Category: European Football

Stjarnan 1-3 Espanyol Player Ratings Europa League 2019

Here are the player ratings from Espanyol’s second leg Europa qualifying clash away at Stjarnan. The Catalan outfit had won the first leg 4-0 at home, and followed it up with a 3-1 victory today in Iceland to take the tie 7-1 on aggregate.

Borja Iglesias and Facundo Ferreyra, who had scored in the first leg at the RCDE stadium, also found the back of the net today. Espanyol’s other scorer on the evening was left back Adria Pedrosa.

Stjarnan’s solitary goal came from Baldur Sigurdsson, who netted three minutes from time.

Stjarnan vs Espanyol 1 August, 2019 player ratings from AS and MD

Stjarnan 1-3 espanyol players rating

Continue reading “Stjarnan 1-3 Espanyol Player Ratings Europa League 2019”

Aulas says no contact with Liverpool over Fekir

Outspoken Olympique Lyonnais president Jean-Michael Aulas has indicated that the Rhone Valley outfit have had no contact with Liverpool over a summer transfer for Nabil Fekir.

Fekir is widely expected to move to Anfield this summer, with reports indicating a transfer fee or around £60-70m. Aulas has indicated that the Reds would have to break the bank for the transfer, saying that someone would have to be “very, very rich” for OL to sell their star playmaker.

Nab F

Lyon qualified for the Champions League with a final day 3-2 win over Nice thanks to a hat trick from Memphis Depay and Aulas has indicated OL’s presence in Europe’s premier club competition may persuade Fekir to stay for another season. However French media sources seem to think otherwise, with Canal reckoning the deal is “99%” done, and the home crowd giving him a standing ovation when he was substituted against OGCN- the kind one would expect when the player is potentially playing his last game for his club.

Lyon were widely tipped to be one of the favourites for the Europa League with a final on home soil, but crashed out in the round of 16 to Russian outfit CSKA Moscow, after qualifying behind Atalanta in their group.

High ticket & hotel prices burn holes in fans’ pockets ahead of CL final

Liverpool and Real Madrid fans wishing to watch their two teams do battle in Kiev this weekend are finding out the whole trip will end up denting their wallets by more than just a bit.

Both clubs were given 16,626 tickets each, meaning a little over half would be given to fans of the two teams squaring off in the 63,000 capacity stadium in the Ukrainian capital.

Resale tickets for the event have been selling as high as £1,337, the face value of which was just £61 during the club’s official ticket allotments.

But fans are keen to go, with Liverpool making their first European Cup final appearance in over a decade. In fact, local band Echo and the Bunnymen wanted to reschedule their concert in order to see the final, but changed their mind after angry fans made their voice heard on social media.

LFC Fans

It’s not just tickets- hotels and airlines are making merry as well. For example, a hotel room for the final costs a whopping £859, but the same is available for just £16 a week later. Even flights from Kiev to London appear to be carrying a 6x markup, with a return around the time of the final available for £1,214 versus a modest £267 for the same sector a week later.

Liverpool fans have dubbed these a “tax on their passion” with Derek Twigg, a British parliamentarian who is also a LFC season ticket holder, calling the situation “appalling”

Blues mull Carroll signing

Chelsea are seriously considering the option of moving for West Ham striker Andy Carroll to solve their goal scoring crisis. The Blues’ last three games have been 0-0’s and if rumours are to be believed, they want to sign a stop gap arrangement for now before moving for a big name in the summer, and Carroll apparently fits the bill. The likes of Watford’s Richarlison and Borussia Monchengladbach’s Thorgen Hazard (the brother of Chelsea star Eden), are also being targeted by the Blues.

It appears tough to fathom why Chelsea might want to sign Carroll- he’s been injured for most of his time with West Ham and broke the longest goal drought with them with a brace against Albion. A loan deal with an option to make the move permanent in the summer could be what the Blues are looking for. However West Ham are expected to allow Diafra Sakho and Javier Hernandez to move on in the current window, which makes selling Carroll unlikely.

The potential signing of Carroll also means that Michy Batshuayi will, in all likelihood, leave the Bridge, with Sevilla a rumoured destination as he seeks vital playing minutes ahead of the World Cup in Russia this summer.

Carroll Chelsea

Italian Football Clubs performance in 2017-18 Champions & Europa League- Match Day 1

Here is how the Italian football teams participating in the group stages of the 2017/18 Champions League have performed in the first round. Continue reading “Italian Football Clubs performance in 2017-18 Champions & Europa League- Match Day 1”