An own goal and a Sadio Mane strike earned Liverpool a 2-0 victory in their Champions League semi-final first-leg against Villarreal on Wednesday, putting Juergen Klopp’s side on course for their third European Cup final in five seasons.

Villarreal defended in numbers in the first half to frustrate the six-times European Cup winners, with Thiago Alcantara going closest to breaking the deadlock with a thunderous strike from distance that hit the post.

Liverpool turned it up a notch after the break and moments after Brazilian midfielder Fabinho had seen one effort ruled out for offside, Jordan Henderson’s cross was deflected into his own net by Pervis Estupinan to break Villarreal’s resistance.

Able to express themselves with the deadlock broken, Mohamed Salah threaded a sublime pass through for Mane to put the game beyond the visitors 133 seconds later.

Liverpool had chances to make the result more comprehensive, but will be firm favourites to finish the job in next week’s second leg in Spain.

Source: REUTERS

Mohamed Salah conceded playing against Manchester United this season has been “easy” after scoring twice in a 4-0 thrashing of the Red Devils at Anfield on Tuesday which sent Liverpool top of the Premier League.

Salah also scored a hat-trick as Liverpool ran riot to win 5-0 at Old Trafford when the sides last met in October.

“They make our life easier in the midfield and in the back,” said Salah. “They always try to give us the ball in a one-against-one situation so it makes our life much easier.

“When we defend, we had a clean sheet here and a clean sheet there.”

Salah had not scored for Liverpool from open play since February, but clicked back into form with the space offered by United’s disjointed defence to take his tally for the season to 30.

“I scored many goals for this club, it’s going to keep coming,” Salah added. “The most important thing is the team are winning.”

Victory took Liverpool two points ahead of Manchester City, but the English champions can regain top spot when they host Brighton on Wednesday.

Source: AFP

Manchester City produced a disciplined performance to secure a fractious 0-0 draw at Atletico Madrid on Wednesday and reach the Champions League semi-finals 1-0 on aggregate.

Tensions boiled over in the closing stages and Atletico defender Felipe was sent off after receiving a second yellow card before the teams played out 12 minutes of added time.

The English champions dominated the first half and Ilkay Gundogan struck the post with their best chance after a flowing move down the right.

Atletico enjoyed more possession after the interval and threatened to score the goal that would have taken the game into extra time but were unable to break down the visitors’ defence.

City, bidding to win European club football’s most prestigious trophy for the first time, will play record 13-times champions Real Madrid in the semi-finals.

Liverpool beat Benfica

Liverpool booked a semi-final showdown against Villarreal as the quadruple chasers survived a late collapse in Wednesday’s 3-3 draw against Benfica.

Jurgen Klopp’s side already had one foot in the last four after winning 3-1 in the quarter-final first leg in Lisbon.

Despite two late goals from Benfica at Anfield in the second leg, Liverpool advanced 6-4 on aggregate thanks to Roberto Firmino’s double and Ibrahima Konate’s opener.

Source:  REUTERS

Villarreal forward Gerard Moreno said comments by Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann inspired the Spaniards to their shock 2-1 aggregate win over the German giants in the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday.

Leading 1-0 from the first leg, Villarreal snatched a 1-1 draw on the night and a semi-final place through Samuel Chukwueze’s 88th-minute goal.

“Tonight they (Bayern) made the mistake of not killing us off and we took advantage of that,” Moreno said.

On Monday, Nagelsmann said Villarreal had made a mistake by winning the first leg by a slender 1-0 margin “which allowed us to survive”.

“In the first leg we made the mistake of not finishing them off. All the comments about that served as motivation,” said Moreno, whose cross set up Chukwueze’s tie-winning strike.

“What this team has done is great.”

Robert Lewandowski had put Bayern ahead on the night to level the tie.

Unai Emery’s Villarreal had already knocked out Juventus in the last 16 following a stunning 3-0 win in Turin.

“It’s an extraordinary feeling, it was not easy for us. We are a small club, from a village, like that of Asterix and Obelix,” said Emery.

“We are moving forward step by step, we had a very difficult quarter-final.”

The Spaniards face either Benfica or Liverpool in the semi-finals. Jurgen Klopp’s Reds take a 3-1 lead into Wednesday’s second leg at Anfield.

“It’s unbelievable, it’s taken a lot of hard work,” said Villarreal captain Raul Albiol, the man of the match in Munich, who at 36 is two years older than Nagelsmann.

“Our victories are as a team. We have suffered a lot in both games, but to be in the semi-finals is great for Villarreal.

“We knew it was going to be a long 90 minutes and we were going to suffer a lot.

“We want more. We see ourselves as causing problems to all our opponents.”

Emery basked in the glory of a historic result for Villarreal in his 50th Champions League match as a coach.

“We took a lot of confidence from the first leg result, but we had to defend well and we tried to create our own chances — we created five and took the final one,” he said.

Source: AFP

Netherlands football coach Louis van Gaal insisted Monday that he was fit enough to lead his nation to the World Cup finals saying his prostate cancer treatment has been successful.

Van Gaal, 70, said ten days ago he had been receiving treatment since being diagnosed in 2020, but still plans to lead his team at the World Cup in Qatar in seven months’ time.

“I had 25 sessions of chemotherapy. Then I had to wait five or six months to see if that had worked. It has,” he told the ANP press agency.

The former Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munch and Manchester United coach also underwent surgery.

The no-nonsense Van Gaal managed the Oranje between 2000-2002 and 2012-2014, when they finished third at the World Cup in Brazil.

He then returned to the Dutch national team after the resignation of Frank de Boer in the aftermath of the country’s last-16 exit from Euro 2020.

The Netherlands were placed in Group A with hosts Qatar, Ecuador and Senegal in Friday’s draw.

Source: AFP

Arsenal’s bid to finish in the Premier League’s top four suffered a significant setback as Crystal Palace swept to an impressive 3-0 win on Monday.

Mikel Arteta’s side were blown away by first half goals from Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jordan Ayew at Selhurst Park.

Unable to muster a revival after the break, Arsenal’s second defeat in their last three league games was sealed by Wilfried Zaha’s late penalty.

Arsenal had gone into the weekend in fourth place, but Tottenham’s 5-1 win against Newcastle on Sunday piled pressure on the Gunners and their response could not have been any less convincing.

The battle to qualify for next season’s Champions League via a top four finish is heating up and Arsenal are in danger of wilting.

They sit in fifth place, behind Tottenham on goal difference having played a game less than their north London rivals.

West Ham and Manchester United, both three points behind Arsenal, will also fancy their chances after a result that blew the top four battle wide open.

It was an especially painful result for Arsenal fans given the presence in the Palace dug-out of Eagles boss Patrick Vieira, a Gunners legend after his trophy-filled playing career with the club.

How they could have done with the kind of tenacious performance that was Vieira’s hallmark in midfield during Arsenal’s glory days.

Vieira comfortably out-witted Arteta, who was voted the Premier League’s manager of the month for March after masterminding his side’s climb into contention for a top four berth.

Those Champions League ambitions don’t look so believable now.

Arsenal in disarray

Palace took the lead in the 16th minute after Ben White needlessly fouled Zaha.

Conor Gallagher swung his free-kick towards the far post, where Joachim Andersen headed it back across for Mateta to nod home from six yards for his sixth goal this term.

If that was a sloppy goal to concede, there was worse to come for Arteta eight minutes later.

Andersen’s long pass should have been easy for the Arsenal rearguard, but Gabriel made a hash of his attempt to intercept, completely missing the ball as Ayew eluded the dozing Nuno Tavares to score with a composed finish from the edge of the area.

The Ghana forward’s second goal this season left Arteta scratching his head in disbelief.Without Scotland left-back Kieran Tierney due to a knee injury, Arsenal’s defence was in disarray and Zaha swept through to tee up Mateta for a chance that Aaron Ramsdale saved at full stretch.

Arsenal didn’t manage an effort on target into the final seconds of the half and even the Gabriel’s tame header was straight at Vicente Guaita.

Out-fought and out-played in the first half, Arsenal needed an immediate response after the break but Bukayo Saka’s penalty appeal was waved away after he was bundled over by Cheikhou Kouyate.

Although there was more urgency about Arsenal in the second half, they still lacked a cutting edge.

Emile Smith Rowe shot straight at Guaita with the goal at his mercy before Martin Odegaard fired wastefully wide from Saka’s cross.

Arsenal were punished for their profligacy in the 74th minute as Zaha’s raid prompted Odegaard to concede a penalty as he clipped the forward’s ankle.

Zaha dusted himself down and converted the spot-kick with ease, sending Ramsdale the wrong way to leave Arsenal’s top four bid in the balance.

Source: AFP

Italy will miss their second World Cup in a row after slumping to a shock 1-0 play-off semi-final defeat to North Macedonia on Thursday.

Aleksandar Trajkovski’s low drive in the second minute of stoppage time stunned the European champions in Palermo and set-up a qualifying final with Portugal in Porto on Tuesday for a chance to be in Qatar in November.

Roberto Mancini’s side were loudly booed off after a defeat which means Italy will have to wait until at least 2026 to see its national team at a World Cup.

By then it will have been 12 years since the Azzurri’s last participation in the world’s biggest football tournament after they failed to qualify for the 2018 edition, also crashing out in the play-offs on that occasion.

Italy as predicted dominated the play but as has been the case in recent matches struggled to break down a resolute away side and when presented with chances were not clinical enough to take them.

The hosts should have been ahead on the half-hour mark when Domenico Berardi was gifted the ball on the edge of the area by goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski.

The Sassuolo winger, who has been in red-hot form this season for his club, took too long to shoot and hit his effort into Dimitrievski’s welcoming arms.

It was wave after wave of Italy attack but an initially vibrant crowd began to grow frustrated at their inability to carve out a clear opportunity to score, and it showed in a team which began to look desperate make the breakthrough.

Those fans were on their feet hailing an Italy hero seven minutes before the break, but it was for Alessandro Florenzi stopping Darko Churlinov from giving North Macedonia a shock lead after bursting through into a great scoring position.

Berardi looked Italy’s biggest threat and went close three times in the space of five five second-half minutes, first hitting a weak shot at Dimitrievski before curling another one just wide seconds later.

And the 27-year-old had his head in his hands in the 58th minute when after beautifully spinning into a shooting opportunity he smashed over with his weaker right foot.

He was frustrated again just after the hour, this time Ezgjan Alioski throwing himself into a fantastic block after Marco Verratti had clipped Berardi through with a typically classy ball.

Giacomo Raspadori then smashed a first-time shot over the bar from the edge of the box and Gianluca Mancini headed a corner over the bar as Italy continued to push without ever managing to break their opponents down.

And just as the match looked to be heading into a tense extra-time Trajkovski popped up to hit a perfect low strike past Gianluigi Donnarumma and cause another earthquake for Italian football.

Source: AFP

Manchester City have topped Deloitte’s Football Money League for the first time in their history after emerging from the coronavirus crisis in a stronger position than their rivals.

The Premier League champions, bankrolled by their Abu Dhabi owners, are only the fourth club to top the rankings after Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United

City’s revenue of 644.9 million euros ($712 million, £541 million) in the 2020/21 season — up 17 percent — propelled them from sixth position to the top on the list of the 20 highest revenue-generating clubs in world football.

However, some of City’s commercial deals — which account for nearly half of revenue — are a source of controversy, with a number key partners such as shirt and stadium sponsor Etihad having links to the club’s owners.

The club were 4.2 million euros ahead of Spanish giants Real Madrid, with German champions Bayern Munich next followed by Barcelona and Manchester United.

A total of 11 English clubs were in the top 20, with Wolves making their first-ever appearance as the Premier League continued to flex its financial muscle.

Average revenue of the 20 clubs on the list was 409 million euros — a marginal increase on the 2019/20 season thanks to broadcast deferrals due to Covid disruption, but a 12 percent decrease on the 2018/19 season because of the absence of fans.

The clubs in the Money League have missed out on more than two billion euros of revenue over the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons as a result of the pandemic, the Deloitte report said.

Premier League clubs were more insulated due to the much larger television rights deals they enjoy compared with their competitors in the other top European leagues and the gap is likely to widen.

“Premier League broadcast rights values are set to pull further away from the other ‘big five’ European leagues from the 2022/23 season with the rollover of existing domestic arrangements on the same terms and the total value of international rights reportedly set to increase by 30 percent and exceed the value of domestic rights for the first time,” said Dan Jones, head of Deloitte’s Sports Business Group.

Source: AFP

Manchester United were established members of Europe’s elite a decade ago but they have been reduced to the status of also-rans in the Premier League and even in their own city.

Under Alex Ferguson, the club reached three Champions League finals in four years from 2008 to 2011. Since then they have won a meagre two knockout ties in the competition.

United’s limp 1-0 defeat against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday consigned them to a fifth consecutive trophyless season and suggested they are as far as ever from finding the key to success.

A return to the Champions League next year looks highly unlikely, with Arsenal in pole position to grab fourth spot in the Premier League after a strong run under Mikel Arteta.

United, who drew 1-1 against Atletico in the first leg in Spain, started brightly at Old Trafford but were let down by familiar defensive lapses and a palpable lack of a cutting edge.

Cristiano Ronaldo did not have a shot on goal while substitutes Edinson Cavani, Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford failed to make an impact against Diego Simeone’s well-drilled side.

Former United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, who won a famous Treble under Ferguson in 1999, said United must do better but believes their current mess is an opportunity for root-and-branch reform.

“For a club that professes to be one of the biggest in the world, we have to do better than that,” he told the BBC.

“It’s been a long period of not being great and it’s very disappointing. But it’s also a time of opportunity and one we cannot miss.

“The club is under different leadership and wants to move in a different direction. It’s a chance to restructure the whole football department — how we recruit, how we scout, how we educate.”

Richard Arnold is the new man at the helm at Old Trafford after taking over from Ed Woodward as the club’s most senior executive.

Manager hunt

The chief executive has the unenviable task of finding a new manager — United’s fifth permanent boss since the departure of Ferguson as a Premier League champion in 2013.

Schmeichel said despite the malaise at Old Trafford, the best managers in the world would “relish” the chance of replacing interim boss Ralf Rangnick at the end of the season.

“They will see great potential here,” he said. “If they are the person to get it right, we’ve seen what that means. I think anyone who is not at Manchester City or Liverpool would take that opportunity if it was offered.”

Paris Saint-Germain manager Mauricio Pochettino and Ajax’s Erik ten Hag are both among the favourites to be the next manager even though their clubs also exited at the last 16 stage of the Champions League.

Chelsea’s Thomas Tuchel has been linked with the job because of the current turmoil at the Stamford Bridge club following the sanctioning of Russian owner Roman Abramovich over the Ukraine war.

Former midfielder Paul Scholes, who was part of Ferguson’s all-conquering side, said United needed to find an elite manager who “strikes fear into players”.

“This isn’t a terrible group of players,” he said on BT Sport. “I think if you give this group of players a structure and way of playing, there’s some real talent in the squad.

“The next man might not be the right man, but the people behind the scenes have to make sure he is the right man,” he added.

“Maybe they need a manager that they are going to be afraid of and that will scare them into performances.”

The problem facing United’s hierarchy is that there have been a number of chances to reset and rebuild since Ferguson brought down the curtain on the most successful spell in the club’s history.

United have not mounted a serious title challenge for nearly a decade, watching enviously as Manchester City and Liverpool have set standards they have been unable to match despite a huge outlay on players.

Few would bet that this time they will get it right.

Source: AFP