Champions League and Europa League draws: A guide to English teams’ ties in the knockout rounds December 17, 2018 Monday’s draws for football’s European club competitions conjured some mouth-watering ties involving British sides, including a Premier League versus Bundesliga triple bill. In the Champions League last 16, Liverpool take on Bayern Munich, Manchester City meet Schalke, Tottenham face Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United play Paris Saint-Germain. Meanwhile the Europa League draw for the last [...]
Five things we learned from Liverpool 3, Manchester United 1: Reds pass another test; Jose Mourinho’s men losing touch with top five; Xherdan Shaqiri proves his worth December 16, 2018 The tests keep on coming for this Liverpool team and, with a new-found composure and a growing sense of destiny, Jurgen Klopp’s side keep on batting them away. On Sunday the challenge was to translate their momentum into a first Premier League win over Manchester United since 2014 and return to the top of the [...]
Weekend football talking points: Ralph Hasenhuttl makes Southampton mark; Tottenham super-subs; Leroy Sane shines in Benjamin Mendy’s absence; Rangers make Celtic sweat December 16, 2018 Southampton’s first home Premier League win since April, a harum-scarum 3-2 victory that ended Arsenal’s 22-game unbeaten run in all competitions, was a day to remember for new manager Ralph Hasenhuttl. The impact of the Austrian, known as a task-master who favours a high-intensity approach, was evident on Sunday as the Saints gave the Gunners [...]
The great TV robbery: How the world’s biggest sports broadcaster lost $1bn to a brazen campaign of piracy December 13, 2018 Imagine you’ve had something stolen. But this isn’t a conventional theft: you know who did it, how they did it, where they are – and you can prove it. It isn’t a one-off theft, but rather a never-ending succession of offences which the perpetrator does nothing to hide. Instead they taunt you frequently by flouting [...]
Liverpool v Manchester United: Jurgen Klopp’s team primed to end hoodoo against rivals but don’t discount party-pooper Jose Mourinho December 13, 2018 Supremacy in the rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester United has swung back and forth between English football’s two traditional powerhouses but there is no mistaking where it lies currently. Liverpool have added an armour-pleated rearguard to their quicksilver front line, are enjoying their best ever start to a Premier League season and sit top of [...]
Champions League talking points: Phil Jones and Paul Pogba with nights to forget, but Leroy Sane and Phil Foden shine December 12, 2018 In typical Jose Mourinho fashion, Manchester United’s manager hasn’t been shy lately in letting the public know about his side’s crippling injury problems. With Chris Smalling, Diogo Dalot, Luke Shaw and Matteo Darmian all absent, it was Antonio Valencia, Eric Bailly, Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo across the back four against Valencia. It’s fair to [...]
Talking points: Tottenham and Liverpool hold their nerve to reach Champions League last 16 December 11, 2018 Tottenham are used to having their nerve questioned but tonight in Barcelona they recovered from an early setback, regained composure and seized a deserved place in the Champions League last 16 that had looked beyond them halfway through the group stage. When Ousmane Dembele capitalised on the inexperience of Kyle Walker-Peters – the third-choice right-back [...]
Does winning your Champions League group make any difference make any difference to how far a team goes? December 11, 2018 With qualification for the last 16 long since sewn up like the seasoned Champions League veterans that they are, Manchester City and Manchester United could be forgiven for viewing Wednesday’s final group games as an unwanted additional burden in the busiest month of the season. Yet Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho, with two winners’ medals [...]
Tottenham’s trip to Barcelona may be a must-win match but the result isn’t everything for Spurs December 10, 2018 A trip to the home of the defining team of the 21st century, a chance to pull off one of the most famous triumphs in the club’s history, a shot at a kind of immortality; there is every reason for Tottenham to savour this week's Champions League fixture against Barcelona. The challenge is as steep [...]
Did Football Leaks kill financial fair play? Where breakaway threats and claims of systematic cheating have left Uefa’s rules December 6, 2018 Credibility has always been hard to come by for Uefa’s financial fair play rules, but a series of recent claims involving some of the sport’s richest and most powerful clubs has made the European governing body’s attempts at regulation look weak at best and, at worst, doomed. Central to the current crisis surrounding FFP is [...]
