So Liverpool are through to the semi-finals of the Champion’s League having beaten Manchester City home and away in their quarter-final tie.
There is no doubt they deserve to be there as the damage was all done in the first leg at Anfield where City proved, yet again, that if their defence is put under any pressure they don’t have a defence!
The second leg may have been more interesting had a perfectly good goal from Leroy Sané not been disallowed. This would have seen City go in at half-time leading 2-0 and chomping at the bit for more in the second half. As it was, they left the field somewhat dispirited and weren’t the same team after the break.
The game saw Liverpool reach a European semi-final for the 18th time in their history and cemented the undeniable fact that Jürgen Klopp is Pep Guardiola’s bogeyman. He just seems to keep coming up with ways to beat the Spaniard.
This, to an extent, is a pity because in our opinion Liverpool, although beating City reasonably comfortably, will not win the trophy whereas City would have had a chance.
Either one of Real Madrid or Bayern Münich will beat Liverpool so they have to hope that they draw Roma and that they play the Roma who lost 4-1 in the Camp Nou to Barcelona not the one who beat them 3-0 in the return. That is their one chance of reaching the final.
City, on the other hand, would have fancied their chances against anyone and if they could have recaptured some of their earlier form, then would certainly have been capable of beating any of them.
Leroy Sané – Scores a perfectly good goal which is then, inexplicably, disallowed by the referee!
So from an original five contestants, England is now down to one. Of the four who have been eliminated, only Chelsea can hold their heads up having at least made a game of it against Barcelona.
Manchester United surrendered tamely, at home, to Sevilla having done the hard part by drawing away.
Tottenham also threw away an excellent advantage when they too drew away at Juventus and then lost the home leg.
Manchester City faced their bogey team and usually, when this happens, form is irrelevant and the bogey team wins as was the case here.
So good luck to Liverpool, they are going to need it!
Rashford wants to go…..?
There are some reports surfacing that say Marcus Rashford wants to leave Manchester United to develop his career. There are other reports which say that José Mourinho is prepared to sell him to Real Madrid to help force a move for one of his numerous and ubiquitous targets.
There are also reports that Anthony Martial is unhappy at not being a first team regular and that he may look to move on in the summer.
As is always the case and, given the newspapers in question, we are totally unsure as to the truth in any of these stories. Suffice to say that, if a couple of 20 year old kids think they are bigger than the club for which they play and want to move to another then so be it.
Does Rashford, for example, think that he would be a regular under Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid? Does Martial think that whoever the next manager in Paris happens to be that he will select him to play alongside Cavani, M’Bappé and Neymar?
The two greatest players ever to wear the number 7 shirt at United and, in Best’s case, the numbers 8 and 11 as well!
At 20 years of age, George Best and Cristiano Ronaldo had been first team players for two years due to their exceptional ability. Are Martial and Rashford as good as Best and Ronaldo? Never in a million years and they never will be!
They are currently competing with each other, Alexis Sánchez, who is better than both of them, and the system which Mourinho chooses to deploy at the time. If they are not happy with their lot then, as far as we are concerned, they can leave.
They may both become superstars given time but, at the moment and if the reports are true, they are behaving like spoiled kids and, if Mourinho chooses to sell them, they can only go down both in stature of club and in the fans estimation. It is their choice!
And finally…..
Why isn’t UEFA using VAR in the Champion’s League or the Europa League? As we mentioned in our earlier report, Manchester City had a perfectly good goal ruled out for offside. Had VAR been in use then the goal would have stood and the result could have been very different.
Nowadays, millions of pounds can be lost on the wrong decision of an egocentric referee or one who just makes a genuine mistake.
If the system is good enough for FIFA in the World Cup then surely it should be used in European competition!
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 
City’s disallowed goal was a turning point in the match and probably the tie. The referee in question was obviously full of himself and Guardiola can feel justifiably aggrieved at the outcome. City had all the momentum at the time and this was clearly disturbed by the controversial decision to disallow a perfectly good goal. Where was the assistant on the goal line?
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