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Tag: Manchester City

Champions League and Europa League Back in Town

Posted on by Chirag

This week the champions league and europa league return to everyone’s screens as the Round of 16 for both tournaments heats up.

With teams like Liverpool, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Paris Saint Germain and Bayern Munich still in the mix for the Champions league title, the race is getting fun. However out of Real Madrid and Paris Saint Germain, only 1 club will see the light of the quarter finals as the two face each other in theri second leg with the score at 0-1 favouring PSG.

Meanwhile Liverpool, who will face Inter Milan in the second leg tonight, already leading by 2 goals will have no difficulty getting to the next stage considering their great Premier League form.

The same goes for teams like Manchester City and even Bayern Munich. However for teams like Atletico Madrid and Manchester United it will be very difficult. As the two giants face each other in the second leg next week with the score at 1-1, it’ll be interesting to see how the two have changed their squads. 

Both United and Atletico have been on a bad run in their respective leagues with United standing at 5th and Atletico at 4th, both teams might fall more in points before the season ends. 

Meanwhile over in the Europa League, the first leg of the Round of 16 begins with a very dominant Barcelona at the helm. As La Blaugrana get ready to face Galatasaray after a very long time, their La Liga competitors, Sevilla will be facing West Ham.

Barcelona, if they get to the finals and win, will win the Europa League for the first time ever due to them never being out of the Champions League so early.

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.”

Liverpool Back in The Hunt!

Posted on by Chirag

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool were on a path of destruction at home as they hosted Brentford in a thrilling Sunday fixture. 

The reds last hosted Brentford back in 1989 when Liverpool beat them 4-0 in a great encounter between the two English sides. This time around, Liverpool fell a goal short of that record as they beat Brentford by 3 goals to nil.

Klopp’s team built a lot of pressure on Brentford’s defence and keeper throughout the match and especially in the first half. They even tried to highlight Brentford’s weakness at their near post when conceding corner kicks. 

Eventually, Fabinho opened up the scoreline for the reds as he scored the opening goal at 43 minutes, just a couple of minutes before the half.

In the second half, Brentford looked better but still ages away from Liverpool’s level as they failed to dominate with possession and barely got a couple of shots on target as they missed two amazing opportunities for a goal.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain put another nail in the coffin on the 69th minute with his header into the net as Liverpool led by 2 goals to nil. Moments later, Minamino and Firmino’s in box 1-2 passes set up the perfect strike for Minamino as he buried that coffin and finished the match at 3-0.

Liverpool now sit at 45 points and second in the premier league. Their opponents Chelsea stand at 43 points with the difference being not just the 2 points but also an extra match left for Liverpool to play. 

As the red and blue battle for 2nd and nearest competitor for the leaders, Manchester City sit comfortably in 1st place at 56 points, 9 points ahead of Liverpool. With 16 match days left in this incredible season, City will need to win as much as possible in order to keep the gap between them and Liverpool the way it is. Any losses for City and any wins for Liverpool will just close down the gap as the season comes towards its end.