Today's pre-season match
Last season's 3rd in LaLiga champions Atletico Madrid continue their pre-season match against Pep Guardiola's team today, this being Atletico's third match since starting their pre-season tour and the previous two match end in defeat but Atletico completely dominated the match against Manchester City today. Pep Guardiola played his main squad include Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez, Bernardo Silva, and others
Match enters 90+ minutes with score (1-2)
Since it is a friendly match then I don't have much to say other than Guardiola should pay attention to his next game the next weekend vs Arsenal in the Community shield match. Their victory against Bayern Munich was good start and this defeat shouldn't happen in my opinion. Serious games will start soon, after Arsenal, they will face Burnley in EPL then they will play vs Sevilla, which won Europa League, in UEFA Super Cup mid August then back to EPL games. Manchester City has fierce opponents this season and they should not miss points.. |
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Saudi league is taking all the lights these days, even Guardiola talked about it after Mahrez departure and he estimates that a new wave of players will be seen in the future moving there.
Al-Ittihad : Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kante, Jota,
Al-Nassr: Sadio Mane, Seko Fofana, Marcelo Brozovic, Alex Telles
Al-Hilal: Ruben Neves, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Malcolm, Kalidou Koulibaly
Al-Ahli: Edouard Mendy, Riyad Mahrez, Roberto Fermino
This list will most likely increase with many players being contacted to join these clubs. Some players rejected offers and others might rethink about it: Romelu Lukaku, Alvaro Morata, Aleksandar Mitrović... Youssef En-Nesyri is also contacted by Al-Hilal. Allan Saint-Maximin will join Al-Ahli...
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-snip-
UEFA will not accept any league that will rip off their funds. They created Conference League to collect as much money as possible. Finance matters more than sport in their eyes. Creating a better league will attract all eyes and ads there so... Juventus in the other hand was heavily sanctioned comparing to the other teams. They dig hard to make the team and the players suffer. |
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Chelsea according to Tuttosport has turned down Juventus' proposal to loan Belgium player Romelu Lukaku.
According to them, their intention is to sell him permanently.
-snip- Romelu Lukaku ruined his career for real in Europe. Inter was about to sacrifice big to bring him but the fact they see him contacting Juventus, was an act of treason for them. He lost Inter, Champions League games eventually and with the new sanctions on Juve, I think his move there is over. I agree that Saudi Arabia or maybe Turkish or American leagues might get a little bit interested on him.
Kane, Hojlund and Vlahovic are listed as candidates to play with PSG. Dunno why it took them much time to decide which player to bring? I mean Vlahovic price isn't that big comparing to Kane for exemple. |
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Seeing Real Madrid performance last season was a little disappointing, but the transition period will be felt by all clubs including Madrid. Benzema has been with Madrid for more than a decade, naturally Ancelotti squad is very dependent on him. The experience, leadership that Benzema has shown on the pitch and in the locker room have had a huge effect on other players, even Modric and Toni Kroos have not been able to replace his prestige.
It looks like Perez will complete the recruitment of Mbappe this summer, because Madrid especially Perez, seem to really like players from France. Zidane and Benzema are French stars in the Madrid squad in the last two decades.
Yeah some French players did a honorable things with Real Madrid and I assume this will continue with Mbappe whether this season or in the next one. Until now Perez seems not interested with pushing a good deal to recruit Mbappe from PSG, although Al Khalifi efforts to spread rumours about potential buyers. I find Perez playing with PSG president nerves before giving him an accept or refuse deal in the last day. I assume the price will be low also. Even if Mbappe remains sanctioned in PSG, they will free him by the winter transfer window for lesser price. |
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In fact, if Mbappe left PSG, I think PSG would not exist.
PSG would not exist? I don't think so PSG might not exist might be understood as PSG will not be able to play in advanced stages of Champions League for example. I tend to agree with this especially if I take on consideration their games vs Al Nassr and Osaka. PSG have a serious problem in the attack line without Mbappe, even though Neymar was on the benches, and with their defence line since many mistakes was done. There is much efforts have to be done. What I disagree with is not having top stars players means the club will fail. Newcastle United had normal players comparing to Chelsea and Spurs for example, yet finished way in front of them. |
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PSG are trying to make a move for Ousmane Dembele and complete the transfer as soon as possible according to the source below. The source: https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/38087818/ousmane-dembele-set-seal-psg-transfer-barcelona-sourcesDembele has a release clause which is worth around €50m now. However it is said that this opportunity is closing on Monday. PSG had better act faster if they want to seal this deal. Barcelona's hands are tied in this situation and they will hope for Dembele to choose to stay. However his contract is already ending in one year. Xavi really likes to have him at his team so maybe he might affect his decision positively somehow. I heard about a swap deal between Dembele and Neymar but I don't see it in the news. I didn't find what Dembele wants but it appears that a move to PSG is close and serious so Barcelona captain start talking about it and say that Dembele should remain in the team since it has the best squad. Such move will facilitate the departure of Mbappe a bit since the situation in PSG doesn't seem to be perfect with a loss even though it is a friendly one vs Osaka. |
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I don't think it's really impossible for Man United to take this opportunity this season. As was the case last season, where Arsenal put up quite a fierce resistance to Man City, it's just that they couldn't keep their consistency at the end of the season. If Man United can get off to a good start and they can maintain their consistency, I think Man United can become a serious challenger in the title race. It's not just Man United, I think Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea also still have a chance to win the Premier League trophy.
Obviously Manchester City remain the most favourite to win EPL title this next season too, otherwise Arsenal and Manchester United come second followed by Liverpool in my opinion. I believe Chelsea will improve certainly but it will not fight for the top 4 spots. Newcastle will remain close most likely. Odds for winning the title is +50% for Manchester City, around 17% for Arsenal, 11% for Liverpool and 7% for Manchester United. I don't know why there is such difference between gunners and ManU, and why Liverpool odds are upper for Liverpool. I think these 3 teams odds should be around 20% at least and 40% for Manchester City. |
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Chelsea will have a more balanced team in the next season, they want to reduce the number of players they have because the last season Chelsea had a massive and expensive squad the last season but they didn't get good results Mauricio Pochettino they won't need many players in the next season.
There are so many players that have not been sold by chelsea like lukaku and ziyech. The plan is there, but the execution takes time for those players to be transferred into the new club. Ziyech was interesting to join in the arabian club. Chelsea is not giving up yet, the club is trying to approach the arabian club to buy him again from chelsea. Juventus is still in the negotiation with chelsea at this moment for lukaku's transfer. Chelsea only wants to let those players leave from the club with permanent transfers. I think that we will see that if the total players in the squad will be decreasing again. Im very happy to see that pochettino is making fast movement to cut total players on the club. This is the best decision that can be taken by him. Having too many players can cause inconsistency in the club's starting line up.. The remaining transfers by chelsea will be completed soon for all of unsold players. It is bad for a player to be refused by two teams in two separate transfer period by 1 year.. This will not attract anyone. It will be hard for Ziyech and Chelsea to find another team due to the rumour of being rejected due to health issue, knee injury exactly.. Until now there is rumours about Lyon and Monaco but nothing is clear yet. For Lukaku, he was playing tricks with both Inter and Juve and he almost lost them both. Inter rejected him and Juventus will be less attractive for him since they will not play any European competition next season. |
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This ban is not from the Italian Football Federation but from UEFA. Investigations were carried out and it was discovered they Juventus violated Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules by UEFA between 2012 and 2019. And the investigating body has evidence to prove that it is true.
A22 also said they have proves that the ban is only caused because Juventus with Real Madrid wanted to start the Superleague. Wonder know for how long will Juventus remain sanctioned by Italians and European sportive authorities. It is quite ridiculous what happening there. What's the fault of dozen of players playing football and being deducted points or banned from European competitions or be kicked to Serie B! Superleague story was faded and there is less and less talks about it but apparently UEFA is still pissed off.. |
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Even in yesterday's match, namely at the Arab Club Champions Cup, we saw Al-Ittihad appear extraordinary. And Benzema also made his debut with the club very well. He created 1 goal as well as 1 assist which was amazing yesterday against ES Tunis.
I really can't wait to see these Arab clubs compete in the SPL competition. Especially the clubs that have brought in a lot of European players during the hunt for players in the transfer market this season.
I followed part of this game. Al Ittihad didn't impress me before EST scoring their surprising goal, it was hard to catch by the way. After that goal, they seemed to play more serious and they scored a goal by a nice coordination between Benzema and Hamdallah header then Benzema scored the winning goal. It is early to judge about this club performance since the others are doing quite good job recruiting many stars too. |
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Manchester City will not try to sign Mbappe while they have Haaland. What's new in City is the departure of Riyad Mahrez to Al Ahli in Saudi Arabia league for €30m. He was an important player of the squad although his role in the previous season was quite limited. He left after Gundogan departure to Barcelona. I don't know if Bernardo Silva will remain with the team or not but for Mahrez, he said that he achieved what he wants with City, especially Champions League, and he wants to try another experience (and collect money like the rest).
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Lukaku is 30 years old, he can still play 2-3 years at Champions League level. According to Fabrizio Romano, Inter Milan immediately stopped the conversationswith Lukaku because he also talk with Juventus. He will definitely play another year in Serie A, whether for Inter Milan or Juventus Turin.
Romelu Lukaku will not join Inter Milan. That's sure according to Inzaghi and his attitude towards his old teammates by not responding to them confirm this. Lukaku has two choices, try his luck with Juventus if ever they accepted him but spectators especially Inter ones will criticise him badly. The other option is to try to pick a place in Chelsea or convince them to loan him elsewhere. |
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You literally described the impossible here.  What are the chances that we will see a trio that is equal to Messi, Xavi and Iniesta in their prime?  But I agree that players like Messi are amazing, but you have to have players that complement his way and skillset. Messi is not a player with a lot of field coverage but he makes up for it due to his unmatched offensive qualities. Iniesta and Xavi were perfect for Messi. Having a central midfielder and an offensive midfielder like that duo while also having Messi, that's an amazing combo. A team cannot win by having stars while there is no coordination between them and the other players don't help them the right way. For Messi, he had a very bad first year in PSG then he improved. Neymar suffered from many injuries. Mbappe was their main player who is quite stable. Losing Messi and Mbappe will be hard for them. |
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I don't think if he stays in Napoli for many weeks because there are some teams that want to hire Osimhen for the net season if they decrease the orice for this player and for some teams like Real Madrid, Osimhen can be a good alternative option.
For Real Madrid getting Osimhen for the asked price by Napoli doesn't make sense at all since they could get Mbappe from PSG for the same price. I even think PSG are ready to sell for any price more than €100m since they will lose him as free agent next season. Osimhen contract will not due soon so Napoli will not reduce their price. |
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If Mbappe wanted to earn money and money was his first priority he could stay in PSG and earn money and play in the top tournament in Europe while Mbappe reject the offer from PSG even if they pay him more money.
Considering Mbappe's age, I believe that he will never be able to play in a Saudi Arabian team.
I didn't read that he refused the Saudi offer but I expected that to happen anyway. Mbappe ambition is to play with Real Madrid and he finally accepted to move this season there after being kicked from Japan training with PSG. I think he understood that PSG isn't kidding when they said that they are angry from his attitude and they will let him on the benches the whole season. What we are waiting for, is how much Real Madrid will offer for him, if they ever did in this transfer window.. |
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Well, i have to quoted myself, BATE Borisov its out of the competition 6-2 its a big lose, and a lose that can make you lose your coach.
About the game i said it was good to see, i was correct, a very fun to see 3-2 between Rakow and Qarabag, the second game its gonna be interesting to see and to bet also.
Conceding 6 goals is really shameful, after all Aris isn't powerhouse, it's just 2nd time when they play in UEFA qualification. Rakow - Qarabag was roller coaster. Rakow already had 2:0 lead, but Qarabag made comeback and made score 2:2. It already looked that Qarabag will bring positive result, but Rakow scored on additional time and won game. Klaksvik - Hacken was exactly like I expected. Hacken scored 2 goals, but both were from offside, but in general, it was dull game. Astana and Bate took a hard defeat with 4 goals difference making them almost eliminated since the first leg of this second qualifying round. It is impressive to see this team from Cyprus, Aris Limassol, winning that big but the third qualifying round will not be that easy for them once they pass there. Dinamo Zagreb is a classic team and could advance easier. In the other matches, goals difference aren't that much and everything could happen in the second leg. |
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But considering this is just a friendly match during pre-season, then I don't think the two teams will play very seriously. Arsenal have 2 finals for their next 2 matches anyway between the Emirates Cup against Monaco and the FA Community Shield against Manchester City in the first week of August. So they will definitely avoid a lot of problems, especially injuries to their players.
However, since Arsenal have more fresh additions to their lineup of players and two match finals to play at the beginning of August, Arsenal's friendly match with Barcelona is a chance to learn about the types of players that will mesh well together in a match. Even though it's a friendly game, they're going to play like they mean it(to win). The goal is for Arteta to be aware of each team member's strongest positions, as well as their mental fortitude and athletic prowess, during a match. Arteta will test his new players and new strategies when his team will face Barcelona but Xavi doesn't have many new players since Barca recruited Gundogan essentially, so he might give him a shot. I find both clubs interesting, since it isn't a real match then everything could occur, depending from the readiness of each player. Barcelona a little bit advantageous since they are more stable while gunners will try to prove that the spending they did is justified. |
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Rasmus Hojlund is taking the lights these days since Manchester United seems interested on signing him from Atalanta and suddenly PSG entered the race to recruit him also and let Ekitike move away probably by the end of this transfer window if the first deal is done.
For Mbappe, he gave his ok for any potential move to Real Madrid this season and we have to wait for their offer if they want him to join this year. I don't know how he feels about Al Hilal offer for a year although it is financially very profitable
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After falling behind 0-2 to Milan, Madrid can finally win 3-2. I think Bellingham is pretty good. He can set the tempo and make creations to open up space for strikers. His debut was pretty good, but Joselu and Diaz I think not so much got their chances not too well. I waited for Guller's debut, but unfortunately Anceloti didn't play. Valverde also performed well, he could make 2 goals.
Ancelotti is trying to figure the best tactic to play without having Benzema or Mbappe with him in the team. It is bad to receive 2 goals earlier but it is very good to come back with 3 goals later thanks to Bellingham but also Valverde and Vinicius Junior. Ancelotti should work more on the defence line in my opinion if he wants to compete Barcelona. It doesn't make sense to receive many goals each time and try to get the tie and score more.. |
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