Subscribe: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
A good week for two of the the so-called weaker sides in the top European leagues, while it was a bad weekend for the Ferguson managers. These stories and more feature in our football review of the week for learners of English, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which can be heard on our weekly podcast. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.
Good
A great weekend for three newly-promoted sides in three of the top European leagues. First up, Blackpool won away for the second time in the Premier League, this time at Newcastle United, to continue their impressive start to the season. Next, Cesena beat the mighty AC Milan 2-0 at home in Serie A but those results almost paled into insignificance against the extraordinary result from the Nou Camp in the game between Hércules and reigning champions Barcelona. Paraguayan star Valdes scored both goals to shock not just La Liga but the whole football world as the away side became the first team to win in Barcelona for 18 months. See the video of the goals here
Bad
Most teams when they find themselves 3-1 up with not long to go in a game usually end up winning, not so for the father and son managerial duo of Alex and Darren Ferguson this weekend. Sir Alex’s Manchester United were 3-1 up against Everton and seemingly cruising to victory when two goals in stoppage time enabled the Blues to snatch a point and leave the Manchester United manager fuming at conceding late goals again. His son Darren’s side Preston from the Championship also saw his team go 3-1 up with little time remaining but, in front of his father, remarkably his side conceded three goals to lose 4-3 to rivals Burnley. As Sir Alex once said after the 1999 Champions League final, ‘Football, bloody hell.’.
Ugly
Ugly this week is an horrific injury to Man United’s, Antonio Valencia. He will be out for the season after breaking and dislocating his ankle in a Champions League game against Rangers. The flying winger fell awkwardly after a tackle by the full back, Broadfoot. The injury was reminiscent of Eduardo’s injury just over a year ago, and Alan Smith’s before that. Let’s hope Valencia can make a recovery like Eduardo’s and that when he returns to the pitch his form hasn’t suffered.
Vocabulary
impressive start: The team has done well so far in the league
paled into insignificance against: Almost means nothing when compared with something else (An exaggerated comparison)
extraordinary : Unbelievably good, sensational
reigning champions: The current holders of the league title, the team that won the league the previous year
duo: Two people
3-1 up: The team were winning 3-1
cruising to victory: There appeared to be no trouble at all, an easy victory seemed to be about to happen
in stoppage time : The time added on to a match for injuries, substitutions and so on
to snatch a point: To grab a draw, an unlikely equaliser, Everton scored to make it 3-3 when all had seemed lost earlier
fuming: To be very angry indeed
remarkably : Amazingly, unbelievablye
horrific: terrible, awful, very serious
be reminiscent of: remind (us) of something, resemble something
