This week’s roundup also features Miedema magic, the 1991 Rugby World Cup and AB De Villiers’s music
1) The final of the Copa Libertadores was exactly the quiet night in at the library that we thought it would be. First in the fifth minute of extra-time, poor old Andreas Pereira – on loan to Flamengo from Manchester United – dropped a rick for the ages, fed by David Luiz and dallying on the ball, allowing Deyverson to rob him and score what turned out to be the winner for Palmeiras. To restore the cosmic balance of things, here’s a brilliant goal Pereira scored last month. Anyway, as the clock ran down, Deyverson felt a hand on his back…
2)Arsenal visit Manchester United on Thursday in a fixture that used to be the most important in English football. Here are the key moments from the game in September 2003, a gentle little 0-0 draw, and here are its key flashpoints: Patrick Vieira’s red card, Ruud van Nistelrooy’s missed penalty and Martin Keown’s subsequent joy. And here are highlights of the next Old Trafford game between the sides, in October 2004 – featuring some tasty little challenges – in which Arsenal hoped to make it 50 league games unbeaten and did not; here’s Sky’s Fanzone commentary of the game (how did that not end in violence?); here’s the full-time rejoicing; here’s Cesc Fábregas finally admitting he threw the pizza, here he is giving a more detailed account, here’s Gary Neville talking about Pizzagate and the general animosity between the teams, and finally Rio Ferdinand’s post-match interview.