The Premier League’s lack of downtime is much maligned – but few clubs are truly idle over an ever more frenzied ChristmasThe Champions League returns this week and, for many, the most thrilling football tournament in Europe and arguably the world starts now. The wheat has been separated from the chaff, the Juves and Bayerns from the Qarabags and Maribors. As the first country in the history of the competition to have five teams through to the last 16, England’s interest in the knockout stages has never been greater, even if José Mourinho believes it will end sooner rather than later because of the absence of a winter break in the football calendar.Speaking in November, the Manchester United manager poo-poohed...
Max and the podders discuss Salah magic, flying starts for Arsenal new boys, Jordan Ayew’s undershorts and Birds of a FeatherRate, review, share on Apple Podcasts,Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Elis James and Mark Langdon to discuss the weekend’s football action. Continue reading...
Luciano Spalletti’s side have drawn their past five games, have not won in 10 and seem stuck in their own Groundhog SeasonAt this rate, Luciano Spalletti might want to contemplate learning the piano, helping a homeless man and declaring his love for Andie MacDowell. Milan is a long way from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, but on the weekend that Americans celebrated Groundhog Day, the Inter manager appeared to be trapped in a time loop akin to the one that Bill Murray found himself in during the 1993 movie by that name. The Nerazzurri just keep on drawing. They have done so five times in a row, and the last four of those by the exact same 1-1 scoreline. Even the order of...
After a tense buildup to the Catalan derby, Espanyol came close to repeating their Copa del Rey heroics until a late interventionThey were seven minutes away when Gerard Piqué appeared before them, a finger on his lips in the rain. “It was symbolic,” he said, and he made sure of that. Espanyol, the only team to have beaten Barcelona in almost six months, were leading again. For the second time in 18 days Barcelona had taken the short bus ride to the RCDE Stadium and, for the second time in 18 days, they were losing 1-0. After Barcelona’s defeat to Espanyol in the Copa del Rey, Gerard Moreno’s header left them on the verge of a league loss after 21...
Ralph Hasenhüttl has belief in the match-winning debutant who ‘only brought one pair of boots with him from England’It could have been all so different for Diego Forlán. So he thought, at least. Some years back he famously told an interviewer the tale of his last match for Manchester United, against Chelsea in 2004. Sir Alex Ferguson told him to wear boots with soft-ground studs but, feeling more comfortable in moulded, low studs, he ignored his boss. Late on, Forlán lost his footing in front of goal and missed a chance and was never picked again. After RB Leipzig’s late win at Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday, it appears that Fussballgott is very much on the side of Ademola Lookman. Three...