UEFA Champions League
The Best Late Goals in Football
Scoring a late goal is undoubtedly one of the most thrilling parts of football – unless you happen to be on the receiving end! The sport’s history is littered with late goals that have helped teams win trophies, clinch promotion, avoid relegation or get one over their closest rivals. As none of the Sportslens team can remember much further back than the 1970s, we take a look at some of the best late goals of the past five decades. Michael Thomas vs Arsenal (1989) Arsenal travelled to Liverpool on the final day of the 1988/89 season needing to win by two clear goals to pip the Merseyside outfit to the title. Leading 1-0 with just seconds to play, Michael Thomas broke free of Liverpool’s defence to fire home and secure top spot for the Gunners. The look of abject horror in the home ranks mer...
Jurgen Klopp vs Jose Mourinho – Their Best Meetings
Wednesday night sees two of the world’s highest-profile managers lock horns again, as Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur side visit Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. This is the 12th meeting of the two, with Klopp having the favourable head-to-head record, winning five and losing just two of the previous 11 occasions. Level on points at the summit 🗻 The top two in the meet tonight with the managers H2H record favouring Jurgen Klopp 🔴 Which of the two managers would you rather have in charge of your club right now? 🤔 #LIVTOT pic.twitter.com/eVCYuTQHnG — Sky Bet (@SkyBet) December 16, 2020 However, this time around, there is an extra edge to the fixture. Tottenham sit top of the Premier League table, with Liverpool behind on goal difference alone. Last season’s champions shoul...
Champions League Round of 16 Draw Announced
The fixtures for this season’s Champions League round of 16 have been announced. Borussia Monchengladbach will play their first-ever Champions League knockout game at home to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, while last season’s winners Bayern Munich will travel to Lazio. Atletico Madrid meet Chelsea in a repeat of the 2014 semi-final, which the Spanish side won. Jurgen Klopp will return to his home country to bring his Liverpool side to RB Leipzig, while it’s also a homecoming for Cristiano Ronaldo, who visits his native Portugal to face Porto. The most enticing tie of the round came when Barcelona were drawn against French giants Paris Saint-Germain. Last time the two sides met, Barcelona won 6-1 at the Camp Nou, completing an incredible comeback after losing the first leg 4-0. Rounding o...
PSG confirm Neymar’s ankle injury
Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain say an initial assessment of key forward Neymar’s ankle injury has been “reassuring”. The Brazilian striker was stretched off in Sunday’s loss to Olympique Lyonnais, with the Paris side saying on Monday that he had sprained his left ankle, adding that further examinations will be carried out in the next 48 hours. In the extra time of the tie, the 28-year-old went down screaming in agony and clutching his ankle after a poor challenge from Lyon midfielder Thiago Mendes, who was thereafter sent off with a straight red. “The medical examinations carried out on Neymar are reassuring following his twisted ankle in Sunday’s game against Lyon,” PSG said. The club, and Neymar in particular, will hope the damage is not too deleterious and does not rule him out of t...
Klopp suggests one Liverpool player should be proud of what he did last night
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has showered heaps of praise on Mohamed Salah after the Reds drew 1-1 against Midtjylland in the Champions League on Wednesday. Salah scored the opening goal of the match in the first minute for the Reds. With that, the Egyptian winger has become the club’s top scorer in Europe’s premier competition with 22 goals, surpassing club-legend, Steven Gerrard. It was also Liverpool’s fastest ever goal in the history of the competition. Alexander Scholz scored a second-half penalty as the Danish outfit salvaged an unlikely point. Liverpool thought they had won the game in the dying minutes when Takumi Minamino netted from close range. However, after a long VAR check, the goal was ruled out. Sadio Mane – who came on as a substitute – was penalised for a handball in ...
Liverpool youngster reveals what Klopp told him before the game vs Midtjylland
Liverpool drew 1-1 against Danish club FC Midtjylland on Wednesday in the Champions League. With the Reds having already qualified to the knock-out stages, remaining top of the group as well, Jurgen Klopp gave opportunities to several young players. Leighton Clarkson was one of them. The 19-year-old was named in the starting line-up for the Group D finale clash, and the youngster went on to play for the full 90 minutes. Clarkson is a player of immense talent, and it was his third appearance for the Reds’ senior team. However, representing Liverpool at the European stages was really special for him. When asked about what advice he received from the manager ahead of the match, Clarkson told the club’s official website: “He just said: ‘Play your normal game.’ I’ve been training with...
FIFPro Announce 2020 World XI Nominees
The shortlist for the 2020 FIFPro World XI has been announced. Every professional footballer around the world was invited to vote for the best player in each position. The ones with the most votes made it into the 55-man shortlist. The goalkeeper with the most votes, as well as the top three defenders, midfielders, and forwards, will be inducted into the FIFPro World XI. The remaining spot will go to the outfield player with the most votes. Bayern Munich are the most represented team in the shortlist, boasting 11 players. Title winners Real Madrid and Liverpool come in joint-second with eight players each. Bayern completed the treble with a win over PSG in August Despite going trophyless last year, Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur both make it into the top five, with six and five candidates...
‘Embarrassing’, ‘Careless’ – Some Man Utd fans tear into 27-yr-old after last night’s defeat
Manchester United crashed to a 3-2 defeat against RB Leipzig in the Champions League last night. The Premier League giants have now dropped down to the Europa League after failing to secure qualification to the knockout rounds of the competition and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be thoroughly disappointed with some of the performances from his players. Manchester United were quite poor in a vital game last night and some of the senior players failed to take responsibility and deliver. Harry Maguire was particularly disappointing and his performance attracted severe criticism on social media after the game. Manchester United paid a world-record fee for a defender when they signed Harry Maguire from Leicester City and expectations were quite high. However, the England international has not been ...
Predicted Liverpool starting XI: Klopp to make nine changes, 24 y/o set to return
Liverpool will travel to Denmark to face FC Midtjylland on Wednesday, and you can watch this and other Champions League games live online. Kick-off: 5:55pm GMTVenue: MCH Arena in DenmarkTV info: The match will be televised on BT Sport 2.Live stream: BT Sport subscribers can watch the match online via the video player and the BT Sport app. The 1-0 win over Ajax last week not only secured Liverpool’s qualification to the knock-out stages but it also ensured the Reds finish as group winners. With games coming thick and fast as the busy Christmas period approaches, Jurgen Klopp will be looking to rotate his squad in their final Champions League game. This is the team we expect Klopp to select against Midtjylland: Goalkeeper: Caoimhin...
Chelsea vs Krasnodar: Champions League Match Preview, Team News and Predicted Line-ups
Chelsea head into their last group game of the 2020-21 Champions League campaign as leaders and manager Frank Lampard will be expected to name a couple of his fringe players in the starting XI against Krasnodar tonight. [embedded content] The Blues have won four and drawn one of their opening five games, pipping Sevilla to the top spot following last week’s Olivier Giroud’s inspired 4-0 victory at Seville, and tonight’s game gives them the chance to hand deserved rests to a lot of their players given the tough schedule ahead. Krasnodar have also booked their place in the Europa League last-32 having finished as third in Group E, and they will only be playing for the pride tonight. Despite the match being a dead-rubber affair, the 2000 Chelsea fans allowed into the Stamford Bridge tonight w...
Centre-Back Duo Return For Barcelona Ahead of Juventus Clash
Centre-backs Samuel Umtiti and Ronald Araujo have been named in the matchday squad for Barcelona’s final Champions League group stage fixture against Juventus. La Blaugrana have suffered a bit of a defensive crisis of late, losing several central defenders to injury. Veteran Gerard Pique was the latest casualty, suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury which is expected to keep him out for most of the season. Pique suffered an ACL injury against Atletico Madrid For a while, manager Ronald Koeman was left with Clement Lenglet as his only senior available centre-back. Youngster Oscar Mingueza had to be fast tracked into the starting XI, while midfielder Frenkie de Jong also deputised in defence. But now it looks like the backline worries are coming to an end, with both Samuel Umtiti an...
Predicted Man Utd XI v RB Leipzig: Solskjaer to make two changes to his lineup
Manchester United travel to Germany for the final group game against RB Leipzig in the Champions League this week. Manchester United, RB Leipzig and Paris Saint-Germain are all capable of making it to the knockout rounds of the competition and the Red Devils will be desperate to secure a win on Tuesday night. All three sides have picked up 9 points in the group stages so far and it remains to be seen which two sides come out on top. RB Leipzig are coming into this game on the back of a thrilling 4-3 win over Istanbul Basaksehir and they will fancy their chance against the Premier League outfit at home. Furthermore, the last time these two sides met Manchester United picked up a 5-0 win over the German side and the hosts will be looking to avenge their defeat this week. RB Leipzig will be w...
