Two days later two days Selhurst Park again. Lazio, Europa League, Matchday 6. The final group match.
We had already won the group. Thirteen points from five matches. Top seeds for the Round of 32. Nothing that happened on Thursday night could change anything. It was, in the purest sense of the word, meaningless.
I treated it that way. Eight academy players in the starting eleven: Pope; Mitchell, Hannam, Webb, Digne; Morrison, Kirby; Olise, Aviero, Semenyo; Blake. Inzaghi, to his credit, did the same resting Immobile, Luis Alberto, his entire first-choice defence. Two groups of young men, given the keys to the car and told to drive.
