The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Thursday, May 20

Hey, everyone!

That’s midfielder Cho So-hyun at the top today.

Ramble of the Day

As part of an effort to improve the match day experience, FC Barcelona now have a restaurant right outside Camp Nou called Barça Cafe. Per ESPN, Barça Cafe exists so people spend more money on-site and will be open on Barcelona’s home and away days. I would argue that is a pretty tall task — it’s pretty easy to find decent food in a big city, regardless of how out of your way the final destination is on a given trip.

It’s a task mainly for the Barça Cafe menu to complete, though I won’t hold it against Barça Cafe (right now) that the first thing you see is the FC Barcelona anthem and not food. It appears the special thing about the Barça Cafe is that it includes picks from the players so one can “eat like a pro.” Here’s what made the cut:

Already, I have thoughts. I think Jordi Alba’s gazpacho might be categorized incorrectly as a salad, unless it’s a gazpacho salad. I would also love to know how they made the pizza healthy — I’m sure they have an explanation, I’d just like to know it. I also wonder if either of Messi’s options can be made vegan, since Messi eats vegan during the season.

Looking through the menu, it becomes clear that eating like a pro isn’t actually the guiding principle at Barça Cafe. There are some football-inspired aspects of the menu — they categorize some sections as “midfield” and “forwards” and call the patatas bravas “Champions League spicy fried potatoes — but not a lot.

This may come as absolutely no surprise to you (because it certainly was not a surprise to me), but the Barça Cafe menu is pretty basic. It reminds me of a menu at a nice museum — if you choose to eat there, you won’t complain about the food’s quality, but it is most certainly not a top eating experience. The menu is full of crowd-pleasers, from Ousmane Dembélé’s margherita pizza to the Barça Burger, none of them particularly unique. I would argue it’s worth the time to leave Camp Nou to go have a better meal elsewhere, unless the execution is superb.

tl;dr: FC Barcelona are opening a restaurant outside Camp Nou, and it seems extremely basic.

Stay informed, read this: Anita Gates on comedian and writer Paul Mooney, who died Wednesday aged 78 for The New York Times

Links of the Day

The USL opened an investigation into allegations that Loudoun United fans racially abused a New York Red Bulls II player.

Germany international Sami Khedira will retire at the end of the season after a 17 year career.

Manchester United co-chairman Joel Glazer will meet with supporters next month.

Sam Allardyce will step down as West Brom manager at the end of the season.

Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze could miss six months with an achilles injury.

Police Scotland are investigating a possible attack on the home of Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell.

A longer read: Paul MacInnes on Kiyan Prince, the QPR prospect whose memory is commemorated on FIFA 21 more than a decade after he was killed for the Guardian