"Football, bloody hell!", a week of passion

Guardiola speaks with Foden during Atlético-City. Manu Fernandez (AP)

Alex Ferguson already said it: “Football, bloody hell!”.

An expression that, following the poetic license offered by the renowned Wordreference

dictionary, could be translated as "Football, the fucking mother!", in a positive sense, but also as "Football, damn it!".

The legendary Manchester United coach said it in a celebratory sense after winning the Champions League final against Bayern in 1999 with two goals at the last moment.

This last week no title has been decided but there have been a few reasons to shout

, and everyone will know what bias they give, euphoric or angry, but always passionate after a true Passion Week turned into the best football propaganda.

A week that began and ended with the double duel between Liverpool and Manchester City and that has had two other double duels in the middle, those of the League with the Premier and with the Bundesliga.

Liverpool has been the great winner of the week, along with Villarreal and Real Madrid, with Manchester City and Atlético de Madrid in bittersweet territory (that is, with contradictory emotions) and Bayern and Barcelona as resounding failures, both linked to worst of sins: contempt for the rival (and even the competition!).

After the two dark seasons played in the shadow of covid, with empty stadiums and virtual animations on television, football has returned with the full force of packed stadiums, inflamed public and cataracts of goals.

The City could half decide the Premier a week ago but did not succeed.

Pep Guardiola was about to leave the Metropolitano scalded but he saved the dishes, managed to drive Cholo Simeone crazy and became a piece to beat for a wide sector of Madrid opinion.

The hunt, fueled by reasons that go far beyond football, will continue this week after City were swept off the pitch by Liverpool in the first half of the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

The pyrrhic final reaction will not redeem him from criticism after the defensive collapse of the team (2-3), with the substitute goalkeeper in front.

Klopp, the man of fashion

At this point, Liverpool have only won the League Cup, but Jürgen Klopp is the man in fashion because he continues to fight to add another three titles and reach the dream quartet: he is already in the Wembley cup final, he is a clear favorite for knock Villarreal out of the Champions League and reach the final in Paris and is just one point behind City in the Premier League.

Villarreal don't mind being put down: Bayern and Juventus did before, and Arsenal and Manchester United did last year, all of them sunk by the yellow submarine's occasional torpedoes.

Liverpool and City can still meet in the final in Paris in what would be presented in England as the game of history, but Real Madrid, almost always underestimated by British bookmakers,

Bayern would be the big loser of the week... if FC Barcelona didn't exist!

Barça has paid with another historic ridicule in Europe for its contempt for Eintracht, a sin committed at all levels: team, fans and board of directors.

Together they managed to make the Germans feel at the Camp Nou at home and threw away a competition that many Catalans thought it was a shame to win.

What they never understood is that maybe it's a shame to play it but, since you play it... win it.

In the end, the duels of the League with the other two major leagues in Europe were in a draw after Madrid eliminated Chelsea, City Atlético and Villarreal Bayern in the Champions League and Eintracht Barcelona in the Europa League.

"Football, bloody hell!".

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