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And so it came to pass that Atletico Madrid v Arsenal was not quite as soul-nourishing as PSG v Bayern, almost as if two teams who have to try really hard in all their matches for the whole season instead of just a handful of games in April have a tougher time of it.<\/p>\n
But it was not without its charms<\/strong> and certainly not without its controversies as penalties and non-penalties set the agenda before the real main event after the final whistle when a man walked across some ground.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, there\u2019s news of Spurs\u2019 dream summer that has to keep pointing out they will need a dream May first and raises the undeniably valid concern that if they\u2019re not careful they might not even qualify for Europe this season.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Why has everyone suddenly forgotten what incredibly commonly used and widely understood idioms mean?<\/p>\n After yesterday\u2019s disgraceful claim that a Bayern team trailing by a single goal after the away leg of a two-legged tie had but \u2018a puncher\u2019s chance\u2019 in their semi-final<\/strong> comes today\u2019s surely equally absurd suggestion.<\/p>\n They have been damned with faint praise and disrespect all the way to the top of the Premier League table<\/strong> and the semi-finals of this competition. They keep on keeping on.<\/p>\n And now they have one foot in the Champions League final. They stood up when they had to here in this cauldron of a giant bowl on the outskirts of the Spanish capital.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Oliver Holt in the Mail<\/strong> the guilty man this time, and we do have no choice but to once again declare this an unapproved usage. \u2018One foot in the final\u2019 very obviously means a clear advantage. A job almost done. Bags packed, flights booked.<\/p>\n This tie is quite literally level. Sure, Arsenal have home advantage in the second leg. But only that advantage. It\u2019s not nothing, but it\u2019s not everything either.<\/p>\n You wouldn\u2019t say a team drawn at home in a one-legged knockout game against high-quality opposition had \u2018one foot\u2019 in the next round, would you? Obviously not. It would be absurd. This is the same.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t want to be officious like this. We hate that you keep making us do it.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s not us being picky. Well, it is that. But not just that. Almost everyone else agrees.<\/p>\n The Mirror have it \u2018finely poised\u2019 and \u2018VAR FROM OVER\u2019. The Sun declare it \u2018on a knife-edge\u2019. And then there\u2019s this one\u2026<\/p>\n Atletico boss Simeone was simmering all night and his usual combustible self on the touchline.<\/p>\n His side are still very much alive in the tie after a tight, physical game against Mikel Arteta\u2019s men.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Which is, of course, from the Mail.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The big news from the Metropolitano besides Arsenal\u2019s planting of one foot in the final was of course Ben White shamefully planting both feet on the Atletico Madrid crest, to the enormous chagrin of assorted Simeones<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The daft \u2018unwritten rule\u2019 that you mustn\u2019t stand on any large club crest placed right there on the ground in a high foot-traffic area directly in front of the players\u2019 tunnel is one of Mediawatch\u2019s longstanding favourites.<\/p>\n Watching players and pundits make a big, performative show of not standing on a crest is right up there with the ostentatious non-celebration of goals against former clubs, a rule which only ever applies to not celebrating goals you\u2019ve scored yourself. It\u2019s perfectly okay to celebrate all other goals scored by your new side against your old one, for some reason. Almost like it\u2019s purely done for attention.<\/p>\n The whole crest thing is also, of course, at its most hilarious when an attention-hungry pundit is so keen to make sure a) he doesn\u2019t step on a crest but also far more importantly b) everyone knows he didn\u2019t step on a crest that he goes back and makes sure someone is filming this vitally important and definitely off-the-cuff real moment that is in no way betrayed by any lack of naturalistic acting skills.<\/p>\n What Simeone wanted Ben White to do last night: pic.twitter.com\/4EBJ47WhJD<\/a><\/p>\nFoot in mouth<\/h2>\n
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Crest of the rest<\/h2>\n
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