Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Football is full of Sliding Doors moments. What if Paul Gascoigne had stretched two inches further and got his toe to that cross in the Euro 96 semi-final? What if Jan Verheyen’s late winner for Belgium that would have meant the Netherlands failing to qualify for the 1974 World Cup had not been wrongly ruled out for offside? What if one of the 73 penalties Chelsea believe they were owed against Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League semi-final had been given and converted?
Dynasties, as Pep Guardiola knows, can hinge on the tiniest details. What if Shkodran Mustafi had not reacted to a slight nudge in the back from Sergio Agüero with all the resolve of a flighty Victorian maiden glimpsing a mouse, throwing out his arms in horror and desperately hoping somebody, anybody – a trusted servant, a passing dragoon, Craig Pawson – might help? What if he had actually done a basic bit of defending and grappled back? What if he had not got on the wrong side in the first place? What if he had chased and put pressure on Agüero so he couldn’t measure a far from easy finish over David Ospina?
Continue reading...from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2BQH0yy
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