Football Blog (Page 227)

[ad_1] Real Madrid and Uruguay midfielder Federico Valverde has expressed his delight after comparisons to Steven Gerrard. His international teammate Luis Suarez, who played with Gerrard for three and a half seasons at Liverpool, claims he spotted similarities between the pair as far back as 2017. “There are newspaper archives, back in 2017, when Fede made his debut in the national team. I already said he reminded me of Steven Gerrard,” the 35-year-old now playing for Nacional in his native country said. Valverde, who made 46 appearances last season as Real Madrid won both La Liga and the Champions League, has impressed with his all-actionRead More →

[ad_1] Liverpool chief executive Billy Hogan has admitted the club believed Jurgen Klopp would leave Anfield in 2024 after being informed by the German he probably wouldn’t sign a new contract. Klopp’s current contract is due to expire in 2026 after signing an extension in April. But his previous deal was due to expire in 2024 and it wasn’t initially his intention to stay for longer. Speaking to Bild, Hogan admitted the renewal actually came as a surprise to him and his colleagues as Klopp had previously informed them he’d likely be leaving in 2024. “We couldn’t be happier,” the American exec said. “He hadRead More →

[ad_1] Brazilian wonderkid Endrick became Palmeiras’ youngest player ever on Thursday evening as he made his long-awaited senior debut, with representatives from Real Madrid in attendance to take in his performance. Endrick, widely considered the best player of his age in the world, came on for the last 20 minutes of the 4-0 win over Cortiba – aged 16 years, two months and 16 days. Fans chanted for Endrick to be brought on, as they have been for much of the last month, but finally coach Abel Ferreira gave them what they wanted. Endrick impressed and could have scored a couple of goals himself inRead More →

[ad_1] Over the last 15 years, Brentford fans have seen it all. Relegation, several promotions, several more promotion heartbreaks, a revolution, a new stadium to replace one of England’s most iconic, and – for the first time in their history – Premier League football. Sergi Canos hasn’t quite experienced all of these things with the Bees, but he’s seen a fair few of them and even wore shirts adorned with their old, clunky crest. Besides a six month spell at Norwich in 2016, he is the current squad’s longest-serving player alongside Rico Henry. “I came on loan, so I don’t know if that counts!” CanosRead More →

[ad_1] We’re halfway through the group stages of the Europa League and Europa Conference League, with tables now starting to take shape. Arsenal played host to Bodo/Glimt in one of the later kick-offs, after fellow Premier League sides Manchester United and West Ham jetted off around the continent to face Omonia Nicosia and Anderlecht respectively. Here’s a round-up of the evening’s action. FC Zurich 1-5 PSV Eindhoven Arsenal were flying / Richard Heathcote/GettyImages Arsenal cruised to a comfortable 2-0 victory over Bodo/Glimt under the lights at the Emirates. Eddie Nketiah tapped home a rebound after Kieran Tierney’s thumping effort bounced back off the post, minutesRead More →

[ad_1] Arsenal made it two wins from two in the Europa League this season as they secured a convincing 3-0 victory over Bodo/Glimt at the Emirates. Eddie Nketiah and Rob Holding both found the back of the net midway through the first half, before Fabio Vieira killed things off five minutes from time to seal all three points for Mikel Arteta’s men. Predictably, Arsenal were on top in the opening stages and Nketiah came close to bending in a nice opener inside the first five minutes, instead watching as his strike whistled wide of the far post. Some nice play handed Vieira a chance shortlyRead More →

[ad_1] Getafe host their capital rivals and reigning Spanish champions Real Madrid in La Liga on Saturday night. Quique Sanchez Flores is now in his third spell as Getafe manager but is steeped in links to Real Madrid. The 57-year-old followed in his father’s footsteps by playing for Los Blancos and had the club’s greatest player – Alfredo Di Stefano – as a godfather. Real Madrid prepared for the trip to the home of their former right-back with a 2-1 win against Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek that belied their dominance in the Champions League group stage encounter. Here’s everything you need to know about theRead More →

[ad_1] AC Milan host Juventus as reigning Serie A champions on Saturday afternoon for the first time in 11 years. Stefano Pioli’s side go into the weekend trailing the division’s early pace-setters, Napoli and Atalanta, in fifth but with four more points than their upcoming visitors. Massimiliano Allegri was in the home dugout the last time the Rossoneri welcomed Juve to San Siro as Scudetto holders. Some were beginning to suggest Allegri’s tactics have scarcely evolved in the subsequent decade but back-to-back victories with three goals in each outing has quelled the crisis talk in Turin – for now. Here’s everything you need to knowRead More →

[ad_1] Megan Rapinoe condemned the fact the USA have become accustomed to ‘shouldering so much’ on top of football as they prepare to face England four days after the release of Sally Yates’ report into abuse in US women’s soccer. Yates’ report found verbal and emotional abuse and sexual misconduct to be ‘systematic’ across US women’s soccer and spanned across ‘multiple teams, coaches, and victims’. Over 200 players were spoken to as part of the report, and allegation into coaches Paul Riley, Rory Dames and Christy Holly were investigated. “It’s really sad to say, but in a way, I think we’re used to having toRead More →

[ad_1] Lionel Messi has confirmed that the 2022 World Cup will be his final appearance at the competition. Now 35, Messi is yet to get his hands on the World Cup trophy, falling short in the final against Germany back in 2014 and tasting elimination in the quarter-finals in both 2006 and 2010. If he is going to win the competition, it will have to be in Qatar later this year as Messi has confirmed that the upcoming tournament will be his final World Cup. “Yes, surely yes, surely yes,” he told Star+ when asked if Qatar will be his last. “I’m counting down theRead More →