As Liverpool and Manchester United wrangle with Champions League opponents over ticket prices, a campaign by Bayern Munich fans may be about to bear fruitShortly after 6pm CET on Tuesday Anderlecht were charged with infringing Article 19 (3) of Uefa’s safety and security regulations. Not the sexiest intro, admittedly, but the charge against the Belgian champions offers hope for fans being fleeced at European away games year after year. Anger, however, remains the prevailing mood over a ticketing system open to abuse.Uefa opened proceedings against Anderlecht after the club charged Bayern Munich supporters €100 to attend a Champions League group game in November. Many Bayern fans boycotted despite tickets eventually being reduced to €70 thanks to subsidies from their own club. As...
The club’s canny acquisitions and the manager’s brand of football where his side refuse to let up even after an opponent’s will has been broken lift them to third placeLazio won at San Siro on Sunday. An impressive feat at any time but all the more so on this occasion because they weren’t playing there. It was their neighbours, Roma, who had travelled to face Inter but a 1-1 draw between those teams was as good as a victory for the Biancocelesti, who took advantage of dropped points to climb into joint third.They had done their part by thrashing Chievo 5-1 in the afternoon. So much for the theory that the winter break might cost Lazio momentum. This was the...
Max Rushden and co talk January’s big transfer deal, Marco Silva’s sudden departure, PSG getting beaten in Ligue 1 and bloody selfiesRate, 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, Philippe Auclair and Paolo Bandini to discuss the weekend’s football action, starting with the unexpected departure of Marco Silva from Watford. The Pozzo family have employed Javi Gracia as his replacement, the 10th such appointment since they took over in 2012. Continue reading...
Pablo Machín and his players have transformed the club and, with it, the town. This never used to be a football place focused on its own team. It is nowIt took Lionel Messi two seconds to work out what was going on, Pablo Maffeo says, and not very much longer for him to say sorry; he was just doing what he’d been told to do. It was September, FC Barcelona’s first ever visit to Montilivi in primera, and it wasn’t a whole lot of fun for either of them. Everywhere Messi went, Maffeo went too. There was no getting rid of him, so Messi wandered about, mostly staying out the way, and struck up conversation. He asked how old he...
Saturday’s win at their fellow strugglers sparked the sacking of Markus Gisdol and raised hopes of an unlikely escapeAlready, it threatens to be the story of the season. FC Köln were dead, buried and we were just waiting for the post-mortem. Following the worst start to a Bundesliga season in the competition’s near-55-year history – no wins and three draws in the first 16 games, which finished off one of the club’s greatest coaches ever, Peter Stöger – the patient hasn’t just woken up. They’ve put their best clothes on, left the hospital and gone out clubbing.Saturday’s vital win at fellow strugglers Hamburg, who Effzeh are now only three points behind, was their third in a row since breaking their...