Brian Kidd leaves Man City after 12 years on coaching staff

Manchester City have confirmed the departure of legendary coach Brian Kidd after 12 years at the Etihad.

The 72-year-old joined City initially as a youth coach in 2009 and served as assistant manager to Roberto Mancini when they won their first Premier League title in 2012.

He has retained a senior coaching role under Manuel Pellegrini and Pep Guardiola and has been credited with having a huge influence in their recent success.

Kidd told the City website of his departure: “I can only thank Pep, Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini for their leadership during a period of huge change and challenges for everyone involved here. I hope to have offered them enough help and support along the way to have made a difference and played a small role in the different teams’ successes.

“Having also played for Manchester City, it was very special to return and throughout the last 12 years I have felt the warmth of the leadership, the staff and of the fans throughout. I am incredibly grateful to all of them.

“I would also like to say what an honour it has been to witness the evolution of the club under the stewardship of Sheikh Mansour and leadership of Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

“I am a Manchester man, and the work that has been done to improve the City of Manchester and the local community is fantastic. I wish only the best for Manchester City moving forwards.”

Guardiola added his own touching tribute to Kidd, describing him as an English football ‘legend’. In addition to coaching at City, Kidd has worked for seven different clubs – including Manchester United, who he won multiple Premier League titles at alongside Sir Alex Ferguson – in his 37-year career, and was even assistant manager of England under Sven-Goran Eriksson.

“Brian Kidd is a legend in this country,” Guardiola said. “Not only for what he has done here at Manchester City, but at other clubs throughout his incredible career.

“He has been so important to me during my time at the club, and I am sure to Roberto and Manuel also. He has so much respect in our dressing room, from myself, my coaches and most importantly the players.

“His experience has helped us to achieve something very special during his time here and I speak for everyone at Manchester City when I thank him for everything he has done.”

The story of France’s Golden Goal win over Portugal at Euro 2000

France’s dramatic extra-time victory over Italy in the final of Euro 2000 will forever be held up as a symbol of their undying will to win under Roger Lemerre.

But while David Trezeguet’s golden goal in the final remains one of the most famous moments in French football history, it may actually be their semi-final win over Portugal that says the most about the greatness the side.

Heading into the competition, only one team had ever won the World Cup and the European Championships back to back, and while France remained one of the favourites, there were question marks over their credentials.

Mainly because Aime Jaquet, the manager who had led them to glory on home turf, had stepped aside, leaving the job to his assistant Roger Lemerre.

As it turned out, he had one of the easier jobs on the international scene. He inherited a squad full of world class winners who were out with a point to prove, as Zinedine Zidane fronted up a team that read more like a Classic XI from FIFA 08 than it did an individual nation’s starting lineup.

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The French talisman was already well on his way to winning the player of the tournament award, and his performances leading up to the semi-finals were heralded as Maradona-like. That was no overstatement, as Portugal soon found out.

For 120 minutes, he danced through the Portuguese side, taking central midfielders Costinha and Jose Luis Vidigal for a merry dance with his preposterous close control.

Zidane was a joy to watch, even if the game itself wasn’t particularly pretty.

France had controlled possession and dominated the early part of the game, but it was Portugal who took the lead in Brussels. A fabulous strike from Nuno Gomes bloodied the nose of the world champions, who had to respond if they were to become the first side since West Germany in 1974 to win both the World Cup and European Championships.

They had their answer in the second half of normal time, when Nicolas Anelka hit the by-line and cut back to the clinical Thierry Henry. His precise finish, low across Vitor Baia, inspired a monumental sigh of relief in the French ranks, and ultimately took the game to extra-time.

Thierry HenryThierry Henry

France players celebrate Henry’s equaliser / Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

It was here that the real drama started, as the short-lived Golden Goal reared its head. Fortunately for Lemerre, Zidane and France, it fell in their favour.

With just three minutes of extra-time to play, a desperate handball from Portuguese defender Abel Xavier gave Zidane the chance to cement his Golden Ball credentials from the penalty spot, and let’s be honest, he was never going to miss.

He made it seem as if 117th-minute penalties in the European Championship semi-finals were nothing, coolly passing the ball beyond Baia and wheeling off to celebrate the instant it left the instep of his right boot.

Zinedine ZidaneZinedine Zidane

Zidane’s penalty hits the back of the net / Ben Radford/Getty Images

The victory convinced the world, if it wasn’t convinced already, that France were here to make history.

And while Italy were going to provide a huge test, the French had the star power, the winning mentality, and the sheer force of character to take it all the way for a second tournament running.

Jamal Musiala’s Euro 2020 cameo hints at fantastic future

While not as disastrous as the 2018 World Cup, Euro 2020 was still very disappointing for Germany. Their inconsistent campaign came to a premature conclusion at the round of 16 stage, falling to a 2-0 defeat to England at Wembley.

And with disappointing major tournaments comes disappointment in the players that represented your country.

In Jamal Musiala’s case, we weren’t given a proper viewing of the thrilling and trailblazing youngster that Bayern Munich fans rate so highly – but that was through no fault of his own.

The 18-year old missed out on Germany’s first two matches through injury and was subsequently given just nine minutes of air time in Die Mannschaft’s last two fixtures. Despite his limited minutes, however, he showed us just what he’s about.

His first appearance of the tournament came in his nation’s final Group F match against Hungary. With his side trailing 2-1 and on the brink of bowing out of the tournament at the group stage, Joachim Low decided to throw Musiala into the mix with eight minutes remaining – not much time to help rescue your country from embarrassment.

However, Musiala was ready, looking sharp and creative. Can you guess what happened next?

Yep, that’s right.

Just two minutes after his entry into the field of play, Germany snatched a goal to make it 2-2 and secure a place in the knockout stages of Euro 2020 – and Musiala was instrumental.

Showing great movement in the final third, the 18-year was floating around and finding space from which he could affect proceedings. Eventually, the Bayern man found himself in possession on the left wing before feinting past Loic Nego’s challenge with ease, cutting back onto his right foot and fizzing a low cross into the Hungary penalty area.

The resulting ricochets led the ball to Leon Goretzka, whose thumping strike bulged the back of the net to steal a point and take Germany to the last 16.

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A titanic clash with England would ensue, in which Germany were simply bested by Gareth Southgate’s men. It was 2-0 after Harry Kane’s header in the 86th minute, and by the 89th – when Musiala was brought on – the tie was over.

One minute to rescue your country from a 2-0 deficit at Wembley at 18 years old? Yeah, that’s a bit much to expect.

We didn’t see the fearlessly slaloming, mesmerisingly tricky, and joyously creative Musiala that we’ve seen at the Allianz Arena throughout the past year or so. Of course we didn’t; he got nine minutes of game time.

Jamal Musiala, Gergo LovrencsicsJamal Musiala, Gergo Lovrencsics

Jamal Musiala holding off the challenge of Gergo Lovrencsics / Matthias Hangst/Getty Images

But even so, in those nine minutes of European Championship football the 18-year old demonstrated what he’s capable of. As soon as he gets on the ball, he makes things happen. On this occasion, his impact saved Germany from an embarrassment equal to that of 2018 – not a bad nine minutes’ work.

Low may have underused him over the course of the two fixtures he was available for, but you can be sure that under ex-Bayern Munich boss Hansi Flick, Musiala will be getting plenty of opportunities in a German shirt to further prove why he was included in Our 21.

Euro 2000: David Trezeguet’s Golden Goal, remembered with Emmanuel Petit

Have you ever scored the winning goal at a European Championship? No? Well, Emmanuel Petit neither.

“I don’t feel bad about it though,” he admits. “I had malaria. That’s why I didn’t play the final.”

As he tells me over Zoom, speaking at the launch of the Paddy Park at Flat Iron Square, London – he’s not allowed into London right now – he only played half the games at the European tournament. He couldn’t play the final, he couldn’t even walk up the stairs. Oh, but he remembers very well his time on the bench.

Let’s rewind. Remember the Euro 2000 final? As Manu tells it, some 21 years later…

“We were losing 1-0, all the French fans were quiet. They were probably thinking we weren’t going to win the double. And I remember the Italian fans were shouting, celebrating the trophy, but the game wasn’t over. On the bench, the Italians were making fun of us, and our bench, we all stood up and we were ready to fight with them on the bench.”

“This is why I love football – the story has not been written. You have the privilege to take the pen and you write your own sentence. If you have the desire, you can change the game. This is the beauty of football.””

– Emmanuel Petit

That was Manu Petit’s memory of the 2000 European Championship final, the tournament that could give his French team the second ever World and European double, after the 1972/74 West Germany team. By that time, of course, ‘West’ Germany was no more. France could become the first unified country to ever do western football’s most momentous double.

But as he said. That evening in Rotterdam, Italy were 1-0 up and feeling comfortable, late in the second half. The Italian team were ready to celebrate their first major tournament victory since the 1982 World Cup – and their first European Championship since the barely-sincere four-team tournament in 1968.

Surprise starter Marco Delvecchio had scored the first of his four international goals, just before the hour mark. As Petit remembers it, that – at the point of the aforementioned near-fight – was when Roger Lemerre, the French manager, decided to make changes – bringing on Sylvain Wiltord, Robert Pires, and David Trezeguet.

Looking back, Wiltord came on a full half-hour before Pires, with Trezeguet in the middle. When they came on didn’t matter.

When they chiseled their names into the granite of history is the important part. Fabian Barthez launched a ball long, for ‘one last French attack,’ as the UEFA archive footage will tell you. Substitute Trezeguet – so often derided as a finisher alone – nodded the ball to the left from his position 30 yards out, to his fellow substitute Wiltord, via Fabio Cannavaro (yes, that Fabio Cannavaro). A chest control, a strike from a tight angle, a 94th-minute equaliser, and the most iconic goal Wiltord would score until his Premiership clincher two years hence.

“In the space of 30 seconds, everything changed. The French fans were celebrating and I remember – this is why I love football – the story has not been written beforehand. You have the privilege to take the pen and you write your own sentence. If you have the desire, you can change the game. This is exactly what happened, this is the beauty of football.”

“We had Golden Goal back then,” Petit remembers. “It was different.”

It certainly was. In the decade or so from the first international Golden Goal from Anthony Carbone in the ’93 World Youth Championship to the last from Nia Künzer in the 2003 Women’s World Cup final, there were few more ‘different’ moments than the men’s European Championship final of 2000.

Pires – the least heralded, but arguably most brilliant of the three substitutes – set off down the left-hand side, nearing the end of the first period of extra time. Picking a bobbling ball up about 30 yards out on the left, he surged between two Italian defenders. He beat Cannavaro (him again) on the outside, before getting to the ball before Alessandro Nesto and dinking the ball in towards the penalty spot, where France’s third substitute was waiting.

As SBNation’s Rewinder series would say: welcome to a moment in history.

“We won the game. We were watching the Italian bench and they were all like ‘oh my god, what is going on?’ In the space of 30 seconds, everything changed.

“The emotions came out immediately because of the Golden Goal. We’d won the trophy. Since then, they’ve changed the rule and thank God they did it because it was very difficult and harsh to understand on the pitch. ‘What, the game is stopped?’ ‘Yeah, you won the game.’ ‘Oh, okay.'”

“The goal from Trezeguet, this is a typical goal that Harry Kane can score. The way he moved his body, the way he already knew the position of the goalkeeper, the goal, the opponents. He doesn’t ask himself too many questions when the ball arrives in the penalty area. He never thought. Just ‘one touch, boom’.”

That left-footed strike beat Francesco Toldo. France beat Italy. They haven’t won a European Championship since.

You have to write your own sentence. France, for all their glories, still have writer’s block.

For more from Chris Deeley, follow him on Twitter at @ThatChris1209

Emmanuel Petit was speaking at the launch of the Paddy Parks, the ultimate fan viewing experience for all EURO 2020 games. Held at Flat Iron Square and Riverside Newcastle, tickets will sell out fast –visit www.paddyparkfanzones.com book your spot.

Man Utd confirm signing of former academy goalkeeper Tom Heaton

Manchester United have confirmed the signing of former academy goalkeeper Tom Heaton on a two-year contract until 2023 with the option of an extra 12 months.

The free transfer comes following Heaton’s release from Aston Villa at the end of his contract there and marks a return to United, where he previously spent 13 years from the age of 11 to 24.

Heaton never actually played a first-team game for United during his first spell at the club and was loaned out to Swindon, Royal Antwerp, Cardiff, QPR, Rochdale and Wycombe before eventually sealing a permanent transfer to Cardiff in 2010.

The goalkeeper later had one season with Bristol City in 2012/13 but rose to national prominence after he joined Burnley, helping establish the Clarets as a Premier League club with two promotions and even playing his way into the England squad.

Thomas HeatonThomas Heaton

Heaton made his name during a successful spell at Burnley / Alex Livesey/Getty Images

One of Heaton’s most memorable games for Burnley was actually against United at Old Trafford in 2016, during which he made a string of top saves, including a point blank block with an outstretched arm to deny Zlatan Ibrahimovic and preserve a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw.

Having spent the last two years at Aston Villa, making 20 appearances, the 35-year-old adds depth to a United goalkeeping department that contains David de Gea and Dean Henderson.

“For me to have the opportunity to come back after spending 13 great years here as a kid, it’s an incredible feeling and I’m really, really excited to get started,” Heaton told ManUtd.com.

“I’m just seeing it as a fantastic opportunity as I still feel I’ve got an awful lot to give and I’ve got the bit between my teeth. I’m looking forward to hitting the ground running. I feel in great shape and I’m looking forward to coming in to compete with the other goalkeepers.”

Heaton’s return to United has been expected for some time, with confirmation only delayed until his Villa contract expired. But in May it was reported that he isn’t arriving to settle as a back-up and had told friends that it is his plan to ‘push hard’ to compete to be number one.

For more from Jamie Spencer, follow him on Twitter and Facebook!