Football Atlas

Barcelona fans are acting like Atlético Madrid needs Barça’s permission to decide where they sell Julián Álvarez. That’s the genuinely hilarious part. Atlético owns the player. Atlético sets the price. Atlético chooses the buyer. Álvarez wanting Barcelona doesn’t suddenly give Barça some divine right to sign him. If Atlético says no, it’s no. Cope.

Maxence Lacroix's injury couldn't have come at a worse time. Xabi Alonso is still experimenting and trying to fix a backline that's been leaking goals since the season started. Now he has another problem to deal with. It'll be interesting to see whether Fofana or whoever steps into that position can actually do a better job.

Carrick clearly doesn't trust Cunha enough to start him. The man hasn't been in a United starting XI for a while now. What's going on there?

Dani Olmo might be better built for the Premier League, but there's no way Barcelona would rather lose Fermin López to Manchester United. Fermin is just hitting his peak, and Deco would happily cash in on Olmo before letting him go.

He'll be a top defender at Barcelona.

Cristiano Ronaldo at 42 scored another perfect hattrick. He's aging like fine wine and doesn't want to slow down at this rate.

BOOED BY ENGLAND. TRAINED BY BAYERN. BROKEN BY HIS OWN KNEES: THE OWEN HARGREAVES STORY He was booed by England fans at the 2006 World Cup. By the end of it, they’d voted him their Player of the Year. Born in Calgary. Trained in Munich. The only man in history to play for England without ever living there. Then Sir Alex Ferguson signed him; he won the Champions League in Moscow, and he never played properly again. He was the youngest of three boys, with an English father, Colin, and a Welsh mother, Margaret. He grew up fighting his two older brothers for the ball. He started at Calgary Foothills at 13. A German coach in Canada then passed his name to a friend who coached Bayern’s youth teams, and Hargreaves arrived for a trial in October 1996, overawed. He moved to Munich on 1 July 1997, aged 16. Munich was lonely. “Life was pretty hard and lonely, but I had Beckham on my wall.” His idol hung over a teenager’s bed in a foreign country. He scored 6 goals in 26 games for Bayern II. In the first-team training sessions, he was learning from Oliver Kahn, Lothar Matthäus and Stefan Effenberg, whom he called “a proper leader.” If you like threads like this, hit the follow button to get more threads from us. April 2001. Effenberg was suspended, and Jens Jeremies needed knee surgery. Hitzfeld threw 20-year-old Hargreaves into the XI at Frankfurt. He shut down Horst Heldt, and the team saw him differently from that day. Hitzfeld’s verdict: “I threw him in at the deep end, and he swam around freely.” Then came Real Madrid and Figo. Five or ten minutes in, Hargreaves snatched the ball off him and sprinted past. He said he knew then he could hold his own. 23 May 2001, Milan. A Champions League final against Valencia that ended 1-1 and went to penalties. Hargreaves started in midfield and marked Pablo Aimar, who was taken off at half-time. In the shootout, he asked Effenberg if he could take a penalty. The reply: “Get out of the way!” Bayern won on penalties, and Kahn saved three. Hargreaves was 20, in his first season as a regular. Most people don’t see the damage until it’s too late. The same goes for money in December. Every year, December starts with “I’ll be careful with my spending this time.” Then come the gifts, food, travel, family plans… and suddenly January feels VERY long. That’s why I put together the Holiday Budget Reset to help you plan before the spending starts. Link in Bio 🎄 Clubs wanted him. In 2002, he was linked with Arsenal and Liverpool, and Hitzfeld admitted Bayern couldn’t stop him leaving if he really wanted to. Hargreaves stayed. His first Bundesliga goal didn’t come until his 93rd game, against Gladbach in January 2003, once Hitzfeld had moved him to right wing-back, where he said he could be “much braver in moving forwards.” In October 2005, he signed a new four-year deal and scored the first competitive goal at the Allianz Arena. Meanwhile, with England, Howard Wilkinson made a last-minute swoop to get him into the Under-21s, and Sven-Göran Eriksson called him up against the Netherlands. He’s the only player ever to appear for England without having lived there. At the 2006 World Cup, he came on for the last seven minutes against Paraguay and was booed. Then he started England’s last three games. Against Portugal, he played 120 minutes, was man of the match, and scored his penalty when Lampard, Gerrard, and Carragher missed. The summer of 2006 turned the whole story. Bayern fans were angry after an interview in which he said he felt more at home in England, then he broke his leg and missed most of 2006-07. Ferguson wrote that he was “phenomenal” at the World Cup and just the type of player Manchester United needed to replace Keane. Hargreaves has said he was “only ever leaving Bayern Munich for Man United.” Bayern reportedly got €25m, the biggest sale in their history. His first season at Man United was a dream. 34 games, 2 goals, the Premier League and the Champions League. A free-kick winner against Arsenal put United six points clear. In Moscow on 21 May 2008, he played all 120 minutes against Chelsea and scored his penalty past Petr Cech. United won 6-5. “My whole career was basically decided on penalty shootouts,” he joked later. He called Paul Scholes “the best passer I ever played with.” It was the last great night. “After that game against Chelsea, I was never the same.” By 90 minutes' count, he played only nine more competitive games for United. Tendinitis in both knees required surgery and repeated setbacks. In November 2010, Ferguson wrote that Hargreaves alleged United picked him against Wolves when he’d asked not to be selected. Ferguson maintained that the club did everything it could for him. Ferguson’s 2013 autobiography is brutal. He wrote that he “didn’t feel a strong vibe” about him, called him “one of the most disappointing” signings, and described Hargreaves as “Almost too nice.” Hargreaves said he was surprised but never hit back. His reply: “I was able to play a big part in winning the Champions League.” Manchester City gave him a last chance in 2011. Four games, one in the Premier League. In May 2012, City announced they wouldn’t renew his contract. He never played again. It’s remarkable how complete his career was in other ways. He was never sent off in his entire professional career. He retired at 31, though These Football Times argues the career effectively ended by 28. So what kind of player was he? Neat in possession, tireless without the ball, and at his best breaking up play and driving forward. “I grew up learning to play the German way,” he said. Hitzfeld used him as a holding midfielder in 2001 and later as a right wing-back. Ferguson said he could play right-back, wide right or central midfield. He took set pieces too, and his free kicks won United games. The numbers, in one place. Bayern: 218 games, 10 goals in all competitions, 145 Bundesliga games and 5 goals. United: 27 Premier League games, 2 goals. City: 1 league game. England: 42 caps, 0 goals. Champions League: 50 games, 0 goals, 5 assists. Honours: 4 Bundesliga titles, 3 DFB-Pokals, the 2000 League Cup, the 2001 and 2008 Champions Leagues, the 2001 Intercontinental Cup and the 2007-08 Premier League. England’s Player of the Year, 2006. Today he’s a TV pundit and analyst, and Bayern still asks him about 2001. So here’s the real question: was Owen Hargreaves cursed, or did United rush a player with a history of knee trouble? And what if he’d stayed at Bayern? Hargreaves’ problem was an injury nobody could plan for. Your December spending is one you can plan for. That’s why I put together the Holiday Budget Reset to help you plan before the spending begins. Link in Bio 🎄