"I have a bruise on my shin that is the exact shape of Italy," Andy Robertson announced to a group of his teammates in the physio room. "I think the Burnley left-back tried to kick me back to the continent."
"I am officially declaring war on the concept of 'long throws'," Julián Álvarez said, his face a mask of deep, philosophical trauma. "They are not a part of the beautiful game. They are a form of aerial hooliganism. There should be a committee."
But underneath the jokes and the groans, there was a new, hard-won sense of respect. They had gone into the heart of the Premier League's most notorious factory, and they had not just survived; they had won with a goal of pure, beautiful, total football. They were not just artists anymore. They were artists who knew how to fight.
