European Football Thread

[lanky316]

It's Epithany so a big bank holiday run of games today.

[DFF]

Serie A certainly had an epiphany when they realised they could have so many televised games in a day, haha. 

[Lineker]

15 minutes ago, DFF said:

Just looked up the fixtures - pretty mad that they have a full day of games. Is there anything particularly special about today? Is it a National Holiday? Can't see any other reason you'd have an Inter Milan game on at 1130 on a Thursday...

Inter game fell by the wayside in fairness, AFAIK, due to Covid.

[Cymbols]

Not working today, so this is welcome news.

[Cymbols]

Tell you what, Italian VAR is making the Premier League’s version look competent and efficient.

[Hobo]

4 hours ago, DFF said:

Just looked up the fixtures - pretty mad that they have a full day of games. Is there anything particularly special about today? Is it a National Holiday? Can't see any other reason you'd have an Inter Milan game on at 1130 on a Thursday...

The Epiphany.  It's the last day of Christmas for some Christians. It marks when the wise-men visited Jesus and also his baptism.

Traditionally, in Ireland, it's "Little Christmas" or "Women's Christmas" where women get a day off from housework.  Also it's the day for taking down the Christmas decorations.

[gunnar hendershow]

Yeah today was always the day I was told Catholics took down the Christmas decorations.

I don't know if it's an all Catholics thing, an Irish Catholic thing, or an Italian Catholic thing. Just what my grandparents always said we did.

[Malenko]

It's also the most important Christian holiday in Spain. More than Christmas itself it seems.

[Lineker]

I took off my EWB Christmas name today - does that count?

[stokeriño]

But the important question, is it blasphemous for me to put a Christmas jumper on today?

[Adam]

Our tree is still up today, albeit out of laziness.

[Lineker]

Quote

Much of Internazionale’s pre-match ritual was the same before their game against Bologna on Thursday, but there was just one very important thing missing – their opponents, as the Serie A fixture descended into farce.

Rising Covid-19 cases in the Bologna squad meant the local health authority (ASL) placed the team into quarantine for seven to 10 days from Wednesday, meaning they could not take part in their scheduled home clash, which was meant to kick off at 11.30am GMT on Thursday. Yet with Serie A refusing to cancel matches, Inter were forced to turn up and train before the game, as normal, with officials even tasked with inspecting the pitch, despite there being no sign of any Bologna players.

The Inter director Beppe Marotta was in attendance in Bologna, and said the system is not working. “The situation is chaotic,” he told Sky Sport Italia. “Games have been postponed by local health authorities who decided independently.

“Bologna were ready to play and they suffered the situation from ASL which have taken this decision to protect everyone’s health, but clarity is missing. I would limit the ASL’s power otherwise, we’ll always face similar situations in the future. It is something that the Minister of Health must cope with along with our institutions. I hope the vaccine will become mandatory to lower the risks and similar situations in the future.”

The Serie A protocol in place awards a 3-0 victory to the team who shows up for the match – in this case Inter – and the club who does not attend is deducted one point. However, amid similar scenes during last season’s fixture between Juventus and Napoli, Juve were initially awarded a 3-0 win, but Napoli successfully appealed against the decision to the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) Guarantee Board and the match was played on a different date.

More of the same is expected to unfold later on Thursday. Bottom side Salernitana, who have nine players that tested positive, are due face Venezia, but their local health authority forced the squad into a five-day quarantine. Udinese and Torino have also been placed in isolation and blocked from travelling to Fiorentina and Atalanta, respectively.

 

[gunnar hendershow]

Alphonso Davies is dealing with a probable case of long COVID. ☹️

 

[Moses Julep]

Absolutely love Phonzie, how he makes it out okay. 

[Lineker]

 

[Malenko]

This seems to pop up every year on Twitter. This happened 10 years ago?

[Lineker]

I'm fake news  

[Benjamin]

This Barcelona / Atleti game has been absolute madness.

Dani Alves has scored his first goal back and gotten his first red card back inside 70 minutes. Best game of the weekend so far, and there have been a ton of them. 

[gunnar hendershow]

Dani Alves also had an assist today.

Starts a "you still got it" chant.

[Benjamin]

18 minutes ago, damshow said:

Dani Alves also had an assist today.

Starts a "you still got it" chant.

Also scoring in this game, Jordi Alba and Luis Suarez because apparently it’s still 2014 in Spain?