Football
Jurgen Klopp: I thought VAR was a good idea, but now I’m not so sure
Jurgen Klopp admits he may have changed his mind about the need for VAR in football, after another incident-filled match for his Liverpool side in the Champions League. The Reds’ 1-1 draw with Danish champions FC Midtjylland on Wednesday saw a number of interventions from the video assistant referee. First Midtjylland were awarded a penalty for a foul by Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher on Anders Dreyer. The forward had initially been flagged offside by the assistant referee but replays showed, eventually at least, that he had been onside, though there was a lengthy delay as the referee headed to the pitchside monitor to rule on Kelleher’s subsequent challenge. Andreas Scholz converted from the spot to equalise for the home side after Mohamed Salah had opened the scoring. There was m...
Neymar: No place for racism
Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir played their Champions League match to a conclusion on Wednesday, 24 hours after it had been suspended, with Neymar scoring a hat-trick before saying both teams had felt compelled to make a stand against racism in what was an unprecedented protest over an alleged comment by an official. PSG won the game 5-1 after it restarted where it had stopped the previous day, in the 14th minute, following a touchline argument over accusations the Romanian fourth official, Sebastian Coltescu, had described Basaksehir’s Cameroonian assistant coach Pierre Webo as “black”, or “negru” in Romanian. “Sometimes in extreme circumstances these things need to be done to see if the world can change a little,” said Neymar, who together with other players and the new team...
Nigerian midfielder sees red as 10-woman SL Benfica fall at Chelsea
Christy Ucheibe got sent off in Wednesday’s Uefa Women’s Champions League first leg, Round of 32 encounter as 10-woman SL Benfica suffered a 5-0 loss at home to Chelsea. The Nigerian midfielder was first cautioned in the 31st minute for a foul on Fran Kirby before receiving a second yellow card for a bookable offence against Erin Cuthbert in the 74th minute. Having squeezed past POAK and Anderlecht to the Round of 32, the Portuguese champions hosted the English giants at the Benfica Stadium with the ambition of boosting their next round chances. The hosts made a false start in the encounter when Fran Kirby opened the scoring for the visitors after just two minutes. In the 29th minute, Guro Reiten set up Millie Bright to double the lead for Chelsea before Reiten bagged her brace of assists,...
Pep Guardiola: Kun Aguero not ready to start Manchester derby
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says Sergio Aguero won’t start Saturday’s derby against United at Old Trafford. The Argentine, who has been troubled by knee injury and hamstring issues this season came off the bench to score Manchester City’s 3-0 win against French club Olympic Marseille on Wednesday night. Aguero has featured in five games across all competitions for the Citizens this season. Guardiola has said he will not take risks with the 32-year-old and will not be tempted to throw him in from the beginning at Old Trafford. Asked if Aguero could start the derby, Guardiola simply said: “No.” On his general performance, he added: “His instinct to score will always be there. He’s had three or four training sessions and the reaction was good. “He had 25 minutes and scored a goal. S...
Former Lobi striker glad to make Maghreb de Fès debut
Former Lobi Stars striker Sikiru Alimi says he’s delighted to make his debut for Moroccan side Maghreb de Fès football club. Alimi featured for the first time for the club in the league against RSB Berkane at the Stade Municipal de Berkane on Tuesday. The Striker came on in the second-half and helped his new side picked a valuable point away from home. After the match, Alimi said he’s satisfied with his debut and hopes things continue to get better. “I’m glad to have made my debut for this great Club, hopefully we will continue to grow and get Better…Bonne Courage,” he tweeted. I’m glad to have made my debut for this great Club,hopefully we will continue to grow and get Better…Bonne Courage pic.twitter.com/MsW76IwcW4 — Alimi Sikiru (@sikiru16) December 8, 2020 Mas De Fes are currentl...
Inter preparing offer for Junior Firpo
The name Junior Firpo continues to be on the Inter agenda. According to the newspaper ‘Sport’, the Italians will try again for the Barca player in January: they are studying a six month or year and a half loan with option to buy. Inter Milan haven’t forgotten about Junior Firpo, one of their big alternatives for down the left. The Italian outfit are still interested in the Barcelona player and are reportedly studying a six month or year and a half loan with option to buy. All of this while the 24-year-old LB continues to not be in Ronald Koeman’s plans, as the 192 minutes that he has played this season demonstrate, which increase the rumours about his possible exit. Junior is under contract at Barca until June 2024 and his market value is around 12.3 million euros. According to the newspap...
Eberechi Eze makes Premier League Team of the Week
Eberechi Eze has been included in the Premier League Team of the Week following his impressive performance in Crystal Palace’s 5-1 win at West Bromwich Albion at the weekend. The list was compiled by football facts and statistics website whoscored .com on Tuesday. Eze marked a superb display for Palace with an assist for Wilfred Zaha in the win at the Hawthorns. The Team of the Week which is in a 4-4-2 formation has Eze on the left of the four-man midfield. Some other players also included are Eze’s Palace teammates Zaha and Christian Benteke, Mohamed Salah and Joel Matip of Liverpool and Aaron Wan-Bissaka of Manchester United. Commenting on Eze’s display whoscored. com wrote:”After being eased into the swing of things following his summer arrival, Eberechi Eze is starting to leave his mar...
CAFCL: Plateau United threatens protest against Tanzanian side
Nigeria Professional Football League side, Plateau United, have given an indication they would be lodging a protest against Simba SC for the alleged antics they deployed to progress in the CAF Champions League at their expense. Plateau United on their official Twitter handle said they are planning to report the Tanzanian club to the continent’s football ruling body for falsely claiming two of their key players tested positive for COVID-19 and were thus not allowed to play in Saturday’s second leg tie. The club while posting a negative result of one of the players alleged the false-positive results was only meant to weaken the team and give Simba SC an undue advantage. “The management of Plateau United is looking to petition CAF to look into the antics of @SimbaSC_EN who kept out two of our...
Al Ahly complete historical treble, win Egypt Cup via penalties
Egyptian football giants, Al Ahly, crowned an extraordinary season by winning the 2019-20 Egypt Cup title on Saturday. By so doing, they completed a historical treble, having previously taken the 2019/2020 Egyptian Premier League trophy and the 2019/2020 Total CAF Champions League titles. On Saturday, after the tie against Talaea El Geish ended in a 1-1 draw, Al Ahly needed penalty shootouts which they won 3-2 at the Alexandria based Borg El Arab Stadium to extend their record by winning their 37th Egypt Cup title, ten more than arch-rivals Zamalek. Substitute Mahmoud Abdel Moneam “Kahraba” came from the bench to give Al Ahly the lead after 65 minutes. Only for Nasser Mansy to equalize for El Geish two minutes into injury time. As no more goals cake in the extra time, the game headed to pe...
Jose Mourinho lauds Spurs’ Premier League’s outstanding run
Tottenham boss, Jose Mourinho, has hailed the manner of their performance in victory over Arsenal. Harry Kane and Heung-min Son struck the goals and Mourinho says his Premier League leaders have “grown-up”. Mourinho said, “Harry Kane clearing balls in the box, Sonny for the first 60 minutes as a winger and then a second striker – it is not just about scoring goals and being world-class players. “It is about being great guys and doing your best for the team. “We grew up. I can imagine lots of people can imagine three matches in a row – against Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal – would be a moment for us to drop points and go back to ‘normality’ but we didn’t go back to ‘normality’. We are there. I believe one more week at the top of the table unless Liverpool win by many.” Get more stori...
Roy Hodgson ‘really pleased’ as Crystal Palace hit 5 goals in West Brom rout
Wilfred Zaha was outstanding for Crystal Palace as they took advantage of the controversial dismissal of Matheus Pereira to claim their first points in three games with a rout at West Brom. Zaha had missed Palace’s previous two matches – both of which ended in defeat – after testing positive for Covid-19 but quickly found his feet again at The Hawthorns with a typically lively attacking display that included two goals and an assist. It was from his low cross that Darnell Furlong diverted the ball into his own net to give the visitors the lead and his whipped finish into the far corner that restored the advantage after Conor Gallagher’s low, driven equaliser. Between these two Zaha contributions, though, came the incident that completely altered the complexion of the game – Pereira’s red ca...
Juventus hit back to beat Torino
Juventus came from behind to beat Torino 2-1 on Sunday with US midfielder Weston McKennie among the scorers for the first time since he joined the Italian champions on loan. McKennie’s close-range header on 78 minutes put Juve level after Nicolas Nkoulou had given Torino a first-half advantage. After McKennie’s equaliser, Leonardo Bonucci produced an 89th-minute winner to lift Juve to second in the table, three points behind AC Milan who visit Sampdoria on Sunday. Inter Milan can overtake Juve by beating Bologna in Saturday’s late match. Before the game in Turin, Cristiano Ronaldo was presented with a special jersey commemorating his 750th career goal. But Ronaldo played a supporting role for once as 22-year-old McKennie, on loan from German club Schalke 04, scored a first Serie A goal and...
