Blog (Page 97)

[ad_1] Barcelona extended their lead at the top of the league table to eight points thanks to a comfortable 3-0 win over Sevilla at Camp Nou. Second half goals from Jordi Alba, Gavi and Raphinha secured the win for Barca, who capitalised on Real Madrid’s defeat to Mallorca to take a stranglehold on the La Liga title race. As expected, Barcelona dominated the opening exchanges but it would take them until the 17th minute to carve Sevilla open for the first time. That chance would fall to Ronald Aruajo, who rose highest from a corner kick but headed his resulting effort on goal just wideRead More →

[ad_1] From the Chigwell Construction Stadium: Arsenal lost pace with WSL leaders Chelsea after being held to a 0-0 draw by a resilient West Ham on Sunday evening. The Gunners saw a selection of opportunities go begging and spent much of the second period camped in the Hammers half, but were left frustrated by a heroic West Ham defensive effort. The result leaves Arsenal five points behind Chelsea, but Jonas Eidevall’s side have a game in hand over the WSL champions. Despite the absence of goals, it was an entertaining, end to end first half affair. Frida Maanum and Caitlin Foord were in the thickRead More →

[ad_1] Chelsea were immensely busy in the January transfer window, bringing in eight new players, but can they use their new signings in the Champions League this season? With the season not going well for the club, owner Todd Boehly decided to give Graham Potter his full backing and splash the cash at the start of 2023, spending just under £300m. Malo Gusto has immediately returned to Lyon on loan while Andrey Santos and David Datro Fofana are very much signings for the future, but the other five players – Enzo Fernandez, Joao Felix, Mykhailo Mudryk, Nono Madueke and Benoit Badiashile – have been broughtRead More →

[ad_1] Try as hard as you might, but it’s impossible to remove the grin from Vinicius Junior’s lips for any extended period of time. Even when he has been bumped, barged and battered all over the pitch, the effervescent Brazilian invariably laughs off the extra attention he receives. Vinicius’ patience was pushed right to the limit after a particularly aggressive approach from Mallorca on Sunday afternoon. Vinicius was fouled ten times at Son Moix – the most of any Madrid player in a La Liga match since 2013 (per Opta) – as Los Blancos slumped to a 1-0 defeat away from home which dented theRead More →

[ad_1] Never deserved in the eyes of supporting fans, never even punishment enough in the eyes if rival fans – red cards have always been controversial. Even managers are often in total disagreement over the awards of those devilish rectangles, which is where the appeal process comes in. Should a club feel that their player has been hard done by with their marching orders, they can appeal for the decision to be overturned and have the ban rescinded. But how? Well, 90min runs through the process below. Once a straight red card has been awarded, a Premier League club can lodge an appeal under theRead More →

[ad_1] When Gianluca Vialli joined Juventus for a world record fee of £12.5m in 1992, Sampdoria’s striker didn’t have an agent. In fact, Vialli tasked Paolo Mantovani, the owner of the club he was leaving, with negotiating his pay packet at Juve. Three decades on, there’s scarcely a deal for a fraction of that sum which gets brokered without the presence of (at least one) player representative – let alone a world record fee. But what is the exact role of these mysterious figures, lurking in the shadows with a phone permanently glued to their ear? The role of a football agent is all-encompassing. SinceRead More →

[ad_1] Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea has backed a deeper squad – including new loan signing Marcel Sabitzer – to step up and minimise the blows of losing Christian Eriksen and Casemiro. After joining the Red Devils in the summer, Eriksen and Casemiro have become Erik ten Hag’s preferred midfield pairing. However, the Dane has been ruled out until the end of April or start of May with an ankle injury, while the Brazilian has picked up a three-match domestic suspension after being sent off against Crystal Palace on Saturday. Speaking after that narrow 2-1 win at Old Trafford, De Gea admitted losing twoRead More →

[ad_1] Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea was left perplexed by the red card shown to teammate Casemiro against Crystal Palace and expressed it in a wonderfully modern way. Casemiro was given his marching orders in the second half following a flare-up resulting from Jeffrey Schlupp’s off-the-ball challenge on Antony. It descended into a melee, during which the Brazilian grabbed Palace midfielder Will Hughes by the throat. When VAR sifted through the evidence, it was Casemiro who was deemed guilty of violent conduct and he was sent off. De Gea, though, was clearly unhappy with the decision and he took to social media after theRead More →

[ad_1] Wolves’ social media team have teased Jurgen Klopp with a Twitter post following Liverpool’s 3-0 loss at Molineux. The Reds were thrashed on Saturday afternoon as their miserable season continued, falling to tenth place in the Premier League table. An early own goal from Joel Matip was swiftly followed by a debut strike from Craig Dawson, before Ruben Neves finished the job at the end of a quick counter attack in the second half. Klopp’s furious post-match press conference saw him dismiss Wolves’ third goal out of hand, stating: “The third goal I don’t count because it was the first time they passed theRead More →

[ad_1] Bayern Munich have been accused of being ‘obsessed’ with signing players from Barcelona, even though they have achieved far more than the Catalans in recent years. Bayern dished out Barcelona’s most humiliating defeat in 2020 with an 8-2 annihilation in a one-legged Champions League quarter-final. They also put five past the Blaugrana without conceding over two games in this season’s group stage in the same competition. Bayern have been linked with a number of current Barcelona players. But even though Robert Lewandowski famously made the switch in the opposite direction during the summer, Barcelona-based Mundo Deportivo claims that Bayern are ‘fixated’ on Barça players.Read More →