The worlds of football and darts collide again
REELING IN THE BIG FISH
Whether it’s Robbie Savage being serenaded by the braying, lagered-up hordes at Ally Pally, assorted players in Gareth Southgate’s squad stepping up to take on members of the England press pack at major tournaments or Steve Sidwell repeatedly running scared of comedy’s Tim Vine in the asyet-unplayed Talksport Warm-up Pandemic Trust Darts final, the worlds of football and the arrows have been known to collide. During the world championships, Declan Rice and Aaron Ramsdale spotted Luke Littler in a London hotel and asked him for a selfie, while more recently the tungsten-toting teenager was invited to Manchester United’s training ground to wipe the floor with Christian Eriksen and Harry Maguire. In the finest tradition of the sport, their games were played in the very best of order ladies and gentlemen, with a level of mutual respect on show that called to mind that clip from the 1980s in which Jocky Wilson pauses between sets to light his opponent Cliff
Lazarenko’s tab.
Sadly, there was no such sportsmanship on show on Wednesday night at Tottenham, where Neal Maupay appropriated James Maddison’s trademark dart-throwing celebration after scoring Brentford’s opening goal. It was an undeniably cheeky move for a player fabled for his ability to wind up opponents, even if his decision to do it after just 15 minutes meant there was plenty of time left for his amusing act of trolling to come back and bite him in the nether regions. Having come on at halftime to score the second of a three-goal flurry that ultimately won Tottenham the points, Brennan Johnson invited Richarlison to join him in celebration at the imaginary oche, while a sheepish Maupay was forced to settle for a Bully tankard and his bus fare home.
“I just said to him he probably hasn’t scored enough goals of his own over the last few years to have his own celebration so you probably have to copy mine,” mused Maddison, upon being asked by TNT what he said to Maupay during what looked like a fractious exchange between the pair.
He was, of course, alluding to the famous goal drought in which Maupay spent the best part of a year winding up Everton teammates through his almost supernatural inability to hit a cow’s backside with a banjo. Having rediscovered his mojo since returning to Brentford and chipping in with seven goals in his past seven games, Maupay clearly felt bullish enough to respond. “Gutted we couldn’t get the win,” he said on Instagram, before going in with his studs up. “More goals and less relegations in my career than James Maddison. We go again Monday Bees.” Described by some of Thursday’s papers as an “escalating feud”, in darts terms this harmless bickering was more akin to a pair of hapless amateurs repeatedly missing double one.
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United. QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I just feel like I’m in a dream. It’s unbelievable” – homegrown full-back Conor Bradley struggles to find the words after helping Liverpool to dismantle Chelsea 4-1 at Anfield and keep them five points clear at the top of the Premier League. “They were better than us in all areas,” sighed Mauricio Pochettino.
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