won deservedly as FC Midtjylland, the usual favourites (and who incidentally used to be Ikast), could not keep up with the team from Århus. They had tied to FC Nordsjælland which meant that if AGF defeated Brøndby, they would effectively be champions with one match left.

AGF did what they had to do and won 0-2; surely next week a big celebration in Århus as they get their medals in an unimportant match against Viborg. 

Some Brøndby fans, including myself, may have thought back to the sad day in 2024 when Brøndby just needed to defeat AGF at home to win the league, but AGF won and FC Midtjylland instead became champions, and thought of revenge against AGF. 

Don't mistake me: I am not an AGF fan, but revenge is so old-fashioned and pointless. Instead, I find it refreshing that finally the championship goes to a club that is not a recent money-creation (FC Midtjylland and FC Copenhagen), but is instead one of the old traditional Danish clubs, and comes from the otherwise lovely second city of Denmark, Århus.

So congratulations to AGF, but most of all to all Århusianere, who today have every reason to smile! 

PSG again in the final

It was virtually impossible that the second-leg match would be as good as the first leg between PSG and Bayern Munich, but it was still a good match. PSG were in my view the better team overall, highly organised, and having learnt from the mistakes of the first match, they closed down Olise and Kimmich in midfield, held back after Ousmane Dembele early goal on a counter-attack, and remained a deadly force on the counterattack, with Manuel Neuer being the saviour on many occasions for Bayern Munich. 

Many players are worth mentioning, but Kvisha Kvaraskhelia and Ousmane Dembele are perhaps two of the best players in the world right now; the former will surely be missed in the World Cup, but Dembele will hopefully shine in North America this summer (not because I support France - certainly not - but I just want to enjoy watching an artist shine in his trade). 

But Bayern Munich were not hapless. They created great chances that in the previous match would have given goals, and the well-deserved equalizer by Harry Kane in the last minute only came too late. What is a shame in the match was the referee Joao Pinheiro, who decided to oversee two clear handballs in core situations that could have given Bayern Munich an edge. The handball inside the area by the referee's namesake  Joao Neves was more a penalty kick than the bad penalty call against Alphonse Davies in the previous match. And Nuno Mendes should have been given a second yellow card for handball earlier as well.

The best team won, and it was a great match, but it is a pity that with all this VAR, a great contest it made controversial by a very very poor referee.

PSG are now in the second final in a row, and favourites to take their second title in a row, but anything can happen in a final. Arsenal are in the final after defeating Atletico Madrid in two matches that were frankly a bore, and Arsenal, despite their solid lead in the Premier League, are surely not as complete as PSG, but are not hapless; a goal on one of their signature free kicks and a solid defense (and a bit of luck), and they could take the title... 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart

Sometimes you get two teams with great players, both teams full of confidence that they are the best, they are on a roll in their leagues, and have offensive style based on their confidence. And suddenly they are playing an important match (let us say a semifinal) where they can display all their skills and style.

Then you get an extraordinary match, and that is what happened today in the CL first leg semifinal between PSG and Bayern Munich.

Do not mistake me; it was not perfect in the sense that there were mistakes (including by the referee when awarding a penalty kick for handball), poor defending, and the occasional technical mistake, but frankly these are parts of a match that had it all.

I was working, listening on the radio, but by the score 2-1 for PSG I shifted to the TV; Harry Kane had brought the visitors ahead 0-1 on a penalty kick, but shortly after Kvisha Kvarashkelia scored his first of two great goals where he showed his fantastic skills, and a bit later Joao Neves brought the Parisians ahead. The great Frenchman playing for the German side, Michael Olise, ran through the PSG central defense to make it 2-2 before Ousmane Dembele made it 3-2 on a handball call that in my view was not a penalty.

3-2 at halftime, the match had already been extraordinary (it could have been 5-5), but it was PSG who came out with a high and steady pressure on Bayern Munich’s shaky defense, with Kvarashkelia scoring his second and Ousmane Dembele making it 5-2 on a quick counterattack: it appeared at this point that the Germans were defeated, but truly, if we know anything it is that Bayern is never defeated.

Another Frenchman, Dayot Upamecano made it 5-3 on a header and poor defending, and suddenly it was Bayern Munich who was pressuring a PSG side that pulled back but was still a deadly menace on counterattack. It was the Colombian Luis Diaz who made it 5-4 winning a thrilling 1 on 1 duel with Marquinhos.

The match could easily have had more goals, but you could also sense the tiredness in all these footballing heroes at the end of the match, which ended with a French 5-4 victory, and the most goals scored in a single semifinal match in the CL ever.

This was perhaps the best match we will see this decade (if not century), and surely the best match of the year.

Forget the World Cup.

Next week is the second leg in Munich, but considering what we saw today, anything can happen, and I just look forward to seeing these two great sides, whom I thank from the bottom of my footballing heart for today.

Manchester City-Arsenal

Great way to start Sunday morning was to watch the match between number 2 and number 1 in the Premier League: Manchester City versus Arsenal. At least my cat Whisky seemed excited...

Arsenal have been looking again to take the title after their last one in 2004, but many people are justifiably nervous that it could still slip, and today would be a test against their biggest threat to the title. 

Manchester City also had something to show, hoping to take the title that also eluded them last season. 

The Manchester side also started putting a high pressure on the Londoners, and it was the Frenchman Rayan Cherki who scored an extraordinary goal, almost like a Playstation player, getting in between many defenders in the area. City were still celebrating when Arsenal equalised, and perhaps Gianluigi Donnarumma was as well: in an easy ball, he fumbled in front of an aggressive Kai Havertz, who managed to put a foot to block the goalkeeper's kick, and the ball went into goal.

An undeserved but lucky equaliser, with Donnarumma showing the poor player skills that was apparently the reason he had to leave PSG...

Arsenal held well, and had some chances, but the rest of an intense match it was Manchester City mainly seeking the victory, which came of way of a typical Erling Haaland goal, striking a ball that came towards him by way of coincidences. 

2-1 was all in all well-deserved, and it looks to be a dramatic end to the Premier League: Arsenal remains 3 points ahead of Manchester City on top with 33 matches, but Manchester City has one match less, and goal difference could be what puts the title in either side, but also there the difference is minimal...