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Author: Chirag

January Transfer Window ends with a Bang for Barcelona

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FC Barcelona just landed a shark with their impressive last minute deal with Arsenal as they have agreed to take one of Mikel Arteta’s leading men and former captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on a free transfer.

The Blaugrana have made two picks this January with the first one coming in the form of a former Barcelona and current Wolves winger Adama Traore as they look to strengthen the wing attack by the team.

They have also let the time run out on the transfer window with Dembele still on their wage list that means either the club will terminate Ousmane’s contract or with the arrival of his former Dortmund team mate Aubameyang, Dembele will decide to take the wage cut to and stay at the Camp Nou.

Former Spanish Champs, Atletico Madrid have also managed to make a last minute signing in the form of the Mozambican defender Reinildo Mandava. Meanwhile current La Liga leaders look to sign Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint Germain by the summer and have reportedly agreed to all the terms and just await the end of the season and the summer window to open.

With the likes of Real and Atletico in a league of their own right now for the future, Barcelona have also shown interest in a key summer signing when it comes to one of the best players in the world right now in Eerling Haaland. The Borussia Dortmund player has snubbed the likes of Chelsea and more to confirm his dream of playing in Spain for clubs such as Barcelona. Pique, the Barcelona defender and legend has confirmed that Haaland is a target with talks going on and possibly he will be at the club within the next year.

Nadal’s Miracle in Melbourne Gets Him a record 21st Grand Slam Title

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Last night in Melbourne, spectators witnessed one of the greatest comebacks in sports history as Rafael Nadal beat Daniil Medvedev to win his 2nd ever Australian Open and a record 21st Grand Slam.

The match started with Daniil Medvedev in full control as he took the first 2 sets at 6-2, 7-6 comparatively easily. There just seemed no way out for Nadal as he tried various ways to win a point against the Russian.

The Spaniard tried going back behind the baseline, tried coming ahead and volleying and even tried to focus on Daniil’s Forehand but just couldn’t find a way to penetrate Medvedev’s defense. However by the third set, Nadal had tried enough and started combining all of these methods to tire out Medvedev.

By the end of the set, Nadal won his first set and went on to take the fourth set with incredibly difficult points to break Medvedev’s serve. Finally, as the Melbourne crowd showed zero signs of sleepiness, they backed the Spaniard as he served for the match in the last set.

There is no doubt that Medvedev has incredible potential and could have won last night, however Nadal’s resilience and perseverance was otherworldly. The match went on for a whole 5 hours and 24 minutes with the two players very tired by the end of it.

Nadal broke a number of records with this win as he climbed up to number 5 in the rankings, got to 90 career wins, became the fourth male player to win all four grand slams at least twice and also became the first ever player in history to win a record 21 grand slams with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer at 20 grand slams each. Nadal truly is the GOAT right now. 

Narendra Modi Wants to Build A Modern Football Stadium With FIFA Specs in Ladakh

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The Indian Prime Minister came out yesterday to talk about the future plans in regards to Ladakh and sports. A plan to create a football stadium and running tracks in Ladakh as one of the largest open stadiums with space for 30,000 spectators.  Narendra Modi said,

“Friends, today I want to share with you one such information about Ladakh which you will definitely be proud to know about. Ladakh will soon be blessed with an impressive Open Synthetic Track and Astro-Turf Football Stadium. This stadium is being built at a height of more than 10,000 feet and its construction is going to be completed soon. This will be the largest open stadium in Ladakh where 30,000 spectators can sit together.”

“This modern football stadium in Ladakh will also have a synthetic track with 8 lanes. Apart from this, there will also be a hostel facility with one thousand beds. You will also like to know that this stadium has also been certified by FIFA, the biggest organization of football,”

“Whenever such a big sports infrastructure comes up, it brings great opportunities to the youth of the country. Alongwith such an arrangement, movement of people from all over the country takes place, tourism gets promoted and many employment opportunities are created. The stadium will also benefit many of our youth in Ladakh,” said PM Modi.

Anurag Thakur, the Union Minister of Youth and Sports loved this decision by the prime minister and even tweeted in joy saying, “Respected Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji, it is a very pleasant experience to see your policies to promote sports and sportspersons coming to fruition. Today everyone associated with sports is feeling this change. @kheloindia There is a revolution in the field of sports. At an altitude of more than 10,000 feet in Ladakh.”

The Wonder Kid who Rejected Manchester United Twice to Join Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

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“It is a hard decision when you are young.

“I cannot say it was the right decision, or the wrong decision. It is hard for me to say, but what I experienced in the year after Manchester United.

“I won the cup with Molde and then I got to play in the Premier League.”

It’s hard to make these decisions when you are a teenager who’s being headhunted by the best clubs in the world. However that’s exact;ly what a young Mats Møller Dæhli did 9 years ago when he rejected the red 2 times.

“I went on many trials from 12, 13 until I was 16,” he told MEN Sport. “I think it was four trials. It was really special, I had three very nice years there. It was tough, but I have really good memories and being there on trial and getting signed is an amazing feeling.”

The promising young star started out with Tottenham, trained with Chelsea as well but eventually signed with a regional club in his home country in Norway, Lyn. 

At the age of 12 he was talent spotted by scout John Vik, who watched the youngster for a further 10 matches before using his contacts to recommend that United sign the young hopeful before other top sides became aware of his ability.

“I received tips about four extraordinary talents in the Oslo area four years ago. I saw everyone several times and thought Mats stood out already as a 12-year-old in Lyn,” Vik stated.

Vik was not the only Norwegian impressed by his compatriot. All those years after watching Ole Gunnar Solskjaer set up two of United’s five goals against Tottenham, the legendary striker was also well aware of Dæhli.

“I have seen Mats several times before, including at the Statoil Academy in Kristiansund,” Solskjaer said. “In my opinion, he is on a par with the greatest talents in other European levels in his age group. He has made a very good impression in United. They will bet on him.”

The youngster finished the season with the club’s U18 side before he was promoted to the reserve team for the next campaign and excitement grew surrounding the top teenage talent.

Rafael Nadal Reveals He Considered Leaving Tennis Behind

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The former 20 time grand slam winner has had a long career with everything he’s done for tennis. He has also been part of the infamous ‘Big Three’ who have revolutionised tennis. With so many things achieved its just a matter of time before these three call it a day and retire. However for Nadal that day was seemingly in the books already.

Nadal revealed he felt like he might have to retire post last year’s incidents and his foot injury nagging him again and again, “I went through a lot of challenging moments, a lot of days of hard work without seeing a light there,” said the 35-year-old. “But still working and still receiving plenty of support from my team and from my family, too, without a doubt. A lot of conversations with the team, with the family about what can happen or what’s going to happen if the things continue like this, thinking that maybe is a chance to say goodbye.”

“For a long time I wasn’t able to practise,” said Nadal. “Sometimes I went on court and I was able to practise 20 minutes, sometimes 45, sometimes zero, sometimes two hours, but it has been very, very rough in terms of imagine myself playing at the best-of-five at this moment.”

“The doubts are going to be here probably for the rest of my career, without a doubt, because I have what I have and that’s something that we cannot fix. But for me it’s amazing, and I’m super happy to be able to compete for the last three weeks at the level that I am doing.”

“Not only about tennis, that’s for sure. It’s surprising for me to be able to play at the level that I am playing, but just compete and play tennis at the high level again, facing the most important players of the world, for me, it’s something unbelievable, no?”

Ferdinand turns back to the clock to reveal the Torres Style of Play

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Back in the day when Fernando Torres was striking goals against Manchester United and Rio Ferdinand for Liverpool, Rio had a tough time alongside his team mate Vidic as the two center backs struggled to keep up with the young Spaniard”s style of play

“Trust me. Listen, strikers were playing out on the wings sometimes because they didn”t want to come up against us, it was mad!

“There’s always going to be that one player in your career who’s difficult. He might not be the best player on the planet, but his style is made to hurt your style. And Torres might have just been that for Nemanja.

“He’s someone he found difficult to play against. And he”s probably the only player I”ve seen consistently give Vida a hard time, and he got sent off in a couple of the games didn”t he, early on in the games.

“But listen, Torres was a great player and when he was in his pomp when he was at Liverpool, he was one of the best strikers about. He was a devastating striker. But with me one-v-one, he didn”t cause me any problems if I”m honest.”

 “One of my hardest strikers to play against when people ask me — other than the ones that are obvious, like [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Lionel] Messi — was Kevin Davies. You would never expect that.

“But he was always tough to play against for me, always caused me the most problems. He always was physical, just obstructing you all the time. The ball might be over there [away from you] but he’s grabbing you and all this stuff.

“So you would never expect that, but Torres would have been that for Nemanja probably. But we never really spoke about it.”

Medvedev explodes at Umpire During Semi Finals Clash Against Tsitsipas

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Danii Medvedev clashed with the chair umpire during the semi finals of the Australian Open yesterday as he faced the Greek Tsitsipas on center court. 

The two battled well and had a great match that went on for 4 steps before Medvedev eventually won with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-4. 6-1 scoreline and booked his spot in the finals on Sunday against the 20 time grand slam winner Rafael Nadal.

However the highlight of the match was Medvedev’s rant against the umpire for allowing Tsitsipas’ father to talk to him during the match for a minute.

“His father can talk about every point. Are you stupid?” Medvedev screamed.

“His father can talk about every point. Answer my question. Can his father talk about every point?

“Oh my God, how can you be so bad in the semifinal of a Grand Slam?” Medvedev raged.

“Look at me! I’m talking to you!”

“What do you want?” Campistol responded.

“To give him coaching [violation] because his father is talking every point,” Medvedev yelled.

He then called the umpire a “small cat” at the end of the outburst.

https://twitter.com/funnyzeitgist/status/1487006675395817477?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1487006675395817477%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Findianexpress.com%2Farticle%2Fsports%2Ftennis%2Fare-you-stupid-medvedev-umpire-australian-open-2022-7745976%2F

After this explosion by the Russian, members of the tennis industry commented on his behaviour saying, “Tennis really needs to come down hard on players verbally abusing umpire, I’m a Medvedev stan but they shouldn’t have to cop abuse like that. Look at how Toby Greenes penalty for his encounter with an umpire and how the AFL want more respect for their refs,” wrote Shian on Twitter.

He was even then fined $17,000 over this incident and talking to the umpire like that.

Breaking: Rafael Nadal Beats Berrettini to Reach Australian Open Finals

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The 20 time grand slam winner put up his best against the young Italian Mateo Berrettini as the two met this morning in the Rod Laver Arena for the first Semi Finals of the Men’s singles Australian Open.

The Spaniard started in full form as he won the first 2 sets at 6-3 and 6-2. The third set although was an all italian affair as Mateo put his best foot forward and broke Nadal’s impressive service late in the third set. Berrettini took the third set 6-3.

With Berrettini getting 1 set and Rafa getting the first 2, the crowd rallied behind both players for the fourth set as they sat back down to watch an intense match of tennis between these two stars. Berrettini clearly had the advantage in the long rallies with him getting the better of Rafa multiple times throughout the match in a shocking statistic. 

The fourth set started well for both as they tied 2-2 but it was all Nadal post that as he took his service game to take the lead at 3-2 and then continued his form to break Mateo’s serve and lead by 4-2. Mateo got in a service game after another Rafa game to set up 5-3 score with Nadal in the driver’s seat.

Rafael Nadal finally took home the finals spot by winning a long rally as Mateo’s unforced errors proved to be the reason for his demise in this tournament.

Nadal now awaits the winner of Medvedev and Tsitsipas later today as he heads to the finals on Sunday making it his 6th finals in Australia.

Di Maria Leads Argentina into a 2-1 Win In Chile

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In the absence of Lionel Messi and their Coach due to Covid related issues, the Argentinian side visited one of their South American neighbours, Chile.

As the two teams took their sides in the Stadium Zorro Del Desierto, Argentina were in a comfortable position as they had already qualified for this year’s world cup later in October and November.

As far as the possession and passing went, Chile looked much better and had much more control of the ball as compared to their rivals. For Chile every game was a must win as they were below the likes of Peru and Colombia at 7th.

If one PSG star couldn’t make it another one found a stage to shine as Angel di Maria struck early on at the 9th minute with one of the greatest goals of the South American qualifiers this year. Chile’s Brereton Diaz equalised pretty soon as the clock hit 20 minutes with an assist by Nunez.

What followed was a war of tactics between the two sides with Argentina getting the lead by a goal by Lautoro Martinez the striker.

After being dropped in June for a bit, Di Maria has earned his spot back and has scored for Argentina 3 times since the summer now. “When Leo (Messi) is there, everything is always much easier,” Di Maria said. “The important thing is to continue working in this way and give more joy to the Argentines.”

Details on Messi’s Argentina Absence Revealed

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Lionel Messi, the greatest player in the world, missed out on Argentina’s important World Cup Qualifiers recently as he had tested positive for Covid-19 post his New Year break.

He has not been included in the Argentina squad for the Chile and Colombia matches coming up in the upcoming weeks.

Argentina have their spot already assured for the World Cup in Qatar later this year, however, Messi could use some on pitch time with the team in order to be at their best level come the World Cup itself.

“Clearly we would love to have Messi here with us,” Scaloni explained

“I spoke to him and he told me that Covid hit him hard. It is key for him to get well, and that is why I decided that the best option was for him to stay at his club.”

Messi however did appear on his Instagram live and greeted everyone during the festive season.

Scaloni himself won’t be coaching Argentina for the Chile match as he himself has tested positive and will be isolated at least until the next match.

“The question of the armband is logical enough,” Scaloni added. “Angel has been in the national team for many years and he is a guy who transmits a lot to his team-mates, he is loved and that’s all there is to it.