IT BEGAN with a massed tribute to Matt Busby but ended up as a homage to Catalonia. And while the man who was Mr Manchester United could only ever be pained by defeat – especially one as comprehensive as this – you have to suspect that even he would have secretly swooned at some of Barcelona’s fearless and at times flawless football in Rome last night.

Work on Rome’s Palatine Hill has turned up a trove of discoveries, including what might be the underground grotto where ancient Romans believed a wolf nursed the city’s legendary founders Romulus and Remus.

SHE ran. That’s the marvellous thing. She ran. He told her to vacuum his car.