La Liga
Jose Mourinho v Pep Guardiola: the best meetings between the two
Jose Mourinho v Pep Guardiola: the best meetings between the two – originally posted on Sportslens.com Two of football’s most respected managers go head-to-head once again this weekend, as Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur welcome Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City to North London on Saturday. The pair are often very different in their methods: Mourinho is often more pragmatic on the pitch and vicious in his press conferences, while Guardiola’s sides often play with a highly entertaining style. The debate continues to roar on about who is better. The Portuguese has achieved incredible things but has also suffered a few failures here and there. Meanwhile, the former Barcelona man has won league titles everywhere he’s been, but has often done it with some of ...
La Liga Match Preview, Team News & Predicted Line-ups: Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona
La Liga Match Preview, Team News & Predicted Line-ups: Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona – originally posted on Sportslens.com The international break is over and Barcelona return to La Liga action with a trip to Wanda Metropolitano on Saturday to face Atletico Madrid. The Spanish giants have won just three league games in 2020/21, losing twice and drawing the other two, and they will be keen to secure all three points at the expense of Diego Simeone’s side as they look to get their title challenge back on track. Meanwhile, Atletico are yet to suffer defeat in the La Liga this term, winning five games and drawing twice, and a victory over Barcelona will be seen as a huge statement of intent. Rojiblancos’ last league win over the Cules came in February 2010, and Simeone wil...
Weekend Preview: Liverpool’s challenge, Tottenham’s chance and the Zlatan show
Weekend Preview: Liverpool’s challenge, Tottenham’s chance and the Zlatan show – originally posted on Sportslens.com After a two-week-long international break, domestic football finally returns this weekend, with plenty of live football to stream online for fans. We have two huge clashes in England, with Liverpool hosting Leicester City at Anfield, who currently sit a point above the Reds in first place. Over in North London, Tottenham can potentially move into top spot in England if they can take away three points from Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, who also desperately need a victory. Over in Italy, unbeaten AC Milan will look to continue their torrid start to the term as they face Napoli, who has impressed thus far under Gennaro Gattuso. In La Liga, Real Madrid...
Ballon d’Or winners if Messi and Ronaldo didn’t exist
Ballon d’Or winners if Messi and Ronaldo didn’t exist – originally posted on Sportslens.com The Ballon d’Or is one of the most prestigious individual awards in the world. Many of the greats have scooped the prize following some of the best years of their career. The last decade has seen two of the game’s titans fight it out for this award. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated the scene, winning the Ballon d’Or an incredible 11 times out of the last 12, and are again amongst the forerunners to win the 2021 Ballon d’Or edition. Realistically, very few players have really stood a chance up against these two. But what if they weren’t around? Who would be our players of the year then? Let’s have a look. 2008 – Fernando Tor...
Ansu Fati To Undergo Surgery on Monday
Ansu Fati To Undergo Surgery on Monday – originally posted on Sportslens.com Barcelona have confirmed that young superstar Ansu Fati will undergo surgery on Monday after suffering a knee injury in their last fixture. The 18-year-old came off at half-time in the 5-2 win over Real Betis, being replaced by six-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi. The Catalan giants have since confirmed via Twitter that Fati has suffered an internal meniscus tear in his left knee. LATEST NEWS Tests carried out this afternoon have shown that Ansu Fati has an internal meniscus tear in his left knee. The treatment to be followed will be determined in the coming days. pic.twitter.com/CF3FZaur5P — FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 7, 2020 And today they announced on their official website that...
Barcelona: Ansu Fati to undergo surgery on knee injury
Ansu Fati is to undergo surgery on the torn meniscus he suffered in Barcelona’s 5-2 win over Real Betis. The 18-year-old forward was substituted at half-time in Saturday’s contest at Camp Nou and Barca later confirmed that he had sustained damage to his left knee. “Fati had some discomfort in the first half and we replaced him at half-time so as not to take risks,” coach Ronald Koeman told reporters after the game. Fati is now set to have an operation on Monday, after which Barca said they will release further details about the possible length of his absence. A club statement read: “The first team player Ansu Fati will undergo surgery [on] Monday for the injury to the meniscus in his left knee by Dr. Ramon Cugat under the supervision of the club’s medical services. “Once this intervention ...
Barcelona boss explains decision to rest Lionel Messi for Real Betis win
Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman has confirmed he opted to leave Lionel Messi on the bench for their 5-2 La Liga win over Real Betis as a precaution. Messi started as a substitute at the Camp Nou after reports of a minor injury picked up in the 2-1 midweek Champions League win over Dynamo Kyiv. Koeman brought the Argentinian international on as a second half substitute against Manuel Pellegrini’s side with the 33-year old playing a vital role in their first win for a month. Messi’s dummy created a perfect chance for Antoine Griezmann to make it 2-1 to the hosts before he netted twice himself in the final half hour. “Since yesterday we talked and he had some discomfort from the game against Dynamo Kyiv,” Koeman told a post game interview with Marca. “We decided it was best to leave him on the b...
Sergio Reguilon says Gareth Bale very happy at Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur left-back Sergio Reguilon has told Cadena SER that Gareth Bale is very happy at the club. Reguilon has said that he has noticed that Bale is different at Tottenham, with the Wales international having returned to the North London club after seven years. The 31-year-old joined Spanish and European giants Real Madrid from Spurs in the summer of 2013. Bale won La Liga twice and the Champions League on four occasions, but the winger had injury problems last season and could not get into Zinedine Zidane’s starting lineup when he was fit. The winger, who was criticised a lot by the Spanish media, returned to Spurs on a loan deal from Madrid in the summer of 2020. Reguilon also moved to Tottenham from Madrid, signing a five-year contract with the Premier League club after spendi...
It’s Time For Ronald Koeman to Give Riqui Puig a Chance
Ronald Koeman’s return to the Camp Nou hasn’t exactly gone to plan. After opening with emphatic wins over Villarreal and Celta Vigo, Barcelona have hit the buffers. In fact, La Blaugrana have accumulated just two points from their last four league games – their worst run since April 2016. They currently find themselves in 12th place, eight points behind arch-rivals Real Madrid. Being a legend at the club, Koeman is more likely to have the patience of the fans. Furthermore, his willingness to use youth has helped his cause. Ansu Fati is already looking like one of the club’s superstars, while 17-year-old Pedri is making a name for himself with a series of impressive displays in a Barcelona shirt. However, there is one youngster who Koeman has seemingly forgotten about, and that is La Masia ...
Biggest Games to Watch Across Europe – November 2020
The 2020/21 season continues apace during November, with a host of top-class games scheduled to take place across the main competitions in Europe. The Premier League, Serie A, La Liga and Bundesliga all have some tasty fixtures involving teams who are aiming to win silverware this season. With the group stage of the Champions League and Europa League also continuing, the next few weeks will be incredibly hectic. Read on as we take a look at some of the biggest games to watch across Europe during November. Real Madrid v Inter Milan – Champions League – November 3 Madrid will be eager to get their Champions League campaign back on track against Inter after failing to impress in their first two fixtures in Group C. Zinedine Zidane’s team were beaten at home by Shakhtar Donetsk, before recover...
Barcelona’s domestic woes continue with Alaves 1-1 draw
Antoine Griezmann helped to salvage a point for Barcelona as their struggles in La Liga continued with another disappointing result; a 1-1 away draw against 10-man Deportivo Alaves on Saturday. The visitors, who had lost their prior two league matches, were behind in the first half after a goalkeeping blunder by Neto allowed Luis Rioja to open the scoring. Barca actually started the match brightly. Their gifted youngster Ansu Fati raced clear of the Alaves defence early on but could only strike his effort wide. However, the visiting defence appeared to lack confidence and looked vulnerable on the counter. Alaves left midfielder Luis Rioja tried to exploit this but brought a smart save out of Barca keeper Neto after fine play by Brazilian centre forward Deyverson. It was from another such A...
Juventus vs Barcelona Predicted Line-ups, TV Channel, Live Stream
Juventus vs BarcelonaUEFA Champions League 2020/2128 Oct, 20:00 pm BSTAllianz Stadium, TurinTV Channel: BT Sport 3Live Stream: Check here for all the info Juventus take on Barcelona in the Champions League tomorrow and the Italian giants will look to pick up a win at home. The Spanish outfit are coming into this game on the back of a 3-1 defeat in El Clasico and they will be lacking in confidence. Juventus have the quality to punish Barcelona here and the Italian giants will be hoping to have Cristiano Ronaldo fit and ready for the game. The Portuguese star has been self-isolating after testing positive for Coronavirus. It has been a while since Ronaldo and Messi faced each other and this should be a highly anticipated contest. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top in the end....
