The 2021/2022 league season is coming to a close this weekend.
It’s also one of the most ridiculous, season-long soups we’ve seen in years and days.
Here are Makoto Asahara’s three thoughts from the final football weekend of the season.
Putting a price on his childhood dream
A contract worth at least a few billion kroner. And the power over the sporting director, coach and recruitment of players that no big club with a good player self-image can provide.
The sum of financial independence and the agreed-upon fertile ground of megalomania were clearly worth more than a childhood dream.
because yes, Kylian Mbappe He may have completely given up on seeing his big childhood when he opted to turn down Real Madrid’s verbal deal and sign for another three years at Paris Saint-Germain.
Early in 2017, when a super talented teen was on the radar of all the top clubs after success at Monaco, Real Madrid were the favorites to sign him.
After all, Real Madrid has always been the club that Kylian Mbappe dreamed of playing for. The club’s players and colors covered the walls of his children’s room.
When it happened, an 18-year-old super talent felt the move was too big and too early. After all, he did not want to leave his beloved France without leaving a lasting imprint.
But even if he signed with Paris Saint-Germain at the time, the dream of Real Madrid still remains. Madrid was patient. Patience extended to a contract with Paris Saint-Germain for five years.
Because they have a word and a dream that goes on. They “knew” that Kylian Mbappe was ready and willing to make the move, and therefore chose not to partner with Erling Braut Haaland. They “knew” that the dream was mutual.
They thought they knew it was over. No matter how many French princes and presidents took the initiative in the opposite.
If Mbappe had decided with a letter at an early stage, without verbally agreeing with Real Madrid and using this agreement as a tool on the way to greater influence on PSG and a fatter wallet, Real Madrid would certainly have been around and fell back again in 2025.
but now?
Now I find it difficult to watch Real Madrid forget how Mbappe made fun of them before this transfer summer begins in earnest.
Time may heal wounds. He might only be 26 at the end of the following decade. He might be one of the best soccer players in the world.
But here and now I see nothing but that Kylian Mbappe burned the bridge to the Santiago Bernabeu forever.
Or at least as long as Florentino Perez is president.
The last Liverpool player wanted to get injured
But from Real Madrid’s point of view, the upcoming Champions League final against Liverpool is the only thing that sees the eye here and now, for obvious reasons.
The accusation could have been better for Liverpool.
A 3-1 win over Wolverhampton wasn’t enough all the way Premier LeagueThe title (due to Manchester City’s miraculous signing of five memorable minutes against Aston Villa) could be one thing.
But it was something that was still predictable, if you focus on the outcome rather than the nerve-wracking method there.
Perhaps what worries Liverpool most is the bleak face of Thiago Alcantara on the bench after he had to break in the break.
With Fabinho on the injury list before, and Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah on the injury list since then, the talented Spanish midfielder was perhaps the last player Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool wanted to include on the injury list.
After all, Thiago was fantastic throughout his second season at the club. After all, he was finally able to show why the club chose to pick him up in the summer of 2020. For that extra dimension he was going to offer? He gave her a message this year.
Was he one of the best midfielders in the world this season? He was done.
The fact that Liverpool’s ship now has to go to sea against Real Madrid’s experienced Bermuda midfield triangle without anchor (Fabiño) or rudder (Tiago) is a very big minus sign. And with all due respect to the fact that helmsman Jordan Henderson will be working extensively with Naby Keita and (probably) veteran James Milner.
They are still the up front in terms of team quality and format. But Thiago was the last player they wanted to do without.
Stefano Pioli – You disproved me with the letter
I was one of the most confused about the coaching choice Milan took in the fall of 2019 when Marco Giampaolo’s trial failed. Stefano Pioli? Why in the world Stefano Pioli?
A coach who never won anything as a coach but mostly jumped between different local coaching assignments without achieving anything nobler than the average milk somewhere.
I wasn’t even convinced when Milan started to decide victories. After all, Pioli had a resume made up of high peaks always followed by deep valleys.
When Ralph Rangnick seemed a fully qualified candidate ready to take charge, I was one of the first to believe Milan was taking a step in an exciting and daring direction. Then they chose to keep Pioli anyway. After all, the deep valleys still shone with their absence.
Now they have won the Scodeton. After getting second place last year.
With a team that, on paper, should be weaker than both Inter and Juventus. With a core of promising hungry young players, hired on a tight budget. With the team that lost its star goalkeeper (Gianluigi Donnarumma) and the center of offensive creativity (Hakan Calhanoglu) before the season, and for free too.
With team leader and team father Zlatan Ibrahimovic mostly on the injury list. Just like captain Alessio Romagnoli.
But the players moved forward. The victories were saved. The crucial final match against Sassuolo was never exciting but just one long title party.
It is an achievement that Milan cannot match. By Stefano Pioli, who was in charge of one of the biggest coaching companies we saw in Serie A in the 2000s.
A young 56-year-old, who took up the perfect space and space from the first moment in Milan. Who matches his team in a perfect way. Who, along with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, succeeded in instilling a winning culture into a team that had lacked that culture during more than a decade of the Scudetto drought.
Stefano Pioli, you really disproved me with the letter.
