Scott Murray's Blog, page 51

The Fiver | Darwin Núñez getting into the whole pub-car-park-infused carry-on

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Wilfried Zaha and Luis Díaz both scored delightful goals at Anfield on Monday night, but that wasn’t the half of it for fans of aesthetic purity. That head-butt by Darwin Núñez was – and let’s put notions of the moral unacceptability of wanton uberviolence to one side – perfectly executed. A graceful spin followed by an unambiguous planting of the heed right into Joachim Andersen’s startled face, the crisp, clear connection registering a top mark of 11 on our patented Yosser Hughes-o-meter. The act would also score highly at a Highland Games, come to think of it, given Andersen crashed to the floor in the 12 o’clock position like a perfectly tossed caber.

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Football transfer rumours: Vardy and Aubameyang to Manchester United?

Today’s tittle-tattle is damp

The usual trigger warnings to long-suffering Manchester United supporters apply.

First up, it looks as though they’ve finally taken the hint and withdrawn from the race to sign Frenkie de Jong. Good news for Chelsea, and perhaps even Barcelona if they see sense. United have shifted their attention to another Barça player, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 33, as well as 35-year-old Jamie Vardy.

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Brentford 4-0 Manchester United: Premier League – as it happened

The brilliant Bees swarmed all over abject United in a jaw-dropping first half

2 min: After a hectic ping-pong start, United put the first move of the afternoon together. Rashford turns into space and feeds Ronaldo down the middle. Ronaldo goes over in the general environs of Mee, and wants a free kick just outside the box, but he’s not getting one.

United get the ball rolling. A fantastic atmosphere at a sweltering Gtech Community Stadium.

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Aston Villa 2-1 Everton: Premier League – as it happened

Villa claimed their first points of the season, Danny Ings and Emi Buendia scoring the goals that decided a highly entertaining match

43 sec: Ings slips Cash into space down the right. Cash slams the ball into Iwobi, and claims a penalty for handball, but the referee isn’t interested. Just a corner.

Everton get the ball rolling. No knee these days. Straight down to business.

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Barcelona pull new lever, Barnsley suffer hex: football countdown – as it happened

Look back over the team news, transfer updates and all the rest of the latest football business

Levers latest. Barcelona have this morning announced the sale of 24.5% of Barça Studios to Orpheus Media, a company managed by Jaume Roures, the man behind Mediapro, who agreed to pay Ligue 1 clubs €3.25bn over four seasons but failed to keep up their payments after four months. All sorted! Nothing can go wrong now! (Speaking of Barça, here’s some exclusive footage of Frenkie de Jong in the middle of his current contract renegotiations with the club.)

Max and Barry.

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The Fiver | West Ham and the cost of needlessly fizzy premium-brand lager

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Phew, what a scorcher, eh readers? Yay. But in this sort of frankly unpatriotic heat, it’s important that we pall-conditioned Brits remember to take steps to stay cool. That means going to work dressed sensibly for the weather, in one’s best string vest, preferably without too many egg stains; sitting in front of a fully blasting fan, and to hell with climate change or the energy crisis; and staying fully hydrated, which means laying off the Talisker, perhaps substituting it with a lighter Speyside, or adding a drop of water, or maybe even having a full cup of water, just the water, malt-free this time. Take care out there, kids.

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The Fiver | A collective fiasco of record proportions for England’s second tier

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The three-handled piece of garbage now known as the Rumbelows Littlewoods Woolworth Debenhams Milk Eggs Yogurt Lard Carabao Panda Pops Turps Fags Booze Cup was established in 1960 by Football League mandarin and notorious Europhobe Alan Hardaker, in an effort to deflect interest away from the midweek glamour of Uefa’s recently minted Big Cup. But the gambit backfired spectacularly. Nearly all the biggest clubs of the day refused to enter, and lower-league sides enjoyed disproportionate success during the early years. Rochdale of the old Fourth Division made it to a final; third-tier clubs QPR and Swindon actually won one. As did another team not used to lifting silverware, Don Revie’s Leeds, but let’s not muddy the water here.

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Football transfer rumours: Chelsea to move for Aubameyang and De Jong?

Today’s rumours are on the toasty side

Chelsea have been burning through the contents of Todd Boehly’s pocketbook like the proverbial capering seafarer all summer, and clearly see no good reason to stop now. As well as closing in on a £70m deal for one-man soap opera Frenkie de Jong, they’re preparing a similarly sized bid for Leicester defender Wesley Fofana, plus deals for former Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Celtic full-back Josip Juranovic.

Manchester United haven’t yet thrown in the towel in their pursuit of De Jong; neither have they given up hope of Adrien Rabiot, whose agent/mother is playing hardball over wages, nor winger Cody Gakpo, who, should PSV see off Rangers later this month, wants to remain at the club for their upcoming Champions League campaign. There’s a grim inevitability about so much of this.

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Women’s Open golf: Buhai beats Chun in dramatic playoff – as it happened

Ashleigh Buhai won her first major at Muirfield after an epic play-off with Chun In-gee
Official leaderboard

The leader Ashleigh Buhai creams her opening tee shot down the middle. She’s looking to become the third South African winner of an Open here at Muirfield, following Gary Player in 1959 and Ernie Els in 2002. Just another 17 tee shots as calmly struck, and she’ll be on that board. Her partner today, the 2019 champ Hunako Shibuno, hits an almost identical first ball. Here we go, then!

Leona Maguire nearly drains a 30-footer for birdie on 9. Just the par. She turns in 33 strokes, a couple of inches here (at 9) and there (at 7) from a front nine of 31. Meanwhile a sensational bounceback birdie for Miyuu Yamashita at 2: a fairway-splitting drive, a wedge nearly holed from 100 yards, and a tap-in. She’s back to -5.

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Old Tom to Spieth’s renewal: 18 golden and grim moments from 150 years of Open drama

The world’s oldest major has thrown up some miracles and meltdowns. And is it time for a reappraisal of Jean van de Velde?

Allan Robertson was the champion golfer of his age, his status in the 1840s and 1850s unofficial but widely accepted. Top players from all across Scotland came to take a swing at the king, in challenge matches funded by wealthy lairds and businessmen, but nobody beat him in singles. When jaundice did for him in 1859, the champion-golfer void needed to be filled. Prestwick Golf Club invited the best players to play for a Challenge Belt (the Claret Jug wasn’t struck until 1872) and Robertson’s protege, Tom Morris, was favourite to win the inaugural 1860 Open Championship. He had the honour of taking the Open’s first shot, but Wille Park Sr pipped him by two over the 12 holes of Prestwick. No matter: Old Tom went on to win four times, the last in 1867 aged 46, and he remains the oldest Open winner to this day.

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