Scott Murray's Blog, page 60

Sevilla 1-0 West Ham: Europa League last 16, first leg – as it happened

Munir’s fine second-half goal was enough to give the six-time winners the advantage going into next week’s second leg at the London Stadium

7 min: Lanzini carelessly loses possession on the edge of his own box. The ball breaks to En-Nesyri, whose shot is blocked. Ocampos then drags a shot wide right. West Ham are living a bit dangerously here.

5 min: West Ham show in attack for the first time, Antonio barging down the inside-right channel before lashing a shot into the side netting. A nice bright start to this match.

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The Fiver | Worst of all, Chelsea are no longer able to sell a single thing

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Chelsea became champions of the world this time last month. If you didn’t know any better, you’d assume everyone has been basking in the glow of this epochal achievement ever since. But you do know better. You know that Kepa ended up looking quite the toolkit in the League Cup final. Again. You know that the team flirted with FA Cup humiliation at the hands of Luton. And you know that, geopolitical events having led to Roman Abramovich putting the club up for sale, an unprecedented era of success is coming to an end. Chelsea are still champions of the world for the next 11 months, of course, and whatever happens now will always have a roll of honour stretching halfway down the Kings Rahd. So, small violins and all that. Still, everything in context.

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Real Madrid 3-1 PSG (3-2 agg): Champions League last 16, second leg – as it happened

PSG were dumped out of Europe after throwing away a 2-0 aggregate lead at the Bernabéu

5 min: Vinicius runs down a cul de sac on the left. He’s going nowhere, but is stupidly shoved in the back by Danilo. A free kick in a dangerous position. PSG surround the referee, livid to a man, which is preposterous really. A no-brainer of a decision.

4 min: Space for Vinicius down the left. He hooks into the centre for Asensio, who attempts a spectacular bicycle kick from 12 yards. The effort is easily blocked. An impressive start by the hosts.

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The Fiver | Real Madrid, PSG and a dependable source of entertainment for neutrals

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Manchester City welcome Sporting Clube de Portugal to the Etihad on Wednesday, having won the first leg in Lisbon by five goals to zip, so we’ll not insult your intelligence by giving it the Big Cup big sell. But even if that risible non-event of a tie was teetering on a knife-edge, it still wouldn’t be the game of the day, because over in Madrid, Real Madrid and PSG, two genuine heavyweights with 13 Big Cup titles between them, go head to head for a place in the quarter-finals. You’ve already done the maths, we’ll not belabour the point.

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Liverpool 0-1 Internazionale (agg: 2-1): Champions League last 16, second leg – as it happened

Lautaro Martínez’s screamer wasn’t enough to stop Liverpool making it through to the quarter-finals

3 min: Salah turns on the jets to blast past Bastoni on the right. He enters the box but runs into Brozovic, who slams the door shut.

2 min: A relatively scrappy start, and a couple of loose passes by Thiago, who missed the last three matches and may need to shake off a little rust. The visiting Inter fans are giving it plenty.

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The Fiver | Everton’s sinking feeling and tales of their relegated forefathers

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Say what you like about Everton, but they don’t get relegated very often, and when they do, they do it in style. In fact, they’ve only been sent down twice. In 1930, a mere two years after Dixie Dean’s 60-goal title-winning season, the Ev were relegated despite winning four of their last five games. They drew the other one, 3-3 at Manchester United, having been 3-1 to the good, dropping a point that would have kept them up. Then in 1951, their fate was sealed on the final day in a 6-0 humiliation at Sheffield Wednesday. “To abuse Everton at this stage,” wrote Donny Davies in Big Paper, “would be too much like picking up a person badly mauled from a street accident and reading him a lecture on the folly of jay-walking.” Talk about slyly putting the boot in. A drop-kicking, if you will.

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Liverpool 1-0 West Ham: Premier League – as it happened

Sadio Mané scored the only goal of the game as West Ham spurned several gilt-edged invitations to equalise

Liverpool get the ball rolling ... but only after everyone takes the knee. More applause of solidarity in the fight for equality. There’s no room for racism.

Before the game starts, the teams mix around the centre circle in a show of solidarity for Ukraine. A huge round of applause. Yellow and blue armbands are worn by captains Jordan Henderson and Aaron Cresswell. A very loud and equally poignant rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone. Football stands together. Godspeed everyone caught up in the war.

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Leicester City 1-0 Leeds United: Premier League – as it happened

Leeds remain in relegation bother after Harvey Barnes scored against the run of play, Kasper Schmeichel making a series of fine last-ditch saves

45 secs: A loose pass at the back nearly allows Dewsbury-Hall to break clear. The ball pings back to Meslier. Some problems will take a while to fix.

Leicester get the ball rolling ... but only after everyone takes the knee. More appreciative applause. There’s no room for racism.

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Luton 2-3 Chelsea: FA Cup fifth round – as it happened

Roman Abramovich confirmed his plans to sell up, Luton threatened a shock, but Chelsea dug deep and made it to the quarters

2 min: Luton start on the front foot, winning a throw deep in enemy territory. Bell flings it in long, and wins the first corner of the game on the left. And from that ...

Chelsea get the ball rolling ... but only after they take the knee, while Luton line up on the centre circle to make a stand against prejudice. There’s no room for racism.

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The Fiver | Chelsea, Roman Abramovich and old-school memories of the Bridge

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Winning five Premier League titles, five FA Cups, three League Cups, two Big Cups, two Big Vases, a Super Cup and a Club World Cup is all good and well, but some Chelsea fans of a certain vintage still yearn for how things were before Roman Abramovich pitched his tent in Москва-на-Темзе all those years ago. Life was more innocent back then, what with the electric cattle fence surrounding the pitch, the frequent run-ins with Millwall, betting the farm on a behemoth of a stand in the middle of an economy-jiggering oil crisis and going nine matches without a goal in the old Second Division. Say what you will about Chelsea, but one way or another, they’ve rarely been boring.

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