Analysis

France’s Ligue 1 has given by far the most opportunities to Under-21 players this season, while German side Borussia Dortmund are the club to have handed out most minutes to youngsters.

A review of the top-five leagues by soccer statisticians Opta showed that Under-21 players have enjoyed a collective 62,046 minutes of game time in the French top flight in 2020/21.

The German Bundesliga is second with 34,993 minutes, while England’s Premier League (29,172), Italy's Serie A (23,225) and Spain’s LaLiga (22,893) round off the list.

It has been a strange season in Spanish football as both Barcelona and Real Madrid are experiencing down years, but Atlético Madrid manager Diego Simeone has seized on the opportunity to win a second LaLiga title for his club.

For a long stretch of the season, Atlético was nearly unbeatable. Following a pair of nil-nil draws early in the campaign, Simeone's side won 15 of 16 league games — the only misstep a 2-0 defeat to crosstown rival Real Madrid. This put the club 11 points clear at the top of LaLiga.

Russia will host the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup from Aug. 19-29. The qualifying matches have yet to be played. In some countries, the curfew and lockdowns are still in force due to Covid-19 and the global health crisis.

The million-dollar question: Will there or won't there be a beach soccer World Cup this summer in Europe? I would say: It all depends on the pandemic, its consequences and the accumulation of international sports events that have been postponed since 2020.

Manchester City announced on Monday that iconic striker Sergio Agüero would be leaving the club at the end of the season. The Argentine joined Man City from Atlético Madrid in 2011 on a $44 million transfer, winning four (and possibly one more this year) Premier League titles in the process. 

He is the highest-scoring non-Englishman in Premier League history and will be a highly sought-after transfer target come the summer when his contract expires.

There are three Premier League teams still competing in the Champions League at the quarterfinal stage: Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool. Looking at the matchups, at least two of those three clubs are clear favorites to advance to the semifinals. Liverpool has the most difficult tie against the historical kings of the competition, Real Madrid.

The road to Istanbul is set!

Sometimes I wish that, through some glaring administrative error, I had been accidentally registered for the Ajax youth academy, even if it was just for one day. Then, in semi-good conscience, I could exploit that fact to have my own Wikipedia page, Transfermarkt profile and agent, allowing me to bounce around the world on one-year contracts — obviously being found out as total trash time after time — living my best life. 

Football was changed forever in the 1950's by a man named Charles Reep, a retired Wing Commander from the British Royal Air Force. After watching and meticulously analyzing hundreds of soccer games, Reep came to the conclusion that the majority of goals in soccer come from moves of three passes or fewer.

This simple deduction shaped British football from that point on, changing it from a game based on individual dribbling ability and guile into a long ball jamboree and war of field position. Thus, England became a country known for aerial duels and rough and tumble soccer.