Showing posts with label FOOTBALL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FOOTBALL. Show all posts

Friday, 18 March 2016

UCL: Barcelona to face Atletico Madrid, City draw PSG

Champions League holders Barcelona will play Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals next month.
UCL: Barcelona to face Atletico Madrid, City draw PSG
The two La Liga sides met in the last eight of the 2013-2014 competition, with Atletico winning 2-1 on aggregate before eventually losing to Real Madrid in that year’s final.
Barca responded with victory in last season’s competition, while Atletico lost out to Carlo Ancelotti’s Real team at the quarter-final stage.
French champions Paris Saint-Germain will take on Manchester City in the other standout tie of the round, with Laurent Blanc’s men continuing their pursuit of four major trophies this season.
First-time quarter-finalists Wolfsburg will play Real Madrid – now managed by Zinedine Zidane – over two legs following Friday’s draw in Nyon.
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich’s reward for their thrilling comeback against Juventus in the last-16 is a tie against Benfica.
Champions League quarter-final draw in full:


Wolfsburg v Real Madrid
Bayern Munich v Benfica
Barcelona v Atletico Madrid
Paris Saint-Germain v Manchester City

Sunday, 13 March 2016

THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR THE FRENCH GENIUS "ARSENE WENGER"


Soccer pundits questioned whether a third-straight FA Cup triumph would be enough for Arsenal fans. That will no longer be an issue, after the Gunners lost 2-1 at home to Watford in the quarterfinals.
Arsenal blew their Premier League title challenge, earning just one of a potential nine points from their last three matches. It was a golden opportunity, with Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, and Liverpool falling apart in the same season.
Their thoroughly unimpressive Champions League campaign is all but over, after losing 2-0 to Barcelona in the home leg. The way Arsenal are playing, fourth-place and a spot in next year’s Champions League is no guarantee.
The comprehensive failure follows a pattern that has become all to familiar over the past decade. It also comes after Arsenal declined to supplement the squad adequately in the summer transfer window, also a pattern.
Will this finally be the end for Arsene Wenger?
The Frenchman will go down among the all-time greats. He has won three Premier League titles, six FA Cups, and took Arsenal to a Champions League Final. His teams’ style, signing policy, and training methods revolutionized English soccer.
But, the question now is not what Wenger has done. It’s what Wenger offers now and next season. His consistency amidst financial turnover has been no small feat. But, he no longer seems like the manager who can push the team on to win. The counterpoint: the reason the club has been so close for so long has been Arsene Wenger.
Will Stan “Just Good Enough to Keep Em Coming” Kroenke be the man to make a tough decision? He’s negotiating an extension for far more mediocre Jeff Fisher with the Rams.
What may save Wenger for 2016-17 is there’s no strong candidate to replace him. Pep Guardiola is going to Manchester City. Jurgen Klopp already joined Liverpool. It’s hard to see Arsenal cozying up with Wenger’s arch-nemesis Jose Mourinho.
Who do you think could come in?

Friday, 11 March 2016

RAMSEY OUT FOR UP TO FOUR WEEKS - WENGER


Aaron Ramsey is expected to be out for four weeks with a thigh injury, dealing another big blow to Arsenal’s chances of getting back into the Premier League title race.
Ramsey had to limp off just 15 minutes after coming on as a substitute in the 4-0 win at Hull in the FA Cup on Tuesday, and underwent scans on Thursday to determine the severity of the injury.
“I would say four weeks,” Wenger said, dismissing speculation that the Wales international could be out for the season. “At the moment, his clinical signs are quite positive.”
Centre-back pairing Per Mertesacker and Gabriel Paulista also went off injured against Hull, but Wenger said both defenders should be available for Sunday’s FA Cup quarterfinal at home against Watford.
Mertesacker sustained a cut above his after a clash of heads, while Gabriel sustained a hamstring problem.
Wenger said Mertesacker has trained as normal with squad in the last few days, while Gabriel is expected to return to full training on Saturday.
“I don’t think he lost too much fitness,” Wenger said about Gabriel. “I will have to make a decision tomorrow. At the moment my gut feeling is that he will join in [training] tomorrow and be completely available.”Meanwhile, Laurent Koscielny is also close to returning from a calf problem, but Wenger said he may opt to rest the Frenchman ahead of Wednesday’s trip to Barcelona.
“Koscielny is not far,” the Arsenal boss said. “Will I risk him or not? It may be a small medical risk, I don’t know, I haven’t made the decision yet.While Arsenal’s defensive injuries may be easing, Ramsey’s absence in central midfield will cause a bigger problem for Wenger, especially as Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere are not expected back until April.
Wenger gave Mohamed Elneny his first league start alongside Francis Coquelin against Spurs and said the Egyptian is ready to play a bigger part going forward.
However, he did not rule out switching formations at times to a 4-3-3, as he has done in the FA Cup this season.
“Elneny looks like he’s ready to play, yes,” Wenger said. “I will consider every formula that is possible to give us balance at the moment. I think Elneny in central midfield can cope.
“We have [Mathieu] Flamini, we have Coquelin who can cope as well — they have shown that already. We can change the formula as well if needed, but that depends on the game. Every game will be different now.”

EUROPA LEAGUE ROUND UP: SPURS, UNITED DISGRACED, DORTMUND,LIVERPOOL ON A HIGH


A dominant Liverpool were worthy 2-0 winners over Manchester United as the old foes met in Europe for the first time on Thursday, while Borussia Dortmund outclassed Tottenham Hotspur in their Europa League last 16, first leg.
At a boisterous Anfield, Liverpool were on top from beginning to end as United lost to their great rivals for the first time under the stewardship of Louis van Gaal, a penalty from Daniel Sturridge and a Roberto Firmino effort separating the teams.
Jurgen Klopp's side will go to Old Trafford for the second leg next Thursday in a good position to advance to the quarter-finals, although that United retain any hope is largely down to David de Gea.
The Spanish goalkeeper could not keep out Sturridge's 20th-minute penalty that followed a tangle between Memphis Depay and Nathaniel Clyne just inside the box, but he kept the visitors in the game for long periods after that.

De Gea saved twice from Philippe Coutinho and once each from Sturridge and Clyne before Liverpool, attacking the Kop with gusto in the second half, got a deserved second goal in the 73rd minute.
When Michael Carrick, who had replaced the suffering Marcus Rashford at half-time, made a mess of dealing with a Jordan Henderson ball, the excellent Adam Lallana pounced to set up Firmino to score.
"We can be confident with a two-goal advantage but that can be dangerous sometimes," Henderson told BT Sport as he looked ahead to the return.
"We've just got to go there as if it were 0-0 and take it from there."
Earlier, a brilliant Dortmund brushed aside a Tottenham side not helped by coach Mauricio Pochettino's decision to rotate his squad.
For his 100th game in charge, Pochettino made seven changes to the team that drew 2-2 with Arsenal last weekend with Harry Kane among those left on the bench and Dele Alli suspended.
Teenager Joshua Onomah was among those handed a start against a Dortmund side near full strength, although Ilkay Gundogan was missing with a foot injury.
The prolific Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had one effort ruled out for offside before getting the breakthrough on the half-hour mark, rising above Ben Davies to head home a Marcel Schmelzer cross.
Tottenham were never at the races, and Gonzalo Castro hit the post from a tight angle in the 51st minute after Aubameyang had lifted the ball over Hugo Lloris.
Reus double
Dortmund struck again on the hour mark, Neven Subotic heading on a Castro cross for Germany star Marco Reus to lash home on the volley at the back post.
And they appeared to have the tie sewn up as Reus scored his second of the evening with 20 minutes remaining, stroking past Lloris from close range after superb build-up play involving Aubameyang and Castro.
"It is difficult to explain but it's a bad day and I'm disappointed with our performance. We did not play well. That is why we lost the game," said Pochettino.
Elsewhere, holders Sevilla drew 0-0 away to Basel in Switzerland and ended the game with 10 men following the late sending-off of midfielder Steven N'Zonzi.
In an all-Spanish tie, Athletic Bilbao edged Gary Neville's Valencia 1-0 on a sodden San Mames pitch with Raul Garcia scoring the only goal of the game.
Villarreal are the best placed of all Spain's representatives, though, after a 2-0 win at home to Bayer Leverkusen at El Madrigal secured thanks to a goal in each half by Cedric Bakambu.
Leverkusen, who had Tin Jedvaj sent off late on, now have it all to do in the second leg in Germany.
Shakhtar Donetsk, UEFA Cup winners in 2009, are in a strong position after beating Anderlecht 3-1 in Ukraine.
Taison and Olexandr Kucher struck in the first period for Shakhtar and Eduardo added a third late on after Frank Acheampong pulled one back for the Belgians.
Lazio came from behind to draw 1-1 with Sparta Prague in the Czech Republic as a Martin Frydek opener was cancelled out by Marco Parolo.
And Fenerbahce have the edge against Portuguese side Braga following a 1-0 win in Istanbul given to them by a late Mehmet Topal goal.

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