arian

Friendlies

Argentina3 - 0Benin

taha@taha

☆☆☆☆☆★★★★★23h ago

Well, this is one of those days in football I never wanted to witness, but sadly, it has arrived. You’re not leaving the game entirely, but stepping away from international football feels like the first step toward that day, which I can hardly bear to think about. Maybe the funniest way to honor you is to recognize what you did for millions of people: you made us willingly tune in and support Argentina, all to watch you play this little sport called football. I’m not Argentine, but somewhere along the way that stopped mattering. When you played, we all became a little bit Argentine. I’ll never forget the highs and lows I experienced following you. The 2014 World Cup final, when you were so close to conquering the sport so early on in your career. The back-to-back Copa América finals lost on penalties. But you deserved more than that. You got more than that. You finally lifted your very first international trophy in 2021. Of course I’ll always remember 2022, the greatest World Cup campaign I’ll ever witness, with the most entertaining final of all time. Then we got another Copa in 2024. You literally won every trophy that you lost, how perfect was that? After years of people saying you couldn’t do it for Argentina, you won everything there was to win. But the trophies aren’t what I’ll remember most. It’s the way you played, the way you always entertained me. The dribbles that made defenders look lost, the passes no one else could see, the free kicks that felt like penalties the moment the referee blew the whistle. You made the impossible look routine, and you did it with a quiet humility that made billions fall in love with you. This summer’s ending was bittersweet, and honestly, part of me wishes you’d won it. But you had nothing left to prove. You gave me more than I ever had the right to ask for: the story of your career. There will never be another player who can do what you did. You are football. You are eternal. Thank you for everything, Leo.

Champions League

Barcelona2 - 1Arsenal

ernad@ernad

☆☆☆☆☆★★★★★3d ago

The game is more remembered for it's history. Arsenal were looking to win their first UCL in their final season at Highbury, while Barcelona were looking for their 2nd UCL trophy, 14 years after Cruyff won them their first, this time with another Dutch legend, Frank Rijkaard. It's not that entertaining for a neutral to be honest but still iconic and relevant today with both Arsenal and Barcelona being real contenders to win the UCL again. The two clubs were just friends until the 18th minute where Lehmann went too far with his flirting and got sent off for his foot fetish, becoming the first ever Goalkeeper to be sent off in a UCL final. For some reason, the referee didn't play advantage and the frenchman Giuly couldn't get his goal. So the score stayed 0-0 until the Spurs legend Sol Campbell scored in the 37th minute from a set piece. Some things never change I guess. After the red they dropped into a deep 4-4-1 with Henry alone up front, and tried to survive and counter. Barcelona on the other hand kept the ball but couldn't break the block. So Rijkaard added a young Iniesta at half-time, who impressed me, mostly by having hair for once. And after the hour he added the actual game winners, not an injured 18 year old autistic golden boy, but the swedish Larsson who came off the bench and gave Barcelona a lush life. As well as Belletti (Balotelli if you're dyslexic) in the 71st minute. Larsson set up Samuel Eto'o who finished it near post past Almunian foil to equalize in the 76th minute. Some claim it was offside but there was no VAR back then to waste 5 minutes and make a wrong decision. So Barcelona kept their momentum and the Swede got his 2nd assist in his last ever game for the Catalans just 4 minutes later, by passing it to the random kid right back Belletti to make it 2-1. Arsenal, a solid defensive side that kept 10 clean sheets on the way to Paris, went up 1-0 but got dominated and lost. Hmm, I hope nothing similar happens to them 20 years later...

Nations League

Belgium3 - 0Türkiye

wadie@wadie

☆☆☆☆☆★★★★★5d ago

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