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TALKING BALLS
Fairness and football are rarely good bedfellows. At the glitzy Golden Ball ceremony in Paris on Monday night, there was further evidence of this as Aitana Bonmatí collected the women’s award for the third year in a row. “I still can’t believe it. Incredible,” cheered the Spain playmaker. “Thank you for this … it really could have gone to anyone.” Except it didn’t. You see, France Football has a tendency to overlook more deserving characters by focusing on talent, attitude and output. The Edinburgh comedy award has a rule where no one can take home the bacon twice, allowing others to get their moment in the spotlight, too, and preventing Football Daily’s questionable comedy heroes from collecting it annually. It doesn’t matter that Bonmatí has been a consistent pinnacle of excellence in the game, driving Barcelona to the Liga F title for a sixth straight year and recovering from viral meningitis to play at the Euros. She also had a penalty saved in the final as England beat Spain, which came after succumbing to Arsenal in the Women’s Bigger Cup final.
Alessia Russo finished third, Chloe Kelly fifth and Leah Williamson seventh, in between a collection of Spanish runners-up. The three Lionesses can boast winning a continental double, surpassing their Catalan comrades to the tune of two. Football Daily, however, does not want to look all jingoistic by focusing on how English people have fallen foul of democracy. Scotland’s Caroline Weir finished 30th. Compatriot Scott McTominay was 18th in the men’s competition, after winning Serie A and going on the razz to celebrate for a month. The partying alone should have at least put him a few places above certain counterparts.
McTominay had to keep his counsel when Paris Saint-Germain kingpin Ousmane Dembélé waltzed up to the stage. Whether the Bigger Cup winner deserved the gong ahead of second-placed Lamine Yamal is up for debate, leaving Cole Palmer (eighth) and Harry Kane (13th) craning their necks to see the winger a long way ahead of them. “What I have just experienced is exceptional, I have no words for it,” sobbed Dembélé, before finding his voice again. “I feel a bit of stress, it’s not easy to win this trophy, and to have it presented to me by Ronaldinho, a legend of football.”
Dembélé can point to his 21 league goals in 29 games, eight from 15 in Bigger Cup, plus 14 assists to go with them – but are statistics and trinkets all that matter? Should the 27th best player in the world, Declan Rice, not have been given a bump for maintaining the same haircut with care and precision over 12 months, regardless of his performance and medal tally? Perhaps put Dembélé in a yoghurt advert and then see who the real hero is.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
Total nonsense. You’ve got to remember what the game is about: winning football matches, and that means scoring goals, not recording the expectation of them. ‘Expected goals’ have only come about in the last few years. It’s a clueless development. Some people just use these words to try to sound clever” – Martin O’Neill gets his chat on with Donald McRae about all things management and Nottingham Forest under Big Vange.
Jack Grealish may have ‘never seen a player in my whole life get booked for taking a quick free-kick’ (yesterday’s Football Daily), but it has happened. In Leicester City’s 1997 Uefa Cup tie against Atlético Madrid, Garry Parker was carded for just that, and having already been booked, was sent off for his trouble. This was a tie that, in the words of Martin O’Neill, ‘we could never have won’, with five penalty decisions (one given, four not) all going the way of Madrid, on top of Parker’s bizarre exit. This was the referee’s last European game. However, given that Jack was two at the time, I’ll forgive him for not paying attention” – Glynn Marshall.
Thank you, thank you! As a former referee at a much, much, much lower level, I was very happy to see you clearly explain why the yellow card was issued for the quick free-kick. The ref told Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall previously not to do it, and he did it, hence the card. You can question why the defence has any right to get settled and slow down the restart since they’re the ones who committed a foul in the first place, but once the ref tells you not to do something, and you do it, look for a deserved card” – Rick McGahey.
If you have any, please send letters to [email protected]. Today’s winner of our letter o’ the day is … Glynn Marshall, who wins some Football Weekly merch. Terms and conditions for our competitions are here.
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