ON THE BREAK
The Fiver has been to Portugal only once, a trip that was most memorable for some lost luggage (bad), some lost keys (bad), and the moment an overly generous but malfunctioning vending machine at the Estádio da Luz erroneously delivered two Kit Kats instead of one at half-time during a Big Cup dead rubber between Benfica and Schalke (good).
Whether Cristiano Ronaldo experienced such dizzying highs, terrifying lows and chocolate-covered wafery middles during his recent trip to his homeland remains to be seen but Ralf Rangnick was today asked about it all again and refused to clarify whether he and Manchester United were aware of the jaunt. “No, because it doesn’t make sense to look back on what was happening in the last six or seven days,” he said, clicking unsubscribe on his weekly copy of The Recap. “For me, it’s important what is happening today and tomorrow. For me, it doesn’t make sense at all to go through all this again. What’s important is that he and [fast] Edi [Cavani] are both back in training and they’re both available for tomorrow.”
Having missed the derby demolition last weekend Ronaldo is available for the visit of Tottenham, a clash that could have a significant bearing on the Big Cup spots but, let’s be honest, is rather more likely to end up playing into the Big Vase race.
Elsewhere, the only Saturday 3pm kick-off in the English top flight is in west London where Brentford welcome Burnley. “We have the mentality that we can go anywhere and nick a result!” roared Burnley defender Leonidas Nathan Collins. And the weekend Premier League action kicks off on the south coast where Brighton take on a Liverpool side still stinging from their meaningless defeat to Inter in midweek. “Always in life reaction is important,” growled Jürgen Klopp. “We have to show reaction and I am pretty sure we will.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“If we can look back in five or 10 years’ time, when I’m not playing, and can say we maybe had an impact on ordinary people’s lives to go and study law or travel? I’d take that any day over winning trophies” – Arsenal’s Kim Little on the role the club are playing in helping Syrian refugees in Jordan and football’s place in society.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Max Rushden and the pod squad try to answer the question: what now for Chelsea?
FIVER LETTERS
“Some readers have recently had the Fiver cut short. I have the opposite problem. When I open the Fiver, I get 60 pages of incomprehensible gibberish, followed by five pages of, err …” – Ian McAtominey.
“While keeper Bono played his part in Sevilla’s defeat of West Ham, I would expect the Hammers to have The Edge in the return leg” – Keith Buchanan.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. And you can always tweet The Fiver via @guardian_sport. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is …Rollover.
NEWS, BITS AND BOBS
In the latest Chelsea news that might have changed by the time you read this, Nick Candy and Boehly-Wyss are seen as serious buyers by the UK government, Tommy T would be well up for a “message of peace” replacing the shirt sponsor, Chelsea fans have been urged to stop chanting for the Sanctioned One and Chelsea Women are worried.
Jürgen Klopp has urged his title-chasing Liverpool players to channel their inner John Steinbecks and “write a special story”. “If you want to look back later in life on very successful times, you should give absolutely everything now,” he roared.
We think Mr Roy is wondering what he’s got himself into by taking on one last job at Watford. “When you’ve lost the game 4-0 [against Wolves], I don’t know what positives to take really,” he sniffed. “And I think you’ve got to be careful that you don’t paper over cracks and try desperately to find positives where perhaps there aren’t that many.”
France Football has announced that the Ballon d’Or gong will now be awarded on performances in a single season instead of a calendar year in case you’re bothered.
Derby’s administrators have said, for the 1,057th time this season, that they are still working with potential buyers, a day after USA! USA!! USA!!!-based businessman Adam Binnie had his latest, £30m bid rejected as insufficient. “It is our duty to secure an appropriate valuation for Derby County,” sighed a statement from administrator Quantuma.
Newcastle? Almost certainly staying up.
And in other matches on a frenetic night of football, read about wins for Sevilla, Aston Villa, Chelsea’s men and women, the Pope’s Newc O’Rangers and Leicester.
STILL WANT MORE?
David Conn on how football ignored the truth about Roman Abramovich’s wealth even though it was hiding in plain sight, while Sophie Downey was in Dagenham to watch Chelsea’s women beat West Ham and take in the mood among fans of Emma Hayes’s side. And here’s Marina Hyde on the surprising news that Abramovich was on Team Putin all along.
Marcus Rashford’s Old Trafford future is in doubt as his form stutters, writes Jamie Jackson.
Ten of the choicest things to look out for in the Premier League this weekend.
With Man Utd and Spurs facing off on telly again on Saturday, Steven Pye recalls the BBC’s first ever live broadcast of a league match, when the sides met in 1983, and it didn’t even manage to push Hi-de-Hi or Terry and June out of the ratings.
And if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO!
