silverguide.site –

AND NOW YOU’RE GUNNER BELIEVE US?

While the match itself may not have been up to much, the spectacle and occasion of Arsenal’s win over Atlético Madrid on Tuesday night made it a unique and memorable evening in the club’s history. Pre-match smoke and pyro provided the soundtrack to the raucous welcome their players received as they arrived on the team coach. The rabble-rousing Over Land and Sea tifo couldn’t have looked less like its dismal, forlorn-cannon-on-a-bedsheet counterpart of yore. The unifying roar that greeted Arsenal’s gladiators as they strode out from the bowels of the colosseum they call home was off the scale. It was as if a sizeable proportion of match-going Arsenal fans had finally twigged there’s more to supporting your team than turning up five minutes before kick-off and sitting in nervous near-silence for 90 minutes. “We felt it,” cooed Bukayo Saka, in a post-match interview with the CBS Bigger Cup B@nter Show. “Since we were on the coach, I’ve never seen the Emirates like this in my whole career. It was so special. When the game started, they pushed us. It was just a beautiful moment.”

Atlético, meanwhile, reverted to their factory setting of five-at-the-back, belt-and-braces caution, hoping to catch their hosts on the break. As an attacking force they offered little or nothing. Not long after the hour mark, their four most potent threats had been withdrawn and replaced by – among others – a Norwegian targetman who could scarcely have received worse service if he’d been staying in a one-star hotel where all the staff were on strike. It made for an uncharacteristically comfortable final 25 minutes for Arsenal, whose post-match celebrations were so exuberant that chief superintendent Wayne Rooney felt compelled to make a statement on behalf of the Celebration Police. “I think the celebrations are a little bit too much,” he tut-tutted. “Celebrate when you win.”

In response, Ian Wright posted a video on social media disgraces urging fans to revel in the moment, albeit while taking the necessary steps to avoid having the collective collar felt. “Arsenal fans, let me tell you something: enjoy this,” he whooped. “The celebration police will be out in force, do not get nicked! Enjoy yourselves! Football is about moments and this is a big moment.” Wright’s was a view with which Declan Rice concurred: “I don’t think you can underestimate what we have done in this competition up to this point,” roared the midfielder of a team who are unbeaten in Bigger Cup after 14 games, have conceded only six goals and will still go into the final in Budapest as underdogs against PSG or Bayern.

“Come on man, you can’t ask me that,” laughed Saka, upon being asked which side he’d rather face by Micah “Big Meeks” Richards. “You know I’m going to have to give you a media-trained answer to that question. You know deep down who we wanna face, that’s all I’ll say.” While the general consensus appears to be that Saka and chums would rather face PSG in order to exact revenge for last season’s exit, Football Daily can’t help but feel they’d rather take on the Bayern side they’ve already comfortably beaten this season.

LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE

Join Rob Smyth from 8pm BST for sizzling-hot Bigger Cup semi-final second leg updates from Bayern Munich 5-4 PSG (agg: 9-9 aet, 10-9 pens).

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We are in the market in which entertainment is the most developed in the world. So we have to apply market rates. In the [USA USA USA] it is permitted to resell tickets as well. So if you were to sell tickets at the price which is too low, these tickets will be resold at a much higher price” – Fifa head-honcho Gianni Infantino, there, on how the market is responsible for eye-watering Geopolitics World Cup ticket prices. The market is suggesting a different story when it comes to US hotel reservations associated with the GWC, mind, which are falling short of expectations. “A range of factors have tempered early optimism … to fully realise that potential, the US and Fifa must ensure a welcoming and seamless experience for international travellers,” warned American Hotel and Lodging Association president Rosanna Maietta.

FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS

When did the law change that required all BBC 5 Live presenters to start talking about ‘Atléti’ instead of using their full name? Even John Murray’s at it. You wouldn’t have caught Peter Jones and Bryon Butler lowering themselves like that” – Jon Foulkes.

The term ‘Firewall FC’ has been used for so long now by Football Daily that I no longer know who they are. Anyone else?” – Z Snook [clue: they finished fifth in the National League – Football Daily Ed].

I recently saw a club website (well, it was Bury FC) describe ‘the final passer before a goal’ as an ‘assistant’. Can we now, forthwith, henceforth and so on describe them as ‘assistants’ and have an ‘Assistant of the Year’ award?” – George Paterson.

‘A hefty and very audible sigh’ (yesterday’s last line, full email edition). Oh, that’s an easy one. What is my wife’s reaction when I proudly tell her that one of my letters has been published in the latest Football Daily?’ – Mike Wilner.

If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … George Paterson, who gets a copy of Classic Football Shirts. It’s out now and the Guardian Bookshop is offering discounted copies here if you’re not successful. The are loads of other top reads on their website, too. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here. 

RECOMMENDED LISTENING

Join Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning and the Football Weekly pod squad as they discuss Arsenal’s big night at the Emirates. And the latest episode of Women’s Football Weekly is hot off the podcast production line, too, with Birmingham head coach Amy Merricks on the panel.

PHIL YER BOOTS

The cross-border rivalry between Wrexham and Chester is among the most fierce in football. Despite four divisions – and a Hollywood makeover – now dividing the clubs, ask die-hard fans which team they most hate and the answer will be the one 12 miles down the road in another country. So you can imagine the sense of seething frustration among Chester supporters at having watched the club they most hate win the lottery and quickly move into a richer future full of TV money, interesting funding, shiny teeth and hype. While some players (such as Paul Mullin) have been cast aside for upgrades, one constant has been manager Phil Parkinson. At the helm since 2021, the 58-year-old has led the team on a supersonic rise before narrowly missing out on the Championship playoffs last week. And despite not having much cash or any glamour, it would appear that Chester believe the key to emulating just a smidgin of their rivals’ success is by appointing … Phil Parkinson. Yep, the Seals have done just that. But alas, the Wrexham boss is not going to be a double-agent. Chester have handed the reins to 45-year-old former Altrincham manager Phil Parkinson, who says he wants to give the club “an identity that we won’t deviate from” … even if it is one crafted by a name synonymous with their bitter rivals.

NEWS, BITS AND BOBS

With the world expecting more fireworks in the second leg of Bayern v PSG, is Vincent Kompany psyched? Nope. “It’s actually a state of total calm – an inner tranquility,” he soothed, perhaps while sat in the lotus position. “I try not to let the emotions and atmosphere of the game come into play too early.”

The Iranian FA chief wants Fifa to guarantee that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is not insulted by the US if the team play at the GWC. Mehdi Taj was among a delegation which turned back from the Canadian border before Fifa Congress in Vancouver after feeling that they were disrespected by immigration officials. “We are going to the [GWC], for which we qualified, and our host is Fifa – not Mr Trump or America,” said Taj. “If they accept hosting us, then they must also accept that they must not insult our military institutions in any way.”

Football Australia is calling on the Victorian government to reverse a ban on the GWC being shown on the big screen at Fed Square because of flamin’ bad behaviour by “a small number of people at previous screenings”.

The FA and US Soccer Federation have joined forces to lobby Fifa to alter its proposed organisational model for the 2031 and 2035 Women’s World Cups so that it offers more local control over costs and the like.

Vítor Pereira reckons the chaos his Nottingham Forest players have had to deal with this season has put them in the perfect place to beat Aston Villa and reach the Bigger Vase final. “I said to them: you are a special group because you work with four different managers, different ways to think football, different methodologies,” cooed Pereira, who has been in charge for a full 15 minutes. “You faced a difficult season. Now you are in a moment we decide everything. We can finish the season in a fantastic way.”

Casemiro has thrown his weight behind Michael Carrick’s campaign to be installed as the permanent manager at Old Trafford. “He’s a guy who has already demonstrated that he has very good qualities,” trilled the Brazilian. “Since he arrived, he’s been doing an incredible job and I think that with more time, he has everything to be a great manager of Manchester United.”

And Kylian Mbappé says he remains fully committed to his recovery from hamstring-twang after being peppered with pelters for travelling to Sardinia with his girlfriend Ester Expósito last weekend. An online petition has been circulating on social media disgraces urging Madridistas to call for Mbappé to be sold. “If you believe change is necessary, do not remain silent: sign this petition and defend what you believe is best for the future of the club,” it reads. In other news, Mbappé has scored 41 goals in 41 games for Madrid this season.

STILL WANT MORE?

Arsenal’s gnawing fear of failure is starting to fall away after their Bigger Cup defeat of Atlético, reckons Jonathan Wilson.

Here’s Barney Ronay on Thierno Barry’s human touch putting a fresh twist in a league title race full of uncertainties.

What makes PSG so good? Souped-up pressing from their frightening frontline, writes Luke Entwistle.

From Boreham Wood FC’s bus to the world of Mugabe, Yeltsin, Bush, Trump and co. By David Smith.

And which teams have finished on zero points in their leagues without facing deductions? The Knowledge knows.

MEMORY LANE

25 April 2002: Ant and Dec pose for the launch of the official England song for the 2002 World Cup. “We’re on the Ball” reached No 3 on the UK singles chart and featured such lyrics as: “A nation reunited and England comes alive/Golden Balls is captain and Heskey makes it five.” Such optimism was crushed by Ronaldinho’s spinning, looping free-kick over a floundering David Seaman in the quarter-finals.

CHOO! CHOO!