SCREAM IF YOU WANNA GO FASTER<\/p>\n
While Arsenal were busy Arsenaling their way<\/a> to a worthy but dull Bigger Cup quarter-final first leg win at Sporting on Tuesday, the players of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich released the collective handbrake and performed many high-speed donuts, wheel spins and Rockfords<\/a> as a pleasing counterpoint to the careful mirror-signal-manoeuvring on display at Lisbon\u2019s Est\u00e1dio Jos\u00e9 Alvalade. Like a couple of stolen supercars racing each other around a shopping mall in The Fast and the Furious: Bicester Village, these two European heavyweights massively committed to the bit, not unlike a daily football email bogged down in a laboured motoring metaphor. \u201cWhen I see the chances we had, that has to give us confidence that we can score more goals,\u201d whooped Vincent Kompany following a hi-octane Bernab\u00e9u white-knuckle ride from which his team emerged deserving winners, even if it was their 40-year-old goalkeeper who took home the gong for player of the match.<\/p>\n \u201cThey also had some good chances and let some go, so we\u2019re glad about the win here first of all,\u201d cheered Manuel \u2018Old Sheldon\u2019 Neuer, who pulled off nine saves of varying degrees of difficulty as Bayern saw off their hosts 2-1<\/a>. On a night when the recipient of Fifa\u2019s inaugural peace prize showcased his conciliatory credentials with a potentially apocalyptic threat to \u201ca whole civilisation\u201d, it seems glib to resort to military analogies [but you\u2019re going to do it anyway? \u2013 Football Daily Ed]. However, few things provide a better distraction than watching Michael Olise spend 90 minutes mounting an unstoppable one-man insurgency against a hapless opposition left-back. One of several standout performers across both teams, the former Crystal Palace winger subjected the unfortunate Madrid defender \u00c1lvaro Carreras to a roasting so severe it felt like a gross violation of the Geneva conventions.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately we wasted a few chances, but we\u2019re still in it,\u201d parped Madrid boss \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa, after seeing Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior and Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 pass up a litany of good chances before the Frenchman finally scored with his easiest one of the night. \u201cManuel Neuer had a fantastic game. We came up against a very good side, the most consistent in Europe. It will be far from easy there.\u201d With the Geopolitics World Cup looming and Thomas Tuchel in attendance, the onus was on the various English players involved to prove their worth. Jude Bellingham impressed off the bench, while the German\u2019s eye will have been reassured by another excellent performance from the precocious young Bayern striker, Harry Kane. For Trent Alexander-Arnold, any faint hopes he had of impressing the England head coach enough to book his seat on The Plane to the GWC almost certainly evaporated as his full set of well-documented strengths and weaknesses were on show for all, including Tuchel, to see. A sublime assist for Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s goal was overshadowed by a couple of conspicuous defensive blunders that ultimately left him looking more Luton Transit than Lamborghini.<\/p>\n LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE<\/p>\n Join Rob Smyth at 8pm BST for Bigger Cup updates on PSG 3-1 Liverpool in the first leg of their quarter-final, while Luke McLaughlin will be on hand at the same time for Barcelona 2-1 Atl\u00e9tico Madrid.<\/p>\n QUOTE OF THE DAY<\/p>\n \u201c[He] was not just a coach, but a life teacher for entire generations of players. He was a man who loved this sport more than anything in life, and his impact on our football is immeasurable\u201d \u2013 Romanian Football Federation president Razvan Burleanu pays tribute to legendary manager and former national team captain Mircea Lucescu, who has died aged 80<\/a>, only days after resigning as head coach. RIP Mircea.<\/p>\n Mircea Lucescu, photographed last month for an interview with the Guardian. Photograph: Stefan Constanttin\/The Guardian<\/p>\n double quotation markA doff of the Romanian cap to the great Mircea Lucescu<\/a>. As a player, he captained his national team against World Cup holders England and eventual World Cup winners Brazil at the tournament in 1970<\/a>, after which Pel\u00e9 wanted to exchange shirts with him. And, as a manager, apart from all his domestic success, he was the first manager to get Romania to qualify for the Euros in 1984 and nearly led a poor Romania team to the World Cup in 2026, a couple of weeks ago, while very sick. What a football man, what a tremendous football man \u2026\u201d \u2013 Noble Francis.<\/p>\n double quotation markInteresting to see the report<\/a> about Nike\u2019s new Geopolitics World Cup kits bunching up ridiculously at the shoulder seams. You never got problems like that back in my day, principally because, on the massively oversized kits of the 90s, the shoulder seam was positioned halfway down the arm. The tendency of these kits to make even professional athletes look like Sunday pub league players is exemplified by the photo of Blackburn\u2019s relegated 1999 team in today\u2019s edition of The Knowledge<\/a> \u2013 an effect amplified by the fact one of them seems to have been playing in tracksuit bottoms, and another in sliders\u201d \u2013 Phil Taverner.<\/p>\n If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com<\/a>. Today\u2019s prizeless letter o\u2019 the day winner is \u2026 Noble Francis. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here<\/a>.\u200a<\/p>\n RECOMMENDED DONATING<\/p>\n Barry is running the London Landmarks Half-Marathon on Sunday to raise money for the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children\u2019s Charity. He\u2019s already more than quadrupled his original target of \u00a313,100 but would be grateful for any more donations in the last few days before the race because, well, it\u2019s a brilliant cause and here at Football Daily Towers we think he needs every bit of motivation he can get. Here\u2019s Big Website\u2019s running man on his challenge:<\/p>\n double quotation markAfter being emotionally blackmailed into running the LLHM by my friend and broadcasting colleague Max Rushden, I began training in late October. Having done little or no exercise beyond nimbly climbing on and off bar stools for almost 30 years, I was heroically unfit and literally couldn\u2019t jog 100 metres without stopping to catch my breath. Reader \u2013 I had bitten off more than I could chew. At the start line I will be 53 years old and I remain overweight despite all my training. I still drink too much and have resigned myself to the fact that I won\u2019t win the race, but I plan to enjoy a unique day. If you\u2019d like to add to the already huge sum raised, every little helps. It would be absolutely magic to hit the \u00a360,000 mark before race day. With that in mind, please give anything you can, safe in the knowledge that I\u2019ll be enduring a world of pain to try to alleviate that of that experienced by so many wonderful and brave kids.\u201d Donate here<\/a>.<\/p>\n An athlete, earlier. Illustration: Gary NeillRECOMMENDED LISTENING<\/p>\n