The Fußball Chatter

The UEFA Champions League has finally ended with Liverpool becoming victorious after defeating Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in the Final. It was a poor final, pretty much an underwhelming end to a fantastic season in the competition which has produced some fantastic moments which will be talked about. Here are the top five moments of the Champions League this season. That Messi Freekick (Barcelona 3-0 Liverpool, semifinal 1st leg)  When Barcelona faced Liverpool in the semifinals, many saw the game as Lionel Messi against the top performing defender in Virgil van Dijk. The 3-0 victory for Barcelona didn't reflect the entire game with Liverpool pressurizing the Catalans for the majority of the game with Valverde forced to make a defensive change but then again, Barcelona were already two goals up, thanks to Luis Suárez and Messi, who scored from a rebound. However, the third goal was something of pure beauty. Barcelona get a free kick from 35 yards with Messi taking it. ...

With the football season across Europe all but wrapped up, we are looking forward to two major European finals this week. The UEFA Europa League Final in Baku, Azerbaijan and the UEFA Champions League Final in Madrid, Spain. The Europa League Final comes up first and is taking place on Wednesday May 29th between Arsenal and Chelsea at the Olympic Stadium in Baku. There has been controversy surrounding the final from the difficulty of fans getting to Baku, ticket allocation and safety concerns of Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who has decided not to travel with his teammates for the final. Nevertheless, the final is highly anticipated as both sides will want to end their season on a high. Both sides have experienced a transition under new managers with Chelsea finishing 3rd in the Premier League while Arsenal finished 5th, meaning they have to win the final to play in the Champions League next season. Both sides have had a different route in reaching the final showpiece, so...

The football season is over with the Europa League and Champions League Final the only games left to see from the season that just concluded. The teams that won their leagues last season defended their titles. However, let's look at the teams that achieved more than what many expected. AFC Ajax It has been a remarkable season for Ajax Amsterdam but many forget how the Dutch side have struggled before now in Europe and at home. They haven't won the Eredivisie since 2014 seeing their rivals PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord win it since and haven't played in the knockout stages of the Champions League since 2005/06. Changes were made behind the scenes with former players Edwin van der Sar and Marc Overmars appointed as CEO and Technical Director. This season, the Dutch side rolled back the years with some fantastic football that the late Johan Cryuff will be proud of. Under the guidance of coach Erik Ten Hag, with a blend of youth in Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong and ...

So it is done. The 2018/19 Premier League season is officially over with Manchester City crowned champions with 98 points, beating Liverpool to a solitary point. Chelsea and Tottenham with play in the Champions League next season while Arsenal and Manchester United will play Thursday Night Football in the Europa League (Unless Arsenal wins the Europa League). Wolves was the best of the rest finishing seventh while Cardiff City, Fulham and Huddersfield Town were relegated and will play in the Championship next season. This is a review of the Premier League season, specifically on the top 6. Manchester United (My Prediction: 3rd, Final Position: 6th) Manchester United will be glad that the season is over and that Liverpool didn't win the league. However, they were very underwhelming this season finishing 6th with 66 points. Five points behind 4th placed Spurs, 21 points behind Liverpool and 22 points behind Manchester City. The signs of how bad the season would go was there...

The Round of 16 has been completed with AFC Ajax, FC Barcelona, Juventus FC, Liverpool FC, Manchester United FC, Manchester City FC, FC Porto and Tottenham Hotspur FC through to the quarterfinals. The draw for the quarterfinals has been done with some exciting match-ups. Here are my thoughts from the draw. Manchester United FC V FC Barcelona The biggest match-up from the draw, Manchester United will face the daunting task of stopping Lionel Messi and Barcelona when they meet in the last eight. Manchester United were in a different place before the knockout stages with the level of uncertainty at Old Trafford. However, since the appointment of interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær, United look like a team that has belief again and that belief grew a thousand fold when they came from behind to beat PSG to go through. With Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford, Romelu Lukaku, Victor Lindelöf and Ander Herrera revitalized under the Norwegian, United have a chance, even if it's slim. Barça g...

The UEFA Champions League has already given us some big moments already even going back as last week but there were still four games left to go to see who will join FC Porto, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspurs and Ajax in the last eight. Here's the recap of this week's UCL games. Atléti really hate facing Ronaldo Atlético Madrid must really hate the sight of Cristiano Ronaldo after his inspiring performance for Juventus as the Serie A champions beat Atléti 3-0 on Tuesday night at the Juventus Stadium and go through 3-2 on aggregate. Atlético had the advantage going to the second leg following their 2-0 win at home forcing the Old Lady to do something really special to go through and they had that in the form of CR7. Ronaldo was at it again, scoring a hat-trick with two towering headers as he has now scored 22 headers in the UCL and the winning goal which was a penalty in the 86th minute. That was Ronaldo's eighth hat-trick in the Champions League, level with Lione...

Mission Impossible Accomplished in Paris Manchester United achieved what was impossible overturning a two deficit to go through to the quarterfinals of the Champions League defeating Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 at the Parc des Princes, 3-3 on aggregate as the Red Devils go through on away goals. Paris Saint-Germain were favourites to go through after the first leg at Old Trafford with United's injury troubles forcing Ole Gunnar Solksjær to field youngsters for the tie and Paul Pogba suspended after getting a red card in the first leg. Within two minutes in the game, United halved the deficit from Romelu Lukaku who capitalized on an error from Thilo Kehrer who made a horrible back pass. Juan Bernat equalized for the Parisians with Kliyan Mbappé finding the full-back who slotted the ball home. Lukaku scored again for United as Gianluigi Buffon was unable to tame a shot from Marcus Rashford enabling the Belgian to pounce on the rebound. In the second half, PSG had a goal disallowed a...