Sevilla 3 Inter Milan 2
It was just as well for BT Sport that this match was a thriller as their pre-match coverage of it was dire.
I had hoped, switching on at 7pm, that the issues of the game might be covered.
There was an interesting Premiership element as Antonio Conte had managed Chelsea and now Inter with Lukaku, Eriksen, Moses, Young and Sanchez who had been significant players in the Premier.
Perhaps we might get some footage of the golden age of Inter in the 60s and of their legendary players like Facchetti, Zanetti, the Brazilian Ronaldo, Zenga, Matthaus, Klinsmann, Mulito, Combiassi and Samuel?
Would they discuss how Sevilla managed to reach 6 Europe League semi-finals in a league very much geared financially towards Barcelona and Real Madrid?
No such luck.
Almost all of the early discussion was about Black Lives Matter with a dreadful rap song of forced rhyming and melody-less tune which Owen Hargreaves praised before giving us the benefit of his views on the issue.
Strangely enough Paul Ince, the other studio analyst who must have experienced racism first hand, kept out of the discussion.
Jake Humphreys the presenter was hopeless.
Once the game started, commentated by the excellent Ian Darke paired the not so excellent Robbie Savage, his analyst, we were treated to a enthralling spectacle.
Inter took an early lead through Lukaku but then showed the cynical side of Italian football by putting extreme pressure on the inexperienced Dutch referee.
Sevilla kept their calm, equalised and then took the lead. Their coach Julen Lopetegui overhauled the side in the summer but it never seems to matter with Sevilla – the Europa league is their fiefdom.
Inter equalised but – as the cliche goes – Lukaku went from hero to villain, diverting Carlos’s overhead kick into the net to make it 3-2.
In the middle of the second half I was called by a friend who is an Arsenal fan and involved in fighting anti-semitism.
He and others had got Facebook to remove a post by rapper as his lyrics were offensive.
He was also involved in the campaign against anti-semitism in the Labour party of Jeremy Corbyn, I commented that the Black Lives Matter campaign made a huge error by not aligning themselves with the more inclusive Kick Racism Out.
I’m old enough to remember the Stop The (South African cricket) Tour movement of 1970.
A frequent comment by those resisting it was ‘Keep politics out of sport.”
I did not agree with this but nonetheless I would prefer to watch my sport without being lectured to.
