Away from the Neymars and Coutinhos, the continent’s top clubs are increasingly targeting players between 16 and 18, such as Jadon Sancho and Willem GeubbelsJadon Sancho’s move last summer from Manchester City to Borussia Dortmund made a clear statement: here was an elite prospect who would no longer wait patiently for an opportunity to play senior football.Sancho exploded on to the scene at youth international level last year while also proving his quality for City’s various development squads and the reason the 17‑year‑old swapped England for Germany was clear: he felt he was ready to play first-team football. It was a statement that resonated around Europe. Related: How Premier League starlets are cutting ties and going to Germany and Portugal...
Uefa’s president wants to improve competitive balance but the top clubs’ financial dominance equates to power too, and it is unlikely his mooted measures will make a significant differenceFor football people raised on the foundational European Cup feats of Manchester United’s home-schooled Busby Babes and Celtic’s 1967 triumph with a team of local lads, the modern Champions League is a mixed blessing. Over the last 23 years the tournament has constructed a glittering stage for Lionel Messi and the world’s greatest players but European football’s concentration of wealth is delivering the final rounds and trophy itself to the same few richest clubs. Related: Chelsea given painful reminder of declining European status by Barcelona | Dominic Fifield The measures Ceferin has...
Antonio Conte had reason to curse the absence of a ruthless streak but the grimmer reality is Chelsea have won two games in the knockout stages of this competition since 2012Chelsea could at least seek to console themselves in the immediate aftermath of elimination. They had reason to curse profligacy, and the absence of a ruthless streak which saw the Premier League team strike the woodwork four times over the two legs but succeed in scoring only once. They could always point, too, to Lionel Messi’s brilliance. Antonio Conte described the tie’s decisive performer as “not a top player, but a super, super, super top player”, the kind who crops up once or twice a century. He was the difference....
Barcelona’s injury-plagued €105m French forward scored his first goal for the club against Chelsea, but the Argentinian had the final word as everFive men slammed on the brakes simultaneously. Together they had been running towards Lionel Messi and together they turned and ran away from him again, as if he had flicked a switch, as if he had some kind of control over them. Which, in a way, he did. The moment that led to the second goal on a night which ended with the Camp Nou roaring their team into the quarter-finals, was an encapsulation of the power that ultimately took them there.Messi twice sent shots through the legs of Thibaut Courtois and into the net, in the third...
Jürgen Klopp has given Antonio Conte the template: Chelsea must banish defeatism and be ‘hungry, alert and aggressive’ in season-saving Champions League second leg at Camp NouPeople are predicting the end of the Premier League as we know it just because Chelsea showed so little ambition against Manchester City when they had a chance to at least lay a glove on the champions elect.It is one thing for a team such as Newcastle to attempt to keep the score down against top sides in the hope of a favourable goal difference at the end of the season but if the defending champions are now at it the game has obviously gone. Related: Why Chelsea’s supine surrender at Manchester City should...