The champion: 2016

3 November 2016

Mourinho and Deschamps lose Pogba

In Turkey, matters went from bad to worse for Manchester United in the Europa League, first succumbing to a wonder goal from Fenerbahce's Moussa Sow little after the opening whistle and then more importantly, Paul Pogba having to walk off injured.

A knock to his thigh, the French midfielder looks as if he may miss France's upcoming international matches, as well as leaving Jose Mourinho short-handed in an already thin position.

The extent of the injury is still yet to be determined, with the player awaiting further tests.

2 November 2016

Lyon fait match nul à Turin (1-1) et reste en course

L'Olympique Lyonnais reste en vie. Grâce à un coup de tête de Corentin Tolisso (84e), le club rhodanien a ramené un point de Turin et n'a pas encore perdu tout espoir de disputer les huitièmes de finale de la Ligue des champions. Ce sera compliqué alors que les hommes de Genesio (3e) comptent quatre longueurs de retard sur la Juventus (2e). Le FC Séville, vainqueur de Zagreb (4-0), est en tête.

Bale's spectacular finish in under a minute

Fresh off a new contract with Real Madrid, Gareth Bale continued a good week by scoring an incredible goal for Los Blancos in the early stages against Legia Warsaw in Wednesday night's Champions League clash.
A masterful volley with his left foot was rocketed into the upper corner, and before Legia could even blink, they were already behind.
His fifth of the season, Bale also scored in the first minute against Real Sociedad in Week 1 of LaLiga.

Pepe contract renewal given go-ahead

Fresh from securing the futures of a host of first-team stars, Real Madrid have stepped up the second part of their raft of contract negotiations, with Pepe the next high-profile name to enter into discussions over an extended deal.

Talks are said to be progressing well between the defender and Los Blancos officials, and a two-year renewal with the option of a further season appears to suit all parties.

As such, Pepe is soon expected to become the latest first-team star to commit his future to the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu outfit after Casemiro, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Lucas Vázquez all already signed new deals with the Champions League holders.

Real Madrid's aim is clear; to secure a number of their key individuals to extended contracts, and with that in mind, Cristiano Ronaldo, Isco and Dani Carvajal are the other names in line to receive improved terms in the coming months.

Cristiano Ronaldo targets huge Real Madrid centenary

Legia Warsaw welcome Cristiano Ronaldo to Poland on Wednesday night with the rare privilege of being yet to receive a goal from the Real Madrid star, who may have to remove that honour in the pursuit of a bigger crown.

A hat-trick against Alaves, his 31st for Los Blancos, put Ronaldo on 99 matches of scoring at least two goals.

That figure includes 61 braces across all competitions, five four-goal hauls, and a further two matches in which he's bagged five times; against Espanyol in September 2015 and Granada in April of the same year.

However this season has been his worst in Madrid since joining in 2009 and the 31-year-old is tied with Alvaro Morata at the top of the club's scoring charts having played more than the Spaniard.

Those alarm bells will be silenced in the strange hush of an empty Polish Army Stadium on Wednesday if Ronaldo can make it 100 games where he's scored more than one goal, which would stretch his lead at the top of the Champions League all-time charts, too.

Real Madrid look to complete swift qualification against lifeless Legia

In 2016/17, Real Madrid are a team of spurts; be it their rampant start to the campaign that kept up the winning streak from last year or the self-doubting spate of draws that struck in late September.

Luckily for Zinedine Zidane, that stalemate spell has given way to a series of confident thrashings in recent weeks - despite the absence of Luka Modric, Casemiro, and Sergio Ramos - as Real Betis, Cultural Leonesa, Alaves, and Legia Warsaw were all put to the sword.

It's the latter who are on the agenda once again on Wednesday night in the return fixture of their Champions League Group F campaign, although the circumstances are somewhat unique.

Polish Army Stadium will be empty due to a UEFA stadium closure order, depriving Legia of their vociferous fans that coach Jacek Magiera remarked as their life and soul.

Of course, for Real it merely increases the need for a professional job as group stage qualification will be guaranteed with a win and a Sporting CP defeat in their trip to Borussia Dortmund.

Four teams have already passed through to the last-16 with two games to play and another four are very capable of joining them tonight.

A couple of questions are still floating around the Blancos dressing room, however, not least the debate over Alvaro Morata's inclusion, most likely at the expense of Karim Benzema after Cristiano Ronaldo bagged a hat-trick last time out.

Also of interest will be the partnership of Nacho and Raphael Varane in central defence, one that needs to thrive from the outset given the upcoming Madrid derby, with the trip to Poland planned as being a simple stroll in comparison.

Guardiola the pragmatist overcomes Barcelona

The idea that a Pep Guardiola side will finish a game with just 40 percent of possession is rather obscene given the Catalan's ruthless approach to the game, and yet it proved enough to claim a stunning victory against Barcelona, of all sides.

Controlling the game for large parts of the first-half, the Blaugrana looked to be at their best against a haphazard Manchester City side devoid of penetrative threat.

Their 4-0 defeat at the Camp Nou appeared to be vivid in the Citizens' minds, and yet they hauled themselves out of the mire to win 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium.

Luis Enrique's men bossed the possession statistics, making 519 passes to City's 315, with goalkeeper Willy Caballero even instructed to kick the ball long as part of Guardiola's counter-attacking plans.

Having stated his desire to stick to his guns when arriving in Manchester, it appears that a topsy-turvy spell in the English side's dugout has inspired Guardiola to dare to add some variety to his game.

1 November 2016

Atletico through to last 16 with Rostov win

A 2-1 win over Rostov on Tuesday evening was enough to secure Atletico Madrid's passage to the knockout rounds of the 2016/17 Champions League.

It required a stoppage time Antoine Griezmann winner, a goal that was slightly controversial as there was confusion as to whether or not it had been awarded, but it - correctly - stood.

Griezmann had also been the man to open the evening's scoring, before a Serdar Azmoun equaliser, but the No. 7's second of the evening allowed Los Rojiblancos to maintain their 100% record.

Right from the off, Atletico asserted their dominance, but couldn't craft any chances in the first ten minutes despite their probing.

Then in the 11th minute, Fernando Torres was a whisker away from connecting with a ball into the box, before Yannick Carrasco saw a shot blocked inside the area.

Just before the half hour mark Los Colchoneros finally took a well-earned lead, with Griezmann ending his four match goal drought.

Madrid-born Cesar Navas - who came through Real Madrid's youth system - tried to cut out a Carrasco cross, but instead diverted the ball into the Frenchman's path and he acrobatically flicked it in.

Yet the lead would last just two minutes as Rostov suckerpunched the hosts when Azmoun burst through a space in the back line and slotted home, much to the delight of the small - but vocal - Russian support.

Atletico pushed to retake the lead, but time and again saw their shots blocked and it reminded level at the break.

After a flurry of shots just after the restart, Los Rojiblancos then struggled to create anything concrete.

Torres, Koke and Griezmann all hit tame efforts at goal, but none of them caused any trouble.

Then, deep into stoppage time, Griezmann pounced on a Diego Godin flick to send the home crowd wild with delight.

Atletico, therefore, are now guaranteed to see their name drawn in next month's last 16 draw in Nyon.

They are still battling to secure top spot ahead of Bayern Munich - who won 2-1 on Tuesday.

Those two continental giants go head to head in the final matchday of the group stages, with PSV Eindhoven first visiting the Vicente Calderon on November 23.

Gundogan double downs Barcelona

Pep Guardiola will be delighted with the second half performance from his Manchester City team as Ilkay Gundogan struck either side of the break to put the Premier League team back into Group C contention.

Lionel Messi put Barcelona ahead 21 minutes into the first half as the Blaugrana were in impervious form, but Gundogan ushered a revitalised City team in at half-time, and with Guardiola making a few tweaks to his side, City dominated his former team in the second half.

First a Kevin De Bruyne freekick, then Gundogan's second ensured City emerged victorious and are now two points behind group leaders Barcelona.

A scrappy opening to the game saw both sides give away a number of free kicks, though it was the Spanish champions who settled quicker and asserted their dominance on Pep Guardiola's men.

There was early controversy as Samuel Umtiti looked to have tripped Raheem Sterling in the penalty area, but referee Viktor Kassai booked the City striker for simulation, though it looked as if he was touched by the Barcelona defender.

Despite few real chances for the Blaugrana as City coped well with MSN upfront, Messi bagged the opener 21 minutes in.

Starting from their own end as Messi sent Neymar on his way, and the Brazilian ran half the length of the pitch before playing the ball back to his teammate who made no mistake against Willy Caballero.

A ball over the top for Messi was headed back across goal to Luis Suarez, but the striker was caught a little by surprise and failed to get his effort on target.

Then very much against the run of play City levelled the game as Gundogan powered home from close range following good work from Sterling down the right.

After that goal City looked a different side as both Sterling and Sergio Aguero went close, but it was De Bruyne who placed a freekick into the top corner to give the home side the lead just after the break, with ter Stegen completely beaten by the strike.

The referee had to wave away more Manchester City penalty appeals as Aguero felt he was pulled down in the box by Javier Mascherano. Moments later, the Argentine headed inches wide of the near post from a freekick.

Clearly on top City almost let Barcelona regain the lead following a silly mistake by John Stones.

The defender gave the ball away straight to Luis Suarez deep inside the City half, Suarez then nutmegged Otamendi and his slide-rule pass to Andre Gomes allowed the Portuguese to get a shot in, but he could only smash the crossbar from just outside the box.

Seconds later, a City counter attack caught Luis Enrique's men flat-footed and De Bruyne's shot went inches wide with ter Stegen rooted to the spot.

Gundogan got his second with 16 minutes left, De Bruyne's perfectly weighted pass to Jesus Navas got the Spaniard in behind the Barcelona backline and his cross was deflected into the path of the ex-Dortmund star who smashed home from six-yards.

Looking to get back into the game Barcelona had to dig deep but were unable to create any chances of note with Messi heading into his own arm in the dying moments.

Zidane: Never keeping a clean sheet bothers me

The debate between whether Karim Benzema or Alvaro Morata deserves to start for Real Madrid has kicked up a gear recently but Zinedine Zidane is refusing to change his approach.

Preferring the more experienced striker for the majority of his line-ups, Zidane has found Morata to be a very capable option off the bench with the Spaniard now pushing for a first whistle call up.

"I know they're two important players," the Frenchman told his pre-match press conference. "Both will get their chance and I know that your concerns are always the same, well my answers are always the same.

"I cannot say anything else, I know what you want and regardless of that everybody plays, the same with these two and the whole group."

Taking on the Polish side with Legia under a stadium closure order, Real will find themselves in a very different scenario to the 80,000-strong arenas that usually host their European fixtures.

"It will be different but for us nothing changes," he admitted.

"We have to stay focused and motivated, because it's still a Champions League match just with a little strange feeling.

"There is no advantage for us, we'll prepare in the same way."

Having managed just two clean sheets in the 2016/17 season so far, Los Blancos' coach is very keen to right that wrong in upcoming games against Legia and Leganes.

"I don't care too much but the fact that we always concede at least one goal, and we let in one in the Copa del Rey too, is annoying," Zidane noted.

"You cannot control everything, and of course we can improve, but opponents will always find a way to score past you."

Wednesday night will also mark Zidane's 100th game as coach, having started out in the dugout with Real Madrid Castilla in 2014, and the Frenchman is ready to continue his development on the biggest stage.

"I'm proud for the first 100 games but I still have to improve in every area," he stated.

"I have much to learn. I like what I'm doing and hopefully I can continue for a long time at this club."