The rivalries between football club managers are not what they used to be. Twenty years ago, Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) and Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) had such a toxic relationship that it ended in a general altercation between the two teams in a stadium hallway. At the beginning of the 2010s, José Mourinho (Real Madrid) and Pep Guardiola (Barcelona) also sparked in Spain, the first multiplying the provocations against the second in a press conference.

In comparison, the competition between Pep Guardiola (now at Manchester City) and Jürgen Klopp (Liverpool) is a nice cohabitation. The two men are only mutual respect and friendship, multiplying the praises vis-à-vis the other.

Klopp on Guardiola: “I like him, I respect him a lot. » Or : “Two years ago, our families met. Someone who has such a good family is bound to be a good person. » Guardiola willingly returns the compliment: “Jürgen makes the world of football a better place to live. » “I admire what Liverpool are doing, how good they are. When I retire and play golf, I will remember that the main rivals were Liverpool. »

Heavy metal versus classical music

This politeness, which is not feigned, has given rise for some years to one of the most beautiful competitions at the head of the Premier League, the English championship. Just as in tennis the opposition between Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic forced these exceptional players to constantly improve, Liverpool and Manchester City offer an exceptional spectacle, always progressing in their football.

On the one hand, the charismatic 54-year-old German, to the game which he compares to “heavy-metal” if it was music. On the other, the 51-year-old cerebral Spaniard, with a game calculated to the millimeter, which one would rather compare to the perfection of classical music.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Perfectionist and obsessed with “the ball”: Pep Guardiola, coach and tactical genius

This battle, respectful but fierce, was once again illustrated on Sunday May 22 with a last day of dream championship. Manchester City were in the lead, with 90 points and only three defeats in the year. Liverpool were close behind, at 89 points and two defeats. At 4 p.m. local time, the former met Aston Villa while the latter faced Wolverhampton.

The Mancunians have their destiny in hand but had to win to be sure of winning the title. A draw or a defeat, and Jürgen Klopp’s team could beat them at the post. The latter loves this position in ambush, claiming to have nothing to lose:

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Kylian Mbappé, who extended Saturday at Paris-Saint-Germain (PSG) until 2025 at the end of a long soap opera, promised on Monday May 23 not to encroach on the sporting direction of the club, saying he did not want to go ” Beyond [sa] player function ».

“I remain a football player, anchored in a collective, I will not go beyond this function, I will not go beyond my function as a player”said the 23-year-old striker at a press conference alongside club president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi.

PSG bluntly dismissed its sporting director, Leonardo, overnight from Saturday to Sunday, a few hours after the announcement of the extension of Mbappé’s contract. The future of coach Mauricio Pochettino is more than uncertain; now the locker room superstar is no longer called ‘Leo’ (Messi) but indeed “Kyky”. Because if Kylian Mbappé chose to reject the advances of Real Madrid, at the risk of alienating a good part of Spain, it is certainly because he made sure that in Paris he would be good. “the cornerstone of the project”, a formula already accepted by Mr. Al-Khelaïfi. It remains to be seen, now, what this Doha promise really encompasses.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Kylian Mbappé is already more than a player at PSG

Paris keeps “the best player in the world”

Capital Player’s Choice “is a very strong sign, we keep the best player in the world”savored the leader at the start of the press conference, which aroused as much, if not more, curiosity than the spectacular arrival of Lionel Messi, presented with fanfare in the heart of summer 2021.

“Today is a great day for PSG, for our supporters in France and around the world: Kylian is staying at PSG for the next three seasons, it’s important for us and for Ligue 1.” is not the most important for Kylian, it’s the sportsman”assured Mr. Al-Khelaïfi. “For the money, other clubs, including yours [le Real Madrid]can pay him more than us”, continued the Parisian leader in response to a question from a Spanish journalist. However, he refused to specify the terms of Mbappé’s new contract, also coveted by the Madrid club, while fabulous figures are circulating.

Read also: “You will always be a loser”: in Madrid, Kylian Mbappé’s extension with PSG goes wrong

The World with AFP

And if the future sporting project of Paris-Saint-Germain was in one sentence on a white t-shirt? On the one worn by Kylian Mbappé, Saturday May 21, at the Parc des Princes, when formalizing his three-year contract extension, is written “Kylian is Paris”. Four words to show the unbreakable link between the club of his hometown and him, four words to announce the color too. At 23, Mbappé – now linked to PSG until 2025 – becomes “the cornerstone of the club’s project for the years to come, on and off the pitch”according to its president, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi.

The striker declined the advances of Real Madrid, the club that has fascinated and coveted him since his adolescence spent at the National Football Institute in Clairefontaine (2011-2013), temple of French pre-training. As in 2017, after his departure from Monaco. At the time, PSG appeared to be a choice of reason, that of not leaving his country immediately for a boy just old enough to vote, but lucid enough to postpone his childhood dream. Paris should only be a stage in a Ligue 1 accustomed to seeing its talents very quickly emancipate away from it.

But PSG is not a French club like the others. Being backed by Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund offers certain arguments to counter the natural attraction exerted by Real on the stars of football. Mbappé did not escape it. He saw himself at the “White House”, but Doha said no to his departure for Madrid last summer. A matter of principle, especially just over a year from a World Cup in Qatar (from November 21 to December 18, 2022), which the number 10 of the Blues will play with the PSG player label. Everything, except one detail.

“It’s 100% the athlete who convinces Kylian, slides World a relative of Mr. Al-Khelaïfi. It’s not the money”

So, how to explain this Parisian comeback against a Real persuaded to see Mbappé spinning in the Spanish way and without having to pay transfer compensation? In his entourage, we assure the World that the player – who does without the services of an agent – ​​made his decision in seventy-two hours, after having had the two contractual offers on his table.

Choice of the rich

If the financial details of the new contract are not yet known, this aspect would not have been decisive. After all, Mbappé had the choice of the rich at this level, between a signing bonus on one side and an extension on the other. Without forgetting a guaranteed salary increase for the one whose salary was estimated at 20 million euros gross annually.

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Un piece of French football history, sold to an American investment fund. On May 11, the Red Star, legendary club of Saint-Ouen, in the inner suburbs of Paris, was sold to 777 Partners, against several million euros. The end of an era, for the green and white formation founded in 1897.

In The world, the Ile-de-France team was mentioned for the first time on December 29, 1944, on the occasion of the announcement of the start of the “Southern Zone Championship” with a match against Stade Français. On May 31, 1947, the fiftieth anniversary of “Audonian Olympic Red Star” is announced in the newspaper, as proof of his fame in French sport – four French Cups won in the interwar period and a last one a few years earlier, in 1942.

The shock is therefore total, on June 27, 1955, when The world, in his section “La Vie sportive”, title: “The Red Star is downgraded for sports fraud”. The daily describes facts of a “extreme gravity”. The coach, Charles Nicolas, would have offered bonuses to certain players from other teams before their meeting with the Ile-de-France club. Because of this cheating, the Red Star, among the oldest of the French professional formations, lost its “prestige”.

Corruption, attack and liquidation

The newspaper follows what has become, over the weeks, “The Red Star Affair”. In July 1955, the coach was finally struck off for life and Mr. Gilbert Zenatti, president and patron, was suspended for three years. Sporting performance takes a back seat and the following years are marked by complications, for managers and players alike. The footballer Saïd Zoubir was arrested on August 20, 1958, in the midst of the Algerian war, with two members of the National Liberation Front (FLN). “He had lured one of his co-religionists, Mr. Ali Gouri, into an ambush and participated in his assassination on August 13,” informs the daily.

“At PSG, the West of Paris and its ease; the popular North-East of Ile-de-France behind the Red Star. » The journalist Stéphane Joby, in 1996

Two years later, new scandal. Another attempt at corruption, during the 1959-1960 championship, this time. As a result, the Red Star was expelled from the league on August 18, 1960. Then Gilbert Zenatti, the club’s president, narrowly escaped a car bomb attack in June 1966. Finally, as the symbol of the explosions to come, “the Red Star is put into liquidation”, title The world, December 24, 1977.

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For more than an hour, Liverpool believed in it. And was about to thank Steven Gerrard, former legend of the Reds and now coach of Aston Villa. As the title of champion of England was being played on Sunday May 22, during the 38ᵉ and last day of the 2021-2022 season, Aston Villa scared Manchester City and offered the title temporarily to the Reds. But the Citizens overturned everything in less than ten minutes to win (3-2) and win a third title of champion of England in four years.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Football: Klopp against Guardiola, two styles of play for a dream battle at the top of the Premier League

In 2012, Manchester City won their first title of the 21st century in the very last seconds of the season thanks to a goal from Sergio Agüero. This time, the Skyblues supporters have won their eighth England title and will be able to thank Ilkay Gündogan. Entering the game when City was trailing by two goals fifteen minutes from the end of the match, the German midfielder changed everything, scored twice and allowed the Etihad Stadium to explode with joy. With Rodri’s goal in addition, the title was acquired.

Liverpool say goodbye to their quadruple dreams

A fourth title of champion of England for Pep Guardiola at the head of City. The Spanish coach, who was seen very moved at the final whistle as the club’s supporters invaded the lawn, certainly thought he was reliving the nightmarish scenario of the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid. But his team, Premier League leaders since December, managed to return to character against Aston Villa and then hold on.

Etihad’s explosion of joy as İlkay Gündoğan gives City the lead 3 goals in 6 minutes: the… https://t.co/zUZpXawzbA

– CanalFootClub (@Canal Football Club)

Winner of Wolverhampton on his lawn (3-1), Liverpool will therefore not achieve the quadruple that the club was aiming for this season. After winning the English League Cup and then the FA CUP, the Reds dreamed of this feat if successful in the Premier League and C1. They will have to settle for a hat-trick if they manage to win against Real Madrid in the Champions League final on May 28 at the Stade de France. Manchester City, for its part, can breathe. The scenario was crazy, the victory is all the more beautiful.

AC Milan champion of Italy thanks to a double from Olivier Giroud

Eleven years that AC Milan has been waiting for this. Italian champion for the last time in 2011, the rossoneri club won the 19ᵉ Serie A title in its history on Sunday May 22, thanks to a convincing success on the lawn of Sassuolo (3-0). The Milanese had to win on this 38ᵉ and last day of the Italian championship, so as not to see their rivals Inter Milan, defending champions, pass them by.

The Rossoneri did not shake and completed the deal in thirty minutes, thanks in particular to two goals from Olivier Giroud. The French striker is thus crowned Italian champion for his first season in Serie A. This title comes to devote the work of Stefano Pioli, coach of AC Milan since October 2019, whose coming to the club had been greatly criticized by the supporters. Inter Milan, who won for the honor against Sampdoria (3-0), finished 2ᵉ, two points behind AC Milan.

Denis Menetrier

Eleven years that AC Milan has been waiting for this. Italian champion for the last time in 2011, the rossoneri club won the 19ᵉ Serie A title in its history on Sunday May 22, thanks to a convincing success on the lawn of Sassuolo (3-0). The Milanese had to win on this 38ᵉ and last day of the Italian championship, so as not to see their rivals Inter Milan, defending champions, pass them by.

The Rossoneri did not shake and completed the deal in thirty minutes, thanks in particular to two goals from Olivier Giroud. The French striker is thus crowned Italian champion for his first season in Serie A. This title comes to devote the work of Stefano Pioli, coach of AC Milan since October 2019, whose coming to the club had been greatly criticized by the supporters. Inter Milan, who won for the honor against Sampdoria (3-0), finished 2ᵉ, two points behind AC Milan.

The world

The “White House” (one of Real Madrid’s nicknames) is not used to being told no. In the minds of leaders, in the hearts of fans and in the headlines AS and brand at the beginning of the week, the case was heard. Kylian Mbappé had said yes to Real. The meaning of history. That of a club which built its legend on the stars, from Alfredo Di Stefano to Cristiano Ronaldo via Zinédine Zidane, that of the prodigy of Bondy whose Real was the childhood dream.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Kylian Mbappé extends with PSG and rejects Real Madrid

Even dreaded since Friday, the turnaround of the player – now under contract with Paris-Saint-Germain until 2025 – is perceived as an offense to an institution, this club with thirteen victories in the Champions League. “Being in Madrid is a privilege that not everyone can have,” published midfielder Federico Valverde on Instagram.

The message is pretty self-explanatory. In the wake of the announcement of Mbappé’s extension, other Real players such as Brazilians Rodrygo and Vinicius posted messages on their social networks to reaffirm their pride in wearing the famous white jersey. Anything but a coincidence.

The club has still not officially reacted to what looks like a snub. No doubt he lets the local sports press – reputed to be close to him – carry the sword. This Sunday, brand displayed in one a title without nuance to accompany the photo of the player posing with his “Mbappé 2025” t-shirt. You can read there “hace falta mucha clase para jugar el Madrid”. Translation: he would miss “lots of class” in Mbappe “to play in Madrid “.

#LaPortada ‘Hace falta mucha clase para jugar en el Madrid’ https://t.co/E2m9zmwmFF

— marca (@MARCA)

In the columns of the newspaper, the tone is as biting as resentful. “If Mbappé’s goals were shown to satiety, it was because he was called upon to become a future Real player. Next year, without this media magnifying glass, it will be difficult to have a minimum of this follow-up for his matches against Troyes, Angers or Lorient., writes the editorialist Ruben Jimenez. At the rival, ASthe tone is even more vindictive: “From now on, you will always be a loser. »

Javier Tebas gets loose

If the leaders of Real – starting with President Florentino Perez – seem for the moment not to want to insult the future with noisy declarations, the supporters have the more resentful and definitive disappointment. “Real Madrid have won thirteen Champions Leagues without Mbappé. He was never with us and we will not miss him.”believes Luis Caceres, the president of the federation of associations of supporters of Real, at the microphone of the radio station Cadena Cope.

Javier Tebas is neither a columnist nor a supporter, but the volcanic president of La Liga does not hesitate to speak of a “INSULT to football”. The man – who has never hidden his contempt for the “new rich” like PSG or Manchester City – let loose on Saturday evening on his Twitter account.

“What PSG are doing to prolong Mbappé with big money… after recording losses of 700 million euros in recent seasons and while he has a salary bill of 600 million euros, is an INSULT to football. »

In the wake of this vitriolic message, the body that manages professional football in Spain issued a press release in which it affirms its desire to file a ” complaint “ against PSG with UEFA and the competent authorities in France and in the European Union.

“La Liga wishes to demonstrate that this type of agreement undermines the economic sustainability of European football, endangering in the medium term hundreds of thousands of jobs and the sporting integrity, not only of European competitions, but also of our national championships »advances the Spanish body in its press release.

Already overtaken by Manchester City in the file of the Norwegian from Borussia Dortmund, Erling Haaland, the “White House” thought to hold its future gondola head with a Mbappé, ready to sign last summer. This failure would almost make you forget that the club must play a Champions League final next Saturday against Liverpool. As luck would have it, the match took place at the Stade de France, in Seine-Saint-Denis… The department of a certain Kylian Mbappé.

Read also: Real Madrid – Manchester City: relive Madrid’s qualification for the Champions League final after a crazy evening

alexander pedro (with AFP)

Victory in the Coupe de France will not be enough to reconcile the leaders of FC Nantes with their supporters. Coach Antoine Kombouaré recalled: “Under the presidency of [Waldemar] Kita, it hasn’t been easy for them. And so, they compartmentalized. Me, I don’t always get along very well with the president, but I put him aside. »

Setting aside Waldemar Kita, owner of the club since 2007 – an era during which the divorce with the public of the Canaries only increased – is one of the objectives of the Nantes Collective. He is leading a fundraiser from local companies and a crowdfunding operation via an individual subscription of one hundred euros.

The Collective, led by former goalkeeper Mickaël Landreau and business manager Philippe Plantive, intends “anchor more [le FCN] on the local territory in order to spread the values ​​that have made it a historic club”. With support that extends from sponsors to supporters’ associations, he hopes to enter the capital alongside a future buyer.

“If you don’t dream, you can’t win” Together, unite around the #CollectifNantais https://t.co/e8UxkUy3JK https://t.co/ZNbZuK2Gar

— LeCollectifNan1 (@Le Collectif Nantais – Official Account)

Members rather than consumers

The shipwrecks of the Girondins de Bordeaux and AS Nancy Lorraine endorse fears that also illustrates the opposition of Red Star supporters to its takeover by an American fund. The need to give the public a voice in the matter is in any case widely recognized today.

Read also: “What is a Miami-based fund doing in National? “: the supporters of Red Star, reassembled against the takeover of the club

After fans mobilized against the private European Super League project, in April 2021, the six English clubs involved pledged to renew ties. “But apart from Liverpool, these approaches have remained cosmetic, and are similar to consumer panels”regrets Ronan Evain, executive director of the Football Supporters Europe federation.

Therefore, making supporters the owners or co-owners of clubs is a growing temptation, inspired by the Spanish model of socios. However, the associative structures of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona did not deter them from joining the Super League…

Read also Super League: “Supporters no longer want to see their club transformed into a tourist setting or a global brand”

There is also the problem of the acquisition price. After several failed recovery attempts “by the base” of Manchester United, for lack of sufficient financial resources, some fans had resolved, in 2005, to found their own club, FC United of Manchester (currently in the seventh division), whose leaders are elected according to the principle “one partner, one vote”.

For high-level French clubs too, the entry ticket is prohibitive. “It will always be necessary to rely on majority shareholders with means that supporters cannot bring togethersums up Jean-François Brocard, economist at the Center for Sports Law and Economics. The DNCG [Direction nationale du contrôle de gestion] asks for guarantees, but no one is going to mortgage their house for their club. »

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The curtain came down on the 2021-2022 Ligue 1 season, and the final act brought its share of surprises and disappointments on Saturday May 21. The spectators were treated to the Kylian Mbappé show at PSG, the fury in Marseille qualified in extremis in the Champions League in front of Monaco, the pain of the relegated Metz and Bordeaux and the reprieve snatched by Saint-Etienne, roadblocker.

The brilliant victory of Paris SG against Metz (5-0) was totally eclipsed by the extension until 2025 of star striker Kylian Mbappé, rumored in the afternoon and confirmed by President Nasser Al-Khelaïfi before the kick off, all smiles alongside his gem. “Very happy to stay in France, in Paris”the striker assiduously courted by Real Madrid received an ovation from the Parc des Princes, euphoric then amazed by the hat-trick (25^and28^and50^and) of the French world champion.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Kylian Mbappé extends with PSG and rejects Real Madrid

The number 7 of the Rouge et Bleu, eager for records, has become the first player to complete an L1 season as top scorer (28) and best passer (17). And as the party was total, Neymar scored his 100^and goal with Paris and Angel Di Maria, his last, in tears to conclude seven years in the French capital.

Champions League: Marseille doubles Monaco at the finish

At the Vélodrome, OM supporters experienced a magical evening: a 4-0 card against Strasbourg and an equalizer in added time for Lens against Monaco (2-2), synonymous with second place and direct qualification for the next Champions League. Marseille recovered the jump seat that the Monegasques had blown from them last weekend after an incredible scenario. As leading roles: Gerson (double), Under and Bakambu on the Olympian side, without forgetting Ganago, RC Lens scorer in the 96^and minute.

The Olympians will try next year to do better than extras in C1 where, for their last appearance in 2020-2021, they finished last in the group. The Monaco dragster, carried to Lens by the momentum of their nine wins in a row, finally stalled just before the finish line. Philippe Clement’s team, still eighth in mid-March, finished on the last step of the podium. It will be necessary to go through a preliminary round, then a play-off to be won in August in order to access the lucrative group stage of the Champions League. In case of failure, the club of the principality will be donated to the Europa League.

Read also: Ligue 1: the thunderous spring of Monaco

European Rennes and Nice

Rennes sweated profusely on Saturday evening but their draw at Lille (2-2) was enough to make them happy. The Bretons finish in fourth place, with the same number of points as Nice but a much higher goal difference. Without Guirassy’s late goal, Bruno Genesio’s team would have been beaten at the post by a completely unleashed Niçois in Reims (3-2). Trailing 2-0 after less than twenty minutes, the Aiglons overthrew their hosts in the second half with a hat-trick from Andy Delort.

OGC Nice will have to settle for the Europa League Conference next season, a disappointing consolation prize for a team that was still in second place in the Championship at the start of March. The withdrawal of a point inflicted after the excesses at the Allianz Riviera in August against OM will have been fatal to the club owned by Ineos.

Strasbourg let its European ticket slip away at the Vélodrome and ended its great season in sixth place, ahead of Lens then Lyon, eighth after its 2-1 victory at Clermont.

Greens still alive

AS Saint-Etienne retains a chance to stay in Ligue 1 after its miraculous draw in Nantes (1-1), where Hamouma donned superhero clothes in the last quarter of an hour. In the play-off position, the Greens will face Auxerre, winner of the second division play-offs, on May 26 and 29 with a return match at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium, where a stand will still be closed for disciplinary reasons.

Read also: Ligue 1: in Saint-Etienne, the “savior” Pascal Dupraz plays his reputation

The tenacity of the Stéphanois is the misfortune of Metz, nineteenth with one point less. The Garnets return to Ligue 2, three years after leaving it. They descend to the lower floor in the company of Bordeaux, a historical monument of the French Championship, relegated for the first time since 1991 (administrative demotion).

The club with the scapular ended its catastrophic season (discarded players, ulcerated supporters, defeat against OM after 44 years of invincibility at home…) with an insufficient card in Brest (4-2).

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Ligue 1: in Bordeaux, shock and concern

The World with AFP

Olympique Lyonnais (OL) roars again. In 2021, FC Barcelona ended Lyon’s series of five crowns in a row. In Turin, Sonia Bompastor’s players recovered their continental throne by defeating the Spaniards (3-1), a victory synonymous with an eighth Champions League in OL history.

“Winning against OL would be the perfect film”, Catalan star Alexia Putellas said ahead of the game. And if the Barcelona supporters largely won the battle for decibels in the streets of Turin and in the stands of the Juventus Stadium, it was Lyon who dictated the scenario of the meeting.

Under the Piedmontese dodger (more than 30 degrees on the thermometer), Amandine Henry took charge of the first conditioning of the game (6th), with a shot from the right in the skylight in front of the Catalan kop. A flash before the start of a big streak of possession and domination by Jonatan Giraldez’s players.

The “Femeni” technician wanted his “revenge” after the defeat at the same stage of the competition in 2019 (1-4). Nothing happened, although striker Jennifer Hermoso had two equalizing balls. The first on a point-blank left shot deflected with a firm hand by goalkeeper Christiane Hendler (11th) then another nipped in the bud by Selma Bacha’s saving tackle from five meters, preventing number 10 Blaugrana from relaunching the part (16th). The reigning three-time Spanish champions have never denied their principles of play, with passing on the ground and quick transitions sometimes putting the Lyon defense to the test.

Winning comeback for Hegerberg

But in the queen of competitions, the weight of history plays a considerable role. Real Madrid – 13 times European champion – for men, has shown this this season with three improbable and successive comebacks against Paris, Chelsea and Manchester City. If the scenario is quite different, the Lyon workforce, which mixes experience and youth, was able to resist with force the strong moments of their opponent, before stinging brilliantly.

Sonia Bompastor did not fail to remind before kick-off the importance of the new elements. ” Young people bring ardor and that is also our strength. When we are young, we don’t ask ourselves any questions, the challenge and the pressure, it slips over us and it gives us additional strength. “, she developed.

Carelessness embodied by Selma Bacha. The left side did not hesitate to throw herself at the feet of Alexia Putellas in the area on a hot situation in the first period or to try clean raises in her thirty meters.

Read also: FC Barcelona, ​​the new stronghold of women’s football in Europe

Before seeing his audacity rewarded with a perfect cross on the head of Hegerberg (23rd), also passing on Caterina Macario’s third goal. A great reward for the Norwegian, the first Ballon d’Or in history in 2018, and who lived through two difficult years due to injuries to her right knee and then to her left tibia, she who “ couldn’t imagine being in the final last year “.

Putellas maintains the suspense

For the Catalans, the local icon is called Alexia Putellas, whose flocked jerseys bloomed as much as Lionel Messi’s throughout the day. The Ballon d’Or 2021 largely won the applause meter during the composition of the teams. If the jewel of FC Barcelona did not play its best match, it had the merit of sounding the revolt just before the break, responding to Ada Hegerberg with a beautiful recovery of the right on a perfect service from Caroline Graham Hansen (41st ).

A reduction in the score which revived the interest of the game in a second act dominated by the Spaniards, who almost returned to a goal on a forty-meter lob from Guijarro which hit the crossbar (58th). Behind, the Lyonnaises knew how to break the rhythm, between tactical faults, replacements and saving time.

And if Lyon did the big eight, this poster opposing two different styles of play offered a formidable showcase for European women’s football, capable of offering foolproof intensity over ninety minutes, in an atmosphere worthy of a great continental summit.

A good omen before Euro 2022, which should bring together a large part of the players present in Turin. In the meantime, Lyonnaises and Catalanes still have titles to win. For Barça, a victory in the Queen’s Cup would complete the national title already acquired.

As for the now eight-time European champions Lyon, one point would allow them to resume the French championship, abandoned last year at Paris-Saint-Germain. To prolong the roar.

Walid Kashour