We beat Borussia Dortmund 3-0 on Wednesday night and on Thursday afternoon I watched the same 64 minutes twice, and Rúben Neves is not in either of them. 30 touches in the whole match. 11 of those came in the first 20 minutes, so he had 19 in the other 44, and 6 of the 19 were a ball rolled sideways to a centre half and rolled straight back to him.
Marcus had the clips up on the big screen in the analysts' room with the blinds down and a coffee going cold next to the keyboard.
"Boss, before you say it. I know."
"Say what."
"That we won."
"I was not going to."
Tk. Tk.
He ran it. Neves comes short. Witsel comes with him. Neves goes and stands between his own centre halves, which is the last place a manager wants his 6 to have to go, and Axel Witsel follows him into it and stands 6 feet off his shoulder with his arms folded like a man queueing for something.
"Again."
Marcus ran it again.
"Now the 54th minute."
Same thing. Same 6 feet.
