Sports Burst – The Show Must Go On
Dortmund face testing time, Ancelotti’s revenge, Hangover 2 for Barça.
By Tim Stannard
1) Dortmund face Monaco clash day after bus bombs
Incredible as it sounds and as troubling for many of the players involved, Borussia Dortmund’s Champions League clash with Monaco is going ahead just 24 hours after the home team’s bus was apparently the target of three bombs – bombs that detonated, smashing windows and causing rapid surgery for Dortmund defender, Marc Bartra, who apparently took the brunt of the blast and suffered a fractured wrist.
Police are still investigating the case, although at time of writing German prosecutors had announced that a suspect had been arrested.
Despite what must have been a terrifying experience for the Dortmund squad, the match was rescheduled and set to kick off today at 12:45ET / 9:45AM PT. The players were in training in the morning in Germany with the club’s chief executive, Hans-Joachim Watzke, saying that "we want to show that terror and hatred can never dictate our actions,".
2) Real Madrid face familiar faces against Bayern
Unsurprisingly, already tight security has been strengthened further at the remaining two Champions League fixtures for Wednesday.
The stand-out tie is Real Madrid’s trip to Germany to take on Bayern Munich, a side littered with familiar faces for Madridistas such as Xabi Alonso, Carlo Ancelotti and Arjen Robben. A certain Italian manager in that bunch might well be looking for a bit of revenge having been dumped by Florentino Perez despite winning the Champions League for the Spanish club.
The tie very much sees the predictable relentlessness of a Bayern side very much in its end of season groove against a Teflon Real Madrid outfit that always seems to get the result the side needs without ever reaching the realm of spectacular.
3) Simeone faces a fancied forward in Vicente Calderon
The ugly duckling of the round features a stubborn, gritty counter-attacking Atletico Madrid hosting a stubborn gritty counter-attacking Leicester City. It’s a game that could see two sets of players staring each other down for 90 minutes or actually be fairly entertaining in a blood and thunder manner.
Either way, Diego Simeone whilst also admiring Jamie Vardy defended the way of playing for both teams - "football is wonderful; no one is right. There's no absolute truth about how to play; there are different styles,” said the Atletico Madrid boss.
Catch all the goals and action on the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT followed by the Locker Room for the best analysis.
4) Barcelona’s double hangover
Indeed, one of the big topics of conversation is set to be the continuing downwards spiral of Barcelona and the wound-licking that took place in the Catalan capital on Wednesday morning after a 3-0 thumping by Juventus.
Unlike the PSG debacle in Paris, there is little talk of another comeback at the Camp Nou with the local papers in somber mood, especially after the weekend’s defeat against Malaga in La Liga.
“Very sad, very serious” said ‘Mundo Deportivo’ on the front cover, quoting Barca boss, Luis Enrique. ‘Crucified’ sighed ‘Sport’. Join the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT for all the reaction from Barcelona from our Jamie Easton as Barcelona’s Humpty gets put back together again.
5) Sevilla fire warning shot at Argentina over Sampaoli
As Argentina continues its search for a new coach after the firing of Edgardo Bauza, the name of Sevilla boss Jorge Sampaoli keeps on coming up. And that has unsurprisingly made the La Liga outfit very grumpy indeed, considering he is under contract there till 2018.
WHAT IS SPORTS BURST?
The life philosophy of Sports Burst is that if you are not upsetting someone, then you are not trying hard enough. SB is a daily trawl and troll through the morning's sports news to bring you fact-nuggets to make you both smile and swear. Hopefully at the same time.