Monthly Archives: February 2017

28th February 2017. By Danni Biggs.
The UEFA rules prohibits two football clubs in which a company owns from being admitted into the same UEFA club competition.  In article 5 of the UEFA European Competitions Regulations reads 'no club participating in a UEFA club competition may, either directly or indirectly hold or deal in the securities or shares of any other club participating in a UEFA club competition.' Meaning it could lead to the UEFA to remove one of Red Bull clubs from UCL.

RB Leipzig has a sister team in the form of Austrian giants RB Salzburg, the Champions League regulars. With Leipzig taking their first Bundesliga campaign by storm both teams are looking like likely candidates to compete in the UCL competition. However, UEFA can only allow one of the teams to enter as they are both owned by the same company.

UEFA insists that Champions League ban for either RB Salzburg or RB Leipzig is hypothetical until after qualifying places are

27th February 2017. By Edward Stratmann.
When speaking after signing his bumper new deal with Liverpool, which will reportedly see him earn a whopping £150,00 a week, Adam Lallana was justifiably delighted.

"I'm very proud and feel quite humbled by the show of faith from the club and the manager in particular," he gratefully explained. "Signing for a club like Liverpool is obviously a big thing but to re-sign shows you've obviously contributed enough that the people who make the decisions want you to stay longer."

Following an uninspiring start to life on Merseyside, after joining from Southampton in 2014 for a £25 million transfer fee, the key turning point for him arrived when Brendan Rodgers was relieved of his managerial duties and Jurgen Klopp took over last season.

Ever since, Lallana's been a crucial component within Klopp's high octane, all action brand of

24th February 2017. By Edward Stratmann.
You have to go back over four years to the last time Borussia Dortmund's superb right back, Lukasz Piszczek, was involved in scoring or assisting three goals in one game.

On the 25th of December, 2012, he bagged a pair of assists and found the back of the net once in BVB's 6-1 demolition of Koln. On the weekend, the Polish international impressively repeated the feat in his team's dominant 3-0 drubbing of Wolfsburg.

While he had to wait a while to echo such an amazing achievement, it was definitely well worth the wait, in a game where Piszczek put in a scintillating man of the match performance littered with upside. Although one of his assists was directed into the back of the net by Wolfsburg defender Jeffrey Bruma, following his inventive delivery into the box, his goal and second assist were all down to him.

His goal showcased his fine concentration, as he found the back of a net with an expertly placed header after

25th February. By Danni Biggs.
The struggling Serie A Palermo has hired Uruguayan Diego Lopez as new coach, replacing Eugenio Corini and making it Palermo's 11^th coaching change in two seasons.  Winning just 2 games out of 21, 42 year old Diego took on the job to revive the mighty Palermo who sits just two points above bottom of the table.

Eugenio Corini was named as Palermo's coach in November 2016, their third that season in fact. After just 7 games in charge, Corini a former Palermo player himself took the decision to resign as coach after winning just one game in 7. His decision came just two days after Palermo were beaten 1-0 at home by Inter Milan. A pained and upset Corini said "This is a decision that I've taken with integrity and lucidness, which makes me feel great pain, but which seems the fairest and most logical option right now."

Diego Lopez Signs Contract until June 30, 2018

23rd February 2017. By Danni Biggs. 
The Turkey Football Federation Chief Yildirim Demiroren told reporters at their headquarters "This time it is our right to host the championships." Brushing the threats and concerns over security and infrastructure Turkey confirms interest to host the 2024 European Championships. On the 15th February the TFF announced their ambitions bid to be the host nation of this much-loved tournament.

The Turkish Football Federation announce being candidates to host the 2024 Euros. After losing out to stage the finals in 2008, 2012 and 2016 as well as disappointingly missing out on hosting the 2020 Summer Olympics to Tokyo, Turkey deserved to be announced as hosts, but is it the right decision?

So, can Turkey host the 17^th edition of the UEFA European Championship? When announcing an end to its pursuit of 2020 the TFF said "We believe Turkey

22nd February 2017. By Ryan Baldi.
"He is the talk of the town and has so much talent. He has skills, goals, assists. He can do what he wants with the ball."

Writing in his regular column for The Sun, Former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry was effusive in his praise of Monaco youngster Kylian Mbappe.

The 18-year-old forward is the hot topic of European football right now, with the biggest and richest clubs on the continent thought to be monitoring his progress.

A surprise inclusion in Monaco's starting line-up against Manchester City in the Champions League last night, the teenager produced his devastating best form, netting his first goal in Europe's premier club competition on arguably the biggest night of his young career.

Having progressed through the ranks at the Principality club as the ex-France striker did in

21st February 2017. By Danni Biggs
So with the nation still in high spirits after being crowned champions at the Euros in 2016 we look into the Portuguese Primeira Liga: The Big Three. Only two other teams have broken the consecutive success of Benfica, Porto and Sporting Lisbon. Boavista and Belenenses are the only two teams who have disrupted the continuous dominance and success of The Big 3 in 1946 and 2001.

Staggeringly, with all three teams together they have won the Portuguese Primeira Liga 80 times, Benfica being the most with 35 times. The rivalry between all three clubs is intense motivating each team to improve and succeed. The competitiveness from players, staff and even fans is intense due to the vital points that will decide the upcoming Championship title.

Three-time Defending Champions Benfica

Benfica, currently top of the table are playing as three-time defending champions after

20th February 2017. By Edward Stratmann.
Emerson Palmieri's encouraging finish to last season was a reward for all his hard work in training trying to impress his manager, the tactically sophisticated AS Roma's Luciano Spalletti.

With Lucas Digne ahead of him in the pecking order, Emerson's patience and persistence finally paid off, with Spalletti granting him some valuable appearances off the bench and one start towards the end of the 2015/2016 campaign.

In Roma's final match of the crusade, against AC Milan, a game the Giallorossi went on to win 3-1, this served as a landmark occasion for the Brazilian. Coming off the bench, the then Santos loanee produced a splendid cameo that culminated in him scoring his first ever league goal for the club.

"I'm happy to have the coach's faith," a delighted Emerson said after the game. "I'm doing everything

17th February 2017. By Edward Stratmann.
Kyriakos Papadopoulos continued his strong form with Hamburg since joining on loan in January by scoring against a former employer for the second Bundesliga match in a row.

Firstly in matchday 19, he scored the winner against Bayer Leverkusen, the club that currently owns him. And then, on the weekend, he came back to haunt RB Leipzig ,who only afforded him one 27 minute appearance throughout his loan there for the first half of this season, by finding the back of the net with a towering header. Indeed, Papadopoulos' demonstrative celebration, where he sprinted towards the sideline to flex his bicep at the Leipzig crowd, certainly showed there's no love lost between him and the Red Bulls.

Importantly, struggling Hamburg didn't concede on their way to winning both fixtures, 1-0 and 3-0 respectively,

15th February 2017. By Ryan Baldi.
Napoli will take on Real Madrid in the Champions League last-16 this week, and, in Dries Mertens, they have unearthed an unlikely hero who could fire them to victory over the European champions.

The diminutive Belgian has been in superlative form this season, but he probably wouldn't even be starting against Los Blancos were it not for the fact that circumstance robbed the Italian side of two top class strikers over the summer.

Replacing a player of Gonzalo Higuain's calibre is never easy. Especially after the Argentinian striker set a new Serie A record with his 36 goals last season.

But that's the task Napoli were faced with last summer, and, almost by accident, they found their new star in the last place they thought to look: right under their nose.

Napoli were powerless to stop Higuain from sealing his record-breaking €90million move to champions Juventus last July as the player's contract contained a