When Leicester beat Chelsea 2-1 at the beginning of the season, what surprised me at the time was not the score line, but the way Mahrez made a meal of the Chelsea defence continuously and most especially, Cesar Azpilicueta.
Twice he dazzled and mesmerised the Chelsea defence and also Azpilicueta, one of the best man markers and most difficult defenders to come against in the Premiership.
As a Chelsea fan, I was stunned (especially with the twists and turns he did for the second goal) and from then on I have watched Mahrez emerge as a rare gem and exceptional talent, culminating in his crowning on Sunday, as the PFA Player of the Year.
Gareth Bale, Luis Suarez and Eden Hazard have been the previous winners, two have gone on to arguably two of the top four teams in World football.
Would Mahrez follow suit? He may not have the speed of Bale or the goal prowess of Suarez, but Mahrez possesses exceptional ball skills that those two do not have.
Whether he would take a huge step and saunter into one of the top three or four sides in Europe or he will remain in Leicester for another season remains to be seen.
Perhaps he could also toy with a move to one of the BIG FIVE in England, although none of them have performed this season and only one or two of them would be in Champions League next season, but whatever Mahrez does, beyond the sky is his limit.
Congratulations to an exceptional player, the first AFRICAN player to win the award.
I believe the pressure is off him and he would now be free to show more of what he can do as Leicester put one hand on the EPL title.
MOURINHO TO UNITED?
As Anthony Martial and Rashford dispatched John Stones and the Everton defence on Saturday, I thought for once that LVG’s position would be safe for another year as they qualified for the FA Cup Final.
Sources close to the Old Trafford hierarchy continue to affirm that LVG would be given the P45 at the end of the season and the Special One would be sitting beside Ryan Giggs next season, to bring back the glory years to Old Trafford.
I have also been doing some thinking: that United are too big a team not to be winning or challenging for the League title in three seasons (probably even missing out of the champions league this year for the first time in ages) is an understatement.
Perhaps the strategy was to blood young players into the first team and then go for the Premiership, if so, then the powers that be at United may have finally gotten their tactics spot on after Sir Alex!
Get LVG to do what he knows how best to do (blood new youngsters) and get a title winning veteran to do the rest. Plus, wait for the best part of it; Let Ryan Giggs be a student of both managers and eventually take over to build another lasting legacy at United.
If this is the case, kudos to the powers that be, however it’s a shame some of the other top teams are still behind in terms of objectives, strategies and tactics.
Some have hired twelve managers in as many years, changing them as you do shirts and suits…
Another with a manager who just can’t deliver, yet they keep him there because he makes the board happy…..
Change is coming next season: Guardiola, Conte, Pochettino, United manager, Wenger? Klopp and Ranieri? (expect another couple managers to spoil the party) but there would be only three titles to vie for, but for now, good luck to the managers in advance, as I see many more managerial sackings next season…….
UCL TOO CLOSE TO CALL
Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid and Manchester City!
How do you pick a potential winner from this pool of semi finalists?
The truth is that in the semi finals of the Champions League, anything could happen; away goals, penalties, suspensions, injuries, a bad night away from home……
This is the Champions League and at this stage, you can’t afford to have a bad night from home or away from home.
I’ll just sit back and enjoy the four nights of fun, tactical battles and exciting football, because this is what it is all about.
Good luck to everyone.
LALIGA GOING DOWN TO THE WIRE
If results had continued the way they did for Barcelona up until a month ago, they would have been crowned LaLiga champions now with just few games to go.
However after three defeats in four games, it’s squeaky bum time in Spain.
It’s neck to neck at the top of the table as Atletico and Barca take a one point lead into the next round of games.
Barcelona hold all the aces, out of the Champions League with less games to play in this traffic of games, but the momentum is with Atletico at the moment who are within reach of another champions League final and closing the ten point gap with Barca to none.
If I were a betting man, I wouldn’t bet against Simeone at this point, but Real Madrid is another team not to be dismissed, as they continue to apply the brakes just enough behind the two to avoid a crash, but ready to overtake on the outside lane if the two stall their engines.
I know that Barca fans would say it’s in the bag, but in Spain, it seems that it would go down to the wire this time.