A LOT TO PACK IN
Listening to John McGinn reflect on Aston Villa’s win over Young Boys after the final whistle on Tuesday night, it was clear how much playing in Bigger Cup meant to him. As a young player making his name with St Mirren and Hibs, occasionally playing on the plastic pitches at Hamilton, Falkirk and Kilmarnock, the midfielder hoped that one day he might move on to more prestigious, metaphorically greener astro. And while making his Bigger Cup debut in a stadium with a name ripe for schoolboy sniggering against a struggling side is hardly the stuff of young footballers’ dreams, you can only beat the team in front of you while burning the skin from your knees and elbows on the pitch underneath you and Villa accomplished that in fine style. Their win was due in no small part to another masterstroke from Unai Emery’s hirsute assistant coach Austin McSet-Piece, some schoolboy Young Boys defending and the latest strike from unlikely goal machine Amadou Onana.
“I’m sure we’ll come up against stronger opposition in the upcoming games,” said Mystic McGinn, about 30 minutes before Villa’s next Bigger Cup opponents set about spanking nine goals past Dinamo Zagreb, a tally that could have been higher if Bayern Munich hadn’t had two efforts ruled out for offside. Marking the occasion of his 50th appearance for the German side, Harry Kane celebrated with his 50th goal, before chipping in with his 51st, 52nd and 53rd for good measure as the Bavarian side ran amok against opposition who had pegged them back to 3-2 after going three down. Michael Olise also bagged his first goals for the club, while Raphaël Guerreira scored the pick of a bunch by knocking in Jamal Musiala’s sweet chested pass on the half-volley. A man with a lot of fairly recent experience in the field of standing pitchside watching a team he manages get battered, Vincent Kompany looked almost apologetic as he consoled his opposite number, Sergej Jakirovic, at the final whistle.
While Villa, Bayern, Liverpool, Real Madrid and assorted other members of Europe’s elite were duking it out in Bigger Cup, Manchester United were forced to slum it in Fizzy Cup, a state of affairs Erik ten Hag almost certainly didn’t envisage when he took over at Old Trafford with a view to restoring his team’s place in the world order. Damned when he doesn’t win and now damned even when he does because their opponents were League One side It’s Only Barnsley, the Dutchman was confident enough of victory to pick Antony and was rewarded when the lesser-spotted Brazilian winger scored one of the seven goals United put past their visitors without reply. “We were 100% concentrated and we certainly played very good,” said Ten Hag. “I think it was enjoyable to watch and also the fans, they liked it and appreciated it.” Whether the fans who were forced to sit through a shoot-out featuring 34 spot-kicks between Preston and Fulham found the experience enjoyable to watch is anyone’s guess, but one suspects even travelling Fulham supporters almost certainly appreciated it when Ryan Ledson finally stepped up to put everyone out of their misery by sending Preston through to the next round.
TOTÒ SCHILLACI (1964-2024)
The former Italy striker Totò Schillaci, who inspired his country to third place at the 1990 World Cup, has died at the age of 59. Schillaci, who played for clubs including Juventus and Inter, was the top scorer at Italia 90, with six goals and is fondly remembered for his all-action displays, sharp shooting and wide-eyed celebrations. His goals included winners against Austria in the group stage, the Republic of Ireland in the quarter-finals and England in the third-place playoff. He also put his team ahead against Argentina in a semi-final that went to penalties. Inter said in a statement: “He made an entire nation dream during the Magic Nights of Italia 90. FC Internazionale Milan gathers around the Schillaci family for the passing of Totò.” RIP, Totò.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Join Scott Murray at 8pm BST for Bigger Cup updates on Manchester City 3-1 Internazionale while Michael Butler will be on hand at the same time for updates on the rest of the night’s action in Europe, the Fizzy Cup and beyond.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
His size, his goal-scoring talent and his fighting spirit will certainly help the Navy and White this season. We can’t wait to see him on the pitch!” – Bordeaux, who are now a non-league club in the French fourth tier, trumpet the arrival of Andy Carroll after the 35-year-old ripped up his Amiens contract so that he could head south.
Re yesterday’s email malfunction: ‘They also said most of the mail going to the inbox was junk’ – sometimes the jokes just write themselves, don’t they?” – Chad Thomas (and 1,056 others).
You lost all the emails? It’s like Noble Francis never existed. I’m struggling to wrap my head around that” – Gareth Rogers.
Difficult day for the Man family on Monday then? Big Website Man deletes Football Daily’s inbox, Bigger Cup Man is accused of not consulting players and poor Dennis Man’s Parma lose to Udinese despite being two up at half time” – Richard Prangle.
The winner is always The Man. The only way of resisting is by watching Big Vase instead where actual football teams (with great names) play actual football with lots of mistakes in contrast to the tedium of nation state projects playing friction-free, xG-based videogames. And … breathe” – Joe Mercer (retired Big Cup viewer).
In response to Niall McVeigh’s question in yesterday’s Football Daily: ‘Will Bayern shut up shop at 3-0, or go for five or six goals to boost their goal difference?’ It seems the correct answer was ‘neither’” – Richie Philpott.
Alisson is right to complain about players not being consulted about added fixtures and I, for one, would support Rodri’s suggestion of a player strike. However I fear that among fans I would be in a small minority. Supporters tend not to side with millionaires who play football for a living. Of course this means they tacitly support multi-millionaires and billionaires (the owners) who reap huge rewards from added matches. The players would appear to be in a pickle” – Richard Hourula.
Send letters to, yes, the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … Richard Prangle. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Join Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning and the Football Weekly pod squad as they digest the first taste of Bigger Cup.