Marco

UK Armed Forces Veteran 🫡 - Property Risk Engineer @ Zurich 🏢 - Firefighter @ OF&RS 🚒 - YDP Coach @ Chippenham Town FC ⚽️ - Love a pint 🍺 - UTV 🦁

[kickoff @Trollkickoff]

🚨🇫🇷 Zidane on the difference between Kylian Mbappé and Dembélé:

"Mbappé and Dembélé are two different players. Dembélé is humble, disciplined, and always listens to the coach. He works hard defensively, helps his teammates, and always puts the team first.

Mbappé is more aggressive in his mentality. He has the ability to change a match in a matter of seconds. Give him one moment, and he can decide the game on his own.

As a coach, you love a player like Dembélé because of everything he gives to the team. But if you need someone to win you a match with one action, you choose Mbappé.

That's why both are special one makes the team stronger, while the other can change history in an instant."

[Olly @_AVFCOlly]

drunk ollie watkins

[Emma @WhatTheForkAVFC]

All of us when Haaland puts his 5th past Proctor for Pep’s farewell match at the Etihad on Sunday.

[Aston Villa @AVFCOfficial]

The angle you’ve all been waiting for 🤩

[Savo's Bandana @BandanaSavos]

Villa fans this morning

[ken cresswell @kenthechip]

Not 1 penalty all season, 3 injuries which tore our midfield apart for 3 months, Countless VAR decisions against us and a PSR rule which was set to stop us! Oh and a manager not even nominated for manager of the year. Yet we get CL next season and in a European final! #avfc

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

Unai Emery isn’t - checks notes - on the six-man shortlist for Premier League Manager of the Season - checks notes again - #AVLLIV

[Villa Views @VillaViews_]

Unai Emery has taken a team from near the bottom of the league to Europe four times in a row, Champions League twice and we're in a European final. What a manager. #avfc

[Villa Views @VillaViews_]

I've supported Villa for 35 years - and can only say to younger fans that you must enjoy every second of this. There were years and years where beating one 'top' team would be a great memory. This season we've defeated City, United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea. Unreal. #avfc

[Marco @marcobavfc]

👑 Unai....UTV 🦁

[TobyWrites @tobyasky]

Unai Emery’s story is similar to that of Jurgen Klopp.

He was playing in the Spanish 3rd tier with Lorca, he got injured and the coach position was vacant, the club president offered it to him, and he took it. He promoted them to the Segunda division same season. This was 2004 and the first time in the club’s history.

Almeria got him, guess what?
He promoted Almeria to La Liga same season too. This was Almeria’s first promotion to La Liga in their history.

Imagine your first two jobs as a manager was delivering two promotions to two different clubs, which was the first in their histories.

A manager that was definitely on an upward progression. Valencia came for him.

In his last three years as Valencia manager, they finished 3rd behind the obvious two clubs, he kept them competitive even after losing key players like David Villa, David Silva, and the likes.

He went to Spartak Moscow briefly, but his time there did not go well. He already had a great reputation in Spain, and so he returned to Sevilla where he performed wonders.

He won 3 Europa leagues in a row with Sevilla, beating Benfica, Dnipro and Liverpool in the finals. He became the most successful manager in the Europa League.

He moved to PSG, of course delivered the league titles and cups, but couldn’t do well in the champions league. He was eliminated by Barcelona in that famous comeback, Real Madrid eliminated his team the next season.

Arsenal came for him. There was something he did at Arsenal that is usually not talked about. He won 11 games in a row and went 22 games unbeaten, this part is usually not talked about and I wonder why. In fact, it was the first time Arsenal had won 11 games in a row since 2007.

He also led Arsenal to an Europa League final, but lost against Chelsea. His “good ebening” joke and accent became too much in the media, fans and media mocked him, he also had a poor run of form, and Arsenal sacked him in 2019. I still hold the opinion that if he was given 7 years and a billion, he would have delivered something.

He did not leave Arsenal without at least doing something significant, he promoted Saka from the academy, a player who has gone on to be a key figure at the club. He also promoted Emile Smith Rowe.

Villarreal came for him. He won the Europa league with them that season, beating his former team Arsenal in the semi final and Manchester United in the final. This was his 4th Europa League title.

He did something wonderful in the 2022 champions league with Villarreal, he eliminated Juventus and superpower Bayern Munich to get to the champions league semi final before he was beaten by Liverpool. It would have been one of the greatest underdog story if he got to the final with Villarreal.

This is where it gets interesting.

Aston Villa had just promoted to the premier league for the 19/20 season, they escaped relegation by one point, finishing 17th. In the next two seasons, they finished in the bottom half.

At the start of 22/23 season, Villa struggled with Gerrard and by end of October, they sacked him.

Villa were so convinced Emery was their guy, they paid a €6m buyout fee to Villarreal to get him. This is where the story started, he moved them from 16th to 7th. Instant impact.

In 23/24, he finished 4th, Villa qualified for their first champions league in 41 years, where they got to the quarter final and got eliminated by PSG. Although, Villa gave PSG a run for their money, they actually beat PSG 3-2 at Villa Park but lost out on aggregate, losing 3-1 in Paris.

Earlier this year, he hit 100 wins with Villa, the quickest by any manager in their history. He currently sits in champions league position, and in the Europa League final. He has turned a relegation-battling Villa as at when he arrived, into a regular European team.

Fun fact, Emery has won 4 out of 5 Europa League finals, he only came second one time, guess the club😅😅😅

That aside, this guy is a superb manager. Ladies and Gentlemen, UNAI EMERY.

[kickoff @Trollkickoff]

📊 All-Time UEFA Champions League Final Records:

1️⃣ Real Madrid — 18 finals | 15 titles
2️⃣ AC Milan — 11 finals | 7 titles
3️⃣ Bayern Munich — 11 finals | 6 titles
4️⃣ Liverpool — 10 finals | 6 titles
5️⃣ Juventus — 9 finals | 2 titles
6️⃣ FC Barcelona — 8 finals | 5 titles
7️⃣ Benfica — 7 finals | 2 titles
8️⃣ Inter Milan — 7 finals | 3 titles
9️⃣ Ajax — 6 finals | 4 titles
🔟 Manchester United — 5 finals | 3 titles

[Dougie Critchley @DougieCritchley]

Randomly seeing a lot of Benzema slander on my timeline this Saturday morning... and I strongly DISAGREE.

Karim Benzema to Real Madrid is one of the best bargains in football history.

A €35m signing that lasted 14 years at Real Madrid. 5 more years than Ronaldo. 6 more years than Bale.

14 years at the biggest club in the world, under the most pressure, with the most scrutiny, in the most ruthless environment.

He's 5th on their all-time appearance list, their 2nd top scorer (354 goals) and their 2nd top assist provider (156).

He facilitated the greatest goalscorer the game has ever seen, whilst also scoring 20 goals in a season 6 times alongside him and 30 once.

Once Ronaldo left, he produced one of the greatest individual seasons this century...

44 goals, 15 assists in 46 games in 21/22, including 15 in the Champions League, including strikes in 5 straight knockout games, with back-to-back hat-tricks.

Everyone will have their favourites... but Wayne Rooney and Harry Kane haven't achieved anywhere close to the things Benzema has and didn't have the same longevity at the very top either.

As far as I'm concerned, Benzema can sit at any table he wants!

[Football Tweet ⚽ @Footballtweet]

🚨 Lumumba, one of DR Congo’s most iconic fans, was denied a visa and couldn’t travel to Mexico for the play-off final against Jamaica. 🇨🇩❌

So he did what he always does — stood for the full 120 minutes in front of a giant screen in his neighbourhood in Kinshasa, watching his country qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 52 years. 👏😍

We NEED to see Lumumba at the World Cup. 🇨🇩👏

STAND UP for his pure dedication and his pure passion.

[Stan Collymore @StanCollymore]

Marco Van Basten scored 310 goals in 431 games by 28 on flimsy ankles, weather conditioned pitches and defenders raking down his ankles within a minute of kick off, in a league known for defending excellence.

3 Ballon D'ors, 3 European Footballer of the Year, 2 European Cups, 3 Serie A( when it was unrivalled) and a Euros.

Harry Kane ( who I love) isn't in the same football galaxy nevermind planet.

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

As a martial arts fan, this is the coldest knockout I have ever seen 😳

[LBW @losblancoswrld]

The truth is, Vinicius Jr has never been treated fairly by the whole football community. He came as a teenager to Madrid and he has become a superstar with his talent only.

Not only is he a great player, but he's a great person too. Constant donations and charity work towards the needy. Unfortunately, some people are always horrible in this world. When they fail in life, they start pulling others down and in this case they become racists. Vinicius never deserved this treatment. Football has never been right to Vinicius but he keeps fighting. He'll always be more powerful than the racists. We are with you Vini. You're out Vini. We stand with you and we stand against racism.

[Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10]

I want to end this historic week with one clear message to you all.

What is necessary for Britain will be incredibly painful.

It won’t be easy. There will be no confetti and pyrotechnics. It will be hard. It will hurt. It will challenge all of us.

I won’t tell you comforting lies. I have never done that. We’ve had those for decades. It has not worked. Politicians promising miracle cures where there are none.

The British people have far more intelligence than the existing political parties arrogantly believe.

As a party, Restore Britain will treat you with the respect you deserve. You will finally have an option that accepts the brutal reality we find ourselves in.

I will be honest with you all.

There will be hard years. There will be difficult days. The fixes will not be immediate.

This is going to be the fight of our lives.

It is one I truly believe we can win.

[BRITAIN IS BROKEN 🇬🇧 @BROKENBRITAIN0]

🚨BREAKING: Rupert Lowe vows to ABOLISH the asylum system 🇬🇧

“They must ALL go, this is ABSOLUTELY non negotiable, Restore Britain would ABOLISH the entire asylum system. No more asylum seekers, the SCAM will end!”

This is the way forward, 0 in and MILLIONS out 🚫

[Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10]

I am today launching Restore Britain as a national political party.

Join us.

https://t.co/RMtEuHopgV