The rules 100% need to catch up with the football here. It’s just carnage.

Augsburg third on points in the last 10 Bundesliga match days. Gotta love their innate ability to just get their shit together in the last few months of every season.

Just really sad seeing so many people vote for Reform. It’s not a protest vote. It’s a vote that will cause chaos in councils up and down the country. Standards of living will get worse. People will get even more angry. More voters will vote for populists. It’s a death spiral.

SC Freiburg make history by reaching first European Cup final @sbienkowski.bsky.social and I break it all down! gegenpressing.substack.com/p/sc-freibur...

On this week's podcast, TM Portuguese football expert Gonçalo Tristão Santos explains why the arrival of Victor Froholdt tipped the title race in Porto's favour this season 👏

A reminder for the in-person voters. IGV are on every regional ballot today. They exist solely to try to confuse people who want to vote Scottish Green. They succeeded in preventing at least two Scottish Green candidates from being elected in 2021. If you're a Green voter please don't be fooled.

Keep Britain Kind

PSG eliminate Bayern Munich: Champions League analysis @sbienkowski.bsky.social, @matt4d.bsky.social and I try to break it all down. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tymb...

Well, a relatively drab second leg. But I suspect that’s exactly what PSG wanted. Bayern had a handful of chances but it never really felt like PSG lost control of this match. Kompany’s team simply weren’t good enough. Never got to play their game. PSG deserving winners.

Look at the players Bayern have to turn to on the bench tonight. A CB that can’t wait to leave, a striker Bayern don’t deem good enough and a rushed back youth academy star. Goretzka? Guerreiro? Useless. Bayern made the decision to have a small squad this season. It’s just cost them a UCL final.

There’s just something about Luis Enrique’s PSG that just oozes control. Not always on the ball. Can go long stretches of looking like they’re doing nothing. But they never seem to panic.

Strong end to the half for Bayern. Especially with Musiala making more runs into the box. But they spent too much of that half arguing with the referee and being wide open in defence. PSG are targeting Laimer and Upamecano and it’s working. Time to see if Kompany can counter Enrique’s tactics.

I mean, Neves more or less caught that ball out of the air.

Upamecano thrives when he can go toe to toe with forwards. He loves trapping them out wide or tussling with them as they chase down through balls. But he was chasing shadows there as Kvaratskhelia left him for dust.

A single one-two from Kvaratskhelia and Bayern’s defence are in complete disarray.

On this week's market value podcast: • Serie A market value discussion • 4 players that have guided Barca to LaLiga success • The stars behind Porto's historic title win • The rise and fall of a Bundesliga star striker linktr.ee/marketvalues...

Atletico offered very little tonight. Arsenal just Arsenal’d that perfectly. Sets up an intriguing contrast to whoever they end up playing in the final. North London Catenaccio against the Paris or Bayern Globetrotters.

Viktor Gyökeres and Alexander Sørloth on the same pitch:

It should be illegal to play central defenders at full back.

There are a lot of very good young players in the Bundesliga, but very few stick out quite like Ibrahim Maza. The Algerian international is in many ways Bayer Leverkusen’s unexpected replacement for Florian Wirtz. Even if he plays nothing like him. gegenpressing.substack.com/p/ibrahim-ma...

There are a lot of very good young players in the Bundesliga, but very few stick out quite like Ibrahim Maza. The Algerian international is in many ways Bayer Leverkusen’s unexpected replacement for Florian Wirtz. Even if he plays nothing like him. gegenpressing.substack.com/p/ibrahim-ma...

What Hearts are doing (and have already achieved tbh) in the Scottish Premiership is incredible. Few stories in European football can match it this season. We’re talking a Leicester City scale of once-in-a-lifetime sporting upset here. Maybe even better to be honest.

Em, I’m pretty sure the United States had a civil war over this @economist.com…

Ibrahim Maza is such an impressive talent. He’s already such an important player for this Leverkusen side and only 20 years of age. So confident on the ball. Seems to relish the tight spaces and high presses. He’s the Florian Wirtz replacement.

I need an economist to explain to me why these three stories can coexist:

Read more: transfermarkt.co.uk/s/EZC7

Money talks, but does it win trophies? The truth behind Europe's biggest transfer spending sprees

That's an incredible save from Martinez.

Spring. Maybe even summer.

Schalke are set to return to the Bundesliga; now the hard part is staying there gegenpressing.substack.com/p/schalke-ar...

VAR doesn’t eliminate mistakes or tedious debates about refereeing calls. Which is why it’s a complete waste of time.

“He’s been rewarded for his sharpness” is a remarkable way of saying a player has dived without saying he’s dived.

In terms of top class goal scorers that look like they could also slot in as lead singer of Vampire Weekend, few can rival Julian Alvarez this season.

No goals after 25 minutes?!

Jamal Musiala struggled to make an impact against PSG last night

A wild night in Paris! PSG vs Bayern Munich Champions League reaction show @matt4d.bsky.social, @sbienkowski.bsky.social, @danwighton.bsky.social and I trying to make sense of it all. gegenpressing.substack.com/p/a-wild-nig...

Harry Kane, Luis Diaz and Michael Olise now have 100 goals for Bayern Munich this season. The next best attacking trio in Europe are Mbappé, Vinicius Jr and Valverde, who are on just 69 goals. They're truly in a league of their own right now.

Utterly obscene game

That pull and switch from PSG was perfect. Doue comes short, pulls Laimer out of position and Hakimi exploits the space. Bayern defence was completely pulled apart. Exceptional passing from Vitinha.

Let's all just take a moment to smell the roses. Two amazing, attacking teams going at it. We won't get this from Arsenal and Atletico. We won't get it in the final. We won't get it from that shit World Cup. This is as good as it's going to get until next season. Savour it. Enjoy it.

We got the best and worst of Bayern in that first half. Olise & Diaz have been exceptional in the final third. But the back line has struggled. A lot. This tie will likely come down to whether Olise or Kvaratskhelia can get by their marker the most.

The handball rule is shit. But that’s a handball by the current shit handball rule.

*coughs loudly*

Yup, Stanisic is the weak link in this team. In fact, Bayern's entire defence is their weak link.

What an incredible miss

Lovely skill from Olise and Diaz.

Alan Shearer suggests Marquinhos was "using all of his experience" to get a completely pointless yellow card...

Konrad Laimer on the bench. Interesting.

Bayern are a lot of fun in attack, but they routinely concede far too many chances to their opponents in the Champions League. Will that cost them dearly in tonight's clash with PSG? gegenpressing.substack.com/p/psg-will-b...