Football Blog (Page 19)

[ad_1] Thibaut Courtois hardly endeared himself to the fans who used to adore him during Real Madrid’s 2-0 win at Chelsea on Tuesday night. Los Blancos secured their place in the semi-finals of this year’s UEFA Champions League with a 4-0 aggregate win against the Blues. The tie saw Courtois paired with his former club for a third successive season, with this being his second return to Stamford Bridge in front of fans. Chelsea supporters have held a grudge against the Belgian after he forced a move to Real Madrid back in the summer of 2018, refusing to show up for pre-season. Read the latestRead More →

[ad_1] Thiago Silva has slammed Chelsea’s ownership for signing too many players during the recent January transfer window. The centre-back started both of the Blues’ 2-0 defeats to Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals over the last week, and has been regular in a team that has struggled to find any sort of form since new ownership took over the club. Chelsea’s horrid form, particularly in the Premier League, recently saw Graham Potter lose his job and be replaced by Frank Lampard until the end of the 2022/23 season. Lampard’s appointment hasn’t done much to rectify the club’s issues, however, as they haveRead More →

[ad_1] Real Madrid’s passage through to the semi-finals of the Champions League was sealed with a comfortable 2-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Carlo Ancelotti’s side are attempting to win the competition for a record-extending 15th time, and are defending the title they won in 2022 after beating Liverpool 1-0 thanks to Vinicius Junior’s goal. Their hero on Tuesday night in west London was 22-year-old winger Rodrygo, who scored a second half brace to extinguish any hope that Chelsea had of getting back into the tie. It was the young Brazilian’s 14th and 15th UEFA Champions League goals – pretty impressive numbers for aRead More →

[ad_1] Frank Lampard is now the holder of an unwanted 118-year Chelsea record after losing to Real Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie. The Blues went down 2-0 at Stamford Bridge – the same scoreline they lost by in Madrid a week prior – to not only exit this season’s competition, but likely end all hope of qualifying for any kind of European football in 2023/24. Chelsea legend Lampard was appointed as caretaker manager in early April, after the club opted to sack Graham Potter less than seven months into the five-year contract he signed when joining from Brighton, butRead More →

[ad_1] Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed that he substituted Karim Benzema in Tuesday’s win at Chelsea as he had picked up an injury. Los Blancos beat the Blues 2-0 at Stamford Bridge to secure a 4-0 aggregate win in their UEFA Champions League quarter-final. They will face either Manchester City or Bayern Munich in the last four. A second-half brace from Rodrygo killed off any hope of a Chelsea comeback, with the reigning champions eventually easing their way into the semi-finals after a strong first 45 minutes from the hosts. “It was known that we had to suffer in this type of game.Read More →

[ad_1] Frank Lampard has argued that Chelsea were the stronger side on the night, despite the Blues crashing out of the Champions League with a 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid on Tuesday, Chelsea produced a much-improved performance compared to recent weeks and had their chances to tie the game up early on as N’Golo Kante and Marc Cucurella both failed to convert, but they ultimately came unstuck to two second-half strikes from Rodrygo, pushing the Blues onto their longest winless run since February 1995. Despite the result, Lampard was keen to highlight the positives and insisted there were real signs of improvement from Chelsea. “WeRead More →

[ad_1] Chelsea put on a much-improved performance but were still no match for Real Madrid, who booked their place in the semi-final of the Champions League with another 2-0 victory over the Blues. A double from Rodrygo in the second half got the job done for Real and crushed all spirits at Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea once again being made to pay for their lack of cutting edge in attack in what was an otherwise solid performance. Chelsea made a solid start to proceedings, pressing high and forcing even Luka Modric into a misplaced pass. The Blues could have even taken a lead ten minutesRead More →

[ad_1] After loathing each other to varying degrees for the best part of a century, the fiery relationship between Barcelona and Real Madrid had shown some signs of cooling in recent years. Both could unite against a common enemy in the form of La Liga – with the Spanish top flight proving to be a stubborn obstacle in the way of a shared ideal, the European Super League. However, Real Madrid squashed any links that had formed when they sided with La Liga and the Spanish FA in the complaint against Barcelona regarding alleged payments made by the Catalan club to former referee chief JoseRead More →

[ad_1] Constantine Hatzidakis, the assistant referee who was briefly stood down from duty for an alleged elbow on Liverpool defender Andrew Robertson, will be back assisting VAR on Saturday. Hatzidakis was accused of striking Robertson as he shrugged off being confronted by the Liverpool player as both were walking off the pitch at half-time during the Premier League clash between the Reds and Arsenal at Anfield earlier this month. The FA investigated the matter, with Hatzidakis cleared of wrongdoing. He has also since apologised directly to Robertson for what happened. But rather than be thrown straight into a Premier League game, where the spotlight isRead More →

[ad_1] Manchester City’s resurgence this season has proven that Gareth Taylor and his side are capable of overseeing a re-build on the job. Coming into this season, City undertook some drastic changes. The departures of Keira Walsh, Caroline Weir and Georgia Stanway to Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich respectively gutted their midfield. Lucy Bronze went to Barcelona, while Ellen White, Jill Scott and Karen Bardsley retired. The massive overhaul came with a lot of questions. After all, City were losing many key players in the dressing room and most of the seven new arrivals had come from overseas league and were playing in EnglandRead More →