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Category: Football News

Mbappe’s Last Minute Winner Puts PSG In Driver’s Seat

Posted on by Chirag

Kylian Mbappe played one of his best games so far as he faced off against the visitors under the lights of the Parc de Princes in Paris.

The giants of Paris and the Giants of Real Madrid faced off in an epic encounter last night in the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League. The Parisian leaders dominated in terms of possession as the visitors played catch-up. 

With the likes of Vinicius, Benzema and Asensio failed to convert any of their chances throughout the tumultuous affair as the two teams fought for the second leg advantage. 

Effective this season and onwards, UEFA have enforced the new rule that ensures no additional weightage to the crucial away goals for any 2 leg match-ups. This means that the team playing any away games from the Round of 16 and onwards will not have any additional advantage if they score and will instead count as a regular goal.

This new rule is projected to increase the number of games decided under extra time and penalties. With this additional nugget of excitement, both PSG and Real tried to score early to get the advantage going ahead into the second leg. However, PSG’s homegrown talent proved to be fatal for the visitors as Kylian Mbappe after many attempts finally managed to sneak one under the legs of Thibaut Cortois at the very last minute.

During the normal time, Messi received a penalty opportunity as Kylian was fouled in the box earlier. PSG’s Neymar also returned to action for PSG in the Champions League after suffering an injury in late 2021.

‘Liverpool Chose me’, Says Reds Super Fan

Posted on by Chirag

Liverpool, the famous English football club dressed in red, have been around for a long time now. They have garnered relationships with a lot of fans during this time.

This list of fans includes super fans from Italy, a country where Liverpool is headed to face Inter in their Champions League clash this week. 

“I live 500 metres away from the Stadio San Paolo,” Esposito tells GOAL. “My father was a season-ticket holder there when I was a kid.”

He pauses. “But there has only been Liverpool for me.”

“I was eight years old,” he remembers. “I was given a team, Ref. 41, while playing Subbuteo. It was the classic Liverpool kit from the 1970s

“So, I picked up a Guerin Sportivo magazine to search for pictures of Liverpool players. There, I saw Kevin Keegan: full red kit and his trademark haircut. It was love at first sight!”

“Even in black and white, Anfield was on fire,” he says. “The Kop was fearsome, so loud – even at 2-0 down.”

A year later, he attended his first Reds game. “The European Cup final in Rome!” he smiles. “Not bad! The 1984 final was my second game, as well!”

“My first game at Anfield was against Sunderland in 2010. After that trip I decided I wanted to move permanently to this wonderful and unique city. I’m so proud to have been able to achieve that.”

“Liverpool is my biggest love and passion,” says Mario. “I’m very proud to support this special, amazing club. I believe your club chooses you, not the other way around,” she says. “And I’m so glad Liverpool chose me!”

Chelsea Lift FIFA Club World Cup After Thrilling Night in Abu Dhabi 

Posted on by Chirag

The Blues beat Palmeiras last night in Abu Dhabi as they lifted the FIFA Club World Cup to become the best club in the world.

Lukaku opened up the scoring for Chelsea early on with Kai Havertz scoring the crucial penalty in extra time at the 117th minute.

“It’s amazing,” said Havertz to Channel 4. “After champions of Europe, we are now champions of the world. It sounds better.

“I was nervous [taking the penalty], I have to be honest. It’s a big penalty. It’s just crazy. It was good I kept the nerves. I am very happy.

“I was the third penalty taker but I was the only one left on the pitch.
“My team-mates gave me trust. I dreamed always as a kid of this. This is an amazing feeling for me.”

Tuchel meanwhile said, “In the end if you score late you need luck to do it but we were relentless and we did not stop trying,” he said to Channel 4.

“We did not give in. We had the lead then lost it but never stopped. It was deserved but also lucky when you score late.

“The penalty does not look nervous [from Kai Havertz] but for sure he was. You cannot not be nervous in this situation. We trusted the statistics and I’m happy for him.”

Pep Guardiola on Jurgen Klopp Giving Up Title Hunt

Posted on by Chirag

Manchester City coach Pep Guarldiola has made his thoughts public on Jurgen Klopp talking about giving up on their title aspirations this season already.

“I am not sure we are in a position to get them on their toes,” he said after Thursday’s win over Leicester. “We have no chance to catch them but that does not mean we shall not try to play the best possible season for us.”

Currently the gap between the two English giants stands at 9 points in City’s favour. Liverpool do stand a chance to shorten the gap to 6 points this weekend as they get ready to face Leeds United.

When asked about Klopp’s comments, leading team coach Pep Guardiola said, “I don’t believe him!”

“Absolutely (it’s possible) and he thinks the same, otherwise he wouldn’t be the competitor that he is.”

“Of course he believes. In football, everything can happen. He knows that he has to win a lot of games, like we know we have to win a lot of games to fight to be champion again.”

“Both teams have shown over the years that they can make an incredible run of victories in a row,” Guardiola added. “If one team is able, they can.”

“Both have the same managers, more or less the same squads and ideas. Both could make 16, 17 wins in a row. They can do it – we can do it too.”

Arsenal Start February With Firm Win Over Wolves

Posted on by Chirag

Mikel Arteta’s February has started with a blessing as his gunners have beaten Wolves by a goal to get those three precious points and the most important W.

After a winless and controversial January, the gunners were in a tough spot in terms of points. To guarantee a top 4 spot they will have to continue to win most of their upcoming matches. However the significance of yesterday’s match was higher than it seemed as United’s stumbling run against the likes of Burnley, Tottenham and Southampton meant that Arsenal still have hope to reach the Top 4.

Though not the best match Arsenal has ever played or will play, the 1-0 win drew lot’s of cheers and sighs of relief for Arsenal fans around the globe.

With the controversial decision of letting the former captain Pierre Emrick go in January on a free transfer to Barcelona, all eyes were on the newly refurbished Arsenal.

The only goal of the match was scored by Gabriel as the clock touched 25 minutes. The Brazilian defender scored a close range finisher to seal the deal for Arsenal but the drama wasn’t over there.

Another Gabriel got to affect the match with his double yellow cards in just 10 seconds as he pushed a Wolves player in the middle of a throw-in and then ran off to foul another player. This red card put Arsenal at a disadvantage as they stood with 10 men.

Wolves tried to equalise late after that uncanny red card however they were denied by the assistant waving the offside flag. Arsenal now stand at 5th place below West Ham, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City with Manchester United breathing down their necks at 6th place.

West ham Player Zouma Dropped from Team and Sponsorship Amidst Pet Abuse Video Leak

Posted on by Chirag

West Ham defender Kurt Zouma has been under the spotlight after a video was leaked on Tuesday where he has been seen hitting and kicking his cats. RSPCA has confirmed that the cats have been removed from his home.

The defender won against Watford on Tuesday and was then fined by West Ham for this act. Essex Police reported and solved the issue with over 150,000 people signing petitions for Zouma to be prosecuted.

With the bad news not ending for Zouma, Adidas have dropped him and will not continue to sponsor him after this incident.

“We have concluded our investigation,” the company said in a statement, “and can confirm Kurt Zouma is no longer an Adidas contracted athlete.”

West Ham also agreed with the public and condemned the act only to confirm that they had fined Zouma the maximum amount.

After the release of the video, Zouma released a statement,

“”I want to apologise for my actions. There are no excuses for my behaviour, which I sincerely regret. I also want to say how deeply sorry I am to anyone who was upset by the video. I would like to assure everyone that our two cats are perfectly fine and healthy. They are loved and cherished by our entire family, and this behaviour was an isolated incident that will not happen again.”

Kane taking Inspiration from Ronaldo, Messi and Brady

Posted on by Chirag

Tottenham Hotspurs lead striker Harry Kane has been talking about being so relevant in the sports world at this age and his secret is just taking in the inspiration and keep on grinding. 

The Brit talked about how many players who aren’t in their 20s are also in their prime.

“People are speaking about their prime being between their mid-20s and late-20s,” he tells GOAL during an exclusive interview at The Hive, Barnet FC’s stadium in north London. “But I feel like people’s prime now is early-30s, pushing on to mid-30s

“You look at Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. All these players hit 30 and took their careers to another level.

“That’s something I look at and get excited about because I know there’s a lot more I can improve on and achieve.

“I think Ronaldo and Messi set the standard, not just on the pitch but by being so professional off it. It’s all down to the way they keep their body in good shape, so that they can perform week in, week out.

“So, that’s the goal: I want to be playing football as long as possible. It is a sport I love and enjoy doing every day of my life, so the longer I do it, the better.

“I probably am double the player that I was at Orient (during his first season as a professional),” he explains. “That was 11 years ago now and I think that data has been a huge part of my development. When I was about 20 years old, after a couple of my loans didn’t go quite so well, it was like ‘Where do I go from here? So, I took a look at stats and, with Mauricio Pochettino coming in at Spurs, I did a lot of gym work and extras on the training pitch, high-speed running stuff, to take my game to the next level.

“I am a huge NFL fan and a huge Tom Brady fan as well,” he admits. “It’s the way he started and was doubted and people were not expecting much of him, it felt similar to how my career started.

“He kept his head down, worked harder than anyone else, had self-belief and a real determination and drive and that’s what he did.

From 1st to 5th; the Downfall of Atletico Madrid

Posted on by Chirag

The former La Liga Champions Atletico Madrid have had a few bad matches throughout this season which have seen them fall from the first position in the table to the fifth.

Atletico lost all of their La Liga matches in December and fell badly in the points, until they made a comeback against Valencia to win 3-2. However Simeone’s Atletico have yet to go a long way to get back to the top as evident by their poor performance at the Camp Nou this week.

Barcelona beat Atletico 4 goals to 2 as they made their own comeback into the big leagues.

“We wait until we are losing before we start to play,” said defender Stefan Savic. “I don’t know if it’s something in our heads, but we have to change it if we want to compete in the Champions League.”

“In the first half Barca had four (chances) and scored three. Atletico had four and scored one. It’s all about being clinical,” said Simeone. “We have to credit how clinical our opponent was, and try to improve our intensity, aggression and concentration.”

The team has just fallen behind in terms of performance at the forefront with giant strikers like Jao Felix, Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezman all getting just a few goals throughout the season and failing to score in the big matches. 

With a tie against Manchester United coming up in the Champions League just in a couple of weeks, Atletico Madrid need to get back into form or at least come up with a formation that helps and cushions their current form.

Are FC Barcelona Back? Multiple Debuts as La Blaugrana beat Atletico 4-2

Posted on by Chirag

FCBarcelona played against Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou last night as they sat in 5th place with Atletico in 4th in the La Liga standings. 

La Blaugrana surprised even their own fans with that insanely good performance and thrilling win with 4 goals to 2. Atletico’s aggression and quick counter attacks failed at every step except 2. 

Carrasco got the lead for Atletico early on at 8 minutes but that was soon equalised as Dani Alves turned back the clock with a cross to Jordi Alba who finished off with a stunning goal from the edge of the box. 

From there on, it was a Barcelona dominated game with Atletico getting in a couple of shots on goal only for them to be saved by the big German, Ter Stegen. 

The debutant Adama Traore was absolutely unstoppable yesterday as he passed through the tough Atleti defence and got a cross in for Gavi to head it into the net. He then made way for another fellow debutant in Aubameyang as he was substituted in the middle of the second half.

Barcelona’s Araujo got in on the action after a cross from the corner dropped at his feet and later on in the second half, the experience and wisdom of Dani Alves got him his first goal of his new start at Barcelona under the Xavi era.

Luis Suarez did manage to get in another goal for Atletico, however the score was already 4-2 with Barcelona looking very dominant over all. The morale and hope in the locker room was very high and positive after a thrilling win and a jump to 4th place in the La Liga. Now Barcelona will play Espagnol on Sunday and then start their Europa League Campaign next Wednesday.

Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid for 4th position; A Preview

Posted on by Chirag

FCBarcelona will be facing Atletico Madrid tonight at 8:45 PM IST in the Camp Nou as they look to steal the 4th position in the currently unexpectedly stacked La Liga table. 

The Blaugrana currently stand at 5th with 35 points just 1 behind the second Madrid club at 4th with 36. With Barcelona making massive signings this January, we look forward to seeing the likes of Aubemayeng, Dani Alves, Traore and Torres all in one squad.

The biggest question remains which position and who will Xavi play in the forward as he stands with a tonne of choices currently. Possible combinations include Jutgla-Depay-Torres, Fatti-Aubemayeng-Dembele, Abde-Luuk-Traore or Fati-Braithwaite-Torres. 

With Atletico playing the aggressive attacking game, Barcelona will need to find a way to use the likes of Araujo and Pique properly in the back with wingers like Torres and Traore making the runs ahead.

If Barcelona win the match, they will stand a chance to make it to the UEFA Champions League group stage next year, but more importantly, Barcelona will prove that they can still play with the big teams and win. Meanwhile Atletico warms up with a couple of matches before they meet Manchester United in the Round of 16 of Champions League.