Category: RSS English

Liverpool supporters have flooded to social media this evening to curse their luck, after Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany all-but secured the Premier League title for the Citizens with a wonder-strike versus Leicester.

Man City vs Leicester

Pep Guardiola’s men welcomed the Foxes to the Etihad a short time ago, in an absolutely crucial outing in the Premier League title race.

Liverpool’s nail-biting 3-2 win over Newcastle on Saturday saw the Reds move back above City to the summit of the English top-flight.

As such, with just one set of fixtures remaining after tonight’s proceedings in Manchester, the champions were aware ahead of kick-off that nothing but a 3-point haul would do.

Kompany decides it

The opening 45 minutes saw clear-cut chances few-and-far between, with Kasper Schmeichel’s stunning save from a Sergio Aguero header having proved the highlight of a tense half of football.

As such, when the clock passed the hour-mark and City were still yet to score, tensions began to reach near-unbearable levels around the Etihad.

However, just when it looked as though Leicester may somehow find a way to hold the champions’ rake of attacking stars at bay, City struck, through the most unlikely source.

After picking the ball up 30 yards from goal, Sky Blues’ stopper Vincent Kompany was invited to step forward by the Leicester backline.

However, the Foxes could in no way have predicted what was coming.

Incredibly, the City captain went on to unleash the strike of his career, which arrowed beyond the reach of the despairing Kasper Schmeichel into the top right-hand corner.

‘Done with football’

When all was said and done at the Etihad, Kompany’s wonder-strike proved the difference between the sides, a fact which Liverpool’s fans have since taken as the final proof needed that the club’s pursuit of the Premier League title is definitively cursed.

Cancelo unsettled in Turin

According to Football-Italia, citing Corriere dello Sport, Juventus are willing to part ways with Manchester City target Joao Cancelo this summer.

Cancelo joined Juve last summer from Valencia for a fee in the region of £36m.

The 24-year-old has made 32 appearances across all competitions this campaign, scoring two and assisting

However, the report from Football-Italia suggests that Juventus want to sell the right-back due to his poor defensive capabilities and costly mistakes.

Football-Italia put Cancelo’s price-tag at somewhere between €50-60m and claim Manchester City would be interested in signing him.

Danilo replacement?

City could well be in the market for a full-back come the summer transfer window.

Danilo joined the Citizens in 2017 from La Liga giants, Real Madrid.

The Brazilian has made 59 appearances since making the move to Manchester.

The 27-year-old has also played 21 times this season for City but he is often second choice to Kyle Walker at right-back.

As a result, Danilo is being linked with a move to Serie A outfit Inter Milan this summer.

Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio reported in April that Danilo was open to a move to Inter and talks between the two clubs had commenced.

City are said to want around €30m for the defender, though Inter would prefer a fee in the low twenties.

Regardless, should Danilo leave, City will need to sign a replacement, especially if Benjamin Mendy’s injury woes keep up next campaign.

Arsenal boss Unai Emery this evening confirmed that Danny Welbeck will depart the Emirates at the end of the season.

Arsenal 1-1 Brighton

The Gunners welcomed Chris Hughton’s Brighton to the Emirates earlier today, for a crucial outing in the club’s quest to secure a top-4 berth.

Arsenal headed into proceedings looking in on the Champions League spots from the outside, having sat 4 points adrift of 4th-placed Tottenham, and 5 back of 3rd-placed Chelsea.

As such, Emery’s men were aware ahead of kick-off that only a victory, and preferably a substantial one to boost the club’s goal difference, would do.

However, when all was said and done, Arsenal couldn’t get the job done.

A lacklustre display from the capital giants eventually saw Glenn Murray cancel out Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s early penalty with a spot-kick of his own to secure a share of the spoils for Brighton.

Arsenal farewells

This evening’s stalemate, meanwhile, also marked Arsenal’s final home outing of the season.

As such, in the aftermath of the clash, both Aaron Ramsey and Petr Cech were provided with a guard of honour, before being handed a personal award by club chairman Chips Keswick, ahead of their respective departures:

Ramsey and Cech, whom it had long-been common knowledge would depart the Emirates this summer, were not the only ones to have received a club award, though.

Danny Welbeck, who’s future had appeared to be more up in the air than the aforementioned pair, was the other player to have been provided with a sendoff:

‘Going to leave’

As such, with Arsenal having, to that point, not yet made an official announcement on Welbeck’s future, Unai Emery was questioned on the former English international, who has spent the last 5 seasons plying his trade at the Emirates, in a post-match press conference.

And the Gunners’ boss went on to confirm that the decision has been made to allow Welbeck to depart the club on a free transfer this summer:

‘I spoke to the club with this situation. And the decision is he is going to leave.’

Man United set for Europa League football

Manchester United travelled to Huddersfield on Sunday in a tie that decided their European fate for next season.

United started the day in 6^th-place in the Premier League table, three points behind 4^th-placed Chelsea.

Maurizio Sarri’s side also played on Sunday, at the same time as Man United.

Chelsea would beat Watford 3-0, while the Red Devils drew 1-1 with Huddersfield.

Scott McTominay opened the scoring against the Championship-bound side. But Isaac Mbenza would level things up in the 60^th minute.

Solskjaer sends message to his players

Manchester United have now won just one of their last five league outings.

After another poor display, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has sent a message to his players.

When asked about his current squad’s future, OGS stated that we may have seen the last of certain players in the club’s colours:

“I can’t talk about individuals now, but there is the chance you have seen the last of players.

“They are not letting me down. We are a team together. They are working really hard. It has been a tired team.

“We gave ourselves a chance to be in the Champions League, something we didn’t think was possible.

“We had so many opportunities to grab third or fourth. We didn’t. It’s probably the right place for us to be next year, the Europa League.” As quoted by the Evening Standard.

What a career Xavi has enjoyed

Barcelona legend Xavi has announced his retirement at the end of the season while also confirming his plans to go into coaching.

Xavi has been a household name in football for some time now.

Graduating through Barcelona’s famous academy La Masia, Xavi scored 85 goals and assist 182 in 769 appearances for the club.

During that time, the midfielder won several major honours including four Champions League trophies and eight La Liga trophies.

Xavi also triumphed on the international stage with Spain, winning the European Championships twice and a World Cup in 2010.

Back in 2015, Xavi decided to take a new path, joining Qatari club Al Sadd SC.

Now, after making 84 appearances for the club, Xavi has announced he will hang his boots up for good when the current campaign finishes.

The next chapter in Xavi’s footballing career

In a statement released to AS, Xavi revealed his decision to end his 21-year career.

While claiming it has been a privilege to play football for so long, his most interesting comments came in the form of what he wants to do next.

Xavi has claimed he’s looking forward to ‘seeing what the future holds for me as a coach.’

“My philosophy as a coach reflects the style we developed for many years under the influence of Johan Cruyff and La Masia, and that has its greatest exponent in the way of playing football in Barcelona,” Xavi explained.

“I love seeing the teams take the initiative on the field, play attacking football and return to the essence of what we all loved since our childhood days: football possession.”

Safe to say, if he can get his teams playing like the Barcelona side he played in, the sky is the limit.

A glimpse of life without Eden Hazard

Chelsea fans are calling for Eden Hazard to be introduced in their Europa League clash with Eintracht Frankfurt after a lacklustre first half.

There are no doubts that Eden Hazard has been pretty incredible this season.

Hazard was a sure bet for a place in the PFA Team of the Year but was amazingly snubbed.

Chelsea even released a statement in shock of Hazard’s snub.

Despite that, Hazard has been so important for Chelsea both in the Premier League and Europa League.

Scoring 19 goals and assisting 13 so far this season, Hazard is almost impossible to leave out.

That’s why when the team sheets were released for the Europa League clash with Eintracht Frankfurt, Chelsea fans were not happy.

Poor start in Germany

That’s because Eden Hazard had been left on the bench, seemingly rested for their game against Watford on Sunday.

That was fine until Frankfurt went 1-0 up in the 23rd minute.

Inform striker Luka Jovic stooped low to head past Kepa Arrizabalaga.

It wasn’t against the run of play either, Frankfurt had actually dominated the game up to that point.

David Abraham had also missed a huge chance before Jovic’s opener.

Thankfully for Chelsea fans, their side did crawl their way back into the game.

Despite a lacklustre first half performance, Chelsea scored an all-important away goal on the stroke of half time.

Winger Pedro placed the ball beyond the reach of Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp.

Even with Pedro’s goal, Chelsea fans want to see Eden Hazard and soon.

Where will Jose Mourinho manage next?

Jose Mourinho has given an insight into what he wants from his next job in management after being sacked by Manchester United.

It was back in December when Mourinho’s tenure at Manchester United came to an end.

Following a disappointing result against Liverpool, Mourinho was given his marching orders.

Ole Gunnar Solskjær soon took over and has done pretty well so far at Old Trafford.

Meanwhile, Mourinho has descended into the shadows somewhat.

Bar a few rumours and some media appearances, Mourinho has been out of the spotlight.

Now, with the summer approaching, Mourinho has given an insight into what he wants from his next job.

Time and confidence

Speaking about former rivals Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola, Mourinho claimed he would ‘love’ to be at a club where he’s given time and confidence to succeed.

Using Guardiola as an example first, Mourinho cites Pep’s spending spree last summer.

Then, he explains that despite Klopp having not won a trophy in three and a half years, the German still has the confidence of the club.

“I would love to go to a club and be able to do, for example, what Jurgen and Pep have done,” Mourinho explained in an interview with MARCA.

“If you look at the team with which Liverpool jumped into the game today – against Barça – how many players were there before [Klopp]?

“When Pep was not happy with the back four, that summer he bought four new ones he liked.

“Jurgen is in the club and he does not win at all for three and a half years and he still has the confidence and the conditions to move forward.

“They have a great opportunity to do so this season, but it would be the first time they won a title.”

Only time will tell which club is willing to offer him that time and confidence.

Casillas out of the woods

Former Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas has taken to social media after he suffered a heart attack at Porto’s training facility.

The Spanish goalkeeper is considered to be one of the best goalkeepers of the last decade or so.

During his time with Real Madrid, Casillas won three Champions League trophies.

Though, it was his performances on the international stage which he will be remembered for.

Casillas captained Spain to two European Championships and a famous World Cup in 2010.

However, Casillas fell ill on Wednesday.

The horrible news was reported on Wednesday afternoon which claimed Casillas had suffered a heart attack.

Porto then subsequently released a statement regarding the incident.

The statement read: ‘Iker Casillas suffered an acute myocardial infarction during Wednesday morning training session held at the Porto Gaia Training and Training Center in Olival. 

‘The work session was promptly interrupted to provide assistance to the FC Porto goalkeeper, who is currently at the Hospital CUF Porto. Casillas is well, stable and his heart problem solved.’

Now, Casillas has spoken out for the first time since his attack.

“All controlled here…”

Posting on Twitter, Casillas moved to ensure fans knew he was now in a stable condition and on the mend.

‘All controlled here, a big scare but with the forces intact,’ he wrote.

Casillas also thanked everyone for their messages of support after waves of Tweets were posted by his footballing colleagues

‘Thank you very much for the messages and affection.’

Whether he will play football again we’ll have to wait and see, but we’re all hoping for a speedy recovery for the footballing legend.

Iker Casillas in hospital after suffering training ground heart attack

Safe to say, the original report really took everyone by surprise.

Barcelona vs Liverpool

Liverpool travelled to Barcelona on Tuesday for the first leg of their semi-final clash.

Jurgen Klopp’s side then host Barca in the reverse fixture on May 7^th.

With Tottenham already 1-0 down to Ajax in the other UCL semi-final, Liverpool may have been England’s best hope at winning the Champions League this year.

The Reds made it to last years finals but were beaten 3-1 by Barcelona’s rivals, Real Madrid.

Heading into the game Liverpool have been in superb form, winning their last 10 matches across all competitions.

Messi’s ridiculous free kick

The first 45 was actually a pretty open contest between the two sides.

Luis Suarez would give Barcelona the lead in the 26^th minute and celebrated against his former club.

However, Liverpool still had their fair share of chances, one of which Sadio Mane should have put away.

The second half would then begin with Suarez flinging himself to the floor after a challenge.

It was this and numerous over incidents including his pestering of the referee after the James Milner on Lionel Messi incident that caused some Liverpool fans to turn on Suarez.

Suarez was, of course, a key figure when Liverpool nearly won the league under Brendan Rodgers but there didn’t seem to be much love lost between either party on Wednesday.

It was also Suarez’s shot that bounced off the bar and back to Messi to make it 2-0.

Lionel Messi then killed the game and perhaps the tie off with a superb free-kick.

Messi’s just sidefooted a free kick into the top corner from 35 yards out and it probably doesn’t even make the Top 50 Lionel Messi moments

Liverpool injury blow at the Camp Nou

Liverpool have been dealt an injury blow on Wednesday evening after Naby Keita was forced off during their Champions League clash with Barcelona.

It’s been a very up and down season for Naby Keita.

The Guinean midfielder initially struggled to adapt to the Premier League having joined from RB Leipzig last summer.

While some performances were impressive, his overall game was not good enough to nail down a regular starting spot in the team.

However, that has changed over the past month or so.

Keita has forced his way into the side and has actually been pretty solid all in all.

He’s impressed so much that he warranted a spot in the Liverpool midfield for their Champions League semi-final first leg against Barcelona at the Camp Nou.

Though, the game certainly didn’t pan out the way he’d hoped it would.

How long will Keita be out for?

That is because after just 20 minutes, Keita was forced off with a suspected groin injury.

A tackle from behind by Ivan Rakitic saw the Liverpool man tumble to the ground before clutching his groin.

That lead to the medical staff leading him off the pitch.

Liverpool will now be sweating on the midfielder’s fitness with several extremely important games coming up.

Not only will Liverpool face off against Barcelona in the second leg in just a weeks time, but they are also in the thick of a Premier League title battle.

Safe to say, all Liverpool fans will be hoping Keita’s injury is nothing serious.

Liverpool have it all to do at the Camp Nou

What didn’t help the mood was that Liverpool went 1-0 down not long after Keita’s exit.

Former Reds star Luis Suarez latched onto an incredible through ball by Jordi Alba, providing the deft of touches to put it over Alisson Becker.

Now, Liverpool have it all to do in the second half.