Memo to self; next time take a shot of the clock right on kickoff and right on the start of second half, because it looks like my calculated match times have drifted out a bit from those on the official timeline. However for the sake of consistency I'll stick with mine.

The final goal of the match was at 77 minutes, and was scored by 29 year old Iranian forward Sardar Azmoun (#17). Azmoun is reputed to be a really good guy (for reasons that I won't go into since he took some personal risks in supporting some causes), one who puts his heart and soul into whichever club he plays for.

He's on loan from Bayer 04 Leverkusen, yes, the team which finally broke Bayern Munich's 11 year hold on the Bundesliga title in Germany. We had an option to buy, but the asking price was €12 million, apparently. For that, he would need to be peppering the back of the net like a machine gun... and he isn't. He scored 3 goals out of 23 matches with 568 minutes played. The website shows no assists, but that's not to say that he didn't play a part in other goals as well. However the consensus seems to be that he's a solid substitution player who will work his backside off... but Leverkusen are deluding themselves if they think that any club, least of all us, could afford to splash out €12M on a substitute player.

Transfermarkt.com rates his value as having maxed out at €20M when he was playing in St Petersburg Russia at age 26 in 2021, and being currently at €8M. That may still be stretching it. The further to the front of the field you are, the more you're prone to body wear and tear as a general rule. Strikers have a shorter game life expectancy than goalkeepers, and you aren't buying a player for what their age is now, but what it will be. Azmoun would be in his 30s in a new contract.

If Leverkusen gets with the program and offers him out at €5 to 6M (assuming that they don't need him themselves, which they probably don't or he wouldn't have been on loan)... maybe, maybe. But I doubt that AS Roma Technical Director Florent Ghisolfi will be waiting around for a "maybe". He'll be out there looking for a machine gun. A cheaper machine gun.

I for one will miss Azmoun, though.