The team of rudderless under-achieving stars finished off the pace in the title race having won only half of their 38 matches, with the overwhelming sense that an injection of talented youth was the way forward.
This same ragged bunch fell short in a bid for redemptive Champions League glory by virtue of a lacklustre 1-0 aggregate defeat in the semi-finals.
Thankfully, Pep Guardiola was on his way to sift through the rubble – Barcelona would never look back from that inspired appointment in May 2008.
It does not take the Catalan tactician’s famously meticulous eye for detail to notice these forgettable statistics and traits are also common to Manchester City, circa 2015-16.
His Barcelona experience pours cold water on the view that Guardiola was merel…
Unai Emery has found life in Ligue 1 a lot more complex than he imagined. Photo: www.sportal.co.nz
Last season, Paris Saint Germain clinched their fourth straight Ligue 1 title. That is indeed impressive, but it s not why they set a whole slew of records. For starters, Les Parisiens will need to win three more in order to match the impressive seven on the trot that Lyon won between 2002 and 2008.
Still, it was by far one of the most dominant displays football fans had seen in a while. The title race was effectively over by matchday 30, and were one to remove PSG from the league table, it would have looked more like what we saw in La Liga or the Premier League. Although they were unable to make history as the first French team to finish a season sans defeat, some began t…
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola confirmed Kalvin Phillips is set to undergo shoulder surgery but remains hopeful the midfielder could return to action ahead of England s World Cup campaign.
Phillips, a key member of Gareth Southgate s side that reached the Euro 2020 final on home turf last year, made a £42million move to City from Leeds United during the close season.
Fitness issues have restricted the 26-year-old to only three cameos off the bench for the reigning Premier League champions, with Phillips entirely absent for Saturday s 3-0 win over Wolves.
Now the defensive midfielder, named by England for this month s final pre-World Cup games in the Nations League against Italy and Germany, looks likely to require an operation to deal with a persistent s…
Andre Onana believes Manchester United made the right decision to keep Erik ten Hag as their manager despite a difficult second season in charge.
Ten Hag s future was the subject of rife speculation in the second half of the season as United slumped to their worst-ever finish in the Premier League, ending the campaign in eighth.
However, the Red Devils finished the campaign on a high by beating Manchester City 2-1 to lift the FA Cup, booking a place in the Europa League after missing out on the European places due to their league finish.
The Dutchman also lifted the EFL Cup in his first season in charge, while his Premier League win percentage of 54% (41/76) is better only by Alex Ferguson (65%).
Ten Hag penned a contract extension earlier this month, and…
Lionel Messi s contract details becoming public knowledge was not the fault of Barcelona, the LaLiga club have claimed.
A report by El Mundo claimed the deal Messi signed at Camp Nou in 2017, which expires at the end of this season, is worth more than €555million over the course of four years.
That would mean the six-time Ballon d Or winner is in possession of the most lucrative contract in sports history something that jars against Barcelona s worsening financial plight.
Accounts for the 2019-20 season showed the club s gross debt had reached €820m as the coronavirus pandemic began to take a considerable toll on their finances.
A fractious presidential election is set to conclude in March, with a strained relationship between Messi and the former b…
West Brom and Leeds United benefited from late winners as they took full advantage of a defeat for Preston North End in the Championship.
Leaders West Brom defeated Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 at home on Saturday, while Marcelo Bielsa s men won by the same scoreline away to Luton Town.
Preston fell to a 1-0 defeat away to Derby County, meaning Leeds moved above them into second place, two points behind the Baggies, who have only suffered one defeat in 17 league games.
Blackburn Rovers, Brentford, Stoke City and Millwall were the other winners in Saturday s action.
BAGGIES AND LEEDS LAND LATE BLOWS
West Brom and Leeds looked like they were heading for draws that would have stalled their promotion bids before late interventions.
Charlie Aust…
Prediction: Clube Atletico Mineiro to win 2-0
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Clube Atletico Mineiro and Sport Club Corinthians Paulista will lock horns with each other in Campeonato Brasileiro Série A this weekend. The match between Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side and Vanderlei Luxemburgo’s team will be held at Arena MRV in Belo Horizonte and is scheduled to kick off at 10:30pm UK time on Saturday.
Clube Atletico Mineiro
Clube Atletico Mineiro are one of the biggest and most well-known clubs in Brazil. Atletico MG finished seventh in Campeonato Brasileiro Série A last season and won the 2022 Campeonato Mineiro. Things are not going particularly well for the Rooster in Serie A at the moment, and there is a chance that they may not even end up in the top half o…
Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi put poor Montpellier to the sword in a 4-0 Paris Saint-Germain win, their first since being confirmed as Ligue 1 champions.
Champions League failure this season had dampened PSG s title celebrations even before three consecutive draws – the first of which secured top spot against Lens.
Mauricio Pochettino s men lost the lead in all three matches, but there was never any danger of a repeat on Saturday.
Mbappe, whose future is perhaps of more interest than PSG s results right now, was typically influential, scoring the fourth after having a hand in two goals for Messi and one for Angel Di Maria.
That front three quickly had Montpellier on the back foot, with just six minutes played when Mbappe s square pass was dummied by Di…
Verdict: Spain win and over 2.5 goals
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Enjoying an impressive run of form under their new boss Luis Enrique, Spain will travel to the Principality Stadium on Thursday night as they meet Ryan Giggs Wales side.
Wales
Starting with Wales, while former captain Ryan Giggs will be content with his start to life in the dugout, the Reds quickly came crashing back down to earth last month. Picking up a 4-1 win over Ireland in their UEFA Nations League opener, Giggs saw his side put in a lackluster showing in their 2-0 defeat away to Denmark last month. Despite putting four past Ireland, Giggs knows that they must be more consistent in the final third. Now failing to find the net in three of his last four matches in charge, Thursday s tas…
Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos labelled Gareth Bale a great player and backed his team-mate after a difficult off-season.
Bale was tipped to leave Madrid with a shock move to the Chinese Super League on the cards, however, the Wales star remained at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Unwanted by head coach Zinedine Zidane, Bale – who has won four Champions League titles and LaLiga among other honours since arriving from Tottenham in 2013 – has featured in all three LaLiga matches this season, scoring a brace in Madrid s 2-2 draw with Villarreal last time out.
Amid criticism of Bale and his reported disconnect from the Madrid squad, Ramos told the Daily Mail: I think Bale s a great player and he s been really important for the club in the years he s been with us.
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