Village Idiot

Yeah, the whole thing was at first reported as Alves touching her without consent under her garments at a night club (which is still a felony), but then yesterday the judge remanded him for rape and the whole story emerged. It's quite ugly and it looks like the victim had enough presence of mind to seek help immediately and go to the hospital to get forensic evidence secured.

Pedri-Gavi this game

Yeah, he's not been good, but I'm willing to cut him a pretty large break given his injuries - he's had flashes of his pre-injury self here and there.

Terrible attitude, he let himself go physically and mentally.

41.35 for me - I thought he was just joking "he should have sent Di María back in!" but then he genuinely wonders if that's allowed

Chuffed that he finally got his big moment in the WC, tbf. At his age, and given Argetina's continued disappointments, I feared that he would never get that. Feels like that his legacy is finally complete now.

It still stings that he's not here. I want him to win, but finally getting a WC while not playing for Barça would be slightly bittersweet.

Tbf he's always given it all for Argentina, dude is a total diehard. It's just never quite worked out until these past few years.

Man, those 5 or so minutes we were out nearly did me in.

I'ts going to sound odd but I recall 1998 being a bit of an upset. Yes, France were hosts with a set of players that in hindsight is one of the best WC teams ever assembled (I'm talking of course of the likes of Guivarch, which you'll surely fondly remember), but at the time they were still unproven and France had been poor in the runup to the tournament, while Brazil were massive massive favorites.

Can't see us bailing on Xavi unless the rest of the season goes terribly, and we're pretty much guaranteed to finish at least second because the rest of the league is pretty crap. And I'm not sure Lucho would fancy a second stint anyway? Rather have him for sure. No idea where he'd go. He might not take a job just yet.

Getting ahead of some scandal maybe?

Luís Enrique is a far better manager. His Barça side gets kinda overshadowed by the Guardiola years, but it was brilliant to watch. Wonder where he'll end up after the WC, since everybody takes it for granted he'll leave Spain after it.

Gavi with a first WC goal

Love the draw myself. I'll play the CL anthem on my headphones before the game starts and pretend it's a CL tie

Piqué announced his retirement yesterday. This weekend's game will be his last. There was a lots of rumors he'd retire after the season since Xavi benched him and he didn't want to go out like that, but this is pretty surprising. But he's always been quite mercurial off the pitch. He's had a steep decline these past seasons, but nonetheless he was world class in his prime and one of the best CBs we had at the club. Him and Puyol were a legendary pair. He has loads of business outside football nowadays, but I get the feeling he'll get involved with the club down the road.

As a goalie, I always left my shirt hanging out. I found it uncomfortable to tuck in with all the padding it had.

Such a beautiful music when your team forms up and it reverberates around your stadium. Still gives me the goosebumps every time. It's there for you, you can taste it... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eef69_st5oI&ab_channel=UEFA

Also, where's the Championsleaguemeter?

There was still a chance that a change of environment helped him regain his motivation. But I'm glad you didn't take that gamble. In general when a player in his 30s looks done for, there's no way back.

La Liga pondering to go on strike since the latest draft of the upcoming Sport Law has dropped the anti-Superleague clause (which would have enabled La Liga to kick clubs taking part in a non-UEFA/FIFA competition. I'm no friend of the Superleague, but I'm no fan of giving UEFA/FIFA more power than they already have. This whole thing feels like an Aliens vs Predator scenario.

Gavi won the Koppa and the Golden Boy. Still think we should just have sucked it up and play the youngsters this season instead of spending a bunch of money to still probably not win fuck all.

Off to the finals again. Gotta say this Nations League thingie is growing on me. Playing vaguely competitive games against WC-level opposition surely beats the dumb friendlies against minnows we always used to have in these dates.

I wonder why... Lewy scored a brace today. 8 in 6 now. Depay also scored a pearl of a goal, too. That's what I find so infuriating, he's incredibly talented, but only shows it in spurts.

Yeah, it's controversial over here. Mostly because of incoherent review standards. They should have a system like the NFL with a guy/team offsite reviewing plays and having the last word, setting the league's standard. But FIFA has always been fixated in making the on-the-field ref having the last word, so it will probably never happen.