Champions League
Chelsea squeeze through to UCL semis after late Porto scare
Chelsea booked their spot in the Champions League semi-finals despite a late goal from Mehdi Taremi for Porto on Tuesday night. The Portuguese outfit tried to set a fast tempo from the off but struggled to break down Chelsea in a first period where neither side had a shot on target. The pattern continued after the interval and it wasn’t until the 65th minute that Edouard Mendy was forced to make a save when he easily kept out substitute Mehdi Taremi’s header. The Blues had the better of the half chances through Mason Mount and Christian Pulisic but seemed content with a stalemate that was broken four minutes into added time when Taremi struck to give Cheslea a late scare. Chelsea, who will meet either Liverpool or Real Madrid in the last four, will now shift focus to the FA Cup semi final ...
Key Chelsea stars return, two changes for reigning champions
The Champions League quarter-final second leg line-up features some intriguing UCL fixtures. We’ll update this story with reports, results and the latest Champions League highlights as the matches are played. Paris Saint-Germain were beaten 1-0 at home by Bayern Munich, but progress to the last four on away goals after securing a 3-2 win in the first leg. Chelsea are also through to the semi-finals despite losing 1-0 in their second meeting with Porto. The Blues triumphed 2-1 on aggregate. Liverpool will be on the comeback trail as they try to overcome a 3-1 deficit against Real Madrid on Wednesday. Manchester City’s tie against Borussia Dortmund is finely poised, with Pep Guardiola’s side leading 2-1 after the first leg. Champions League Quarter-Final Second Leg Results Tuesday, April 13 ...
‘Big game player’, ‘Top class’: Some Chelsea fans praise 22-year-old’s display vs Porto
A selection of Chelsea fans on Twitter heaped praise on Mason Mount following his impressive display against Porto in the Champions League last night. The Blues made the trip to Seville for the away leg of their quarter-final tie and secured a 2-0 triumph thanks to goals from Mason and Ben Chilwell. The game was not straightforward despite the scoreline, and the west London giants had to work hard for the victory with only three shots on target in 90 minutes. Mount opened the scoring for the Blues in the 32nd minute of the contest. He took control of Jorginho pass with a terrific turn to outwit Chancel Mbemba. The England international thereafter unleashed a first-time shot for the bottom left corner, which beat the diving goalkeeper. The Blues doubled their advantage five minutes from tim...
Klopp shakes up his starting XI, City boss benches forward again
The Champions League has reached the quarter-final stage and features some mouth-watering UCL fixtures. We’ll update this story with reports, results and the latest Champions League highlights as the first leg games are played. Three Premier League clubs have made it through to the last eight of the competition, and two of them were in action on Tuesday evening. Liverpool face a tough task to reach the semi-finals after losing 3-1 at Real Madrid – Vinicius Junior (2) and Marco Asensio scored for the La Liga giants. Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden were on target for Manchester City as they secured a narrow 2-1 home victory over Borussia Dortmund. Chelsea are in action on Wednesday as they face Porto, while Bayern Munich will go head-to-head with Paris Saint-Germain. Champions League Quarter-...
Strong XI for Reds, Man City defender doubtful, Chelsea midfielder out
The Champions League is back with a bang this week as the first leg of the quarter-final ties are played across Europe. The action gets underway on Tuesday, with two Premier League teams hoping to boost their chances of progressing to the last four. Despite still missing some key players, Liverpool will field a strong starting XI for their visit to Real Madrid. Diogo Jota could get the nod in attack after bagging twice as a substitute in the Reds’ 3-0 Premier League victory over Arsenal on Saturday. Manchester City have nearly a full squad to choose from for their game against Borussia Dortmund at the Etihad Stadium. Defender Nathan Ake is City’s only major doubt as they get set to face the Bundesliga outfit. Chelsea will be without midfielder N’Golo Kante for their trip to play Porto at t...
Manchester City close in on Premier League title with Leicester win
Manchester City took another significant step towards the Premier League title with a 2-0 victory at Leicester City. The visitors dominated from the off and thought they were ahead on five minutes. Fernandinho rifled a 35-yard strike into the bottom corner, but Sergio Aguero – who was appearing for the first time since his impending summer departure from City was announced – was deemed to be offside. Kevin de Bruyne then hit the crossbar with a stunning free kick before Leicester’s best moment saw Jamie Vardy’s strike ruled out for offside on the stroke of half time. The pattern of Man City dominance continued after the break and they deservedly took the lead on 58 minutes when Benjamin Mendy showed great composure to cut inside and place a low shot into the far corner. Gabriel Jesus made ...
Leicester boss declares Manchester City as champions-elect
Leicester City boss, Brendan Rodgers, has declared Manchester City as champions-elect. Leicester beat Manchester City 5-2 back in September, but City have since built a 14-point cushion at the top of the table and Rodgers is sure his side will be playing the champions this weekend. “I don’t think there’s any doubt they will go on and win the league,” he said. “We, of course, want to make it as difficult as possible but their level of consistency over a long period this season sees them out in front and if they go on and win it, they’ll be very deserving. “But all the teams they have to play want to make sure they have to fight for it and they have to earn it.” Leicester sit third, 15 points adrift of City but more importantly seven better off than fifth-placed West Ham in the battle for Ch...
Mo Salah dreams of future La Liga action
Mohamed Salah has hinted his future could lie in Spanish football amid continued speculation the forward could leave Liverpool. The Premier League’s joint-top scorer this season is under contract at Anfield until 2023 but has been linked with a move elsewhere, with Barcelona and Real Madrid often touted as potential destinations for Salah if he were to depart Merseyside. Last year, the forward described the Spanish sides as two “great” clubs, but Jurgen Klopp later played down any transfer talk surrounding the Egypt international. Liverpool play Real Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Champions League in April as the two sides meet for the first time since 2018’s final in Kiev which finished 3-1 to the Spanish side and ahead of the games, Salah refused to rule out a future move to La Liga...
AFCON: Aston Villa congratulate Bertrand Traore, Burkina Faso on qualification
Premier League side Aston Villa have congratulated Bertrand Traore and Burkina Faso after qualifying for the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations. Despite playing a 0-0 draw against Uganda on Wednesday evening at St. Mary’s Stadium-Kitende, Entebbe, Kamou Malo’s men booked a place in Cameroon with a game to spare. That will be the 13th time the West African country would reach the finals since their maiden appearance at Ghana 1978 – where they finished in eight position. The Villa Park giants have taken to social media to celebrate their winger and his country on their recent success. “Congratulations to Bertrand Traore and Burkina Faso, who qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations 2021 with a goalless draw against Uganda on Wednesday!” a tweet from the club read. Burkina Faso – who currently lead Gr...
Lucas Moura: Tottenham squad united behind Jose Mourinho
Lucas Moura has insisted that the whole Tottenham squad are united behind under-fire boss Jose Mourinho amid the club’s turbulent 2020-21 campaign. Mourinho’s position in the Spurs dugout has been called into question in the wake of a nightmare week which saw the team follow up a north London derby defeat to Arsenal by exiting the Europa League in shocking fashion at the hands of Dinamo Zagreb. Spurs were thrashed 3-0 in the second leg of that last-16 tie in Croatia, but responded by beating Aston Villa 2-0 in the Premier League on Sunday, with Moura issuing a rallying cry in his post-match interview. “It’s been a very bad week for us, the feeling was very bad,” the Spurs winger told the Evening Standard : “Last night, we showed our nature, we showed attitude. “The good thing about footbal...
Juventus chief: Cristiano Ronaldo is going nowhere
Juventus chief football officer, Fabio Paratici, has declared Cristiano Ronaldo is going nowhere and will see out the rest of his contract in Turin. Ronaldo’s future with Juve was plunged into uncertainty as the Italian giants crashed out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage earlier this month. The 36-year-old has scored at a prolific rate since his £99million arrival from Real Madrid in 2018 and has won back-to-back Serie A titles. But Ronaldo’s search for a sixth Champions League title has been fruitless with Juventus and he has been linked with a move away from the Allianz Stadium this summer, one year before his contract ends. Get more stories like this on Twitter You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It ...
Chelsea owner takes legal action over ‘Putin’s People’ book
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has launched legal action for defamation over the book Putin’s People. The Blues owner’s case relates to “a number of false and defamatory claims made about our client in the book published by HarperCollins.” The book was written by author Caterine Belton and contains a number of claims about Abramovich and others close to Russia president Vladimir Putin. Abramovich’s statement, published on Chelsea’s club website, says: “Today my legal representatives have issued legal proceedings in England in relation to a book that was published in the UK. The book contains a number of false and defamatory statements about me, including about my purchase, and the activities, of Chelsea Football Club. “Today’s action was not taken lightly. It has never been my ambition to ...