I was at the Roskilde Festival when I heard of the sad passing of the Liverpool and Portugal player Diogo Jota in a car accident at the too-young age of 28. He passed away alongside his brother Andre Silva, and the grief has been enormous in both Liverpool and Portugal, two teams where he had meant a lot.
A sad reminder of how fragile life is.
I was on a flight from Bogota to Mexico, so did not get to see Liverpool's magnificent 5-1 trouncing of Tottenham (and the fact that it was against despicable Tottenham just makes it more delightful) to take their 20th English championship title and their first since 2020, with four matches to go in the league.
A splendid result for a cosmopolitan side whose goals were scored by a Colombian (Luis Diaz), an Argentine (Alexis MacAllister), a Dutchman (Cody Gakpo), and Egyptian (Mo Salah) and the Italian Destiny Udogie scoring an own goal to seal the title for Liverpool.
I am happy for my many friends who I know are very happy right now, and congratulate all Liverpool fans.
I did not watch today's Champions League matches because I was working. But as I was heading home in the afternoon I followed the penalty kicks between Liverpool and PSG, following the Parisians surprising 0-1 victory.
I have never been a fan of Darwin Nuñez; I am surprised he should be the best attacker from a great football nation as Uruguay. When he signed for Liverpool I thought that maybe, just maybe, Liverpool would be the right club for him, but I do not think it has been. So when he went up to strike Liverpool's second kick, I felt he might miss, and I think most people feared or hoped he might (depending on who you support).
And indeed he missed, starting Liverpool's defeat, as Curtis Jones also missed the next shot, while the Parisians scored on all their kicks.
I know penalty kicks are a high level lottery, and that a defeat cannot be blamed on one penalty miss, but at the same time I wonder why Darwin Nuñez had to take a penalty in such an important match.
PSG are now through having defeated one of the favourites in this weird-format CL, and expect to see all big teams through...
Watching the top team in the Premier League, Liverpool, play against the bottom side, Southampton, should not be an interesting match, and it wasn't, despite Will Smallbone bringing the visitors ahead 0-1 just before halftime. In the second half Darwin Nuñez scored one of his rare non-misses to equalize and then Mohammed Salah sealed the victory with two penalty goals.
What was special about the match is that with his two goals the great Egyptian Mohammed Salah sealed his position as top-scorer of the Premier League, and equalized Sergio Agüero's record as the foreigner with most goals in the Premier League, a record he is very likely to get in the next matches. He also became the third all-time Liverpool scorer behind Ian Rush (who was among the spectators today) and Roger Hunt.
Mohammed Salah is already a Liverpool legend, and today just seals it as Liverpool is almost sure to take the title this season. But with a spectacular season the Egyptian seems like the best player in the world at the moment.
A true star and a true legend.
I don't have a favourite Premier League side, but over the years I have come to sympathize with Liverpool and despise Tottenham (as to the reason, that would be worth another post one day). So it was with interest that these two sides faced another in the Premier League.
A lot of people have talked about the fact that Tottenham under Ange Postecoglu (who apparently sees himself as a modern day Gladiator modeled on the very "historically accurate" Russel Crowe) are playing entertaining football; but entertaining football is not to play without defense! And we saw that yesterday as Tottenham's defense was virtually inexistant as Liverpool played around and was ahead 3-1 by halftime on goals by Luis Díaz, Alexis MacAllister and Dominik Szoboszlai, and one lucky strike for Tottenham by James Maddisson.
But not much changed in second time as Mohammed Salah scored twice to make it 5-1. In the meantime, Tottenham's tactics appeared more to be about playing so badly that Liverpool would fall asleep, and then be lucky to score; sadly it worked as Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke scored rather lucky goals before Luis Díaz fortunately closed off scoring the final 6-3 goal.
With the bad runs of Manchester City and Arsenal (not to say Manchester United who lost 0-3 at home to Bournemouth!) Liverpool arrives at Christmas securely on first spot four points ahead of Chelsea, while Tottenham are on 11th place, which is not a position too high.
Following a post-tournament hangover and a pretty boring Olympic tournament that I did not even find worth writing about, we are now starting the European leagues with the Premier League starting yesterday when Manchester United defeated Fulham 1-0, starting a new season with a victory as they will try to improve on their 8th place in last year's PL.
In the meantime other favourites have also started well: Liverpool defeated Ipswich 2-0 with Mohammed Salah setting Diogo Jota up for the first goal and scoring the second himself. Arsenal, a side with huge ambitions after coming close to win the league the last couple of seasons, defeated Wolverhampton 2-o on goals by Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka, while last season's number four, Aston Villa, defeated West Ham 1-2 and will the looking to repeat their great season.
The champions of the last four seasons, Manchester City, are playing tomorrow in a clash against a Chelsea side that also will want to improve on their 6th place of last season.
In Spain the league started today as well with Valencia losing 1-2 at home to Barcelona. I don't think we can expect anything from the Valencians while Barcelona will be looking to upset a Real Madrid side that frankly looks like nobody can threaten them.
I am moving soon. My TV is gone and my place is full of boxes, so I did not in fact watch the matches, but certainly expect to watch more soon!
The Premier League title is a race between Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool. Until today it appeared that Liverpool and Arsenal were the most likely candidates as they remained on top, equals on points, one point ahead of City.
But that changed today.
Liverpool lost 0-1 at home to the generally unnoticed Crystal Palace. This would give a clear advantage to Arsenal who were playing at home to Aston Villa, who is fighting well to take a Champions League spot. Within the last 10 minutes Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins giving Aston Villa a 0-2 victory and a step closer to the Champions League.
In the meantime Manchester City defeated Luton 5-1, and they are now on top, and seeing how City is playing now, they must now be the favourites for the title, unless the unlikelihood that they slip.
Big disappointment for both Liverpool and Arsenal. Liverpool are looking to have a good final season for Jurgen Klopp, while Arsenal have looked like title contenders all season, only to crash at the end just like last season.
Despite it being a lazy Sunday at home I watched too great matches. The first was the FA Cup quarterfinal between Manchester United and Liverpool.
Liverpool have ambitious goals now in Klopp's farewell season, while Manchester United is continuing its unstable ride under Erik ten Haag. It was nevertheless United who looked the strongest as the match got going and only ten minutes into the match it was the Scotsman, Scott McTominay who scored for United. Liverpool appeared uninspired but managed to put some pressure towards the end of the first half and it was Alexis McAllister who equalised, while Mohammed Salah brought Liverpool ahead just before halftime.
It was not fully deserved for Liverpool, but they showed some spine and appeared more confidence.
But confidence does not always translate into results: Liverpool pressured but they lacked concentration, both in attack and in defense, and they slowly let United into the match; three minutes before time Antony equalised for United after a clumsy Liverpool loss in midfield, and the match had to go into an exciting extra time (not that us neutrals cared). And just as the first half of extra time was ending Harvey Elliot brought Liverpool ahead 2-3, and they seemed to be in the semifinals, but again they lost concentration: Marcus Rashford equalised and in the last minute of extra time the young Ivorian Amad Diallo scored the winner for Manchester United after a quick counterattack following a Liverpool corner; a situation that seemed unnecessary (stupidly, Diallo got a second yellow card for taking his shirt off, and will miss the semifinal, showing him as a player that needs to grow...).
Manchester United will face one of the other victors this weekend: Manchester City, Chelsea, and every neutral's favourite, Coventry City, some the Championship!
The other match I enjoyed watching was La Liga match between Atletico Madrid and FC Barcelona. Atletico Madrid have the best home record in the league, but today FC Barcelona played perhaps their best match of the season, and one has to wonder if Xavi's resignation at the end of the season is in place.
FC Barcelona were completely dominant the entire match, and the few chances that the Madrileans had were taken care off by a strong Marc-Andre ter-Stegen. It was the former Atletico player Joao Felix who scored the first Barcelona goal after an elegant pass from Robert Lewandowski (Joao Felix used to plat for Atletico, and I found it unfair that the fans were after him throughout the match. He did show himself as the bigger man by not celebrating his goal though).
All in all, Lewandoski showed that he still has incredible skills, and his 2-0 goal in the second half was a typical center-forward goal, but the goal in the low corner from a difficult angle. It was the young Barcelona player Fermin Lopez who scored the third for Barcelona, who seemed to be enjoying the match as they have not done lately.
This was the Barcelona we know...
With Girona losing to Getafe, Barcelona now takes second spot int he table behind Real Madrid. That said, with an 8-point difference it seems unlikely that Barcelona can overtake Real Madrid. That said, this result is a warning regarding their coming matches, in particular against PSG in the Champions League.
The Premier League is as exciting as could be, and two of the title contenders faced one another today when Manchester City went to Liverpool, and with both teams fighting to keep a hold on Arsenal, who took the first spot in the league after defeating Brentford 2-1, their eight Premier League victory in a row!
Jurgen Klopp's announcement that he will leave appears to have given Liverpool new fire as they want him to leave with a title. At the same time the team is littered with injuries, and this is a cause of concern despite the fact that many young players have stepped up, and the side won the League Cup and have managed to stay afloat despite losing 3-1 to Arsenal in early February.
Manchester City is also pushing hard to win their fourth Premier League title in a row.
Liverpool appeared as the more organized and pressuring side throughout the match, but never really overwhelming a Manchester City side that was always a threat, and even went ahead 1-0 in the first half on a goal by John Stones following a corner kick during which the forward post of Liverpool was strangely abandoned by the defense. It was not deserved as Liverpool continued to press forward, but with Darwin Nuñez continuously running into off-sides, and Luis Diaz constantly frustrating the City defenders, but never defining. In the second half Alexis Macallister equalized for Liverpool on a penalty awarded to Nuñez, and Luis Diaz came very close to score; the Colombian fought hard but was incredibly inefficient.
1-1 in the end meant that Arsenal stays on top with 64 points, followed by Liverpool, also with 64, and City with 63 points.
With 10 matches left, it proves to be an incredible end-race for the Premier League title.
It all points to a very exciting Premier League. After 6 consecutive victories, Manchester City finally crashed by losing 2-1 to Wolverhampton, showing a league where all teams are competitive. Manchester City remains in first spot though, one point ahead of Tottenham.
Tottenham defeated Liverpool 2-1 in a dramatic and intense match. Liverpool were looking good until Curtis Jones got a red card, after which Tottenham put pressure and got ahead by the outstanding Son Heung-Min. This happened after Luis Diaz had a goal cancelled by VAR for offside, in what did not look as an offside (the lines the TV channel I watched it on clearly showed no offside, but the VAR never showed the lines, making it all look very suspicious....). But Liverpool pressed on and Cody Gakpo equalised in the dying seconds of the first half.
Tottenham put more pressure in a second half that appeared full of nerves, and for Liverpool's Joel Matip when he scored an own goal in what was literally the last kick of the match in the 96th minute, and giving relief to the home crowd.
Tottenham thus took second spot on goal difference ahead of Arsenal, while Liverpool is on fourth spot with 16 points. Aston Villa and Brighton are fifth and sixth respectively with 15 points each, so all teams can win an exciting Premier League!
I had the pleasure of watching an excellent openining match for Chelsea and Liverpool in the Premier League. Matches like this point to an excellent season ahead, where the usual suspects of Manchester City will be challenged by the likes of Arsenal (who opened with a 2-1 victory over Nottingham Forest), Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, and even other teams in one of the world´s most competitive league.
Both Chelsea and Liverpool started well despite them sharing points with 1-1. Liverpool started best with two new signings in midfield, the Argentine Alexis MacAllister and the Hungarian Dominik Szoboszlai. It was Luis Diáz who brought Liverpool ahead, and ten minutes later Mohamed Salah had a goal disallowed by VAR. It was one of Chelsea´s many new signings, Frenchman Alexis Disasi, who equalized for Chelsea towards the end of the first half. Second half could have gone to either side. More interesting was to see more of Chelsea´s new signings, many of them young players, such as Levi Colwill, Noclas Jackson, Ian Maatsen, as well as the Ukranian Mykhailo Mudryk, players with a big potential and who will be exciting to follow.
Summer is over. Let the leagues start!
Both the Premier League and the Bundesliga ended this weekend.
In the Premier League we already knew that Manchester City won the league ahead of an Arsenal side that had it all until the last stretch. Liverpool were close to catch Manchester United, but the Manchester side did well in its last stretch and even made it to third place, while Liverpool stayed fifth and will only play the Europa League next season. In the meantime, Newcastle's Arab investment paid off and on fourth place the old club full of traditions will be in the Champions League next season. Birghton is the other big surprise as they will be playing Europa League next season, after taking sixth spot.
The biggest disappointment in my view is in terms of relegation: two big clubs, Leicester and Leeds are being relegated. Leicester only seven years after winning the league in one of the biggest sensations of all time.
I hope both sides will return soon.
The Bundesliga had no champion until the last round, and it all looked set for Borussia Dortmund to take the title from Bayern Munich. All the had to do was win at home to Mainz. Alas, it didn't work. They were down 0-2, missed a penalty, and only managed to equalize in the dying seconds. In the meantime, Bayern Munich was playing Cologne; also needing to win, Jamal Musiala gave them the winning 2-1 goal in the 89th minute, and with that the 11th Bundesliga title in a row, in a league that is evermore onesided.
No league football for a while now....
Since Erik ten Haag became Manchester United manager the team has done better, and they are currently third in the Premier League. Liverpool in the meantime is fighting to be in the top four. So today’s classic match between the two English giants was a spectacular match for Liverpool, who trashed their rivals 7-0 in what is their biggest victory over Manchester United ever.
It did not look like it would end like that after a tight first half where Liverpool was leading only 1-0 on a magnificent strike by Cody Gakpo. But in the second half goals poured in on de Gea: Darwin Núñez scored twice, Cody Gakpo also scored again, Roberto Firmino scored the last goal, while Mohammed Salah, with two goals, became Liverpool’s all-time Premier League goal scorer.
Liverpool are in fifth place, just behind Tottenham, but is looking like a CL candidate again. Manchester United remain third, but Erik ten Haag probably has some things to think about.
I had gotten all ready to enjoy yesterday's Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool with beer and choripán, but besides the beer, food and company, it was largely a disappointment.
Firstly, the delay in starting the match signaled not only gross incompetence, but total disregard of fans. While a lot of things are being said about what happened, it does seem incredible that these things can happen; this is hardly the first final they have organised...? At the same time one could see UEFA and FIFA dignitaries mingle amid celebrities in their luxurious seats, and a total disregards of the fans for whom they "manage" the game...
Secondly, the match was a disappointment. Liverpool created the match against a Real Madrid side that proved yet again that they only need one chance to win a match, and this time their 14th European Champions title. Vinicius Jr. scored the goal in a Real Madrid counterattack. Liverpool attacked and attacked, but besides a disciplined defense, they faced an incredible Thibaut Courtois, who seemed to save everything that came his way. In my opinion the Belgian goalkeeper is Real Madrid's greatest hero in getting the title.
Disappointment for all of us who were hoping for a Liverpool victory, but congratulations to Real Madrid fans.
Although in the end everything finished as one might have expected (City and Liverpool victories), the end of the Premier League ended with a high level of excitement, with the surprise always looming.
To be champions City needed a win at home against Aston Villa. But with 20 minutes elft Aston Villa were ahead 0-2, and there was a clear fear in the stadium (although Liverpool were at the time not winning). But goals by Rodri and Gundogan (who came in to make two) within a magic period of five minutes, put things straight and the title in Manchester.
Liverpool knew what was happening in Manchester, and that a victory would give them the title. But Wolverhampton were a hard nut to crack, and the Wolves went ahead already in the third minute. Liverpool pressed on an towards the end of the first half Sadio Mane equalized. Knowing the result in Manchester the Reds pressed on, but the goal did not come until the 84th minute by way of Mohammed Salah. But by this time City were already up, and even though Salah scored a third in the last minute, they hardly celebrated it as they knew it was but for nothing but the goal-stats.
Liverpool ends as runner-ups, but they have an FA Cup title, and next week they will be vying for the Champions League title in a clash of Titans against Real Madrid.
Manchester City, alongside Real Madrid, are the remaining teams in the Champions League no neutral fans will want to win.
Manchester City progressed today after 0-0 away to Atlético Madrid in match that was bound to be intense as Atlético would seek to catch City’s 1-0 victory of the first match.
Atlético surely went for it, and although City defended well, they could have deserved a goal. But let us face it; it would have been an epic fight between two great teams had it not been ruined by poor sportsmanship and attitude. City wasted time and acted (two sins every single team, including Atlético, are guilty of, and which is a shame to football in general); but Atlético let it’s desperation at a goal become the lack of dignity of being eliminated.
Felipe showed the worst character of a footballer when he went on a revenge tackling of Foden (granted Foden acted, but it does not excuse anything) and acted and even touched the referee repeatedly when he gave him a highly deserved second yellow.
How can that kind of behavior be accepted in football…? Are there really no standards? Even in “the heat of the moment”?
And worst of all: two great managers, geniuses at their job, Simeone and Guardiola: show some dignity! Even as a n example to your players (and to young football fans). They were the biggest the biggest disgrace of what could have been remembered as an epic encounter.
It is a bit depressing to see these kind of matches.
Real Madrid will face Manchester City in one semifinal, while Liverpool will face Villarreal. The world will support the winner of the latter in the final.
I have just spent an entire lazy Saturday morning watching some great Premier League action during which Manchester City's apparent hold in the first spot has been weakened, put excitement into the league.
First I watched Liverpool defeat Norwich 3-1. Despite going down 0-1, Liverpool showed the same cool professionalism by which they defeated Inter in the Champions League and came back on a spectacular goal by Sadio Mane, a goal by Mohammed Salah, as well as a cool finish by the new signing Luis Diaz to score his first goal for Liverpool (a shame that he cannot score for his native Colombia).
Liverpool are on second spot and had six points up to Manchester City before the Manchester side were to face Tottenham at home, who are still fighting for a possible European spot. But everyone knew it would be a difficult match as Manchester City has been looking strong at home, but only after four minutes Tottenham's new Swedish signing Dejan Kulusevski made it 0-1 on a quick buildup by Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min. As Manchester City pushed forward one was expecting an equalizer and it came by the way of Ilkay Gundogan after a mistake by Hugo Lloris in the Tottenham goal.
After this I at least was expecting Manchester City's constant pressure to bear fruit but instead in the second half Tottenham's counterattack proved deadly again as Son splendidly found Harry Kane who first-timed to make it 1-2.
City continued attacking against a defensive but fighting Tottenham, who continued threatening on the counterattack (and in fact got another Harry Kane goal cancelled for a hair-thin offside). Two minutes into added time City got the equalizer on a well-taken penalty kick by Riyad Mahrez. Anyone would be forgiven to think that that was it, but Tottenham had another attack where a splendid cross by Dejan Kulusevski found Harry Kane's head and 2-3 for Tottenham.
Except for Manchester City, many are probably happy with the result: Harry Kane has not scored many goals this season, but his fourth and fifth season goals came in this crucial game, and he will be needed as Antonio Conte's side tries to get to Europe. Liverpool are surely also happy, as they are one match short with six points up to City, who may be feeling the pressure.
And in the end football fans like myself are happy that the Premier League continues to offer us so much excitement on a lazy Saturday morning in San Salvador!
It is seldom one sees as one-sided a classic match as that between Manchester United and Liverpool on Saturday, when Liverpool gave United a legendary trashing of 0-5. Despite all of Manchester United´s weaknesses, one must first give credit to a Liverpool side that has found its groove from a couple of years back, and who will be battling for the Premier League title with Chelsea (and possibly with Manchester City, but I predict a race between Liverpool and Chelsea). Mohamed Salah, with three goals against Manchester United, is back as possibly the best striker in the world at the moment, while balance in defense and midfield seems to be perfect for Liverpool.
In the meantime Manchester United has no defence, and it was incredible to see two such experienced players as Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw being outplayed again and again by Liverpool´s attacks. Cristiano Ronaldo is a threat by the mere fact of his immense talent; a World Class Player without a doubt, but it does seem that the team is struggling tactically to integrate him. It is a pity to have a player of such quality only to show him off rather than to make the team better, but that is what seems to be happening. A lot of people are saying that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer should leave as a manager, and with these results it is hard to disagree with, although there is also a feeling that the problem is deeper that the Manager, and that Manchester United, despite its immensely talented squad, needs something else to improve.
The draws for the Champions League quarterfinals are ready, and some really exciting matches ahead:
It is worth noting the absence of FC Barcelona, who for the first time since 2007 are not among the eight best teams in Europe. Also many news outlets have noted the fact that neither Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo will be in the quarterfinals, for the first time since 2005, but surely not the last time. Both great players still have a few good years in them, but this season's quarterfinals has reminded us all that we will not have the possibility of enjoying the two contemporary greats forever.
The groups stages of this season's Champions League has been weird, without spectators much of the atmosphere has been absent, and it probably has had some influence on teams that have also had cases of Corona-virus inside the club. There have nevertheless been interesting, good and surprising matches, and after the end of the group stages, these are the last-16 clashes:
The last sixteen are are dominated by the big European leagues: four German teams, four Spanish, three Italian, three English, and one each for France and Portugal. The most noteworthy eliminations were probably that of an insecure and disorganized Manchester United side, and a poor Inter Milan side where Antonio Conte has not managed to get the best out of some marvelous players.
