Manchester City were stupefied in Madrid. They need to find the smelling salts and fast May 5, 2022 Of all the astonishing facets of Real Madrid’s latest Champions League miracle this week, perhaps the eeriest was what it did to Manchester City’s players in the second leg of their semi-final at the Santiago Bernabeu. Under Pep Guardiola, City have become one of the most meticulously orchestrated teams on the planet. They have swept [...]
Carlo Ancelotti: Management’s Mr Cool banishing his comeback demons with Real Madrid May 3, 2022 Carlo Ancelotti added yet another achievement to one of the best CVs in football at the weekend when his Real Madrid team, who face Manchester City in the Champions League semi-finals on Wednesday night, won the Spanish title. It made former Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and AC Milan coach Ancelotti the only manager ever [...]
Dominant English football clubs eye rare clean sweep of all three European trophies April 27, 2022 English clubs can complete a clean sweep of three European club trophies – Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League – this season, a feat not seen for more than 30 years, writes Frank Dalleres. Vienna, May 1990: Frank Rijkaard darts on to a pass round the corner from Marco van Basten, sprints clear [...]
Trevor Steven: If Liverpool pull off the quadruple the achievement will never be repeated April 26, 2022 Who is the best English club side of all time? The Liverpool of the 1970s? Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United? If the current Liverpool team can do the previously unthinkable and complete the quadruple over the next few weeks then it will unquestionably be them. Already EFL Cup winners, they are in the FA Cup [...]
Arsenal have reconnected with fans this season but on-field slump threatens to undo good work April 20, 2022 Since the dark days of lockdown, Arsenal have been engaged in a major branding exercise aimed at reconnecting with supporters. Club staff have conducted thousands of interviews with fans in the UK and overseas, particularly in Los Angeles and Shanghai, in an attempt to gauge what they had been doing right and where they had [...]
Trevor Steven: Chelsea must rise above off-field uncertainty against Real Madrid April 5, 2022 Chelsea go into their Champions League quarter-final with Real Madrid in a uniquely challenging position, because of the sanctions placed on their owner Roman Abramovich. Having been in a comfortable position for so long, there is now uncertainty surrounding the future of the club which will be affecting it from top to bottom. Until it [...]
European football club chiefs defend controversial changes to Champions League qualification March 29, 2022 European football club chiefs have defended proposals to give more Champions League places to historically successful teams, saying they are “fair, add value and make sense”. The changes are set to take effect from 2024, when the competition’s group stage expands from 32 to a single 36-team league. Under plans approved by leading clubs, two [...]
Europe’s top football clubs back new spending cap in place of financial fair play March 28, 2022 The influential European Club Association (ECA) has backed the proposed scrapping of football’s controversial financial fair play (FFP) rules in favour of a new cost-control system based on a soft spending cap. Uefa’s planned shake-up is the biggest change to the financial regulation of European club competitions such as the Champions League and Europa League [...]
Super League, Mbappe and at loggerheads over lunch: the feud between PSG and Real Madrid March 9, 2022 In the hours before Paris Saint-Germain beat Real Madrid in the Champions League last month, their respective presidents met for a traditional pre-match lunch that summed up the antipathy between the two clubs. Real Madrid president Florentino Perez arrived late to the Pavillon Ledoyen restaurant near the Champs Elysees. Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the Qatari president of [...]
Trevor Steven: PSG’s variety of goal threat gives them edge over Real Madrid March 8, 2022 Paris Saint-Germain take a slim lead to Real Madrid on Wednesday in an epic Champions League last-16 tie and a clash between potential winners of this year’s competition. PSG have spent the last decade bedding in at the top of European club football, reaching the final in 2020 and the semis last year, and are [...]