Interesting Lesser Side Piece Stories

Look, there is just one Prem fixture of consquence today, and it’s the Early Bird – City of Men away to Mighty Whitey (7:30, USA).  Unless Very on the Beach Fulham get a shock result (or Out of Gas Spurs midweek), the Title race is realistically over.

But other stories merit one’s attention, at least in glancing.

Continental footy at midweek was intense, insane, and wildly chaotic.  Footy at its most compelling, even if it did give us the Real Cuntfaces of Madrid in yet another final.  The path to get there…was sommet else and then some.  And don’t count Dortmund out in a one-off final.  They are confident and peaking.

Speaking of…the bollocks on Still-Somehow-Uber-Invincible Bayer Treyverkeusen – in the hope leg of their semifinal with Roma, they went down to two fair-but-soft pennos.  This made it 2-2 on aggregate, so nervy on multiple levels.  As you’ve all likely heard by now, they hadn’t lost a single game all season, in ANY of their three competitions (Bundesliga, Zooropa, Pokal – German Cup).

Out of nowhere, a bizarre OG put them within sight of the final.  They clinched the Bundesliga weeks ago, and play a 2nd division opponent in the domestic cup final.  A decent enough Atalanta side would stand in their way, but that’s not exactly a daunting obstacle.  This happened with maybe 7 minutes of Normal Time to see out.

Yet they went balls to the wall, risking a major European final in order to keep their match record unblemsihed.  And they equalized with basically the final kick of stppage time.

These cheeky fucks are away to minnows Bochum on Sunday (1:30 EST, ESPN+) and worth a look.  FWIW, they would remain unblemsihed/Full Invincible if they lost either cup final on penaties – because that technically would be a Drawn result.  But it would end the Treyverkeusen moniker.  Would you really bet against them, at this point?

Meanwhile, the EFL smartly is marketing its Championship playoffs properly, with leg 1 of both semifinals this Sunday, kicking off in rapid succession before the lone Prem fixture (Men Untied/Gooners, 11:30 on Peacock).  It will be a stream-only day, with #6 Norwich hosting #3 with DOOM hanging over them like Sword of Damacles Leeds (7:00, ESPN+) and #5 West Brom hosting 4 seed Sham Town (9:15, ESPN+).

Leeds clear have the best side, but the least momentum and belief.  Norwich have to feel a bit like playing with house money, and will look to press their advantage early and often.  If Leeds do show well against the Canaries, then they will switch into their borrowed/stolen WBA shirts – because Sham Town are 100% their bogey side.  They absolutely cause Leeds to shit their pants.  Perhaps the leading reason why Leeds set a points record for non-auto promotion teams, while sweeping #1 Leicester and #2 Ipswich – both home and away.  Their support would and do say – Leeds, That.

Very much worth watching.  Enjoy the fun while it lasts!