It was a strange day. Not because the German rail service suffered continuous setbacks in Munich, which forced the Benfica visiting match to be delayed because the fans had not arrived at the field at 9:00 p.m., the scheduled time for the opening whistle. Infrastructure has been scarce in Germany for a long time, cut by Merkel. If the day was strange, it was because the footballers kept showing signs of mental and physical dullness. The international union FIFPRO warns this. The burden of the Euro Cup, the lack of vacations and preseason in summer, followed by the calendar oversaturated by FIFA, UEFA and the new Champions League, produces fatas morganasdrowsiness and nonsense.
1
Yann Sommer, Benjamin Pavard, Stefan de Vrij, Yann Bisseck, Denzel Dumfries, Matteo Darmian, Davide Frattesi (Nicolò Barella, min. 61), Hakan Çalhanoglu (Kristjan Asllani, min. 70), Piotr Zielinski (Henrikh Mkhitaryan, min. 61 ), Mehdi Taremi (Federico Dimarco, min. 78) and Lautaro Martínez (Marcus Thuram, min. 61)
0
David Raya, Jurriën Timber (Oleksandr Zinchenko, min. 81), William Saliba, Ben White, Gabriel Magalhães, Gabriel Martinelli, Thomas Partey, Mikel Merino (Gabriel Jesus, min. 45), Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard (Ethan Nwaneri, min. . 81) and Kai Havertz (Martin Ødegaard, min. 92)
Goals
1-0 min. 47: Calhanoglu
Referee István Kovács
yellow cards
Lautaro Martínez (min. 14), Gabriel (min. 14), Barella (min. 67), Gabriel Jesus (min. 67)
The saturation of competitions seems to weigh on the players, judging by the intense match between Inter and Arsenal in Milan, or the lethargic pace at which Aston Villa moved the ball in the Bruges field, where unusual scenes were recorded, such as the which starred Tyrone Mings. Because it turns out that the English center back received a ball from his goalkeeper, Dibu, and perhaps victim of an episode of temporary mental alienation, he caught it with his hand and deposited it on the line of the six-yard box. Without coming to mind. It was the 50th minute and the referee had no choice but to apply the law. Penalty: Bruges goal and 1-0. Final result, in the absence of more relevant events in Bruges.
“We played a fantastic first half,” said Villa coach Unai Emery. “We lost just one or two balls. But this error [de Mings] It was very, very strange. It only happened to me once in my life: today. We must forget it quickly because I believe that we will not make a mistake like that again. “Not while I live.”
Emotion on Tik-Tok
The visit of the powerful Arsenal to the field of the current Italian champion was just as sad. To paraphrase Faust, no one was carried away by the waves of life in San Siro. The whirlwind of the action, more than a whirlwind, was a miasma saturated with instructions that intoxicated the players’ minds, and the ebb and flow of attacks and defenses had a mechanical and predictable rhythm. Nobody stirred. There was no plot, no fever, no emotion on the grass, even though the 1-0 penalty – another handball, by Merino – triggered the massive use of mobile phones in the stands, where multitudes of fans appeared recording themselves on Instagram and Tik Tok shouting with extemporaneous rage. If the footballers seem exhausted from football, the fans never tire of looking for dramatic shortcuts.
Arsenal disappointed. Neither the 800 million in transfers since 2019, nor the battery of set pieces from Arteta’s famous laboratory—13 corner kicks—could change the 1-0 Chalhanoglu penalty. The industrious Inter and the opulent Arsenal were two mirror images of the catenacciofuturistic, pure pressure and counterpressure and long balls from the goalkeepers divided into the midfield forest. Without Odegaard, the ten Norwegian, who did not come off the bench until the 90th minute, everything Arsenal does comes down to fulfilling a script that inhibits the bold until it is too late. The London team lost its unbeaten and undefeated record. Inter – three wins and a draw – kept it and strengthens its classification. Even above Bayern, who beat Benfica 1-0 with a goal from Musiala.
