Manchester United's 2019/20 UEFA Cup run came to an end despite being spearheaded by former Sporting Lisbon man Bruno Fernandes, & the final part of their season rounded out with an FA Cup exit & third place Premier League finish. So what of the fortunes of the Verde e Brancos (Green & Whites)?
Espanyol are a club used to being overshadowed, although to be fair, their nearest rivals have had a habit of overshadowing the best teams in Europe for much of their history. Ultimately, when you are the 2nd best professional football team in Barcelona, it means that you have to get used to struggling for attention.
With the fiscal state of football again making the news, & perhaps the best-known example of such mismanagement reaching its centenary year & being on the cusp of automatic promotion back to the promised land, helped by a 3-1 win at fellow former Premier League stalwarts Blackburn on Saturday), what better time than now to take a metaphorical walk past the imposing statues of both Don Revie & captain Billy Bremner outside Elland Road. Permanent reminders of former glories, & a time when the men in white were far from pearly…
Following the resumption of the Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen find themselves fifth in the table with 56 points from 29 games. Die Werkself (the Company Eleven, in recognition of their roots as a works team for pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG) & their supporters could be forgiven a touch of the jitters at the thought of rising three places & overtaking Borussia Dortmund in 2nd. Which seems an incredibly odd assertion, granted! But if there is any trepidation emanating from those who would normally take their seats at the currently empty BayArena on a Saturday afternoon, it is not entirely without fairly recent precedent...
Anyone who followed Graeme Souness's fairly recent spat with Paul Pogba might consider that small beer upon closer inspection of the drama he'd find himself in over the course of just one season (1995-6) in Turkey, with Galatasaray, after a year out of work. Although it could be argued that before leaving he'd helped usher in the success the club would enjoy in the early Noughties, remaining the only Süper Lig side to taste European success following a penalty shoot-out win over Arsenal in 2000's UEFA Cup final. But almost as soon as he'd signed on to take over in what their own fans dubbed “hell”, in honour of the often intimidating din of the Ali Sami Yen stadium, trouble was afoot.