GAME OF THE PEOPLE

TWO goals from Real Madrid substitute Joselu sent the Spanish champions into the UEFA Champions League final, beating Bayern Munich at the Bernabéu Stadium. Bayern were 1-0 ahead with two minutes of normal time remaining thanks to an outstanding 68^thminute goal from Alphonso Davies. They had taken the lead against the run of play, with Manuel Neuer pulling off some excellent saves, notably from Vínicius Juníor. Sadly, Neuer’s uncharacteristic blunder in the 88^th minute allowed Real to equalise with Joselu prodding home from close range. Two minutes later, Joselu netted again and after a VAR check, the goal was finally given. There was extensive added time, more than 12 minutes, but Bayern were beaten. Real Madrid go in search of a 15^th title against Borussia Dortmund on June 1 at Wembley.

David Moyes is leaving West Ham United at the end of the season after four and a half years with the club. Moyes, despite a slump in recent months, has the best win rate (37.87%) of any Hammers’ manager in the Premier League era. He led West Ham to their first trophy in 43 years when they won the UEFA Conference League in 2023. However, many fans were unhappy about the style of football under Moyes and feel it was not aligned to the mythical “West Ham style”. The former Wolves manager Julen Lopetegui is expected to take over in the summer, a coach that has a rather defensive approach. This may not be what West Ham’s fanbase were hoping would emerge post-Moyes. As they say, be careful what you wish for.

The Everton debacle goes on. A shareholder group has urged Farhad Moshiri and the Premier League to intervene in the takeover of the club. 777 Partners, who have agreed to buy 94.1% of the club from Moshiri, have been accused of fraud. They have been unable to meet the Premier’s criteria for the takeover and there have been serious doubts over their ability to fund the acquisition. The Everton Shareholders Association, which has 1,500 members and owns less than 5% of the club, issued a statement calling for action: “In the absence of the Premier League making a timely decision we insist that the Everton board, and Farhad Moshiri in particular, stop this damaging process now and recognise that 777 Partners are not at this time fit-and-proper prospective owners of Everton Football Club. The powers that be are being disrespectful to our fellow shareholders, our fantastic worldwide fanbase and football as a whole by continuing to allow this farce to continue. We demand a decision and we demand it now.”

One of Scotland’s oldest football clubs, Stranraer, are facing a very challenging future if they suffer relegation from the Scottish League on May 18. The club finished bottom of League Two and have to play-off against Lowland League champions, East Kilbride, to secure their place for 2024-25. Stranraer FC, which represents a town of 13,000 people, play in front of crowds of less than 400. They ended the regular season with three points from their last nine games. Locals fear that relegation would be the death knell for the club. They play the first leg of their play-off on May 11.

Manchester United seem to be in crisis mode again after losing 4-0 at Crystal Palace, casting doubt once more over the future of manager Erik ten Hag. With the club likely to be a hive of activity in the summer after the arrival of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the anticipated influx of new players may not be as significant as fans hope. Football finance expert Kieran Maguire believes United will not have much scope to spend substantially as the club has made £ 100 million of losses over three years, meaning they are close to the permitted £ 105 million limit. United also have a big wage bill, the third highest in the Premier. If United have to sell in order to buy, player wages may become an issue if they are to unload players used to lucrative contracts at Old Trafford. The absence of Champions League football will also be a problem.

REJOICE! The UEFA Champions League final has produced a major surprise in Borussia Dortmund confounding the experts by beating one of the wealthiest teams in the world to reach the June 1 final at Wembley. A team valued at over € 1 billion was beaten not once, but twice, by a German side that is worth half as much. The narrative was supposed to be all about Kylian Mbappé leaving Paris Saint-Germain with the Champions League trophy in his back pocket, but it was destroyed by an old fashioned rearguard action, marshalled by Mats Hummels and Nico Schlotterbeck, and a classic two-leg “job”.

There will be those that are mildly disappointed the final will not be a clash of elitists, the oh too predictable climax to a European campaign, but football needs the occasional fairy tale to remind us how life used to be before wealth made football into a game of monopoly. Dortmund have been there before and were winners in 1997 when they beat favourites Juventus, so they have always been seen as a “plus one” when it comes to the final. In 2013 it was the same, when Jürgen Klopp’s team were beaten in the dying minutes by Bayern Munich and Arjen Robben. They may yet get the chance to avenge that defeat, which was also at Wembley.

Dortmund, while undoubtedly one of Europe’s top clubs, may not in the elite category, but they are effectively in that first dozen. This is a club that has become one of the nurseries for the elite, notably in recent years by selling Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham to Manchester City and Real Madrid respectively. They can count on over 80,000 people at their stadium every home game and time and time again, Dortmund have proved the model of attracting talent, developing it and making a nice turn when selling can yield success. Their player recruitment strategy is as industrious as the Ruhr, the region the club represents. Dortmund is also a club that gives coaches the experience they need to climb the ladder in their own careers. Marco Rose (Leipzig), Peter Bosz (PSV Eindhoven), Thomas Tuchel (Bayern) and of course, Jürgen Klopp (Liverpool) are all past employees of BVB.

Against Paris Saint-Germain, they were – let’s be brutally honest – a little fortunate at times. The French side struck the woodwork as if they were competing in a crossbar challenge, but Dortmund enjoyed the best of luck. Anxious PSG may have been, but Dortmund also produced a magnificent defensive performance built around a totemic group of centre backs that stymied the Parisiens. And what of Mbappé? He was made to look anonymous for much of the game by Dortmund’s determined and stubborn players. He was supposed to be the man who could inspire victory but he seemed riding alone and Dortmund simply had to nullify the threat to gain the upper hand.

In Germany this season, Bayer Leverkusen have been stealing the headlines, and rightly so, and the general feeling is that Dortmund have not had a great time in the Bundesliga. That may be a little unkind as they have lost just half a dozen league games, although people are benchmarking BVB against 2022-23 when they were cruelly denied the title on the final day of the season. In 2023-24, they have drawn twice with unbeaten champions Leverkusen and they won 2-0 at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena. They have, without doubt, lacked the consistency needed to be challenging at the top, but they have saved their best for the Champions League. They played PSG four times, twice in the group stage but it wasn’t until the semi-final that they actually beat them. In the knockout phase, they also beat Dutch champions-elect PSV Eindhoven and came back from 2-1 down to beat Atlético Madrid 4-2 in the second leg of the quarter-finals. They’ve shown character all the way through the competition.

Whoever they face in the final, they will be underdogs, but that hasn’t worried Edin Terzić’s team so far. The BVB coach said victory over PSG was “surreal”, creating a “beautiful evening for the club”. Whatever happens on June 1, the 2023-24 European campaign will not be easily forgotten.