In the early days of football and throughout most of the 20th century, it wasn’t uncommon for players to stay at a club for their entire career. Legends such as Santiago Bernabeu, Giampero Boniperti, Lev Yashin and dozens of others all stayed with one team for decades. It was kind of the thing to do.
With Liverpool’s 6-3 aggregate pasting of Hoffenheim on Wednesday, the English Premier League put five clubs in the Champions League for the first time. That’s five chances for English fans to cry over their clubs failing to come through in the continental competition.
Chelsea won the Champions League in 2012 but since then English clubs have barely sniffed the final. In 2015, no EPL team even made it past the Round of 16. The days of 2008 — when the EPL had three of the four semifinalists, including both teams in the final — are barely visible in the rearview mirror.
The fourth season of the Indian Super League doesn’t begin until November 17th, but the quasi-big-name signings are starting to create a real buzz here within The18 office.
Back in August, Atletico de Kolkata (ATK) announced that they’d come to terms former LA Galaxy striker Robbie Keane. The 37-year-old Irishman will take the pitch for his new club after a year off.
As if things aren't bad enough for Arsenal these days, now Manchester United is breathing down its neck as the most musically challenged squad in the English Premier League.
Manchester United have reportedly offered Zlatan Ibrahimovic a contract to play for them when he's done rehabilitating the knee injury he suffered at the end of last season, with an eye toward a transition to a coaching role.
“Fuck off”
That’s the first response — from a Manchester United fan — on Twitter to Zlatan Ibrahimovic tweeting on Friday a photo of himself holding the Europa League champion’s medal after Manchester United beat Ajax in the final in Stockholm in May.
Ibrahimovic is receiving an awful lot of hate from fans of the team he scored 28 goals for last season before going down with a season-ending injury in April. His tweet was innocuous enough, with a picture and the words “Nr 33” in reference to his 33 trophies he’s won throughout his career.