Author: tripleseason

FT: PSG 4-1 Club Brugge, Messi & Mbappe with a brace each; Leipzig 2-1 Man City, English champion lose to Leipzig in Germany, Andre Silva & Szobozlai on target

Photo Credit: Getty

FULL TIME!

That’ll do it for the early games with PSG running away as winners behind Mbappe and Messi.

It finishes 4-1 in Brugge, with the two superstars scoring a brace each to win their final group match.

Group winners, Man City, meanwhile, fell to defeat with RB Leipzig winning 2-1 to seal a spot in the Europa League.

82′ RED CARD FOR WALKER

Kyle Walker is sent off after a rash tackle

76′ CALM FROM MESSI

Just moments after Club Brugge pull one back, Messi steps up from the spot to make it 4-1.

His second goal of the day comes after Messi himself drew the penalty as he and Mbappe continue to run the show.

76′ MAHREZ PULLS ONE BACK FOR CITY

It’s Riyad Mahrez with the goal, as City make it 2-1. The result, ultimately, doesn’t mean much, but will be interesting to see how City respond over the last few minutes.

71′ ANOTHER GOAL FOR LIEPZIG

A lovely finish from Andre Silva, and RB Leipzig are up 2-0.

That goal should be more than enough for Leipzig to go through to the Europa League, as Silva nets his third of the group stage.

68′ GOAL FOR CLUB BRUGGE!

Mats Rits scores for Club Brugge to make it 3-1

SECOND HALF BEGINS!

The two early games are back on as Manchester City look to turn it around in Leipzig while PSG hope to possible pour it on in Brugge.

HALFTIME

What a half of football from PSG, who are absolutely at their best even without Neymar.

PSG are unstoppable when they play like this, unfortunately for Club Brugge.

The French side are up 3-0 at the half, with Mbappe scoring twice and Messi adding a third as they’re running away with it.

RB Leipzig, meanwhile, are up a goal against Manchester City, with the Premier League giants looking a step slow with nothing to really play for.

Photo Credit: Twitter/@PSG_inside

Lionel Messi equals Pele in all time career goals (757)

38′ Messsssiiiii!

Lionel Messi scores yet another goal from outside the box! There was no way Mignolet could catch that.

24′ Goal for Leipzig

Manchester City are behind, and RB Leipzig are surely gonna lock down that Europa League spot.

Szoboszlai breaks past the City defence on a lovely pass from Laimer and gets in all alone on Steffen, who is starting in place of Ederson in goal.

The Hungarian simply rounds the Man City keeper and taps into an empty net, giving Leipzig the 1-0 lead at home.

Kylian Mbappé is the youngest player in Champions League history to score 30 goals in the competition. Guess who held that record before – no other person but LIONEL MESSI!

7′ MBAPPE AGAIN!

Mbappe makes it 2! He is having a superb night! Angel Di Maria’s pass was impeccable as well.

2′ GOAL PSG

Early goal from Kylian Mbappe for PSG, Mignolet stood no CHANCE! That is the quickest goal of Mbappe’s career.

Team News: PSG vs Club Brugge

PSG STARTING XI

CLUB BRUGGE STARTING XI

TEAM NEWS: RB Leipzig vs Manchester City

MANCHESTER CITY STARTING XI

RB LEIPZIG STARTING XI

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Will Chelsea still be at the top of the EPL table by January 2022? 

December is usually a jolly month with folks excited for Christmas and an official countdown to the new year. The Chelsea camp might not be so jolly because this December is crucial for their title chances. 

Photo Credit: Twitter/ Chelsea FC

Tuchel’s men sit at the top of the table after 14 games with 33 points. Manchester City is second with 32 points, while Liverpool is third with 31 points. The title race is already looking intense and it would take a lot for Chelsea to remain top. 

EPL Table after 14 games

Remember that the Blues are still in contention for the League cup and they have one more Champions League game for the year.

Chelsea would be facing 8 opponents for the remainder of the year, which means they would average 2 games every week. This would make the manager, Thomas Tuchel, rotate the team to avoid injuries. From the game against Watford, we can see that it might be difficult for Chelsea to always perform their best when rotating players and resting their best men. 

Another key factor is the recent injuries that have hit the team. N’golo Kante, Ben Chilwell, and Kovacic are currently out injured. While Timo Werner and Lukaku are still trying to get integrated into the team after being injured as well. It would be difficult for Chelsea to be at their best when they keep rotating team members. 

Photo Credit: Instagram/Chelsea FC

A head coach who likes to use data to make informed decisions, Tuchel will no doubt lean on his coaching staff, medical department, and analysts to make sure he keeps all of his available players at or near peak condition throughout the busy period.

Manchester City and Liverpool are also out for blood. Salah is having an outstanding season, he has scored 19 goals in all competitions and looks likely to finish the year on a high. Pep’s Manchester City are doing their best to make it a back-to-back title win. 

Below are all the fixtures for Chelsea this December:

Chelsea’s fixture for December

Below are all the fixtures for Manchester City this December:

Man City’s fixture for December

Below are all the fixtures for Liverpool this December:

Liverpool’s fixture for December

Chelsea would need to get 18 points out of the next 6 games to guarantee the top spot. Anything short of that might see either of Manchester City or Liverpool leap-frog to the top.

It is really a close call, but let us know what you think about this – will Chelsea still be at the top of the EPL table by January?

Let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Antonio Conte’s Spurs lose 2-1 to Slovenian team, Mura, in Europa conference league tie

We all thought it would be another regular Thursday night football where the ‘big’ teams would conquer the underdogs but a certain game in Slovenia stunned everyone. A Slovenian team, NS Mura, defeated English Premier league ‘top 6’ team, Tottenham by 2 goals to 1.

Even though a majority of the first team players did not start the game, it would be difficult for Spurs fans to swallow this loss because they hoped to get a ‘new manager bounce’ since appointing Antonio Conte as coach.

Ns Mura took the lead in the 11th minute of the game with a stunning goal from Tomi Horvat.

In the 34th minute, things went from bad to worse for Spurs as Ryan Sessegnon got his second yellow card of the match.

Harry Kane was able to equalise in the 72nd minute, showing a spark that there might be light at the end of the tunnel for the Londoners. However, that light was extinguished in added time as Amadej Marosa slotted in the winner.

This was indeed a story of David conquering Goliath. In his post-match interview, Antonio Conte sighted that the ‘level at Tottenham is not so high’.

The question is, will the Italian gaffer get Spurs to the ‘high level’? or should Spurs fans expect a series of humiliating defeat from underdogs this season?

One year without the great Diego Maradona

Today marks the one year anniversary of Diego Maradona’s death. It has been 12 months of cult fans trying to come to terms with the fact that the Argentine talisman is no more.

Maradona was one of the greatest to ever play the round leather game, that is why when news of his death broke on the 25th of November 2020, football fans where shocked to their core.

Maradona helped Napoli to two Scudetti, one Coppa Italia, the Supercoppa Italiana and the UEFA Cup.

The club has never reached similar heights in Europe after the former Barcelona star’s time at the club.

Maradona won the 1986 World Cup with Argentina, as the captain and the protagonist of the competition, with five goals in the competition and two of the most historic moments in the history of the game.

He was also famous for a controversial goal he scored against England in the 1986 World Cup. The goal was termed ‘the hand of God’

Here are some of his best moments:

Kevin De Bruyne is set to miss three crucial games after testing positive for Covid-19

Kevin De Bruyne has tested positive for coronavirus while on international duty with Belgium; Manchester City midfielder is self-isolating for 10 days, says manager Pep Guardiola; De Bruyne will miss matches against Everton and Paris Saint-Germain.

The 30-year-old playmaker has been away on World Cup qualifying duty with his country, helping Roberto Martinez’s side to book their place at Qatar 2022.

He is, however, about to take another enforced break at club level, with Pep Guardiola also waiting to discover whether Jack Grealish and Phil Foden will be ready to face Everton on Sunday following their respective efforts with England.

De Bruyne, who is vaccinated, scored for Belgium in their World Cup qualifying draw with Wales on Tuesday. “The symptoms will be minor hopefully,” said City manager Pep Guardiola.

“As soon as possible, he can come back. We do not worry about what we are going to miss. The person is more important. We have to help him and hope it goes well while he’s isolated.”

NORWICH CITY APPOINT DEAN SMITH AS THEIR NEW MANAGER

Premier League basement boys Norwich City have officially announced the appointment of Dean Smith on a two-and-a-half year deal.

The 50 year-old will now succeed the sacked Daniel Farke, and is saddled with the task of preventing the club from going to relegation – with the Canaries currently bottom of the Premier League, five points adrift of safety. Also, Craig Shakespeare who worked with Smith at Aston Villa, will join him as his assistant at Carrow Road.

Dean Smith is set to make history as the first man to take charge of successive Premier League matches against the same opponent with different teams, after being sacked by Aston Villa following a home defeat to Southampton. Smith’s first game in charge will be at home to Southampton on Saturday, 20 November.

Smith spent three years at Aston Villa and in that time, guided them to promotion from the Championship and reached the Carabao Cup final. But things at the club did not improve this season, with captain Jack Grealish departing for defending champions Manchester City for 100 million pounds. The team also lost five consecutive league games and have only ten points – just two points from the drop zone.

It is left to be seen whether Smith can keep Norwich up, following their terrible start to the season but his experience may just be the difference in the end. Norwich dismissed former boss Daniel Farke on 6th November despite a win away at Brentford, which was the club’s first league victory of the campaign.

Following Dean Smith’s appointment, Canaries sporting director Stuart Webber said: “I have admired his work for some time and he has been a long-term target in the event that we needed to appoint a new head coach.” Former Chelsea manager Frank Lampard also held talks with the Canaries, but pulled out of the running.

BREAKING: Dani Alves makes emotional return to Barcelona!

Alves and Xavi in the colours of Barca

Xavi’s first signing as manager of Barcelona is his former teammate Dani Alves. Alves joins his former side as a free agent after being out of contract since leaving Sao Paulo in his native Brazil in September 2021. 

According to Marca, Xavi approved Barca’s negotiations with the Brazilian on Friday afternoon and within a few hours, there was an update from highly acclaimed journalist Fabrizio Romano that Xavi would join the Catalan giants.

Fabrizio Romano first broke the news on Twitter

Alves had a trophy-laden first stint at Camp Nou which saw him win a total of 23 trophies between 2008 and 2016. He had 3 Champions League winners medals and 6 La Liga winners medals in the colours of Barcelona. 

There are reports that the signing of Xavi is to help add a leader to the Spanish outfit in order to boost their performances. His contract with Barcelona will include a clause to extend the deal until June 2023. Alves would train with the team but would be eligible to play from January 2022.

Alves is the most decorated player in world football, having enjoyed success at a number of clubs. As well as Barcelona and Sao Paulo, he has represented Bahia, Sevilla, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain.

BREAKING: Mohamed Salah is the EA Sports Premier League Player of the Month for October!

Mohamed Salah wins monthly award after an outstanding month that saw him score five Premier League goals, including a hat-trick against Manchester United; Phil Foden, Aaron Ramsdale and Ben Chilwell among the other nominees.

The Egyptian maestro produced an astonishing 9-goal contribution for Klopp’s men. Salah also continued his scoring exploits on the European stage with a brace in a 3-2 Champions League win over Atletico Madrid.

Salah beat off competition from Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell, Burnley’s Maxwel Cornet, Manchester City’s Phil Foden, Southampton’s Tino Livramento, Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, West Ham midfielder Declan Rice, and Youri Tielemans of Leicester, to win the accolade.

Liverpool returns to action after the international break with a home game against Arsenal on November 20 – live on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event.