Football Daily | Feeling genuinely sorry for Guardiola and others who missed PSG 5-4 Bayern

While it is difficult to know which of the gaffers will be happier with last night’s outcome, Vincent Kompany seemed a little more bullish given his side reduced a three-goal deficit, including one scored from a scandalously awarded spot-kick. With the tie poised on a knife-edge before next week’s return leg in Munich, the only certainty is that whoever eventually prevails will somehow go on to lose 1-0 to the Arsenal in the final in Budapest next month, with Gabriel inevitably scrambling home the skanky winning goal.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“They never came to us. We did, Ossie [Ardiles] and myself, after the Forest game, we felt there was a real problem there. Ossie and I made it clear that we would go in there if they wanted us to go in there with probably a younger legend [as coach] as well. It felt at that time, at the end of the game, Tudor was in as the manager, but to lose 3-0 against a team down at the bottom – with you at home – was a bad sign. It looked to me as if it needed some love, like it needed some people to go in there and unite the fans, with the owners, with the team and that is why we said we would do it. They said they were looking elsewhere” – Glen Hoddle, there, revealing that Spurs turned down his and Ardilles’s offer for them to take the reins as join interim managers. Now that would have rivalled PSG-Bayern for entertainment.

FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS

double quotation markLooking at that photo of Messi from 2005 (yesterday’s Quote of the Day), I had no idea before seeing his T-shirt that he was so left wing. We all know he did his best work off the right” – Andy McGregor.

double quotation markA mention in Football Daily of Nike ‘Phantom Elite’ boots made me realise I may have missed some stages in the overdramatisation of product names in football. In my day we used to just call them Pumas, or Umbros or (quietly) Golas. Now it seems we’re just a few seasons away from kids clamouring for the new Nike Mega Eagle Missile Ghost Boss boots (as worn by Emil Krafth)” – Andrew Boulton.

double quotation markWhat an absurd, breathless, brilliant game that was between PSG and Bayern last night. It was so end to end that, every time the camera panned to either end of the ground, I was surprised to see the keeper stood in a proper football goal, rather than between two piles of jumpers. I was also fully expecting the match to be brought to an end by a teacher marching onto the pitch ringing a brass handbell” – Phil Taverner.

double quotation markQ: Would you like some goals?
A: Nine. Danke!
Q: Bayern’s second goal was scored in what part of Paris?
A: Champs-Olise’s.
Q: Do you think four goals are enough to get a result at PSG?
A: Cinq again!
Q: What time is it?
A: Five past Neuer.
Q: What now for PSG?
A: Oui go again next week!” – Peter Oh.

double quotation markWasn’t that a magnificent display of everything that’s good about football these days? No, not that trivial nine-goal kickabout in Paris. I’m referring to the wholly integrated approach to The Great Game yesterday evening in which the Hearts youth team won the Scottish Youth Cup final 4-0, and the Hearts Women’s team, already league leaders, won 3-0 to stretch their lead to five points with three games to go. What a season this could be for all things maroon” – Ken Muir.

double quotation markDespite being native Baltimorean – yes, a Baltimoron if you must – I had to search for the meaning of recent allusions to Jimmy McNulty (Football Daily passim). Call me chauvinistic, but you see I’ve made it a point of never watching ‘The Wire’. When I need dramatic representation of harrowing, Sisyphean struggle on the one hand and ghastly, inexorable decline on the other, I simply turn to north London’s two (at least for now) Premier League flag-bearers” – Clinton Macsherry.

If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Clinton Macsherry, who gets a copy of Classic Football Shirts, courtesy of Penguin. It’s out on Thursday and you can order a copy here if you’re not successful. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here.

RECOMMENDED VIEWING

Get your eyeballs on Michael Butler as he bathes himself in the vaults of the Manchester-based Classic Football Shirts retailer.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING

Join Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning and the rest of the pod squad as they reflect on that match. And watch it here, if you prefer moving pictures.

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