Posts Tagged ‘Barcelona’

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Some of you may have noticed that there hasn’t been much football on the television, (or anywhere else), recently.

Apparently this is because of some global pandemic which has managed, in one fell swoop, to do what non-football fans have been trying to do for years. It has all come to a shuddering halt. CR7 has been temporarily replaced by COVID19.

People are now in lockdown and finding out things about family members that they never knew! One man explained how his “house arrest” has resulted in a perfect opportunity for his wife to point out everything he has done wrong in the last 15 years. (more…)

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So London lost more than it won. This is OK. It is the natural order of things and the way they should be.

Chelsea won the Europa League but the fact that the final was contested by two teams from the Big Onion meant that the trophy was always going to end up there. More importantly Arsenal lost a big final, Spurs lost a big final and even Anthony Joshua managed to lose to an unknown Mexican in New York! (more…)

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Now that Ole Gunnar Solskjær has been installed as the “permanent” manager, at least until he becomes the ex-manager, has his attitude or approach to the job changed?

Has he, for example, confronted some players safe in the knowledge that HE will still be in charge next season, something he would have been unlikely to do as a caretaker?

Also, some of his recent decisions seem to have been a trifle strange. Why did he rest players against West Ham? United may have a deep squad but it isn’t blessed with more than one or two world class players and they only beat the Hammers courtesy of two penalties when, in fact, West Ham should have won the game. (more…)

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Following the recent Champion’s League draw the English clubs, with the possible exception of Tottenham Hotspur, can be reasonably optimistic about progressing.

Manchester United have already eliminated the so-called “favourites” by beating PSG so Barcelona, over two legs, shouldn’t hold any fears.

Liverpool have the “easiest” draw and should be able to find their way past Porto whilst, as we said, Spurs have the most difficult draw and could even see themselves exiting the competition from their new stadium! Now wouldn’t that be poetic justice? (more…)

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It’s nearly all over! At Manchester City they think it’s already all over and it is now! At Manchester United they just have to put the finishing touches to the season by beating little old Chelsea in the FA Cup final. They can’t let their neighbours get awaywith two trophies and not pick up anything!

Then there’s them there scousers! They may be good enough to beat serial Champion’s League winners Real Madrid and pick up another European trophy as yet another year with no league title goes by. How many is it now? (more…)

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With Liverpool favourites to progress to the Champion’s League final how likely is it that they will win the trophy in May? One thing is for sure, they will have to defend better against Real Madrid than they did against Roma in the semi-final.

Two seasons ago Manchester City reached the same stage and were defeated by Real Madrid although only by a scoreline of 1-0 over the two legs. What must have been more annoying to Manuel Pellegrini at the time was that City should have won both legs of that tie.

Real Madrid got through to the final without ever having to do anything out of the ordinary and without even playing well. The fault all lay with City who just didn’t appear to turn up either in Madrid or in Manchester. (more…)

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Manchester City have been confirmed as Premier League champions with five games still to play. After just a few games of this season it was pretty obvious that they were the favourites to win it and it really shouldn’t come as a major shock to anybody that they have.

What has been disappointing is the gulf in class between them and the rest. Only Liverpool have tried to challenge them on an entertainment level and Jürgen Klopp seems to have the edge over Guardiola when their two teams meet.

The expected challenge from Chelsea never materialised, Mauricio Pochettino is not yet at the same level and Stubborn Old Man is just past it. (more…)

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At the time of writing England still has four representatives in the competition so the chances are reasonably good that one of them could win it. To an extent it depends on the draw for the quarter finals, particularly for Manchester City and Liverpool who are already through to that round.

Manchester United still have a potentially tricky second leg tie at home to Sevilla to overcome but should do so without major problems whilst Chelsea have the hardest task in that they need to either beat Barcelona in the Camp Nou or come away with a high scoring draw in order to progress. (more…)

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Ilkay Gündoğan – Man-of-the-Match and two goals to boot.

After emphatic away wins for Manchester City and Liverpool they are both, barring disasters of seismic proportions, through to the quarter finals of the Champion’s League.

Having beaten Basel 4-0 in Switzerland City fans will be thinking that there will be tougher tests ahead and they would be right in so thinking.

The only question raised by the performance of the Swiss team is how they managed to beat Manchester United and Liverpool in the recent past!

On this form, which has been pretty consistent all season, City need fear nobody and are certainly a match for the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Münich. (more…)

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In his latest chinwag with the nation’s finest press and broadcasting representatives, José Mourinho managed to express an opinion which hasn’t been met with gasps of surprise or “what’s he going on about now?” type questions.

He claimed, quite categorically, that Manchester United may be a big club but it is not a big team.

Pause for breath while the assorted menagerie which passes itself off as intelligent authors of the truth digest this profound statement.

What can he possibly mean? Well, dear readers, it is the truth and has been for a long while. (more…)