That pass from Aleix, if it was Kroos it’d be all over Twitter. Amazing.

One of my favorite channels covering a football related topic, neat

When you’re a club like Betis, it baffles me that decision-making could be so short-sighted that you end up going after a 35 year old free agent.

Sell Luiz Felipe after the season starts and then what? Go against the advice of the coach on top of that. Baffling to me.

Madrid’s (crazy) '86 UEFA Cup run, their second UEFA Cup and their second in a row. In some ways it mirrors their CL win last year with close calls and comebacks.

In the 85-86 season, Madrid won La Liga and the UEFA Cup.

• In the first round, Madrid lost the first-leg to AEK Athens 1-0 but won the second leg 5-0.

• In the second round, they defeated FC Chornomorets Odesa 2-1 across both legs. At the time they were a Soviet Union club that ended up relegated that same season.

• Madrid suffered a 5-1 defeat in the third round (round of 16) at the Rheinstadion with Madrid’s sole goal coming from Gordillo (to make it 4-1 at the time). Borrusia Monchengladbach had finished the 85-86 Bundesliga in fourth place with 42 points, seven points off of Bayern in first.

• In the second leg, Madrid bested them at the Bernabeu 4-0! Crucially, Santillana scored a brace including an 88" ‘winner’ which tied the game and meant Madrid went through due to away goals. You can see the second leg highlights here

• In the fourth round (quarters) they won 3-2 on aggregate to Neuchâtel Xamax FCS, a Swiss club, with Madrid scoring their three goals in the first leg, but conceding two in the second. Neuchâtel Xamax FCS were runners-up in that season’s Swiss League.

• In the semi-finals, Madrid met Inter Milan. Yet another comeback was needed, this time from a 3-1 first-leg defeat at the San Siro with Valdano scoring the sole away goal. Madrid managed to overcome Inter 5-1 after extra time after they scored thrice in regular time, with Inter scoring once through Brady. With the score at 4-4, Madrid scored twice in extra time, both goals through Santillana. Inter finished sixth in that year’s Serie A.

• Not even the final was that comfortable, despite Madrid winning the first leg a whopping 5-1. Köln, who finished 13th (!) in that season’s Bundesliga reached the final defeating Sporting Gijon, Bohemians Praha, Hammarby, Sporting, and K.S.V Waregem.

Köln managed to win the second leg 2-0 but were defeated 5-3 on aggregate, thus making Madrid the winners.

I thought Fali scored there

That’s 22-23 Europa League Player of the Season Jesus Navas for you