The Fußball Chatter

Sevilla have done it again. They were crowned champions of the UEFA Europa League for a record-extending seventh time after defeating Jose Mourinho's AS Roma 4-1 on penalties after the game finished 1-1 after extra time at the Puska Arena in Budapest on May 31st. Paulo Dybala opened the scoring for Roma in the 34th minute before an own goal from Gianluca Mancini levelled the score. In a combative final, referee Anthony Taylor dished out fourteen yellow cards in the match, the most in a Europa League game . Argentine defender Gonzalo Montiel scored the winning penalty to give Sevilla the title and qualify for next year's Champions League. Sevilla, since 2000, has dominated Europe's second premier competition, winning it seven times in seven finals. Here is a rewind of Sevilla's six Europa League triumphs. SEVILLA 3-2 INTER MILAN (2020) Before their win on Wednesday night, Sevilla last won the competition in 2020 at the height of the Covid pandemic. Starting from the beg...

The Italian Serie A returns this coming weekend as the defending champions AC Milan host Udinese at the San Siro to kickstart the new season. Last season produced an exciting season from the Italian top flight we have seen in a while as Milan edged city rivals Inter Milan to win the title on the season's final day. This season looks no different as up to four teams have a shot of winning the Scudetto, following years of dominance from Juventus. As we celebrate the return of Calcio , how have the major sides prepared for the new season? AC MILAN & INTER MILAN: WHO GETS THE SECOND STAR? Despite numerous metrics stating they were the best performer in Serie A last season, Inter Milan could not defend the Scudetto for the first time since 2010 as city rivals AC Milan beat them to win their first league title since 2011. An achievement for coach Stefano Pioli and the Rossoneri. Following years of being in the wilderness for the past five to six years. A big reason for Milan's s...

  La Liga 26 goals were scored in the Spanish top flight this past weekend as we are approaching the business end of the season, with only ten games remaining. Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and, Real Madrid all won their games this past weekend, as the title race drags on. Barcelona got the biggest win of the three, beating Real Sociedad 6-1 at the Anoeta with Lionel Messi and American right-back Sergino Dest both scoring braces in a big win for the Blaugrana. Atletico Madrid kept their four-point lead at the summit of the league table, beating Alaves 1-0 at home. Luis Suarez scored the only goal of the game, which was his 500th career goal, a milestone for the Uruguayan. Real Madrid went away to Celta Vigo and, got a 3-1 win thanks to Karim Benzema, who scored two goals. As well as Marco Asensio, who continued off his cameo performance in the Champions League from mid-week. In the relegation dogfight, everybody failed to win their games to get some breathing space. Cadiz lost 2-1 awa...

Premier League Action Twenty-nine goals were scored this past weekend with two matches left, with penalties galore as seven penalties were awarded this past weekend. The highlight match of the weekend was Manchester City 5-2 home defeat to Leicester City. Jamie Vardy netted a hat-trick, with two goals from the penalty spot while James Maddison netted an absolute peach of a goal as Pep Guardiola has to sort out City's defensive woes this season as this is the first time in his managerial career that he has conceded five goals in a home game. For Brendan Rodgers' side, this was their first win away from home since January, and Vardy already has five goals this season, tied with Everton's Dominic Calvert-Levin. Bruno Fernandes scored a 100th minute penalty to give Manchester United their first win of the season in a quite fortunate 3-2 win against Brighton which was engulfed in some controversy, particularly with the late penalty that was given to United. Mason Mount, Callum H...

FA Cup Action The semifinals of the FA Cup took place during the weekend at an empty Wembley Stadium. The first semifinal was between the holders Manchester City and Arsenal. Following their win against Liverpool in midweek, the Gunners pulled off a shock 2-0 win with Pierre Emerick Aubameyang scoring the two goals. Despite City having 71% possession and 16 shots, Pep Guardiola's side were nullified by Arsenal and did not look to have created a key chance during the game. Credit has to go to Mikel Arteta as he has taken the North London side to another FA Cup final, hoping to add to the 13 FA Cup titles the club has won. They will meet their London rivals Chelsea in the final on August 1st as Frank Lampard was fourth time lucky against Manchester United this season, winning the game 3-1. Olivier Giroud, Mason Mount and an own goal from Harry Maguire  gave the Blues the win while United paid the price for fielding a rotated side for the semifinal with David de Gea having a poor...

The Italian top flight will make its return on the 20th of June with Torino facing Parma and Verona hosting Cagliari. The Serie A was suspended in early March following the coronavirus outbreak, which hit Italy hard as the country was the first in Europe to be affected by the pandemic. Now, after the resumption and conclusion of the Coppa Italia, Serie A return with a title race for the Scudetto and the race for the Champions League next season. Here's where we left off. Battle for Survival  It looks grim for the likes of Brescia and SPAL. Brescia, returning from Serie B, are rooted at the bottom of the table with only 16 points. Nine points away from safety. SPAL are 19th with just 18 points from 26 games as both sides looking more than likely to go down this season. Lecce round off the bottom three sitting in 18th with 25 points. Genoa sit above Lecce just on goal difference while the likes of Sampdoria, Torino and Udinese are not safe with the gap between Udinese to Le...

The Italian Serie A starts this weekend as the defending champions Juventus play against Parma on Saturday at the Ennio Tardini. Serie A looks set to different as Juventus' rivals are stepping up their game to challenge the Old Lady for the Scudetto. Here's the preview on the top six this upcoming season. AS Roma The Giallorossi were unable to replicate what they did in the 2017/2018 season where they finished 3rd and reached the semifinals of the Champions League. They lost Radja Nainggolan and Alisson and spent a lot of money on new recruits under former director of football Monchi. They finished 6th last season, three points behind Inter Milan who finished fourth, unrest from the ultras and the sacking of Eusebio Di Francesco. Claudio Ranieri steadied the ship towards the end of last season but it was evident that this season is a reset. Former Shaktar Donetsk coach Paulo Fonseca was appointed during the summer and has largely kept the squad intact. However, ...

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...

This weekend is derby weekend with four derby games coming up this coming weekend bringing the animosity, ferociousness and pure passion of both set of supporters. Here's what to look forward to. EPL: Merseyside & North London Derbies It's getting close to the climax of the season in the Premier League with ten games left and this weekend has two major games, Everton hosting city rivals Liverpool at Goodison Park on Sunday and Tottenham against Arsenal at Wembley on Saturday. The Merseyside derby on Sunday is the longest running top-flight derby in the Premier League and the most violent with 20 red cards since the league's inception. Everton's season has been a poor one given the aims they had this season especially with their form at home. However, form goes out of the window in games like this and will want nothing more than to derail the title hopes of Liverpool, who are in a tight title race with Manchester City. Liverpool know the crowd at Goodison will...

The UEFA Champions League is back after a two month absence and it's crunch time as we begin the knockout stages of the competition with some excitement games over the next few weeks. So we begin with the games from last night. Mbappé silences Old Trafford Kliyan Mbappé played without his attacking partners in Neymar and Edinson Cavani but scored an important away goal for the PSG as they beat Manchester United 2-0 in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie at Old Trafford. Things were looking to be at United's favour as they have been unbeaten under Ole Gunnar Solskjær and PSG were without Neymar, Cavani, Rabiot and Meunier. However, during the game, United hardly threatened the French champions with only one shot on target from their 10 attempts from last night. PSG had chances but were unable to capitalize as well but in the second half, Presnel Kimpembe got the Parisians in front after converting a corner from Ángel Di Maria, giving PSG a vital away goal. Kliyan Mbapp...

The draw for the Round of 16 in the Champions League was held today at Nyon, Switzerland as we are now in the knockout stages of the competition. The 16 teams finally knew who they will face and will now prepare for the tie which will take in February with the second leg in early March. Here are the matches: AS Roma V FC Porto The least fancy fixture but still both teams will believe they have a chance of going through. Roma, who have struggled in Serie A this season, will be the happier side as they avoided better teams and are the favourites to go through. Porto will hope for a better showing as they knocked out by Liverpool last season 5-0 on aggregate with all five coming at home turf. Likely winners: AS Roma Olympique Lyonnais V FC Barcelona Barcelona are one of the favourites to win the competition this season and will fancy their chances against Lyon. Barça aren't dominating La Liga but their aim is winning the Champions League with Lionel Messi already on...