When Liverpool’s new sporting director Richard Hughes received a phone call from the agent Inaki Ibanez this week, it only served to confirm what he had long since expected: Xabi Alonso would be staying at Bayer Leverkusen this summer. News of Alonso committing his future to the Bundesliga club on Friday was a blow for … Read more
Real Madrid will face Manchester City in the Champions League quarter-finals, while Arsenal have drawn Bayern Munich. If City and Arsenal can win their quarter-finals, they will face each other in an all-Premier League semi-final. Atletico Madrid were paired against Borussia Dortmund in Friday’s quarter-final draw in Nyon, Switzerland, while Paris Saint-Germain will play Barcelona. … Read more
Michael Edwards has been appointed to a senior role with Fenway Sports Group, which includes the former Liverpool executive taking oversight of the club’s football operations. The Athletic reported Edwards was close to agreeing a senior role with Liverpool’s owners, and this was expected to see former Bournemouth technical director Richard Hughes fill the vacant … Read more
Just before half-time and with Arsenal holding on to a 1-0 lead over Brentford, Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale found the ball at his feet from Gabriel’s routine back pass. With Yoane Wissa closing the space between them, Ramsdale put his head down, took his first touch away from the pressure, and looked to boot the … Read more
Manchester City needed to win Sunday’s derby to keep the pressure on Liverpool and Arsenal at the top of the Premier League. For Manchester United, it was more about local pride, particularly after a 6-3 defeat in this fixture last season. We know what to expect from these games these days. City will have lots … Read more
Paul Pogba has been suspended from football for four years after a failed anti-doping test. Juventus midfielder Pogba, 30, was initially handed a provisional suspension by NADO (the Italian Anti-Doping Organisation) in September after the failed test, which followed his side’s 3-0 win at Udinese on August 20. FIFA’s guidelines for suspensions on players who … Read more
Not all losses are created equal — and no defeat in football is worse than a banter one. “In extra time, it’s been Klopp’s kids against the blue billion-pound bottle jobs,” said Sky Sports co-commentator Gary Neville, succinctly and indisputably establishing the dominant narrative of a surreal Carabao Cup final almost as soon as Virgil … Read more
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS have completed their purchase of a minority stake in Manchester United. United confirmed in December that a deal had been agreed for Ratcliffe to take a 25 per cent stake in the club, with the Glazer family diluting their shares, rather than leaving altogether. Ratcliffe’s petrochemicals company INEOS is buying … Read more
Andreas “Andi” Brehme wasn’t supposed to be the hero of the 1990 World Cup final. Striker Rudi Voller was down to take penalties, but didn’t want to when the time came because he had been the man brought down in the box; in the eyes of referee Edgardo Codesal, at least. German football superstition had … Read more
“It feels like a never-ending horror film,” a shell-shocked Leon Goretzka said after the final whistle. Bayern Munich’s 3-2 loss at mid-table Bochum on Sunday certainly capped off a nightmarish week of three consecutive defeats for the perennial German champions that have plunged the club into deep crisis. Now eight points adrift of still-unbeaten Bayer … Read more