Excitement of the play-offs
Could the Premier League benefit from a play-off system?
The Premier League season finally grinded to a halt yesterday and what a year it has been.
We’ve had Chelsea winning the league under manager Antonio Conte, even though many people had written them off when they lost 3-0 to Arsenal in September to leave them eighth in the table.
Then there was the puzzling decline of Leicester City under Claudio Ranieri when they looked a former shadow of the side that had won the title the previous year.
We’ve also had an enthralling relegation battle where it looked like Marco Silva’s Hull City would scrape survival only for his unblemished home record to come to a surprising halt against Sunderland to undo all of their h…
After years of waiting, the FIFA World Cup returns to our screens as the greatest spectacle in sport hits the Middle East this Sunday. The fact that the competition is being held in Qatar isn t exactly sitting well with the majority of fans and pundits out there, but there has still been an attempt from the masses to forget about all of that in favour of what we all know and love the beautiful game.
Eight groups of four teams are set to compete in the final World Cup before the capacity is extended from 32 to 48 in 2026. The expectation is that we ll see a whole lot of unpredictable scorelines, goals and potentially career-changing performances, but in reality, most folks just want Qatar s effort to go off without too many problems.
We can t picture a scenario in which …
Youri Tielemans says leaving Leicester City this transfer window is not out of the question amid ongoing links with a possible move to Arsenal.
The Belgium international is into the final 12 months of his Leicester contract and has also previously been touted as a target for Tottenham, Manchester United and Real Madrid.
He has impressed across his three-and-a-half-year stay at Leicester, the 25-year-old having scored 18 goals and assisted the same amount in 120 Premier League games.
That ranks Tielemans in the top 10 midfielders in the competition since his debut in February 2019 in terms of goal involvements, while he is sixth for successful passes (5,477).
The Anderlecht youth product is understandably attracting interest from elsewhere, and he has not…
Bayern Munich will to allow Thomas Muller to leave the club halfway through the season, according to branch in Germany.
The forward recently spoke about not being happy with a squad role at the club, having spent his entire career so far at the Allianz Arena and playing a huge part in the team s triumphs in recent years. He has helped them to win eight Bundesliga titles, five DFB-Pokal trophies and the 2013 Champions League, as well as reaching the final of UEFA s elite club competition the previous year.
On the other hand, the club and head coach Niko Kovac feel they need Muller to stay where he is, as he represents a more-than-able replacement for any attacking player Robert Lewandowski upfront, Philippe Coutinho as the number 10, Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry on e…
Thomas Tuchel questioned the commitment of his Chelsea players and admitted they were simply not good enough in their heavy friendly defeat to Arsenal on Saturday.
The Blues were thumped 4-0 by Premier League rivals Arsenal at Camping World Stadium in Orlando in the final game of their pre-season tour of the United States.
Gabriel Jesus, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Albert Sambi Lokonga were all on target for the Gunners, who looked far sharper in front of the 64,000 watching spectators.
And with the new season just two weeks away, Chelsea head coach Tuchel is worried about what he saw from his side.
I think we deserved to lose – which is fair enough – because we were simply not good enough, he said.
We were absolutely not competitive. …
According to a recent report from Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona defender Gerard Pique wants to retire whilst still playing for the club at the age of 35. However, if he winds up losing his place in the starting XI or his level of importance within the squad, he wouldn’t be opposed to bringing that forward.
The date would be the summer of 2022 if he was to go ahead with this plan, ensuring that Barca fans can breathe a sigh of relief if they were panicking about just how old he is.
Pique has been a consistent force to be reckoned with at the back for Barcelona for many years now, and it seems as if that’ll continue to be the case for a few years to come.
Defenders always seem to give themselves a little bit more time than forwards or wingers when it comes …
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Paris Saint-Germain are set to continue their bid to reclaim the Ligue 1 title on Saturday at the Parc des Princes, where they ll be welcoming Strasbourg in the second round of the 2021-22 season in the French top flight.
Paris Saint-Germain
Paris Saint-Germain are one of the most talked-about clubs in the world at the moment. The reason they ve just completed the signing of Lionel Messi from Barcelona. The Argentine superstar s contract with Barcelona expired at the end of June, and they were unable to get him to sign a new one due to a most unfortunate (from their point of view) combination of financial problems and La Liga regulations relating to the limit of the amount clubs are allowed to spend on wages. PSG pounced at once and h…
Cristiano Ronaldo revealed his delight at his 100th and 101st Portugal goals on social media on Tuesday.
Ronaldo scored a brace against Sweden in a 2-0 away Nations League win.
At the same Stockholm stadium where the forward scored a hat-trick in 2014 World Cup qualifying, his first was a stunning free-kick to bring up a century in international football.
Ronaldo was not done there, though, and curled in a fine second, with Ali Daei s record tally of 109 goals for Iran within his sights.
The Portugal captain posted on Instagram: Huge pride in this historical goal for our national team!
When they tell me I can reach 100, I say it s not enough 101 goals for Portugal.
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Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti claimed Vinicius Junior is the best in the world after helping Los Blancos into the Champions League quarter-finals in Wednesday s 1-0 win over Liverpool.
The Brazilian provided the assist for Karim Benzema s 78th-minute winner in the last-16 second leg, having netted twice while setting up another in the 5-2 first-leg victory at Anfield three weeks ago.
Ancelotti stated Vinicius was one of the best players in the world prior to their Copa del Rey clash with Barcelona earlier this month, and he now cannot see anyone better.
For me, he s the best in the world, Ancelotti told reporters. Today he didn t score, but he played very well and provided a goal.
The Brazil international has scored 19 goals this season, along …
Massimiliano Allegri was grateful after Alex Sandro s cynical red card helped Juventus to a 1-0 win over bottom-placed Hellas Verona on Thursday.
Moise Kean s strike with half an hour to play looked to be enough for Juve to make it five victories and five clean sheets in a row, but in injury time, a Thomas Henry throughball put Kevin Lasagna in on goal.
However, Sandro barged Lasagna over before the Verona forward reached the box and though the full-back was sent off, the resulting free-kick was skied over and Juve saw the game out to secure the three points.
Allegri was delighted after the match with his side s dogged performance and Sandro s unselfish decision to take Lasagna down, telling Sky Sport: Alex Sandro s red card is worth a goal.
He should no…