Scott Murray's Blog, page 57
April 16, 2022
Manchester City 2-3 Liverpool: FA Cup semi-final – as it happened
Sadio Mané was the two-goal hero (with a little help from Zack Steffen) as Liverpool reached their first FA Cup final for ten years
2 min: A high-octane start. Alisson blooters a pass down the right wing. Steffen hoicks another out of play. Alexander-Arnold swishes a ball down the right for Salah, who is miles offside. Plenty of time yet for everyone to find their feet.
Liverpool get the ball rolling ... but only after the players take a knee. There’s no room for racism.
Continue reading...
April 14, 2022
Lyon 0-3 West Ham (1-4 on aggregate): Europa League quarter-final – as it happened
The Hammers dismantled Lyon on their own patch to book their first European semi-final since 1976
4 min: Lyon are hogging the ball, but going nowhere in particular. West Ham hold their shape confidently, as David Moyes teams tend to do.
2 min: Lyon calm things down with some early possession. The 50,000-odd fans inside the stadium continue to make a rare old racket.
Continue reading...The Fiver | The scenes that ‘no one likes to see’ that everyone likes to see
Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!
What was the last genuinely great thing to happen in the Premier League? That’s right! The answer has nothing whatsoever to do with last Sunday’s well-received encounter between Manchester City and Liverpool, and everything to do with five years ago, when Chelsea put paid to Tottenham’s chances of winning the title and everyone disappeared down the Stamford Bridge tunnel throwing hands. And the time before that? It’d be Martin Keown getting right up in Ruud van Nistelrooy’s grille. And before that? Eric Cantona disappearing into the Selhurst Park stands to dispense beneficial advice on race relations.
Continue reading...April 13, 2022
Liverpool 3-3 Benfica (6-4 agg): Champions League quarter-final, second leg – as it happened
Liverpool made it through to their third semi-final in five seasons, though Benfica kept them honest until the very end
5 min: Diaz gets the crowd going with a determined press. The Benfica defence doesn’t look particularly comfortable with it, especially when Jota and Henderson join in.
3 min: Nunez, Benfica’s goalscorer in the first leg, makes good down the left and curls a dangerous inswinger into the Liverpool box. Tsimikas clears under pressure from headline-in-waiting Everton, and the flag goes up for offside anyway.
Continue reading...The Fiver | Could this be the year for a long-awaited European breakthrough?
Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!
In the last 10 years of the old European Cup, before the establishment of Big Cup in 1992, seven clubs won the trophy for the first time in their existence: Hamburg, Juventus, Steaua Bucharest, Porto, PSV, Red Star and Barcelona. The following five years, when Big Cup was still a champions-only affair, another two newbies won the biggest prize of all: Marseille and Borussia Dortmund. But since Big Cup went real big, throwing the doors open to all and sundry (providing they’re big), only one more club has broken through, and they had to meet the oligarch at the crossroads to do it.
Continue reading...April 12, 2022
Real Madrid 2-3 Chelsea (agg: 5-4) aet: Champions League quarter-final second leg – as it happened
Chelsea were ten minutes away from completing a sensational comeback at the Bernabeu, but Real hit back late to knock out the champions
3 min: A little Chelsea possession in the middle of the park. A lot of whistling from the home fans, who don’t like it one bit.
2 min: Courtois launches long ... straight to Mendy in the other goal. It’s all a bit frantic.
Continue reading...The Fiver | Real Madrid, Chelsea and statistical shoo-ins
Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!
Chelsea have had some great teams throughout the years, ever since the club was founded in 2003. But weirdly, neither of their two sides that landed Big Cup were, comparatively speaking, a particularly great vintage. The Fiver still has no idea how that first Mourinho team didn’t win the competition at least twice, for example, and it’s too simplistic to just blame Rafa Benítez and John Terry. Anyway, that’s not really the point, which is, they’re not that brilliant now either – Brentford, innit – and so The Fiver had assumed No 3 was a slam-dunk into the bag this year. But right now things aren’t looking so good. Huh? What gives?
Continue reading...April 10, 2022
Masters 2022: Scheffler wins first major as McIlroy surges to second – as it happened
A perfect start for Rory McIlroy. He cracks his opening drive down the middle, then wedges to ten feet. He rolls confidently into the cup, and the birdie brings him back to level par in short order. Rory isn’t out of this, but he’ll need to shoot something in the mid to low 60s and hope Scottie Scheffler, Cam Smith and Im Sung-jae have off days to varying degrees. Meanwhile Min Woo Lee keeps on keepin’ on: from the centre of 7, he spins a glorious approach to six feet and makes a second birdie in a row. He’s level par, and looks a real prospect. He’s already got the Scottish Open on his CV.
Minjee Lee finally won her maiden major last year at the Evian, after a couple of close shaves at the Dinah Shore and the British Open. Her little brother Min Woo isn’t half bad at golf either. The 23-year-old Aussie has hit what could already be the shot of the day, coming four feet shy of replicating Louis Oosthuizen’s 2012 albatross at 2. Lee tidied up for his eagle, and he’s since made birdie at 6. He’s whisked up the leader board to +1 as a result. A pretty impressive performance on debut, this.
Continue reading...April 9, 2022
The Masters 2022: third round – as it happened
Cameron Smith was the main beneficiary of Moving Day as his 68 took him closer to runaway leader Scottie Scheffler
Rory rolls another one in! He curls a right-to-left 25-footer into the cup for birdie on 7. All good, except it follows a heavy handed chip from the fringe at 6 that left a six-footer he couldn’t make. Two bogeys and two birdies, and he can get no higher than +2.
Victor Hovland only just made the cut after opening rounds of 72 and 76. He needs something really special today - plus a Scottie Scheffler stumble - if he’s to contest tomorrow. That didn’t look on the cards when he went out this morning in 37, but he’s caught alight since turning, with birdies at 10, 11 and now 13. Some way to breeze around Amen Corner. He’s +2.
Continue reading...April 8, 2022
The Masters 2022: second round – as it happened
World No1 Scottie Scheffler shoots 67 to take a five-stroke lead going into the weekend
DJ doesn’t hit his birdie putt on 1, but par will always work. He remains at -3. Morikawa makes no mistake, though, rolling confidently into the back of the cup for a birdie that takes him to level par for the tournament. Meanwhile up on 3, Im restores his lead by rolling in a 25-footer for birdie.
-5: Im (3)
-4: Smith
-3: D Johnson (1), Willett, Niemann, Scheffler
Scott Murray's Blog
- Scott Murray's profile
- 3 followers
