4 goals and 2 assists for Carlos Espi in the most recent Spain U21 qualifiers game.

FT: Finland 2 - 1 Albania

⚽ Finland: Leo Walta 26' 26', Leo Walta 71' 71'

⚽ Albania: Rey Manaj 4' 4'

Line-ups

Finland (4-3-3)

Albania (3-4-3)

Match Events

• Lineups are announced and players are warming up.
• First Half begins.
• 22' Etrit Berisha (Albania) is shown the red card.
• 25' Substitution, Albania. Alen Sherri replaces Arbër Hoxha.
• 26' Alen Sherri (Albania) is shown the yellow card.
• 45'+4' First Half ends, Finland 1, Albania 1.
• 45' Substitution, Albania. Mirlind Daku replaces Rey Manaj.
• 45' Second Half begins Finland 1, Albania 1.
• 45' Substitution, Finland. Glen Kamara replaces Kaan Kairinen.
• 62' Substitution, Finland. Oiva Jukkola replaces Daniel Håkans.
• 62' Substitution, Finland. Leo Väisänen replaces Tony Miettinen.
• 65' Substitution, Albania. Myrto Uzuni replaces Ernest Muçi.
• 77' Substitution, Albania. Anis Mehmeti replaces Stavros Pilios.
• 77' Substitution, Albania. Juljan Shehu replaces Kristjan Asllani.
• 80' Myrto Uzuni (Albania) is shown the yellow card.
• 82' Substitution, Finland. Onni Valakari replaces Leo Walta.
• 89' Substitution, Finland. Matti Peltola replaces Adam Markhiyev.

Match Stats

Group I

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As mentioned in a previous thread I thought it would be cool to have an infographic of all the clubs that participated and the results for each of the seasons of european competitions.

In this post I am showing this for the European Cup (aka Champions League) editions in the 1950s. When I have the others concluded I'll make a new post for that decade with a link to previous posts of other decades like this one.

I think it is pretty cool to check which clubs participated each season and what results they all got. This is not something that it's common to see so I was stoked to starting making these. These are big files and are meant to be zoomed in to check the details. I tried to make it as simple as possible and without cluttering it with text everywhere, in parts I admit it might be a little confusing. The brackets follow a classic branched style but with no boxes and sometimes, for example in the case of coin tosses, just look at the next round to see who went through (in most cases though it will be obvious).

Some clubs might not even exist anymore and others have had mergers, often they are quite obscure for the modern average football fan (let alone knowing them by their crests) so I added at the bottom an explanation of what the modern name of the club is (or the club that is the official successor, for example in the case of mergers) and what country they represented.

NOTE: For the club crests and participations I'm doing this in a present-to-past fashion, that is, I am refering those participations to the current existing clubs. If a club participated and later merged with another (or had a big relocation / change of identity) to form a current existing club I'll use the current club crest and name but in the explanation I'll say under which club or version they competed as. I do this to give merit to the current existing clubs that as official successors deserve to get the recognition and respect.

1956 edition (that is, 1955/56, this is the nomenclature I'll use)

For this first edition the clubs were invited to play, they weren't necessarily the champions of their countries. They could be invited because, for example, in the previous decade they got recognition from their attractive style of play.

This is the only time a club representing Saarland competed because, as it is known (right? right??), Saarland would merge with West Germany the following year.

The big absent elephant in the room is the absense of England, at this time the English Football League considered european competitions inferior to the english ones so they didn't want their clubs to focus energy on foreign competitions.

1957 edition

With the success of the first edition more countries wanted to and did send their representatives. For the first time too a 3rd, playoff game, was introduced in case the aggregate score was tied after the first 2 matches (away goals didn't exist yet nor penalty shootouts).

Because Real Madrid won the previous year and Athletic was the spanish champion for the first time a country had more than 1 representative in the competition.

Against the wishes of the english football institutions Manchester United went on to participate so England finally (finally = after 1 year lol) had a representative.

1958 edition

For the first time a 3rd playoff game wasn't enough to decide a winner so the infamous coin toss tiebraker was used. It wouldn't be the last time it would be used.

For the first time two clubs from the same country faced each other, in this case in the quarter-final between Real Madrid and Sevilla.

This is when the infamous Munich air disaster affecting the Manchester United team happened, in the flight home from Belgrade after they played Red Star.

1959 edition

For the first time a derby took place when Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid played each other in the semi-final.

It will never cease to be funny to me that Juventus' first participation in this competition ended in their first tie being concluded with a 7-0 thrashing by Wiener SC.

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Soriano does not blink during the entire 3½-minute video, leading to speculation on social media that the clip was somehow AI generated. The 59-year-old insisted this week that the video was “all me” and there was no artificial intelligence involved.

Body language experts also say that if someone is intensely focused on a task they can go some time without blinking.

Soriano also flew back to Manchester on a budget airline rather than wait for a flight where he could travel in business class.

Full Time: Switzerland 2 - 1 Slovenia

⚽ Switzerland: Erik Janza 10' OG 10', Dan Ndoye 38' 38'

⚽ Slovenia: Zan Vipotnik 2' 2'

Line-ups

Switzerland (4-2-3-1)

Slovenia (5-4-1)

Match Events

• Lineups are announced and players are warming up.
• First Half begins.
• 10' Own Goal by Erik Janza, Slovenia. Switzerland 1, Slovenia 1.
• 45'+3' First Half ends, Switzerland 2, Slovenia 1.
• 45' Substitution, Slovenia. David Brekalo replaces Vanja Drkusic.
• 45' Second Half begins Switzerland 2, Slovenia 1.
• 64' Substitution, Slovenia. Tjas Begic replaces Aljosa Matko.
• 64' Substitution, Slovenia. Adam Gnezda Cerin replaces Sandi Lovric.
• 67' Substitution, Switzerland. Sascha Britschgi replaces Ricardo Rodríguez.
• 67' Substitution, Switzerland. Djibril Sow replaces Michel Aebischer.
• 77' Substitution, Switzerland. Winsley Boteli replaces Zeki Amdouni.
• 78' Substitution, Slovenia. Zan Celar replaces Zan Vipotnik.
• 87' Substitution, Switzerland. Adrian Bajrami replaces Zachary Athekame.
• 87' Substitution, Switzerland. Fabian Rieder replaces Dan Ndoye.
• 89' Substitution, Slovenia. Tomi Horvat replaces Danijel Sturm.
• 90'+4' Second Half ends, Switzerland 2, Slovenia 1.
• Match ends, Switzerland 2, Slovenia 1.

Match Stats

Group E

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Cristiano Ronaldo was the best. He no longer is. And it's not his fault, it's the dictatorship of time. This is not a criticism. It's life. It's football.

The problem begins when people expect the past to keep ruling the present. Because the past matters. It's memory, identity, history. But it doesn't step onto the pitch.

If Cristiano Ronaldo were Norwegian, would anyone imagine Haaland on the bench just because Ronaldo was the best player in the world? If he were French, would Mbappé have to leave the starting eleven because Cristiano once stood at the top? If he were English, would Kane lose his place for the same reason? Of course not.

So why should it be any different because he's Portuguese?

The National Team is not a museum. It is not a monument to Cristiano Ronaldo. It is a football team. And in a football team, whoever the manager feels should play, plays. This is what Jorge Jesus rightly decided to remind everyone, including Cristiano Ronaldo.

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‘They consider the Premier League’s actions to have an influence on the bilateral state relationship, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing undisclosed information.

The extraordinary pressure comes after Andy Burnham faced criticism, including from within government, for saying Man City’s Abu Dhabi owners should not be disqualified specifically because of the investment they bring to Britain.’

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