The Fußball Chatter

To say that Liverpool's title defence this season has not gone to plan would be an understatement, they have already conceded in the title race very early in February, have now has four home games in a row for the first time since the 1920s and a strong possibility of missing out on Champions League football next season as the Reds sit sixth in the Premier League table with 40 points, five points behind fourth-place West Ham United, nine points behind Leicester City and Manchester United, and a staggering nineteen points behind league leaders Manchester City. Even if they win their remaining thirteen league games, they will finish with 79 points. Twenty points off their points tally last season when they stormed to the Premier League title. So what has gone so wrong for Jurgen Klopp's side? Bad Injury Luck Now, this season was going to a weird one. With no sort of pre-season to prepare for the season plus the congested fixture list this season. Especially, for a club like Liver...

 First Weekend of the Premier League The Premier League made its return for the 2020/2021 season. Given how the 2019/2020 season ended, this coming season is going to be an odd one due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the tight fixture set-up of the new season. Nevertheless, we are all excited that the new season is underway. The first game of the season was Fulham hosting Arsenal at Craven where the Gunners blasted their opponents away with a 3-0 victory. Alexandre Lacazette scored the first goal of the season, putting the ball in the back of the net from two yards out after some heavy pressure that Fulham found it difficult to defend. New Arsenal signing Gabriel opened his Premier League account with a goal. The Brazilian scored from a set-piece early in the second half, with an Arsenal victory looking more imminent. Willian also had a good debut, creating two assists. The other was a long ball which found Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who put his shot in the top corner as Mikel Ar...

'We have to change from doubters to believers.' Those where the words that Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said in his first press conference when he was appointed the job in October 2015. Now, those words have change to past as Liverpool are crowned Premier League champions for the first time ever and their first league title in thirty years. They did have some help from Chelsea as the Blues beat Manchester City 2-1 yesterday at Stamford Bridge thanks to goals from Christian Pulisic and Willian, meaning Liverpool have won the league with seven games to spare, a Premier League record. Despite its inevitability, Liverpool's achievement this season should not be underestimated as they have blown the competition to finally reach the holy grail. Following last season where they won the Champions League but missed out on the title despite gaining 97 points, many questioned how Liverpool will pick themselves up this season despite amassing the third highest points tally in En...

It has been one of the games a lot of people were waiting for. Manchester City, the team to beat following from their 100 points winning campaign last season, face-off against Liverpool, the team likely to challenge city for the Premier League this season on Sunday at Anfield. Hyped as one of the games of the season with the attacking flair of both teams, the charisma of Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp and the world class players on both sides in front of a buoyant Anfield crowd. Both sides have started the season with both sides on 19 points from their seven games played in the league so far suggesting where the title challenge is this season. City are above just by goal difference making the game more important with the team that gets the three points will have the edge as the international break beckons. Head-to-Head (League Only)  Liverpool 4-3 Manchester City (January 2018) Manchester City 5-0 Liverpool (September 2017) Manchester City 1-1 Liverpool (March 2017) ...

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...

Kylian Mbappe Marcelo and his family  Eden Hazard  England Coach Gareth Southgate  Germany Coach Joachim Löw signing autographs  Sergio Ramos and Pilar Rubio Mohamed Salah Luka Modric and his family  Ronaldinho Thibaut Courtois  Marta Kasper Schmeichel and Stine Gylenbrand Ronaldo De Lima Mohamed Salah receiving the FIFA Puskas Award Thibaut Courtois winning the Best Goalkeeper Award Reynald Pedros winning the Women's Coach Award Didier Deschamps winning the Men's Coach Award Marta winning the Best Women's Player Award Luka Modric receiving the Best Men's Player Award Luka Modric and Marta The FIFPro XI with host Idris Elba  The Ceremony at The Royal Festival Hall in London

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 ...

So FIFA's The Best Award have finally been made with the Final three nominees shortlisted. The nominees are Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus/Portgual, Luka Modric of Real Madrid/Croatia and Mohamed Salah of Liverpool/Egypt. Barcelona's Lionel Messi was excluded as he's failed to make the final cut for the first time since 2006 which has stirred angry reactions from Messi fans online. Others like Kliyan Mbappe, Antonie Griezmann and Kevin De Bryune were also omitted as well. All three nominees had strong campaign from the past season and will see their chances in winning the award. Cristiano Ronaldo Mr CR7 has made the cut once again and it's seems that he will be the favourite to win the award once again. The Portguese had a strong campaign last season for Real Madrid which was his last for Los Blancos. Ronaldo scored over forty goals last season for Real Madrid with 26 in La Liga and 15 in the UEFA Champions League. Domestically, it was an underwhelming s...

Luka Modric beat former Real Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool's Mohamed Salah as he was awarded the UEFA Player of the Year award for his exploits in the 2017/18 season.   The awards were held yesterday during the draw for the UEFA Champions League. Cristiano Ronaldo was the favorite to win the award given his productive season for Los Blancos scoring 15 goals in the UCL while Mohamed Salah had a fantastic debut season for Liverpool scoring over 40 goals in all competitions last season with 10 in the UCL. Modric was the outsider in winning the award which is a testament of the success and attention the Croatian has given over the past few months. Modric also led his country Croatia to the World Cup Final in July winning the Golden Ball award for Best Player. For the other awards, Keylor Navas was awarded Best Goalkeeper, Sergio Ramos was awarded Best Defender and Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded Best Forward by UEFA.