The Fußball Chatter

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...

The International break is over for the year but it was a very important one as World Cup qualifiers resumed with teams across the world either making it to the World Cup directly or advancing to the next round of qualifiers. As of now, 12 teams have qualified for the World Cup next November. Germany, Denmark, Brazil, France, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Serbia, England, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Argentina are those that will be playing in Qatar next year with 19 slots still available as qualifiers will resume next year. This will be dwelling on UEFA (Europe) and CAF (Africa) as their round of qualifiers are over with the next round to start in March, which will determine those that will qualify for the World Cup. CONCACAF (North America), AFC (Asia) and COMMEBOL (South America) will resume in their present round of qualifiers in March as well while OFC (Oceania) will start their World Cup qualifying campaign in March next year. UEFA (EUROPE) The latest round of qualifiers in Europe...

When Xavi Hernandez left Barcelona in 2015 to play out his final playing days with Qatari side Al-Sadd, it would not be a surprise that the former Spanish international will return to the Camp Nou in some form of capacity, possibly as a manager. Retiring as a player in 2019, he became manager of Al-Sadd, winning five trophies in the process. Now, he has returned to Barcelona as a manager, replacing Ronald Koeman. Pep Guardiola, who managed Xavi during his time at Barcelona, gave his stamp of approval, stating that Xavi has more experience in the dugout than he did before he took over Barcelona. However, there is scepticism around Xavi's appointment, given that Xavi has only managed in Qatar and the huge task he's about to encounter. Various former players have returned to their sides as managers. Zinedine Zidane with Real Madrid, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with Manchester United, Frank Lampard with Chelsea and Andrea Pirlo with Juventus. Aside from Zinedine and Guardiola, these appoi...

Since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, it has drawn the eyeballs of football fans across Africa. The following of the Premier League in the continent is massive with a wide coverage of Premier League games from watching centres, bars and private homes. It has also circulated with African players coming into the Premier League since the late 1990s and making a name for themselves on English shores. Here are the top ten of all-time Premier League scorers from the African continent. DIDIER DROGBA (104 Goals) Winning the most Premier League titles by an African player with four, and as of the time this post is released, the highest scorer from the continent with 104 strikes, Didier Drogba is widely considered one of the greatest African players of all time. Signed for Chelsea in 2004, the Ivorian was one of the key men that brought success to Stamford Bridge during his nine seasons at West London. Winning 14 trophies including four league titles and the Champions League, Drogba...

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...

It may be just five games into the new Premier League season but Chelsea are already making a statement on their title chances this season as Tuchel's side are still unbeaten and performing a commanding 3-0 win over Tottenham on Sunday at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium. Thomas Tuchel made a number of changes from midweek with the big surprise being Kepa Arrizabalaga coming in on goal for Edouard Mendy while Spurs brought back Son Heung-Min who was not available last week. Chelsea and Spurs were neck and neck in the first 45 minutes as the Lillywhites took six shots with Son's effort in the 33rd minute the only one to test Kepa. N'golo Kante came on in the second half for Mason Mount and Chelsea took it up a gear. They scored three without reply as Thiago Silva, Kante and Antonio Rudiger scored to give a big win for the Blues . Despite the early promise in the first half, Spurs were very passive as their PPDA (Passes Per Defensive Action) was at 14.9, giving Chelsea the initi...

The UEFA Champions League is back for another exciting season as the heavyweights of European football battle it out to become Champions of Europe with the Final taking place on the 28th of May at the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg, Russia. This Champions League season will be the first after UEFA scrapped the away goal rule in the summer, meaning games in the knockout stages that remain level will go into extra time. The season also sees the return of football supporters in stadiums after last season when fans did not attend games due to the pandemic. With big business done during the transfer window, expectations are quite high for this season. So, here are the eight groups in the competition and which teams have higher chances of going through to the knockout stages. GROUP A: MANCHESTER CITY, PSG, RB LEIPZIG & CLUB BRUGGE Pep Guardiola managed to get Manchester City to their first-ever appearance in the Champions League Final. However, they left empty-handed losing 1-0 t...