Analysis, features, news plus more – on European football and sports galore!
Eight points adrift of leaders Liverpool and counting, Premier League defending champions Manchester City have been off-the-pace across all competitions this season and their slump in form has been worsened by the long-term absence of Ballon d’Or winner Rodri. As such, they’re open to acquiring midfield acquisitions next month and beyond, with several lucrative names being linked. Continue reading “Missing Rodri and out-of-sorts, City linked with Wirtz, Guimaraes and Zubimendi”
They trailed early for the second time in consecutive weeks and fourth already this campaign, yet Pep Guardiola’s defending champion Manchester City found a way to break Wolves’ hearts with a John Stones stoppage-time winner hours before Liverpool doused Chelsea’s encouraging start despite suffering more injury woes as the Premier League’s pacesetters intensified this weekend. Continue reading “Gutsy 2-1 victories for leaders Liverpool, champs City say it all in early title race”
Kevin de Bruyne’s honesty regarding the ‘incredible money’ on offer in Saudi Arabia has forced the Citizens to prepare contingency plans should their creator-in-chief decide a departure from European football is too lucrative to reject. Crystal Palace playmaker Eberechi Eze, who they were linked to last summer, has again emerged as a serious option but will be rather expensive.
Continue reading “Manchester City weigh up Eze approach again as de Bruyne’s future still unclear”
Manchester City were tired, leggy and emotionally drained after penalty heartbreak in Madrid three days earlier as their Champions League defence ended, but survived a series of promising goalscoring chances before Bernardo Silva’s 84th-minute winner secured a hard-fought win over Chelsea, punching their ticket back into the FA Cup final for a third time in the last six seasons. Continue reading “Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea: Silva’s late strike sends Citizens back to FA Cup final”
Kevin de Bruyne scored the first and assisted two more as Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City extended their English club-record winning streak to nine in Champions League competition, emerging from their Denmark trip with a comfortable two-goal cushion for next month’s last-16 return leg at Eastlands. Continue reading “Copenhagen 1-3 Manchester City: Decisive de Bruyne inspires comfy first-leg cushion”
Having narrowly beaten Inter Milan last June to complete a historic treble, the Premier League champions’ inconsistent domestic form this term saw many believing they’d crash-and-burn on all fronts this season after Kevin de Bruyne’s injury left star striker Erling Haaland without his creator-in-chief. Both back fit again in an in-form team, Guardiola doesn’t think so – and why would he? Continue reading “Guardiola talks up City belief in retaining Champions League crown, as you’d expect”
Kevin de Bruyne’s hamstring surgery and subsequent recovery means City are without their creator-in-chief until the new year, so the Premier League champions are intensifying efforts to bolster the midfield before next Thursday’s transfer deadline – two English-based players are on their radar. Continue reading “City target Wolves midfielder Nunes and Palace’s Eze as Lucas Paqueta alternatives”
Two seasons and 742 days after being an unused substitute, watching from the dugout in Porto as his teammates were sucker punched by a savvy Chelsea side in their maiden Champions League Final, Rodri secured their treble-winning season with a second-half winner as Manchester City at long last seized the one trophy that has eluded their grasp against a wasteful Inter showing in Istanbul. Continue reading “Manchester City 1-0 Inter: Rodri’s strike secures Champions League glory, at last”
Premier League champions Manchester City banished their demons from twelve months ago, avenging a painful collapse against Real Madrid with a 4-0 (5-1 aggregate) win over the Champions League holders on Wednesday, earning a date with Serie A giants Inter Milan for the Istanbul final on June 10. Five games in 20 days across three competitions between now and then, what’s next?
Continue reading “Istanbul bound: City composed in 4-0 Real rout, as a pivotal three weeks now beckon”
In a tense Champions League semi-final first leg encounter headlined by two excellent strikes from distance, Kevin de Bruyne’s emphatic equaliser midway through the second-half saw Manchester City restore parity vs. defending champions Real Madrid during their nailbiting affair at the Bernabeu tonight. Continue reading “Real Madrid 1-1 Manchester City: de Bruyne keeps semi-final tie finely poised”
Individual mistakes from Gunners defensive duo Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel Magalhaes during both halves helped reigning champions Manchester City rally from a tetchy start to return top of the Premier League, earning a hard-fought 3-1 away win over long-running leaders Arsenal in north London. Erling Haaland ended his three-match goalscoring drought to wrap up the points, combining with – who else – Kevin de Bruyne. Continue reading “Arsenal 1-3 Manchester City: Individual mistakes cost profligate Gunners as Citizens return top”
Having laboured to a lacklustre 1-0 win over Canada, then being stunned 2-0 by Morocco on MD2, Roberto Martinez’s Belgium enter today’s group stage encounter with Croatia – the World Cup runners-up four years ago – aware tournament progression remains in their hands. As speculation about dwindling team dynamics and squad division persists, the 49-year-old Spaniard insists critics should enjoy what’s left of this golden generation, not inventing stories. Continue reading “World Cup 2022: Belgium boss Martinez rubbishes negative news before crunch clash vs. Croatia”
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