Month: November 2024

Prediction: Napoli to win 2-0

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Napoli and Lecce will lock horns with each other in Serie A next weekend. The match between Francesco Calzona’s side and Luca Gotti’s team will be held at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona and is scheduled to take place on Sunday May 26.

Napoli

Napoli are one of the biggest clubs in Italy and have a massive support. The Naples outfit won the Serie A title last season and were expected to at least try to defend the Scudetto this campaign, but they have been dire.

Gli Azzurri are 10th in the Serie A table at the moment with 52 points from 37 matches. Francesco Calzona’s side are eight points behind Lazio, who are seventh and occupy the final European place in the league table.  The likes of…

Thomas Tuchel has caused a defensive mess at Paris Saint-Germain by using Marquinhos in midfield, according to ex-striker Mevlut Erding.

Brazil international Marquinhos has been deployed in midfield in recent games by PSG head coach Tuchel.

The German has instead used midfielder Danilo Pereira, signed on loan from Porto, at the back.

Erding, who made 109 appearances for PSG between 2009 and 2012, claimed Tuchel has made a tactical blunder with his use of the PSG skipper.

Marquinhos must be the leader of this team, but in defence. This is where he is the leader, Erding told L Equipe.

 Kylian Mbappé has provided the most assists (14) in the Champions League, since the start of 2017/18

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague)

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Spain will look to put their fraught preparations behind them when they begin their Euro 2020 campaign against Sweden on Monday.

The past week has been one of real uncertainty for La Roja following Sergio Busquets positive test for coronavirus.

The senior squad were forced to isolate, with back-up options summoned from holidays to take part in a parallel training bubble in case of further infections, while the Under-21s took to the field for last Monday s final warm-up friendly against Lithuania.

Diego Llorente returned what was later confirmed to be a false positive test and, thankfully for coach Luis Enrique, there were no further cases.

Llorente, who was applauded by team-mates after returning to training, said: The reception was one of the most specia…

Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior was named the Champions League s Player of the Season by UEFA s technical observer panel on Monday.

Vinicius played 10 matches in the 2023-24 competition for champions Madrid, scoring six goals and assisting five.

He was on the scoresheet as Carlo Ancelotti s side beat Borussia Dortmund in the final on Saturday, earning his second Champions League medal with the club.

The Brazilian has 22 direct goal involvements in the knockout stages of Europe s premier club competition (11 goals, 11 assists), the joint-most recorded by any player before turning 24, alongside Lionel Messi.

Vinícius Júnior is the 2023/24 Player of the Season

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague)

The UEFA panel also named Vin…

Luka Modric has extended his contract with Real Madrid for another year.

The LaLiga club announced on Monday that Croatia playmaker Modric, 37, would remain with the Spanish giants until at least the end of June 2024.

Modric – who joined Real from Tottenham in 2012 and has gone on to win the Champions League five times as well as three LaLiga titles – would have been out of contract this summer and so could have left on a free transfer.

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Best Odds: 7/10

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Hoping to make it three La Liga victories on the spin this weekend, Barcelona will travel to El Sadar when they meet Osasuna on Sunday night.

Osasuna

Starting with the hosts, suffering a major second-leg collapse earlier in the week as they watched their Europa Conference League adventure come to a heartbreaking end, Osasuna will know that they have another huge challenge on their hands here. Eventually slumping to an action-packed 4-3 aggregate defeat against Club Brugge, Los Rojillos have struggled to find any kind of stability since opening up the 2023/24 campaign. Recording just a single win from any of their previous four appearances across all formats, Jagoba Arrasate’s men should also be worried by a nightmare record against …

Ilkay Gundogan will find other ways to keep himself occupied when Liverpool face Real Madrid in the Champions League final as he is still angry at Manchester City s exit.

City were eliminated at the semi-final stage last week with a remarkable 6-5 aggregate defeat to Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Last season s beaten finalists, who have yet to win UEFA s showpiece competition, were ahead 5-3 in the tie with less than a minute of normal time remaining in the Spanish capital before Rodrygo scored twice and Karim Benzema netted an extra-time penalty.

And while he openly admits to being obsessed with all things football, Gundogan has no intention of tuning in to watch City s conquerors Madrid take on Liverpool in Paris.

If I think about the final in Paris…

Manchester United are interested in signing Youssouf Fofana from AS Monaco in the summer transfer window, according to Sky Germany journalist Florian Plettenberg. The well-known and well-respected journalist has claimed that Premier League club United are in contact with the agents of Fofana.

Plettenberg wrote on : “Manchester United have made contact with the agents of Youssouf to explore a potential deal this summer! 

“It was 2-3 weeks ago when ManUtd have presented their projects and plans. At this stage, they have not yet made a concrete offer to Monaco for the 25 y/o central midfielder.  

still have a verbal agreement with AC Mailand about a contract until 2028. But no agreement between AC and AS yet. .

Fofana has been on the books of AS M…

Jurgen Klopp will stand down as Liverpool manager at the end of the season.

The 56-year-old has informed the club’s ownership of his shock decision after a hugely successful spell in charge which has – so far – yielded six major trophies, including the Premier League in 2020 and 2019 Champions League.

Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the possible contenders to succeed Klopp at Anfield.

Steven Gerrard

Gerrard looked a potential Liverpool manager in waiting after starting his coaching career with the youth teams at Anfield and then enjoying success at Rangers, leading the Scottish giants to their first league title for 10 years. However, he failed to repeat such success at Aston Villa and was sacked after just two wins in the first 12 league games o…

Duarte Gomes feels the future of VAR is bright despite the issues it has seen since its introduction.

The 2018 World Cup was the first competition to have VAR implemented, with the Premier League introducing it for the 2019-20 campaign.

It has been much-maligned in some quarters, though, particularly with fans who feel it has slowed games down and even got decisions wrong in some cases, such as Luis Diaz s incorrectly disallowed goal during Liverpool s loss at Tottenham earlier in the season.

Despite the teething problems, former FIFA referee Gomes still feels VAR s implementation has been a success, though he concedes it still has issues.

I believe the future is bright for VAR, Gomes told Stats Perform. I can see improvements in many situations, but I c…