Football Blog (Page 228)

[ad_1] Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has warned the Gunners not to underestimate Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League on Thursday night, insisting Norwegian club football has improved in recent years following a drop in its level before that. Bodo/Glimt are reigning Eliteserien champions and have made a strong start to the Europa League group stage, taking four points from games against PSV Eindhoven and Zurich thus far. “They have always been a small club and they have often been between the first and second division in the Norwegian league. Sometimes up, sometimes down, but over the past few years they have been really strong,” Odegaard saidRead More →

[ad_1] With the international break thankfully in the rearview mirror, the glorious sound of the Champions League anthem returned to us this week before the goals flew in across the Tuesday and Wednesday night fixtures. Erling Haaland, you might have heard him, increased his personal tally to 28 in only 22 appearances in the competition but as Pep Guardiola took him off at half-time to deny the Norwegian the opportunity to bag his fourth hat-trick of the season, he just about misses the cut here for our Champions League team of the week. Here is an XI of our star performers across this week’s games.Read More →

[ad_1] Barcelona have reached agreement with Atletico Madrid over a permanent transfer for Antoine Griezmann, sources have confirmed to 90min. The 31-year-old Frenchman re-joined Atletico last summer on a two-year loan deal that was under-pinned by a number of clauses. One of those meant that Atletico would pay Barcelona €40m to complete the signing of Griezmann if he had played in 50% of games over the two-year period. He played in 80% last year which meant he was on course to hit that mark, but instead of starting Griezmann as usual, Atletico began limiting his minutes. That included bizarrely routinely only bringing him on anRead More →

[ad_1] Eddie Nketiah has admitted that he has been left frustrated by the lack of playing time he is getting at Arsenal so far this season after deciding to stay at the club in summer. Nketiah looked set to leave Arsenal on a free transfer at the start of the summer transfer window with his contract expiring, but he ultimately decided to sign a new five-year deal. While things have gone well for his club since then, with the Gunners top of the Premier League after eight games, it has been a disappointing start to the campaign from a personal perspective. With new signing GabrielRead More →

[ad_1] Nottingham Forest have informed Steve Cooper that he will be given more time to get the club’s season back on track, sources have confirmed to 90min. Forest have endured a torrid start to the Premier League season, sitting bottom of the table with one win from eight games. That is despite having spent £150m on new players in the summer, bringing in a British record number of signings – 22 to be precise. Cooper performed brilliantly in the Championship to guide Forest to promotion. Even with the task of gelling the new faces, many presumed that the Tricky Trees would have sufficient quality toRead More →

[ad_1] Matchday three of the 2022/23 Champions League group stage concluded on Wednesday night, with the likes of Real Madrid, Chelsea, Manchester City, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain all in action. But while Real, Chelsea, City and Juve were ultimately satisfied with their respective results, it was a night of disappointment for PSG. Read on to see how all the action unfolded across eight games. Red Bull Salzburg had 18 attempts on goal against Dinamo Zagreb but were made to wait until the final 20 minutes to break the deadlock – and it came from a Noah Okafor penalty. It was an important win for SalzburgRead More →

[ad_1] In August, France Football released its 30-man shortlist for the 2022 Ballon d’Or award. Of the nominees, one player will be crowned the best individual male player over the course of the 2021/22 season during a ceremony in Paris on October 17. While Karim Benzema is widely-tipped to be taking home this year’s prize, the most notable absence was that of seven-time winner Lionel Messi, who didn’t make the cut after a relatively disappointing debut season with Paris Saint-Germain during which he scored 11 goals and notched 15 assists in all competitions. Mortal numbers by his lofty standards. It doesn’t seem right for theRead More →

[ad_1] The New York Red Bulls have signed left-back John Tolkin to a new contract through the 2027 MLS season, the club announced Wednesday. RBNY also hold an option to extend Tolkin’s new deal by an extra year, which would keep him at Red Bull Arena until the end of 2028. “We are very excited to sign John to a new contract and keep him with the club,” Red Bulls head of sport Jochen Schneider said in a club press release. “He had a very successful season, and we are pleased to have him on our team for years to come.” Still just 20 yearsRead More →

[ad_1] The Spain and Portugal football federations have confirmed that Ukraine has been incorporated into their bid to host the 2030 World Cup, in an agreement with the Ukrainian Football Association (UAF). Announced at UEFA’s headquarters in Switzerland, they state the decision has been backed by the governments of all three nations as well as UEFA – European football’s governing body. Luis Rubiales, who serves as president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) spoke on the decision, via Reuters: “Our bid is not an Iberian bid anymore, it’s a European bid. “I’m convinced that now our bid is much better than before. Football isRead More →

[ad_1] Lucy Bronze believes women’s sport is now in a position to fight back against abuse, explaining that these issues have always been prevalent, but players have now found the courage to speak out. A year-long, independent report into women’s soccer in the US, published on Monday, found verbal and emotional abuse and sexual misconduct to be ‘systematic’, and spanning across ‘multiple teams, coaches, and victims’. The report was published a little over a week after 15 Spanish players made themselves unavailable for selection for the women’s national team due to the detrimental impact it was having on their ’emotional and personal state’. Bronze condonedRead More →