The Liverpuldians had to end the weekend with bad beer and sad Beatles. And with them, all the Britons who hoped to see Liverpool FC bring back a seventh Champions League trophy in a “Brexitized” United Kingdom. And as if Madrid’s Brazilian Vinícius José Paixão de Oliveira Júnior’s fatal goal weren’t enough, two other dimensions of the evening infused the bitter taste of defeat like a sachet of Five o’clock Tea…
With a strike on line B of the Paris RER serving the Stade de France which hosted the final, a counterproductive double filtering of spectators, huge queues badly managed by outdated security, the forced passage of many free riders and the grumbling of ticket holders who sometimes paid 550 euros, the match started 36 minutes late. The mess settled at the entrance doors, with its share of tear gas reminiscent of the caricature demonstrations of yellow vests. Unwelcome message sent by a French capital still groggy by the defeat of its Paris Saint-Germain, in the round of 16, and organizer of the 2024 Olympic Games…
Backdoor
The tears of the debacle and the tear gas irritations barely dried, a rumor with the air of an announcement came, the same evening, to reactivate the lacrimal glands… After the meeting at the Stade de France, some claim that Senegalese Sadio Mané would have confided to his teammates: “I want to thank the fans for everything and the coach too. I wish this team all the best in the world.” Thanks and wishes which, of course, are not worth formalizing a departure… Except that the Senegalese answered, the day before and in these terms, a question on his ambitions for next year: “I am entirely focused on the Saturday’s game, that’s the answer I have to give before the final. But come back to me on Saturday and I’ll give you the answer. »
To the Sunday networks inflamed by the almost-info, the communication adviser to the African champion, Bacary Cissé, insisted on displaying a denial, affirming that Mané had “leaved the stadium by a back door” to avoid, precisely, “d ‘to be questioned by journalists about his future at Liverpool’. Of which act. Reds coach Jürgen Klopp refused to comment on rumors of his player’s possible departure.
Buzz and illusion
Fans of contemporary football know that the transfers of football stars have become endless soap operas riddled with leaks and fake leaks, sham clues and prefabricated missteps intended to fuel the buzz, even auctions. It remains that Sadio Mané is courted by several large European clubs, that Liverpool would have fixed the price of the transfer – just over 41 million euros according to the Daily Mail58 according to The Sun – and that the name of Bayern Munich is the most cited, ahead of Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, AC Milan or Paris Saint-Germain of the Leonardo era. The Germans reportedly offered the player a 3-year contract and the Senegalese’s agent met Hasan Salihamidžić, Bayern’s sporting director…
While awaiting the official conclusions of this file, the British depressed by the emotional roller coaster of the weekend will console themselves, from June 2 to 5, with the celebrations of the Platinum Jubilee of their Queen Elizabeth II, the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne. God save the queen and Sadio Mané?
