In football’s most potentially divisive moment, could a utopia of sorts possibly be found? The growing shadow of a European Super League is gradually creeping across the sport, with the gap between…
Jean-François Larios: laconically stylish footballer, indomitable presence and effortlessly cool in possession of the ball. An excellent penalty taker, he was the free-moving but often deep-lying springboard of the late 1970s and early…
The notoriously predatory Emilio Butrageuño was the dominant figure within Real Madrid’s legendary Quinta del Buitre. The striker, who went by the nickname El Buitre (The Vulture) – was so lethal a marksman…
“Whites weep. Congratulate the champions.” Enthusiastically delivered words of a similar emphasis were expelled from Luís Figo’s mouth, from his vantage point on the balcony of the Palace of the Catalan Generality…
This feature is part of Duology “Ian Rush celebrates the goal, but Kenny Dalglish is the creator supreme!” It was a cold Saturday afternoon in December, the final weeks of 1982, when…
This feature is part of Duology Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson’s union in the centre of defence for the all-conquering Liverpool of the 1980s was so hypnotic that time has managed to…
The very mention of Paolo Rossi can conjure to mind just one image, and this is entirely understandable. It’s July 1982 in Barcelona at the Estadi de Sarrià. Wearing the Azzurri number…
I’m sat in Warsaw waiting for my connection home as part of a five-day odyssey by road to watch Liverpool lose in the European Cup final to Real Madrid. In fact, due…
In glorious but fleeting moments, Patrik Berger would show at Liverpool, and for the Czech Republic, why he was one of his era’s finest talents
Before Gigi Buffon there was Lorenzo. The latter’s career, inclusive of legend at Milan, was also notable for a bitter personal and professional rivalry
The date is 5 June 1985 and, in Copenhagen, Denmark have just beaten the Soviet Union 4-2 in World Cup qualifying group 6. It’s quite possibly the very plateau above cloud level…
In the summer of 1992, Fabio Capello and AC Milan found themselves within the enviable situation of trying to improve upon perfection. The previous season, domestically at least, had been word-perfect for AC Milan.…
KOBE IS A BUSY CITY. Of course, most cities are busy, but Kobe is busy in a way that seems to morph effortlessly from one version of itself to another, almost in…
MWEPU ILUNGA, with an iconic and unexpected break from the Zaire defensive wall, blasted the ball as high up the Parkstadion pitch as he possibly could. A startled Rivellino had to take…
IT SITS THERE, almost like an unexpected guest. Mount Fuji impressively intrudes on a Sunday morning flight between Nagasaki and Tokyo. The peak of the iconic mountain is so high that it…
Liverpool star Alan Kennedy was a man of phenomenal deeds who lands somewhere between unlikely legend and joyous cult hero in football history
THERE IS AN EERIE CALM TO THE CITY OF NAGASAKI, which is difficult to gauge. It is a spellbindingly friendly city, one which is rightly proud of a heritage which stretches back…
As a Liverpool supporter, there are three things I’ve never written about; a trinity of subjects that I’ve never felt there are the adequate words to do justice to. The horrors of…