The Fußball Chatter

The 2022/23 German Bundesliga starts on the 5th of August when Eintracht Frankfurt hosts defending champions Bayern Munich at the Deutsche Bank Park. The 60th edition of the German top flight sees the return of both Schalke 04 and Werder Bremen to the top flight, Freiburg and Union Berlin, new faces and new goals for the upcoming season. Due to the FIFA World Cup staging in Qatar in November, the Bundesliga will have an extended break, returning in January 2023. Here's a season preview of the 2022/23 Bundesliga season. CHANGES AT THE ALLIANZ ARENA Bayern Munich won their tenth Meisterschale in a row. The first time this feat has been achieved in Europe's top five leagues. Despite winning the league, they finished with 77 points. Their lowest points tally within the ten years. With Julian Nagelsman plus the higher-ups at Bayern like Olivier Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic, Bayern Munich has made significant changes that have not been seen at the Allianz Arena for some time now. Robe...

So there we have it, the 2021/2022 football season is sealed into the history books. From the joy of winning silverware, the despair of relegation and the hope of better things to come, the past football season had a lot of moments and memories that we will talk about for years to come. Here are the ten stories from the 2021/2022 football season. AC Milan winning the Scudetto The 2021/2022 Serie A season had one of the best title races in recent years. With no standout favourite from the beginning, it was a real tussle on who will win the Scudetto this season. Earlier on, it looks like a three-horse race between Inter Milan, AC Milan and Napoli. With Juventus' poor start to the season and Napoli falling away later on, the Scudetto will go to Milan, but with it be in Red or Blue? Inter Milan had the upper hand in the last ten leagues. However, dropped points against Torino, Fiorentina, and Bologna opened the opportunity for AC Milan to win Serie A for the first time in 11 years. The...

This season was going to be one of transition for RB Leipzig but it has not been a good start to the season. Currently tenth in the Bundesliga standings with three defeats from six games played so far, they are yet to pick up a point in their Champions League group losing to both Manchester City and Club Brugge, which could leave their chances of qualifying for the Europa League in jeopardy. Despite being the most hated team in Germany, they have become one of the top dogs in the Bundesliga. Finishing in the top four places, in four of the last five seasons, since gaining promotion. So, no wings to fly? Given their production of talent over the past few years, major clubs across Europe have poached their best players, with Liverpool and Bayern Munich being the biggest culprits. However, they have continued to perform well on the field despite these losses in their playing staff. The past summer window was no different. They lost Dayot Upamecano, Marcel Sabitzer and Ibrahima Konate as w...

Bundesliga  It's getting to crunch time with seven games remaining in the Bundesliga, as 19 goals were scored from the past weekend. The biggest tie was the title race clash between Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig at the Red Bull Arena on Saturday. Bayern, who were playing without Robert Lewandowski, saw off Leipzig with a 1-0 win courtesy of Leon Goretzka. Probably the tie that decides the title. There was the Berlin Derby between Union Berlin and Hertha Berlin, which ended 1-1 which boosted Hertha's chances of staying up. André Silva scored the winner for Eintracht Frankfurt against Borussia Dortmund at the Westfalonstadion as Die Alder won 2-1, hurting Dortmund's chances of qualifying for the Champions League next season. Mainz and Arminia Bielefeld played out a 1-1 draw which keeps Arminia in the relegation zone. FC Köln are now in the relegation/playoff spot, losing 1-0 to Wolfsburg, two points behind Mainz, who are away from the relegation places. Bayer Leverkusen starte...

  Premier League Nine games were played in the Premier League this past weekend, with 21 goals scored. The biggest clash in the English top-flight was the North London Derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates. Arsenal went out 2-1 winners thanks to goals from Martin Odegaard and Alexandre Lacazette. Spurs went in front thanks to a wonderful rabona goal from Erik Lamela, who later got sent off after receiving a second yellow card. Another wonderful goal was scored by Dwight McNeil for Burnley in their 2-1 win against Everton at Goodison Park. The Burnley wide-player breezed past Allan before curling the ball past Jordan Pickford. Chris Wood also scored for Burnley with Dominic Calvert-Lewin pulled one back for the Toffees . Kelechi Iheanacho scored his first Premier League hat-trick as Leicester City trashed Sheffield United 5-0. The Nigerian, who scored in Leicester's last two, was too much for the Blades , with Jamie Vardy acting as a perfect foil. His third was...

  Porto Shock Juventus Juventus were knocked out of the Champions League in the Round of 16 for a second straight season to Portuguese side FC Porto, who went through 4-4 on aggregate on away goals, despite losing 3-2 in Turin. The Bianconeri knew that a 1-0 win or a win by two goals will be enough to go to the quarterfinals. Things did not go to plan from the beginning for Juventus as Porto were awarded a penalty in the 19th minute after a poor challenge from Merih Demiral on Mehdi Taremi in Juventus' penalty box. Sergio Oliveira scored from the spot to give Porto the lead on the night, with a two-goal aggregate lead. The Old Lady bombarded the Porto defence with Juan Cuadrado whipping crosses from the right-hand. Juventus equalized thanks to Federico Chiesa, who scored in the first leg, to get the Italian champions back in the game. Porto would find it difficult to do for the rest of the game when they went down to ten men after Taremi went off for kicking the ball after the whis...

  Serie A 21 goals were in the Italian top flight this past weekend but only three games had three goals or more. One of those games was between league leaders Inter Milan and Genoa. The Nerazzurri had a comfortable 3-0 victory with Romelu Lukaku, Matteo Darmian and Alexis Sánchez. That's now five straight wins for Inter as they are still four points ahead of AC Milan. Speaking of their city rivals, they beat top-four hopefuls AS Roma 2-1 at the Olimpico on Sunday. Goals from Franck Kessié and Ante Rebić ensured the win for the Rossoneri, after losing back-to-back games. a 77th-minute equalizer from Antonín Barák meant the points were shared between Hellas Verona and Juventus. A blow in their chances of gaining ground on the Milan clubs, as they are six points behind Milan and ten points behind Inter, albeit with a game in hand. Atalanta moved into the top four following their 2-0 win over Sampdoria with goals from Ruslan Malinovskiy and Robin Gosens, who scored his seventh goal in...

The draw for the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League took place on Monday with the Round of 16 games taking place in February 2021. Here's a reaction from the draw plus who's likely to go through from these match-ups. Borussia Mönchengladbach v Manchester City  Borussia Mönchengladbach shocked many in qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League, getting points off Real Madrid and Inter Milan. However, their reward will be facing Manchester City in the Round of 16. The Germans will have it difficult to do against Pep Guardiola's team despite going to the Etihad in the second leg. As for Manchester City, this is a favourable draw but will be cautious of Gladbach's aggressive pressing play, which was brought in by their manager Marco Rose. Despite their struggles in the Premier League this season, they walked through their Champions League groups, conceding just one goal. Manchester City should have enough to go through and advance into the quarterf...

  Liverpool run riot at Bergamo Liverpool, after winning their first two games in the Champions League, travelled to Bergamo to face Serie A side Atalanta in a clash that would be decisive for both teams and their clashes to go through. With players unavailable for both sides due to injury, the game looked pretty with some fancying Gasperini's side to take the win over Jurgen Klopp. Liverpool eventually won the game, and it was not even close. The Reds spanked Atalanta 5-0 with goals from Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, and a hat-trick from Diogo Jota, who came in for Roberto Firmino. Jurgen Klopp's side exploited so much space that came from Atalanta, taking 15 shots with 12 on target. Despite that, Atalanta still managed to find some chances with Duvan Zapata having the best chance for the Bergamo side whose shot hit the post. However, Liverpool took much control of the game and left Italy with their best performance of the season so far. This puts them top of Group D with nine po...

  Serie A Action 33 goals were scored from this past weekend in Serie A, with only two teams unable to score. One of those teams was surprisingly Napoli. They fell short against attacking hotshots Sassuolo, losing the game 2-0. A penalty from Manuel Locatelli and a late goal from Maxime Lopez enabled the Neroverdi to pull off a big win against a Napoli side that have started the season well, scoring 14 goals from their six games played. Cristiano Ronaldo made his return to the Juventus squad after contracting coronavirus in early October, missing four games in the process. He made up for the lost time, coming off from the bench to score a brace in Juventus' 4-1 win against Spezia on Sunday. Alvaro Morata and Adrien Rabiot also got themselves on the scoresheet but the Old Lady will be glad that Ronaldo is back in the fold. Ivan Perisic scored in the 92nd minute to salvage a point for Inter Milan as they drew 2-2 against Parma with former Arsenal winger Gervinho scoring a brace for P...