Well, in the main, pretty darn good. Unless, of course, you happen to hail from the European capital of football.
On Tuesday there were two “English” sides in action. The one with the Norwegian manager came to a predictably sticky end by losing to Lionel Messi, (and maybe a few team mates although they were somewhat irrelevant and almost unnecessary).
They also managed to fail to score in both legs meaning that the £££millions spent on a Belgian and a couple of French “superstars” is yet to provide much in the way of value for money.
So exit one Manchester club, as expected.
Also in action was the one with a German manager. They were playing their second leg tie against Porto and ran out 1-4 winners with goals from a Senegalese, a Brazilian, an Egyptian and a Dutchman.
Overall they won the tie 6-1 on aggregate as they had won the first leg 2-0 with goals from that Brazilian again and a Guinean.
Wednesday night saw the other two “English” teams meet at The Etihad. This tie was closer as the one managed by an Argentinian had narrowly won the first leg with a goal from a Korean.
The team managed by a Spaniard took the lead through an Englishman, believe it or not, (although, in truth, he was born in Jamaica). The equaliser came from the Korean again then, shock horror, the next goal was scored by the visitors through the same Korean. Very shortly afterwards the scores were level again as a Portuguese got on the scoresheet and then, before we had even reached the 25th minute, a second goal from the Englishman-born-in-Jamaica made it 3-2.
A diminutive Portuguese player celebrates an instance whereby VAR did not come to the aid of Tottenham Hotspur
That was it for the first half and the second only produced a goal for each side. The home team stretched their lead through their talismanic Argentinian only for a Spaniard to grab a late goal to see the away team through to the semi-finals.
So exit the other Manchester club.
On Thursday the “English” teams fared very well again. The ones who play in red and white and have a Spaniard in charge managed to win in Naples by 0-1 with their scorer being a Frenchman. They had also won the first leg at home by two goals to nil with their scorers being a Welshman and an own goal from a Senegalese.
The team who plays in blue and is managed by an Italian were expecting a comfortable victory against their Czech opponents having beaten them by a single goal in the away leg. That goal had been scored by a Spaniard and so, when they raced into a 3-0 lead at home, thanks to another Spaniard, (twice) and an own goal from an Ivorian the garden was looking quite rosy. They even managed a fourth goal , this time from a Frenchman and their lead was 4-1, but they then conceded two more to make sure the crowd stayed awake until the end.
So as we said it was, generally, a good week for the “English” clubs with two remaining in the Champion’s League and two also remaining in the Europa League. Wouldn’t it be a brilliant advertisement for “Englishness” if both trophies were to make their way back to good old England? It kind of makes us come over all patriotic, just like those footballers who represent their clubs with such pride, never thinking, for one second, about the money!
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 