Latest news with #JonathanLiew
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Football matchday live: PSG v Inter Champions League final buildup
Update: Date: 2025-05-31T07:50:11.000Z Title: Champions League final: Despotism v capitalism in a clash of styles Content: Comment: 'The Champions League final is a jarring and stirring clash of styles in so many ways,' writes Jonathan Liew. 'The relentless attack of Paris Saint-Germain and the relentless defence of Inter. One team built on the freehand wizardry of youth and one built on the weathered edifice of experience. Flying wingers against flying wing-backs, two strikers against none. But perhaps the biggest philosophical difference is between two radically different models of a football club itself: who it serves, what it can be, what constitutes success, and how to get there.' Update: Date: 2025-05-31T07:47:32.000Z Title: Guardian Football Weekly podcast: Content: Max Rushden was in the chair as the Football Weekly panel previewed tonight's Champions League final. You can listen to our discussion here and if you're not already a regular listener, what have you been doing for the past 19 years!?!? You can sign up for Football Weekly on all the usual podcast platforms. Update: Date: 2025-05-31T07:47:25.000Z Title: Preamble Content: Paris Saint-Germain take on Inter in what promises to be a fascinating and particularly intriguing Champions League final at the Allianz Arena this evening. Gnarly, streetwise and more experienced, the Nerazzurri are hoping to put their defeat at the hands of Manchester City two years ago behind them, but will have to overcome a treble-chasing French side to win their fourth European Cup. Younger and arguably more pleasing on the eye in this clash of styles, PSG are looking to lift the Champions League trophy for the first time.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Hanging up your football boots? Don't think it's all over
Jonathan Liew's piece on the end of his football career struck a chord, or perhaps a tendon (Some guts, no glory: end of my amateur football career brings painful realisation, 20 May). His comment that top players can count on 'trophies and triumphs, medals and memories' is true for a few. But for most of us who've played team sports, wins may come yet trophies rarely do. Many revered professionals, though well-paid and regularly picked, retire without silverware. Does that diminish their sporting life? I don't think so, but perhaps they do. I'm pleased for Harry Kane that he's finally in a team that's won something meaningful, as I was when my own team, West Ham, lifted the Uefa Conference League trophy in 2023. A winner is a winner, at whatever level, and they can all eventually retire having won at least one competition. I understand Jonathan's feeling that the only connection with elite athletes is 'the sacrifice' and 'pain and punishment'. But I'd argue that the true link is the desire to play, to compete, to give your best. After a 41-year break, I've taken up cycling time trials again. I'm slow, but as fellow competitors point out, faster than everyone sitting at home. And post-race, I hobble around just like the 28mph riders; the effort is the same, even if the results are very different. Jonathan should celebrate his football days. He's played more, and better, than most of the armchair pundits ever will. And now? Well, he could try cycling: easier on the knees and ankles, great cardio, and there's still a pint and a laugh at the end. Good luck!Nigel HoggartBradwell-on-Sea, Essex • I, like Jonathan Liew, also recently made peace with amateur 'career' retirement. Having lasted 25 years playing at various levels of the Donegal junior league, the time felt right to finally hang up the Copa Mundials (the boot of choice, despite a brief ill-fated dalliance with Nike). Unfortunately, I was unable to go out on a high note, having suffered relegation from the Donegal premier division on the last day of the season. I have no doubt my body will appreciate the decision. As will the younger members of our squad – who inexplicably frequently rejected my choice of dressing room music. (The Prodigy's Fat of the Land is surely still popular with the young folk, right?) Park running, swimming and cycling will become my new physical pursuits. All noble and worthwhile, but absolutely nothing will replace the feeling of lacing the boots up and crossing the white line. It's been McNicholasBunbeg, County Donegal, Ireland • My heart goes out to Jonathan Liew, whose excellent article beautifully captured those feelings experienced on the day you realise you have to hang up your boots. My 'career', played out in the Wensleydale Creamery League no less, was cut short by injury at the tender age of 26, so Jonathan can perhaps think himself fortunate to have nearly reached 40 before having to call it a day. And anyway, I have some good news for him. There's always walking football. I began in my 50s and still get a childlike thrill every Thursday evening when I don my trainers and for an hour can still pretend to be Colin Todd, sweeping majestically in defence. As long as you can wander around the artificial grass, and stay upright, you can continue to dream what it must be like to be RustonRichmond, North Yorkshire • Oh Jonathan, don't despair! I play regularly with a group ranging in age from 19 to 68 and, afterwards in the pub, a fellow sexagenarian and I toast the miracle of playing the same game at 60 that we were playing at six years old. Hell, we're better than we were as six-year-olds! Get yourself some physio, some kinesiology tape, those funny knee guards and play along with your own kids until you either fall off your perch, or they sell off your ReidLondon
The Guardian
23-05-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Hanging up your football boots? Don't think it's all over
Jonathan Liew's piece on the end of his football career struck a chord, or perhaps a tendon (Some guts, no glory: end of my amateur football career brings painful realisation, 20 May). His comment that top players can count on 'trophies and triumphs, medals and memories' is true for a few. But for most of us who've played team sports, wins may come yet trophies rarely do. Many revered professionals, though well-paid and regularly picked, retire without silverware. Does that diminish their sporting life? I don't think so, but perhaps they do. I'm pleased for Harry Kane that he's finally in a team that's won something meaningful, as I was when my own team, West Ham, lifted the Uefa Conference League trophy in 2023. A winner is a winner, at whatever level, and they can all eventually retire having won at least one competition. I understand Jonathan's feeling that the only connection with elite athletes is 'the sacrifice' and 'pain and punishment'. But I'd argue that the true link is the desire to play, to compete, to give your best. After a 41-year break, I've taken up cycling time trials again. I'm slow, but as fellow competitors point out, faster than everyone sitting at home. And post-race, I hobble around just like the 28mph riders; the effort is the same, even if the results are very different. Jonathan should celebrate his football days. He's played more, and better, than most of the armchair pundits ever will. And now? Well, he could try cycling: easier on the knees and ankles, great cardio, and there's still a pint and a laugh at the end. Good luck!Nigel HoggartBradwell-on-Sea, Essex I, like Jonathan Liew, also recently made peace with amateur 'career' retirement. Having lasted 25 years playing at various levels of the Donegal junior league, the time felt right to finally hang up the Copa Mundials (the boot of choice, despite a brief ill-fated dalliance with Nike). Unfortunately, I was unable to go out on a high note, having suffered relegation from the Donegal premier division on the last day of the season. I have no doubt my body will appreciate the decision. As will the younger members of our squad – who inexplicably frequently rejected my choice of dressing room music. (The Prodigy's Fat of the Land is surely still popular with the young folk, right?) Park running, swimming and cycling will become my new physical pursuits. All noble and worthwhile, but absolutely nothing will replace the feeling of lacing the boots up and crossing the white line. It's been McNicholasBunbeg, County Donegal, Ireland My heart goes out to Jonathan Liew, whose excellent article beautifully captured those feelings experienced on the day you realise you have to hang up your boots. My 'career', played out in the Wensleydale Creamery League no less, was cut short by injury at the tender age of 26, so Jonathan can perhaps think himself fortunate to have nearly reached 40 before having to call it a day. And anyway, I have some good news for him. There's always walking football. I began in my 50s and still get a childlike thrill every Thursday evening when I don my trainers and for an hour can still pretend to be Colin Todd, sweeping majestically in defence. As long as you can wander around the artificial grass, and stay upright, you can continue to dream what it must be like to be RustonRichmond, North Yorkshire Oh Jonathan, don't despair! I play regularly with a group ranging in age from 19 to 68 and, afterwards in the pub, a fellow sexagenarian and I toast the miracle of playing the same game at 60 that we were playing at six years old. Hell, we're better than we were as six-year-olds! Get yourself some physio, some kinesiology tape, those funny knee guards and play along with your own kids until you either fall off your perch, or they sell off your ReidLondon Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Chelsea humbled by Barcelona and Bonmatí in bruising WCL semi-final exit
They came in hope of witnessing the greatest comeback in Women's Champions League history, to overturn Barcelona's 4-1 first-leg lead. Instead, 26,702 people at Stamford Bridge saw another chastening defeat for Chelsea as the holders cruised through to their fifth consecutive final with an 8-2 aggregate victory that demonstrated the gulf in quality between the two teams. The result emphatically ended Chelsea's hopes of lifting a quadruple of major trophies, before a week when they could be crowned Women's Super League champions, and kept this peerless Barcelona team on course to lift their third consecutive European title. Related: Barcelona show their maestro quality to flourish on the biggest stagee | Jonathan Liew Knowing they needed to win the second leg by at least three goals to have any hope of progressing to the final on 24 May, after their heavy defeat in the first leg in Catalonia, Chelsea were hoping to score early to apply some pressure and offer their fans a chance to dream of a historic comeback, but instead they trailed 3-0 by half-time. First, the Ballon d'Or winner Aitana Bonmatí – who was orchestrating so much of the visitors' stylish passing – raced clear down Chelsea's left and had too much pace for Niamh Charles, running into the box unhindered before lashing a finish into the roof of the net at Hannah Hampton's near post. Bayern seal third straight title Bayern Munich clinched the Women's Bundesliga title with a 3-1 win over Freiburg on Sunday. The Iceland defender Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir scored late with a header, adding to earlier goals from Lea Schüller and Pernille Harder, as Bayern took an unassailable 11-point lead over Wolfsburg, who have only three games remaining. Bayern, who were knocked out of the Women's Champions League by Lyon in the quarter-finals, underlined its domestic dominance by winning every game in the second half of the season. It is Bayern's seventh Bundesliga title and the team's third in a row. Associated Press That goal came shortly after Chelsea had gone close twice in the space of a minute, first Sandy Baltimore scuffed a chance to shoot inside the box and then Sjoeke Nüsken's close-range strike was saved by Cata Coll, but Bonmatí taught the English league leaders a lesson in ruthlessness. If conceding the goal had deflated the home side, 18 minutes later they were looking forlorn, as Pere Romeu's team turned on the style and killed off the contest. Ewa Pajor's dart towards the six-yard box to slot home rounded off one of the best worked team moves in the competition this season, before Clàudia Pina provided one of the highest calibre individual strikes of the campaign when she curled a strike into the far corner. Pina, who had scored twice in the first leg, was showing the kind of top-level finishing that Chelsea were lacking. By the second half, Chelsea were merely playing for pride, and went close when the substitute Catarina Macário rolled a low strike narrowly wide, while at the other end, a block from Charles prevented Vicky López from adding a fourth goal, after Hampton had saved the initial shot from Salma Paralluelo. The hosts went close with an 87th-minute chance for Lucy Bronze, whose far‑post header was palmed away. Paralluelo compounded Chelsea's misery in the closing stages when she capitalised on a mistake from Charles to score a fourth, before the home side secured the smallest of consolations through Wieke Kaptein's good finish, which brought the home crowd to their feet. Maika Hamano also went close in stoppage time but nobody inside the ground had genuinely believed the comeback was on after the 25th minute. Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for 'The Guardian'. If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you're on the most recent version. In the Guardian app, tap the Menu button at the bottom right, then go to Settings (the gear icon), then Notifications. Turn on sport notifications. It was the third season in a row in which Chelsea had been eliminated at the semi-final stage by Barcelona but this was the most humbling scoreline. Exactly one year ago, Chelsea had felt robbed by a refereeing decision. This time, Barça stole the show. It was only the third time that Sonia Bompastor had tasted defeat as Chelsea manager and this one will hurt most. Trying to win the Champions League with Chelsea – a competition she has won as a player and a manager with Lyon – was the primary reason she was hired to succeed Emma Hayes. This was a harsh illustration of how far they are behind Barcelona, who pose a huge obstacle for Arsenal in the final. Asked if her team had fallen short of their objective for the season – despite the fact Chelsea could still win a domestic treble – Bompastor said: 'Yes, I'm not going to shy away from the ambitions of the club. 'That's really easy for some managers, maybe not to assume the ambitions, but I want to assume them [the ambitions] because I'm really competitive, and I just think this club has everything to perform and to be able to make the quadruple. 'It didn't happen this year and we are all sad and frustrated about it, but yes, we need now to reflect 'how can we make it possible?', but again, I think coming to Chelsea as a competitive person, I want to make sure we fight for every trophy possible.'
The Guardian
26-02-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Liverpool v Newcastle United: Premier League
Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Get in the mood with Jonathan Liew on that man Salah. Share There will be no Arne Slot on the touchline at Anfield tonight. Share Is this the start of Liverpool's victory parade? They are 11 points clear at the top and their closest rivals do not possess a fit striker. It feels the effective and efficient Reds are romping home to the title, their superiority further proved with a straightforward win over Manchester City at the weekend. Arne Slot – banned from the touchline here – will face Newcastle once more in a few weeks, when the two do battle at Wembley for the first major trophy of the season. Is this a dress rehearsal for that? Not really, as there is plenty to play for on the night at Anfield. This is a fixture that in the 1990s brought some brilliant entertainment to the nation and considering Newcastle's last match was a 4-3 win, maybe we will be seeing more of that tonight. Here's to a cracker! Kick-off: 8.15pm GMT Share
