The Sunday Times - UK (2022-05-22)

2GS The Sunday Times May 22, 2022 7

Despite his own
personal success,
Ronaldo has found
team unity and
harmony lacking
during his second
spell at Old Trafford

Millwall, almost always beat them and
that would mean six points next year.
They still proclaim they are Champi-
ons of Europe (they never were and
are never likely to be) and sang “We’ll
never play you again” to the small
teams they encountered during their
very lengthy sojourns in tiers two and
three (oh yes you will, season after
season). So Leeds would do very
nicely, thank you.
And yet once again I have the feel-
ing the schadenfreude-obsessed neu-
trals may be disappointed and it’s
Burnley who fall through the trap-
door. We all like Burnley, small club
with a proud history punching above
their weight. I have to admit I thought
they were right to sack the excellent
Sean Dyche when they did because
it’s given them the dead-cat bounce
that can sometimes make a difference
and criticising the board for getting
rid of him because he’d been there so
long seemed to me perverse.
Burnley have given themselves a
fighting chance. But... but... they are

at home to Newcastle, who always

beat them. Newcastle may have taken

their foot off the gas but I have the

horrible feeling that they will have too

much for a limited and often threat-

less Burnley side. If Burnley win they

stay up. If they draw and Leeds do not

beat Brentford they also stay up, so in

theory they have the advantage.

But... but... Leeds are away to a

team now tending towards decline,

and for whom this may be the penulti-

mate season of Premier League

football. All it takes is for Ivan Toney

to have one of his off days and the

Tykes may snatch a win, thus

depressing a substantial proportion of

the country.

The irony that the team we all origi-

nally wanted to go down — Newcastle

— may have a hand in saving the other

team we all wanted to go down is too

much to bear. But perhaps I should get

out more and stop allowing my

weekends to be darkened by the

results of teams who, in truth, I don’t

really give a monkey’s about.

Thomas Tuchel has admitted

Chelsea will still struggle to close

the gap to Manchester City and

Liverpool next season even if they

sign a couple of key players this

summer (Tom Roddy writes).

Tuchel’s team go into today’s

final game of the season, against

relegated Watford, with a 19-point

deficit to the Premier League

leaders Manchester City, who will

lift the title with victory.

But the loss of at least two key

players, as Antonio Rüdiger and

Andreas Christensen depart for

free at the end of their contracts,

means a summer squad rebuild at

Stamford Bridge which can only

begin when the club’s sale

process is complete.

“It is going to be very difficult

because even if we keep the team

and have maybe the chance to

add one or two key players it

would already be difficult. Maybe

even very difficult,” Tuchel said.

“Now we have to be fast and

smart as soon as the sanctions are

lifted because they are not lifted

at the moment. There are good

signs and there is progression but

actually nothing changes. We are

not able to sign our players, speak

to our players, and we are not able

to sell players, our squad players,

or contact players,” the Chelsea

head coach added.

Tuchel, below, has met with

Todd Boehly, the lead member of

the consortium buying Chelsea

from Roman Abramovich, but is

yet to discuss transfer plans for

the summer.

TUCHEL: WE CAN’T

MATCH TOP TWO

They sang:

‘We’ll never

play you

again’ to

small teams

during their

lengthy

sojourns in

tiers two

and three

the attacker as one of United’s

greatest assets and someone capable

of playing the high pressing and fast

transitions he was keen to instil. After

Greenwood was arrested on

suspicion of rape and assault,

Rangnick could not persuade United

to recruit another forward, further

compromising the style of play that

established him as one of the game’s

most influential coaching figures.

Rangnick spoke on Friday about

how he had to water down and then

abandon his normal approach. He

drew attention to United’s decision to

re-sign Cristiano Ronaldo, while

saying he very quickly found that

United’s team simply lacked the

physical profile for a pressing game,

and began rowing back on his normal

tactics after just one half of his

opening match, a 1-0 win over Palace.

“Even when we played away for

example at Newcastle or Norwich, we

just realised it [a pressing game] was

difficult,” he said. “We had no pre-

season, we couldn’t really physically

develop and raise the level. Believe

me, I am the one most disappointed

and frustrated about that. At one

stage we had to find compromises —

attacking a little bit deeper, how can

we make sure that we get our

offensive players into their positions?

“Cristiano scored a few but, again,

Cristiano — and I’m not blaming him

at all, he did great — but he’s not a

pressing monster. He’s not a player —

even when he was a young player —

who was crying, shouting, ‘Hurry, the

other team has got the ball, where

can we win balls?’”

Ronaldo is expected to be missing

today with a hip flexor injury, after

sustaining a knock in training. United

need victory to guarantee a Europa

League place. A draw or defeat would

open the way for West Ham United to

consign them to Europa Conference

League football next season.

Whatever their result, United will

finish with their lowest points total

since the Premier League began.

‘The players’ lack of

unity and loyalty

has astounded

some in senior roles

at the club’

The year 7 boy at the back of the

classroom is stretching his hand up

as high as possible in the hope of

asking Son Heung-min a question.

It’s a simple yet insightful one:

“Who is your favourite player?”

After lengthy thought, the

answer is Cristiano Ronaldo, as Son

explains that his start in football

almost 20 years ago was inspired by

the teenage talent at Manchester

United. It seems a fitting selection

for a man who could be holding the

Golden Boot at Carrow Road as the

Premier League’s top scorer.

Liverpool’s Mo Salah leads with 22

goals, one ahead of Son.

Yet propose such a

scenario to Tottenham

Hotspur’s prolific

forward and the 29-

year-old’s reply is not

one that you could

easily imagine his

Portuguese hero giving.

“Scoring a lot of goals

doesn’t mean you alone are

scoring a lot of goals,” says Son later

that afternoon at Lea Valley

Academy, where he had met

students participating in

Tottenham Hotspur Foundation’s

Premier League Inspires

programme. “You need help from

the team, help from the supporters,

help from the club — which, this

year, was incredible.

“I can’t believe I scored so many

goals. It makes me really happy but

the Golden Boot is something

everyone dreams of when you are a

kid and you start playing football.

But for me it’s more important to

help the team.”

Son is not a stranger to accolades

having won a Puskas — awarded by

Fifa for the best goal of the year — in

2020 for his effort against Burnley,

yet the selfless South Korean is

rarely mentioned alongside Salah,

Ronaldo, Kevin De Bruyne and

Harry Kane for individual prizes.

Surely such service deserves more

credit. “It’s not important, is it?”

Son says. “Those other players are

world-class players and it’s normal

that they have more attention than

the others. I just do my job. If I get

attention or not, it’s not important,

because I do what I love.”

Finishing in the top four is the

aim for Antonio Conte’s team, and

if Son adds to his 21 goals and seven

assists this season today then

Champions League qualification, so

unlikely for much of the past six

months, will likely have been

achieved. Returning to Europe’s

top table gets Son most

passionate. A player who

competed in the final

three years ago has had

to watch it on television

from the home in

Hampstead he shares

with his parents after

Spurs finished seventh

last year. “To watch

Tuesday or Wednesday night

on the sofa, watching those other

teams, is painful because all of the

best players are playing,” Son says.

He credits Conte’s arrival for

Tottenham’s transformation. “It’s

hard work but you forget the hard

work because you are enjoying it

and he is just a winner,” he says.

Stories of Conte’s gruelling pre-

season training sessions are

legendary, so Son’s response is a

surprise. “I can’t wait,” he says.

Son is more than accustomed to

hard work. His father, Son Woong-

jung, a former professional

footballer, would take him for extra

training sessions even when he was

in the Hamburg academy.

Avoid disaster in Norfolk and Son

will not be watching the elite

compete on his telly on Tuesday

nights any more.

6 To find out about the Tottenham

Hotspur Foundation’s Premier League

Inspires Programme, email

[email protected].

‘Golden Boot is what

you dream of as a kid’

Tom Roddy

With 21 goals, Son, above, is just

one behind Liverpool’s Salah

Lyon won their eighth Women’s

Champions League title when they

stunned Barcelona last night with a

3-1 win in a superb final in Turin

(writes Aadam Patel). The

French side blitzed the

reigning champions to

go 3-0 up — thanks to

goals from Amandine

Henry, Ada Hegerberg

and Catarina Macário

— with just over half an

hour played.

Barcelona had only

lost one match all season

going into the final and the

clearly outnumbered Lyon support

could scarcely believe what they

were witnessing in Italy.

The Barcelona captain, Alexia

Putellas — the current Ballon D’or

winner — scored her 11th goal of

the Champions League campaign

with a well-taken finish shortly

before the interval to give her team

some belief but despite

enjoying the bulk of

possession, they were

left to rue missed

opportunities.

Ultimately, Lyon

showed all of their

experience in game-

management as they

closed the game

out to secure a sixth

Champions League title in

seven years. In doing so, their

manager Sonia Bompastor, inset,

became the first woman to win the

Champions League as both a player

and a manager.

LYON SINK BARCELONA AND LAND EIGHTH

WOMEN’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TITLE