The Fußball Chatter

The Spanish La Liga makes its return this weekend with all 20 teams have a renewed feeling of hope and success this upcoming season. This will be exclusively be on the top three teams in the division namely Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid. All three teams have done a tremendous amount of business this summer but what will that bring this season for each of them? Atlético Madrid Last season, many tipped Atlético Madrid to take Barcelona all the way in the title race. However, that wasn't the case. Los Rojiblancos finished 2nd but were 11 points behind the Champions Barcelona which was very disappointing as they were far behind for much of last season. This season is one for change in Atléti. The likes of Juanfran, Felipe Luís and Diego Godín, who have been crucial to Atlético's success under Simeone are gone. Key assets like Antonie Grizemann, Rodri, Lucas Hernández have also gone for big money with a combined total of €270m. Atlético have lost k...

So the FIFA Football Awards or THE BEST happened last night at London and Luka Modrić won the Men's Best Player Award beating Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah. Modrić has done what Wesley Sneijder, Franck Ribery and Manuel Neuer could not do. Break the Ronaldo-Messi duopoly.  Despite knowing he was going to win as Cristiano Ronaldo didn't attend the ceremony, Modrić was the deserved winner for what he has done over the past 12 months for both Real Madrid and Croatia. It's a sense of refreshment that a central midfielder who doesn't have high goals and assists numbers can be recognized as the best player in the world. Since Fabio Cannavaro, the FIFA Award mostly goes to attackers, something that former World Cup winning captain Philipp Lahm stated. There was some controversy with some of the winners from last night. Firstly, the Puskás award. Mohamed Salah's goal against Everton didn't deserve it. That wasn't even Salah's best goal from la...

Luka Modrić was crowned The Best Men's Player at the FIFA Football Awards last night at London. The Croatian beat former Real Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool's Mohamed Salah to win the award becoming the first player who is not Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi since Kaka in 2007 to win a FIFA Award. It has been a fitting 12 months for the midfielder who won the UEFA Champions League in May and led his country Croatia to the FIFA World Cup Final winning the Golden Ball Award for Best Player. Football's superstars, legends of the game and celebrities were in attendance with the glitz and glamour of the ceremony. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, however, were not in attendance for the ceremony. Mohamed Salah won the FIFA Puskás Award for the best goal beating Ronaldo's overhead kick against Juventus and Gareth Bale's strike against Liverpool in the Champions League Final. Thibaut Courtois won the best goalkeeper award while France's coach ...

The Premier League is finally back after the international break as Matchday 5 started with the biggest game of the weekend as Liverpool faced Tottenham at Wembley in the 12:30 kickoff. Chelsea and Watford were looking to continue their 100 percent start with Chelsea facing Cardiff City at Stamford Bridge while Watford faced Manchester United. Arsenal travelled to face Newcastle, Manchester City faced Fulham at the Etihad with the defending champions unstoppable at home, Bournemouth faced Leicester City and Huddersfield Town were up against Crystal Palace. Here are the four things learned from yesterday’s games. Liverpool passed their toughest test (so far) Liverpool returned to action with a tough run of games ahead of them and it started with Tottenham at Wembley. Liverpool last year, were battered by their opponents 4-1 and with their poor record against the top 6 away from home last season, this was a test where Liverpool needed to pass in proving their title credent...