Celebrating 20 years since Arsenal's "Invincibles" unbeaten season the Gunners are aiming to again become champions, while Bayer Leverkusen continue their own incredible unbeaten season. Gary Lemke highlights a few talking points ahead of the weekend’s football.
MBAPPE LATEST TO FEEL L’EQUIPE WRATH
Player ratings have been around for as long as sport itself, but often compilers let emotion get in the way of their judgement. The French sports paper L’Equipe has long been regarded as “stingy” when it comes to football ratings. In their entire history, they’ve awarded only 15 perfect 10’s, the most recent being when Erling Haaland netted a hat-trick in Man City’s 7-0 mauling of RD Leipzig last year. This week Kylian Mbappe received a 2/10 as PSG bowed out of the Champions League to Barcelona last month. The lowest a player can get is 1/10. Celtic’s Derdryk Boyata was given a 1/10 against PSG in 2017. Presumably for staying upright through the national anthem.
⚪️🙄 Kylian Mbappé when asked if he will support Real Madrid vs Bayern…pic.twitter.com/pIKvGKLp2Y
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 7, 2024
MAN UNITED TOP MOST VALUABLE LIST
Sportico are labelled ‘the business of sport’ and this week they released their annual list of the world’s most valuable football clubs. Manchester United, with a value of $ 6.2 million, top the list, followed by Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool and Bayern Munich. The breakdown shows the growth of football in the United States, with 20 MSL clubs being valued in the world’s top 50. Sportico’s valuation is similar to that of Forbes, who are also due to release their 2024 report. While the US are represented by 20 clubs in the top 50, there are nine from England, seven from Italy, four from Germany and three from Spain.
These are the 50 MOST VALUABLE soccer clubs in the world:
— Sportico (@Sportico) May 8, 2024
European soccer clubs dominate the top of the financial table, but MLS lands the most clubs with 20 in the top 50, more than twice as many as the EPL.
Full list: https://t.co/G8pKNPSzKZ pic.twitter.com/URUhmxQwtV
REGRETS? WE ALL HAVE A FEW
While transfer fees and player wages are rising exponentially, given the increased revenue coming into football, here’s a timely reminder that even the top managers have regrets. Sir Alex Ferguson has said that Ralph Milne (from Bristol City to United in 1988 for £170,000) was “my worst signing”, while Liverpool’s Roy Evans still regards Sean Dundee as his biggest signing regret. The South African joined the Reds as a replacement for Robbie Fowler in 1998 from German club Karlsruher in 1998 for £2m. I actually thought Dundee was a decent player and courteous, but Evans disagreed. “He was terrible on and off the pitch. He didn’t take any notice of me, did what he wanted and lacked discipline. He certainly shouldn’t have joined Liverpool.”
‘INVINCIBLES’ LOOKING TO HAVE A PARTY
Either Arsenal or Man City will be crowned EPL champions this season and should City drop any points in their last three games, and Arsenal win both theirs, the Gunners will win the title. It’s also been 20 years since they went through the League season unbeaten. That 2003/04 campaign was the last time Arsenal won the title as well. Twenty years ago, they won 26 and drew 12 of their 38 games, finishing 11 points clear of Chelsea. They actually had an ‘“Invincible” run of 49 League matches, from May 2003 to October 2004.
It all ended at Old Trafford when Man United won 2-0 in an ill-tempered affair which included Cesc Fabregas throwing a pizza at Sir Alex Ferguson in the tunnel – and hitting the target. We wonder if there’ll be a party for the Invincibles to enjoy against Everton next weekend (19th).
LEVERKUSEN REACH UNCHARTED TERRITORY
Speaking of Invincibles, Bayer Leverkusen have now posted their own 49-game unbeaten streak, across all competitions, when another late-late-late equaliser, this time in the 97th minute, against Roma, booked their place in the Europa League final. Their 49-unbeaten games eclipses that of Benfica (48), Dinamo Zagreb and Rijeka (45), Rangers (44), Juventus (43) and Milan and Ajax (42). Josep Stanisic scored with the last kick of the game against Roma. Their attempt at No50 comes in Sunday’s Bundesliga game against Bochum.
UK TO TEST WATERS FOR LIVE 3PM VIEWING
There’s been a shake-up in the way English Football League matches will be televised in the UK next season. South Africans are spoiled with their access to live games via SuperSport, because in the UK most 3pm kick-offs aren’t shown. This was originally introduced to ensure fans actually went to the stadiums and didn’t watch the game live on TV. However, in a change for 2024/25, there will be a total of 1,000 games – through all the EFL divisions – streamed live by SkySports+ with an experiment being that on match day No1 the 3pm games will be broadcast.
Premier League clubs want Saturday 3pm blackout to be lifted and every game televised ahead of next TV rights auction https://t.co/VSMOtki7ZQ
— Matt Hughes (@MattHughesDM) May 9, 2024
