There can be no denying it's been a disappointing start to the season for AS Monaco. After getting dumped out of Champions League qualifying by Shakhtar Donetsk, the principality club sits eighth in Ligue 1 after eight games.
MADRID — When Moldovan minnows Sheriff Tiraspol qualified for the elite Champions League, becoming the first side from that country to do so, pundits were scratching their heads and asking 'who?'.
Then, when they were drawn in a group with Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk, it was thought by pundits to be a case of how many goals they would lose by.
If you've been watching Champions League and Europa League football consistently over the past decade, there's a certain Swiss club called Young Boys that's undoubtedly captured your attention. They were in the UCL group stage in 2018, advanced to the UEL Round of 16 in 2021 and are now back in the 2021-22 UCL group stage, but why is the club called Young Boys?
If you’re like most of the football world on Tuesday, you were focused on the battle between the world’s two richest sides, PSG and Manchester City. As sad as Bernardo Silva was after his miss in that match, there was no one sadder on Tuesday than Diogo Costa, the Porto goalkeeper who was caught disastrously out of position by Roberto Firmino.
The experts gave FC Sheriff Tiraspol a 2 percent chance of winning at the Santiago Bernabéu against Real Madrid on Tuesday. The Moldovan club pulled off the most unlikely upset in Champions League history to win 2-1.
If you were to put $100 on Sheriff defeating Real Madrid, you would have won $2,800. The result is mindboggling, and it came in the most dramatic fashion with an 89th minute screamer from Luxembourg international Sebastien Thill.
Manchester City looked like a world beater in its first Champions League match of the season, the type of team that can score at will, whenever it wants. Match Day 2 was a different story for Pep Guardiola’s side, and the Bernardo Silva miss vs PSG may haunt the Citizens if they’re unable to claim first place in Group A.
It was billed as the most expensive football match in the world — the $1.10 billion squad value of PSG against the $1.16 billion of Manchester City. There was also the subplot of the most expensive transfer of the summer, City’s Jack Grealish at $135.5 million, versus PSG’s acquisitions of Lionel Messi, Georginio Wijnaldum, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Achraf Hakimi. All five started.
PARIS - Lionel Messi's sensational transfer to Paris St Germain was a surprise for everyone, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said, adding that he hopes the Argentine plays in Tuesday's Champions League group game between the two sides.
Messi joined PSG in August when he left Barcelona after the Spanish club — where he had spent his entire career — were unable to finance a new deal for the forward.
The 34-year-old suffered a knock on his left knee last week and is a doubt for the clash against the team led by his former Barça coach Guardiola.
The UEFA Champions League has only played one group stage game thus far meaning it’s time to predict the semifinals. It’s almost like trying to guess the Final Four during March Madness, however this Champions League prediction will be a little different.
After the Round of 16 anything goes in terms of the Champions League draw. There runs the risk of two predicted teams meeting at some point before the semifinals. To solve this issue each of the four teams I predict to make it to the semifinals will have an alternate club to take its place.
Back in April, Paris Saint-Germain signed mercurial superstar Neymar to a contract extension to 2025 — a bit of a surprising move considering the frequent dissonance between the two parties.
Recently the contents of this contract have been released, and the number of zeroes next to the Brazilian's salary make it abundantly clear why he stayed in France.