For all the talk of wingers Christian Pulisic and Jadon Sancho heading into Borussia Dortmund’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Wembley Stadium, it was a Tottenham center back for who provided the game-changing moments from out wide.
This story should be about another tactical masterclass from Rafa Benitez or the staggeringly good form of 21-year-old midfielder Sean Longstaff or the brief but spirited cameo from record signing Miguel Almirón, but instead it’s about a ridiculous bit of goalkeeping from the usually excellent Martin Dúbravka.
Newcastle traveled to the Molineux on Monday night sitting above the drop zone on goal difference. With Wolves flying high in seventh, this match represented a daunting fixture for Benitez’s men.
Manchester City went top of the Premier League table on goal difference today, and what a sensational difference to the goals they made. And they did it against David Luiz’s Chelsea, no less.
6-0. +54 GD. That’s City.
I read something interesting from Quartz (I have no idea) about the differences between the words fuck-up, SNAFU, FUBAR, shitshow and clusterfuck. I figured it was clickbait, but it really was a sensational read.
Alvaro Morata had to leave Chelsea — he really had no choice after his form and confidence seemingly dissipated after a slew of shocking missed opportunities. So he returned to Madrid, where he started his professional career back nearly 10 years ago. Except, he joined Atletico, not Real.
Because someone somewhere loves us, we’re being treated to three El Clásicos between Barcelona and Real Madrid in the next month. It started on Wednesday at the Camp Nou, the first leg in the Copa del Rey semifinals, with a Malcom goal vs Real Madrid leading to a 1-1 draw.
The match didn’t feature Lionel Messi or Gareth Bale in the starting lineups, though that didn’t worry Barça fans too much after they watched their side eviscerate Los Blancos 5-1 without Messi in October.
Just like David Silva’s hair transplant, Manchester City is growing and on top and oh god this metaphor. But City returned to the summit of the Premier League with the sort of balls to the wall 2-0 win that Liverpool is suddenly incapable of.
Liverpool fans — taking a break from crucifying Naby Keita for the 970 minutes of PL football he’s played — immediately turned their attention to crucifying Everton fans for potentially wanting to lose to City today to thwart their rival’s title aspirations.
I recently read that humanity is getting dumber. Whether that’s because of unhealthy diets, garbage media, substandard schooling or the general inclination to never read anything, our habitation of a “stupidity-inducing environment” is causing the IQ of modern generations to plummet. But there’s hope, because here you are reading and here I am trying to not be garbage media man.
No one in the region seemed to want this to happen — even fewer (outside of Xavi) expected it — but Qatar is the best team in Asia.
With its fans banned from the host country due to diplomatic tensions in the Middle East, a tiny population and little footballing tradition prior to FIFA awarding the nation 2022 World Cup hosting rights, Qatar’s 3-1 victory over Japan in the AFC Asian Cup final capped an unlikely run to the Maroons’ first-ever major soccer championship.
And they did it in some style, with two incredible first-half goals.
It was another frustrating night for Huddersfield Town as the club fell to its 16th loss of the season to Everton and its ninth one-goal defeat on Tuesday, 1-0.
The game marked Huddersfield’s new boss Jan Siewert’s first game of action.
Huddersfield drew at 1-1 last time the two played but the EPL’s best in the net, Jordan Pickford, managed to keep the Terriers scoreless in the rematch.
Pickford played magnificent with only two dynamic saves needed of him.
Pep Guardiola will not have enjoyed this.
Last season, the Manchester City boss escaped his first-ever trip to St James’ Park with the narrowest of 1-0 victories. “We did absolutely everything but it is difficult to play when the other team doesn’t want to play,” said Guardiola after that one.
Newcastle put 10 men behind the ball at all times, and City could’ve easily been up 4-0 inside 30 minutes, but a draw was almost snatched by Rafa Benitez’s men in the final five minutes. That particular footballing lesson stayed with Guardiola until today’s encounter.