Football Blog (Page 53)

[ad_1] Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski has called on the club to dip into the transfer market during the summer in order to become more competitive next season. Barça have had much-publicised financial problems over the last couple of years, but committed almost €160m towards new players last summer and brought just under €50m back in through sales. They were not even able to register every new signing and contract renewal with La Liga until after the start of the season because of caps on spending power – €50m buy Jules Kounde missed the opening two games as a result of that delay. Barça executives hadRead More →

[ad_1] Manchester City have been pitted against Bayern Munich in a Champions League quarter-final littered with as many subplots as sublime players. Pep Guardiola’s former employers are the only team to have won every match they’ve contested in this season’s competition. Manchester City’s Erling Haaland is the tournament’s top scorer this year but Bayern Munich can boast the leading assist-provider – although, four of Joao Cancelo’s five European assists came while he was playing for City (including two for Haaland) before arriving in Bavaria on loan in January. The intricate web of interwoven brilliance goes on and on. However, City are still very much inRead More →

[ad_1] Global Recycling Day has been celebrated by Arsenal and leading aluminium drinks can maker Ball Corporation, by running a mini-training session with local ‘recycling champions’. Arsenal invited a group of 12-year-old fans, from a north London school situated near the Emirates Stadium, to Colney Training Centre after the five girls caught the attention of the ‘Premier League Inspires’ scheme with ideas for a social media campaign to activate recycling among Arsenal supporters with an interactive game that teaches what can and can’t be recycled. Gunners’ first-team players Gabriel Martinelli, Eddie Nketiah and Matt Turner, and team mascot Gunnersaurus, surprised the five recycling champions atRead More →

[ad_1] Austin FC crashed out of CONCACAF Champions League play after losing to Haitian side Violette AC on a 3-2 aggregate. After dropping the first match 3-0, Josh Wolff’s men expected to overturn that deficit when they returned home to Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas. However, Violette pulled off an upset, hanging on to their aggregate lead in the second leg as Austin only managed to score twice. Though Austin outshot Violette 35-6, the men in green failed to get the job done. “These results hinge on plays and I don’t know what we had, 30-something shots tonight. It’s disappointing. But there were a lotRead More →

[ad_1] Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice-president of Spain’s refereeing committee at the centre of a scandal involving Barcelona, previously revealed the Blaugrana hired him because they felt they were being unfairly targeted by referees. Payments have been unearthed from Barcelona to Negreira which has sparked a major debate about potential bribery and unfair treatment from referees, with the whole process being investigated by Spanish authorities. During the investigation, a statement made by Negreira to the Tax Agency to explain his income in 2021 has been seen by El Pais, in which the former official explained the nature of his work with the club.Read More →

[ad_1] The FA Cup quarter finals mean there is a reduced slate of Premier League action this weekend, but there are still five games in England’s top flight to track on Saturday. We’re approaching crunch time with clubs eyeing late darts for European places and battling to avoid relegation down to the Championship. Here’s the Premier League schedule this Saturday and how you can follow the action. Watkins is in scorching form / Craig Mercer/MB Media/GettyImages Had Aston Villa not started the season so poorly under Steven Gerrard, they’d be up there with Brighton and Brentford as surprising clubs battling for European spots. Ollie WatkinsRead More →

[ad_1] Newcastle moved to within a point of fourth-placed Tottenham in the Premier League table with a last-gasp win at Nottingham Forest. Eddie Howe’s side fell behind early on but kept their heads at a raucous City Ground on Friday night, condemning Steve Cooper’s men to their first home defeat since September. The visitors should have broken the deadlock with just five minutes on the clock. Kieran Trippier managed to release Jacob Murphy down the right flank, running in behind Renan Lodi and drawing a the attention of Moussa Niakhate. His cross picked out Joe Willock just outside the six yard box, who fired overRead More →

[ad_1] Manchester United have been drawn with Sevilla in the quarter-finals of this season’s UEFA Europa League. If the Red Devils are to claim European silverware this season, they must go through the most successful team in the history of this competition. United have only met the Andalusian side in two previous competitive ties, but both had quite seismic ramifications at Old Trafford. Let’s dive into the short but colourful history between United and Sevilla. The first meetings between United and Sevilla came in the last 16 of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League. After drawing the first leg 0-0 at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, UnitedRead More →

[ad_1] Manchester United have played an unholy number of games this season due to their deep cup runs. Having already won the Carabao Cup, they have got 11 Premier League games still to play, at least one more FA Cup match, and now two fixtures against Sevilla. Erik ten Hag has been trying to balance his squad through the games as best he can. With a tricky set of domestic fixtures up next, United will need to find a way to take as many points as possible while also getting through their quarter-final tie. Here’s how Man Utd’s fixtures shape up over the next monthRead More →

[ad_1] Chelsea are set to continue their title defence of the FA Cup against Reading in the quarter-finals this weekend. The Blues are searching for the third consecutive FA Cup, and are heading into this tie with confidence, as they’ve climbed back to the top of the Women’s Super League table this past weekend. Reading, on the other hand, have had a tumultuous season thus far. They’re only three points off the relegation spot in the WSL, and have suffered losses to Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Everton since the new year. When is kick off? Sunday 19 March, 14:00 (GMT)Where is the match being played? MadejskiRead More →