Michael Cox

5 days ago | nytimes.com | Michael Cox

All things considered, it will go down as one of the great football performances. Paris Saint-Germain's 5-0 victory over Inter on Sunday night in Munich is the biggest winning margin in the history of the European Cup final. And it was fully deserved. European Cup finals aren't meant to be won like this.

6 days ago | nytimes.com | Colin Millar |Michael Cox

Simone Inzaghi insists it's "not the right time to talk about the future" after his Inter side lost the Champions League final to Paris Saint-Germain. Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal have presented the 49-year-old Italian with a lucrative offer in an attempt to lure him away after four years in charge at San Siro. Ahead of the final, Inzaghi said he was "happy" at the club amid uncertainty over his future and asked again on Saturday night he refused to divulge what his next step may or may not be.

6 days ago | nytimes.com | Michael Cox

Football's coming home. Or, at least, the European Cup is. It was in the offices of French sports newspaper L'Equipe, on Rue du Faubourg-Montmartre in the centre of Paris, where this competition was invented back in 1954. The city hosted the inaugural final, and another five since. But the trophy has never been back in Paris by rights - which wouldn't have been a huge surprise to those journalists back in 1954, considering Paris Saint-Germain itself was 16 years away from being formed.

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Michael Cox

Over the last decade or so, football has been obsessed with pressing. This is not a new concept in the sport, of course - you can trace it back over the best part of a century - but recently it's reached a level that makes you question whether football is on the right track. The increased physical capacity of modern footballers means they can sprint faster, and run further, and do it again and again and again. The benefits of pressing, of course, are perfectly obvious.

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Michael Cox

Underdog victories in major finals aren't usually achieved so convincingly. Arsenal were rank outsiders going into the Champions League final against Barcelona on Saturday, with odds of up to 14/1 for them to win the game in 90 minutes. Player for player, Arsenal might only get a couple of names into the starting XI of Barcelona, the dominant side in this competition in recent years. But collectively, Arsenal were unquestionably superior, recording an unlikely but thoroughly deserved victory.