Month: January 2025

Real Madrid visit holders Bayern Munich on the cusp of a return to the UEFA Champions League final for the first time in 12 years.

The Spanish side are the most successful team in the history of the competition, winning it nine times, but their quest for a 10th has been a story of near-misses.

Real have fallen at the semi-final stage in each of the last three seasons, twice coming unstuck against German opposition.

Borussia Dortmund beat Real 4-3 on aggregate last year in the semi-finals, while Bayern eliminated them on penalties in the last four of the 2011-12 campaign.

Real approach Tuesday s semi-final second leg at the Allianz Arena with a 1-0 lead though, following a strong performance in the opener in the Spanish capital.

Karim Benzema scored the only…

Big-Game Bottler Tag Removed? / Image via mirror.co.uk

Big-Game Bottler

Gonzalo Higuain is a quality striker and a top-notch forward whose talents and abilities have nevertheless been widely disputed both on club and international stage.

The Argentine has been slapped with a big-game bottler’s tag which in great deal came from his goalscoring record in the Champions League. Remarcably enough, until Wednesday, Pipita has only scored two knockout stage goals in Europe’s elite club competition – against CSKA Moscow and Galatasaray, respectively.

Criticism and doubt related to his performances in big games date way back to his Napoli days in 2015 when his lethal instincts abandoned him for a missed penalty against Lazio which could have earned Partenopei the …

Chelsea are basking in the glory of a fifth Premier League title in 12 years, with Antonio Conte continuing his run of club-level success.

The Blues have utterly dominated domestically this season, a streak of 13 wins on the spin late in 2016 sending them well clear of a chasing pack that has spent most of the campaign tripping over each other.

After Friday s 1-0 victory at West Brom got the party started, we examine the five key factors in Chelsea s title triumph.

CONTE S TACTICAL MASTERSTROKE

Saturday September 24, 18:15 This is when Chelsea s season really began.

As Michael Oliver signalled half-time at the Emirates Stadium, Conte knew the game was up, goals from Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil meant defeat at Arsenal was a formalit…

Erling Haaland has been named the Bundesliga Player of the Season for 2020-21, despite Robert Lewandowski s 41-goal campaign.

Lewandowski broke Gerd Muller s record of 40 league goals in a single campaign when he netted with the last kick of the game – and the season – in a 5-2 win over Augsburg on Saturday.

Muller, a Bayern Munich great, had achieved the feat during the 1971-72 season.

For a long period of Saturday s game at Allianz Arena, it appeared as though Lewandowski would fall agonisingly short of sitting out in front on his own.

In total he had 10 shots, six of which were on target, in a game that marked the last of Hansi Flick s tenure as Bayern head coach, but the Poland star finally got his goal at the final moment.

Yet this eff…

Despite having only left Juventus to join Manchester United in the summer of 2016, Paul Pogba continues to be linked with a return to Turin.

The 25-year-old has endured a frustrating time back at Old Trafford and the latest reports coming from Tuttosport indicate that Bianconeri are preparing a bold move to try and grab the Frenchman in January.

Paul Pogba registered 17 appearances for Manchester United this season, scoring five goals and assisting further four. He was left out of the Red Devils squad that faced Young Boys on Tuesday night at Old Trafford but should be back in contention for the trip to Southampton this Saturday.

The Frenchman has enjoyed a contentious relationship with manager Jose Mourinho who could end up being one of the biggest reasons for …

Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas said he will not be rushed into making a decision on whether to sack coach Claude Puel after the French club s disastrous start to the season.

We re not going to rush into changing everything on a whim, Aulas told the Telefoot television programme on Sunday, a day after watching his team lose 1-0 to regional rivals St Etienne.

The result left Lyon, which hit the woodwork three times and had two shots cleared off the line, second-bottom in the Ligue 1 standings and the spotlight squarely on Puel, who has failed to win a trophy since joining the hugely successful club in 2008.

We ve recruited well over the last two years and we ll examine things after 10 matches in the championship and three in the Champions League, Aulas said.

(GSM) Liverpool have announced the appointment of Damien Comolli as the director of football.

The Frenchman, who previously held similar posts at Tottenham Hotspur and Saint-Étienne, is the first appointment made by the club since New England Sports Ventures took control last month.

The 38-year-old, whose three year association with Spurs ended in 2008, has been accredited with the signing current star in the making Gareth Bale.

His most recent role was as director of sport with French side Saint-Étienne and he only left that role earlier this week after a falling-out with chairman Roland Romeyer.

I could not do my job properly, I had no problem with the technical staff but I had some with the club s chairman, said Comolli who was linked with a move t…

Mathieu Debuchy is obsessed with the prospect of helping France to a second FIFA World Cup success later this year.

France won the tournament in 1998 on home soil and lost the 2006 final to Italy on penalties, but disappointed in the 2010 edition as they were eliminated in the group stage.

Didier Deschamps men came from behind to beat Ukraine 3-2 on aggregate in a play-off after finishing second behind Spain in qualifying to ensure their place in the 2014 finals.

And Newcastle United defender Debuchy insists that France, who will face Honduras, Switzerland and Ecuador in Group E, feel they can win this year s World Cup.

My goal is to go to the World Cup, Debuchy told Telefoot. It is all I think of.

We believe (France can win the World Cup).

Debuchy …

Mario Balotelli sparked yet another controversy, when he posted a picture of himself wielding a shotgun on social media.

The AC Milan striker caused a stir with the photo captioned big kiss to all the haters with the shotgun aimed at the camera, before removing the post off Instagram.

Milan vice president Adriano Galliani said he was helpless to sanction the Italy international.

I have my own ideas about social networks and I ve tried many times but our lawyer has always stopped me, saying that it would violate individual rights, Galliani said.

In contracts it s written what players can and cannot do, but we can t do anything regarding their private lives. We do it vocally but that s not enough.

Balotelli, 23, scored once for Italy in their FIF…