It was both sides, both Djokovic's side and the tournament organizer's side, together with the Australian authorities, that brought the situation to a farce. Was it worth it to constantly loudly assert that no exceptions will be made for anyone in the direction of easing anti-Covid19 restrictions and then also loudly announce that Djokovic will take part in the tournament without vaccination and without a two-week quarantine? And then, in the wake of public outrage, to back down and refuse purely on formal grounds. Djokovic, too, with all his titles and my sympathies for him, has already crossed all the lines in his unwillingness to get vaccinated and, moreover, wanting to participate in all tournaments, despite the epidemic.

It seems that vaccination in the Bundesliga is pretty good. Another question is that the appearance of a new strain of coronavirus slightly confuses all these vaccine cards, because vaccinations are no longer so effective in spreading. Also, let's not forget that, of course, changes are being made to vaccines taking into account the appearance of new strains, but it turns out that this does not really apply to those who were vaccinated with old versions of vaccines. In any case, if nothing is done with restrictions and vaccinations and let the situation take its course, then we can expect the appearance of an even more deadly version of the virus and the current version of the virus is just a respite before that.

This fantasy cannot go on indefinitely and in any case there will be a recession and Inter needs to score as many points as possible by this point. On the other hand, a lot depends on how Inter will be able to transfer this process and whether it will be able to minimize all the unpleasant consequences of this. Also, everyone should see the example of Napoli, which looked just as fantastic, but the failures of several rounds threw the team from the position of leader. As a result of all of the above, I am not at all sure that Juventus has lost all chances even to win the championship if they can stabilize their results. It's just that if Juventus has a winning streak like Inter's, then you yourself will already forget about your doubts about Juventus' tournament prospects.

If Xavi manages to bring Barcelona to the best physical and psychological shape by the end of the season, it means that the management did not appoint him to the post of head coach for nothing and completely guessed everything. Also, everyone will say that the risk was justified and some professional coaching inexperience did not have an impact. Another question is that Xavi has not achieved any of this yet and Barcelona fans can only believe in a successful outcome of the enterprise. I also think that we should not immediately make a tragedy out of the fact that if Barcelona cannot become champions this season, it will be a very good result if the club participates in the Champions League next season, because this is still a good increase in the team's budget with the club's not the best financial situation in recent years.

Be afraid of the obvious things! The fact that Inter Milan and Bologna showed completely opposite results before in sports terms should not be misleading. In football, everything is decided by a single lucky chance, and this case is called one succinct word goal. Moreover, there was a pause in the championship and it is not at all clear how the teams reacted to the celebration of such big family holidays as Christmas and New Year and the celebration of which is very difficult to refuse with all the desire. Therefore, of course, I give an undeniable advantage to a team like Inter Milan, but I still urge you not to relax and keep in mind that Bolnya can also show his teeth.

Despite all the positive statistics of the matches that took place before, I still gave Manchester City some advantage. City scored a very good move and Pep Guardiola's wards do not allow themselves to misfire in recent matches, unlike competitors. Therefore, the fact that we have won the same number of matches before should not be misleading, because statistics are a very insidious thing and you should not completely rely on it. For me, the main thing in this match is that two specialists from Spain meet and one of them has a very positive result both in the results of the team and in tournament things and this person is not Pep Guardiola By the way, happy New Year to everyone!

It would be great news if Mbappe, having given up on all transfer layouts and rumors, would move to Liverpool under the leadership of Jurgen Klopp Mbappe and Salah would make a murderous bunch that would terrify all rivals By the way, it seems that one of Salah's requirements for extending the contract is to strengthen the competitiveness of the club and the signing of Mbappe would fit well into this trend. It was under this sauce that rumors were recently filed about the possibility of Liverpool joining the fight for Erling Haaland, so I would not categorically reject the possibility of Liverpool joining the fight for Mbappe. Although, of course, given all the incoming information, the Haaland option looks much less fantastic.

I think that Bologna should keep in mind the result of the first round and therefore should make every effort so that this does not happen again, so I am not sure that Inter expects an easy walk in this match By the way, the head coaches of teams that have such successful series are usually not very happy when such a long break occurs, which can knock the team off the rhythm already gained. Therefore, it looks very commendable that Simone Inzaghi has a sound view of things and understands perfectly well that only half of the work has been done and the main struggle is still ahead. We have already seen the unconditional leadership of Napoli in the first part of the championship and how this leadership melted away in just a few rounds due to the unsuccessful results of the matches.

In my humble opinion, Mbappe makes a more significant contribution to the success of the team than Messi and Neymar, so his potential departure will be a big loss for Paris Saint-Germain. Therefore, the efforts made by the club's management to extend the contract are understandable, without selling the player and risking letting Mbappe go as a free agent. When a team like PSG is present in your league, there are few concrete efforts of your team, but it is also necessary that PSG experience certain problems and this was the main reason for the success of Lille. But on the other hand, you need your team to be able to take advantage of these problems of the opponent and Lille then it turned out perfectly.

There is no better way to raise the morale of any football team than a victory The most important thing is that this is not an isolated case and happens regularly, otherwise the effect will weaken and does not bring much benefit in the end The most important thing for Manchester United at the current stage is to win and replenish the piggy bank of points, and not to defeat opponents with a killer score, because the club is not even among the top four who will compete in the Champions League next season. By the way, thanks to the goal scored in this match, which has already become 92 in the Premier League, Ronaldo beat his former team-mate and recent Manchester United head coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who scored 91 goals.

Now it remains to find out what Barcelona's rivals and competitors think about this, because they, too, would not mind moving to second place or even first place But speaking seriously, I am impressed that Barcelona is taking active actions to overcome the crisis, including in the transfer market, and if everything is done correctly, then such actions should lead to success. Another question is that no one guarantees this and Javi Hernandez has no similar experience of correcting the situation as a head coach and Barcelona is taking a huge risk to aggravate the already difficult financial situation. Talking about the fact that Barcelona, in case of failure, will be able to rectify this by arranging a sale of players should not cause unnecessary illusions, because everyone should perfectly remember the recent situation when the club could not sell its players at a good price for the sake of extending the contract with Messi.

I think that all normal football fans would like Xavi Hernandez to overcome the problems and Barcelona again represented a formidable force that would fight for the highest titles not only in the domestic championship, but also in the international arena. Nevertheless, the uncompromising confrontation between Real Madrid and Barcelona has been the main driving force behind the intrigue of the Spanish Championship for decades and has attracted attention not only in Spain, but also at a high international level. I think it's too early to talk about Mbappe's move to Real Madrid as a fait accompli, there is even less reason to think about Haaland's move to Barcelona, although of course the appearance of such figures painted La Liga with new bright colors and contributed to additional interest in the championship.

I would not say that the current Juventus is the undisputed favorite in the match with Napoli. Both clubs have some problems with the results in recent games, so it is difficult to call one of them an unconditional contender for victory in the upcoming match. I would put it mildly that Juventus has a better chance of getting points than Napoli. Despite all the statistical nuances and preferences, I think that any outcome of the match is possible both in one direction and in the other. The only thing I would like to say about, given Juventus' modern style of play, is that in my opinion the meeting is unlikely to be replete with a lot of goals scored.

Indeed, it would be quite unexpected news that Killian Mbappe is still staying at Paris Saint-Germain, given the information background there was about this and what kind of information was leaked to the press. This would undoubtedly be a transfer success for PSG and a reward for their patience and perseverance with which they tried to keep the player, despite the fact that the club had huge risks that Mbappe would leave as a free agent without any compensation to the club for the transfer. However, do not ignore the information a few days ago that Real Madrid is confident in signing a contract with Mbappe at the end of the season and would like to announce this after the matches of the 1/8 finals of the Champions League.

Brentford, of course, should hardly be happy about losing, but still, given the crushing score Manchester City dealt with their rivals in recent matches, then some reason for optimism should be present. Another question is that such optimism in itself did not add tournament points to Brentford because of the loss. Thanks to the rather unexpected loss of points by competitors, Manchester City was able to consolidate its leadership and increase the gap to 8 points. If Liverpool's loss in the match with Leicester could still be expected, then Chelsea's draw in the match with Brentford is a big surprise for me, despite some decline in the game shown and Chelsea's results.

If Chelsea's successes, which followed Tuchel's arrival in the form of winning the Champions League, are really akin to some magic that did not quite follow from the state of the club, then Tuchel's task is just to build a strong club that is capable of achieving high goals even without magic. It was not to be expected that this process would be painless and some costs are and will be required. We can say that now there is a kind of temporary crisis, like a crisis in family relationships, which necessarily occur in married couples after some time has passed But still, I would not directly compare Lampard and Tuchel as coaches. Still, in my humble opinion, Tuchel has more experience and more authority in the coaching shop, so I think that Tuchel has more opportunities to overcome this crisis.

I still stand by my opinion that potentially Leipzig can compete with Bayern Munich in the near future. The Red Bull company, which owns the Leipzig football club, is quite ambitious in its sports projects and is building its football vertical, headed by RB Leipzig in Europe. Unlike Borussia Dortmund, which openly positions itself as an incubator for the cultivation and resale of players and sports results are only a side effect, then RB Leipzig seems to have sports goals in the first place. Another question is that it will take some more time. Still, at this point in time, Leipzig does not have such authority in terms of the game and the status of the club in front of the players, which can still be called the magic of the name that Bayern has.

Indeed, everything is still ahead and everything can change dramatically in the second round, because I cannot believe that Inter's winless streak will continue until the end of the season and the club will not experience difficulties at a certain stage. If Napoli can cope with its problems and starts to gain points steadily again, it will be a serious contender not just for a place in the Champions League, but also a contender for the Scudetto. The clubs will have to play each other once more in the second round and this is another chance to reduce the gap in points. As they say, all winning streaks tend to end, and defeats can serve as the beginning of a new winning streak

If Haaland leaves for another club already in this transfer window, it will look like a disaster for Borussia Dortmund, because the club is not ready for this and the team will lose a player who made a significant contribution to scoring points in the Bundesliga. I strongly doubt that the transfer will take place now, because it seems that the point of the contract on the amount of the buyout, which everyone is talking about, should come into force in the summer. Also, it seems that all the rumors about potential buyers speak about the willingness to pay this amount. Although I think that the amount will still be higher than the potential 75 million euros.

I don't think winning the Champions League will have a decisive impact on Mbappe's decision to stay at the club and extend his contract. Maybe even on the contrary, winning the Champions League will have the opposite effect, that the player will decide that he has already won the title and now it's time to look for new challenges and achieve new successes at a new club In any case, anything can still happen in this matter, information like Mbappe is thinking about extending his contract with PSG will continue to leak to the press, and money will play an important role in which option the further development of events will go