Tottenham went into Saturday’s match against Bournemouth joint fewest red cards earned in the league; Spurs ended the match joint sixth in most red cards received. Two Tottenham red cards spelled doom for Mauricio Pochettino’s side in a 1-0 loss to Bournemouth on Saturday, once again opening up the race in for the top four.
It’s raining sideways in Herzogenaurach on Monday evening with the temperature hovering in the low 40s. With a colossal match against Augsburg — one place above Schalke in the desperate battle to avoid the Bundesliga relegation playoff — looming the following Sunday, you could forgive Weston McKennie for being in a foul mood after traveling over 400 kilometers from Gelsenkirchen to arrive at adidas headquarters in Herzo for an evening of interviews.
There’s a new most valuable Premier League club, and it’s not Manchester United.
Manchester City was rated the most valuable Premier League club for the 2017-18 season in a recent study conducted by University of Liverpool’s Centre for Sports Business Group, as reported by BBC.
The Citizens were valued at $3.11 billion (£2.364 billion) compared to United, which dropped nearly half a billion dollars to $2.75 billion because of “higher wages and lower profit,” according to the study.
One of the greatest midfielders of his generation, Xavi has announced that he'll retire at the end of the season to pursue a coaching career. The maestro spent 17 years in Barcelona before moving to Al-Sadd in Qatar in 2015.
As a graduate of Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy, Xavi made his first team debut for Barcelona in 1998 at just 18 years of age. Playing at Barcelona for over 17 years, Xavi was an integral part of the midfield three, playing brilliant through balls and very rarely losing possession.
Editor’s note: This story originally ran on Feb. 26 and has been updated to include Norway’s final World Cup roster decisions.
The best women’s footballers on the planet will gather in France for the Women’s World Cup this summer.
Well, the best players minus one.
Liverpool was dominating in the second half. Fullbacks were flying forward, midfielders were ripping shots and forwards were bamboozling defenders.
But only Barcelona had Lionel Messi.
More than ever before, Messi is carrying Barcelona this season. Unlike past Champions League-winning sides Messi has been a part of, he is both the primary goal scorer and primary goal creator.
Barcelona and Liverpool both started the first leg of their Champions League semifinal with plenty of attacking intent, throwing caution to the wind in search of a go-ahead goal. It didn’t take too long to arrive, with a Luis Suarez goal vs Liverpool giving the home side a lead in the 26th minute.
And the former Liverpool man had no problem celebrating his goal.
Often, players choose to refrain from celebrating a goal against a former club as a show of respect. It’s a nice gesture.
It seems as though football fans become more emboldened the better their team does. And while many British supporters like to claim they’re better than their continental counterparts when it comes to racism, violence and general hooliganism, Liverpool fans are proving they’re a despicable lot ahead of the Champions League semifinal first leg in Barcelona on Wednesday.
Longtime Manchester United defender John O’Shea announced his retirement on his 37th birthday Tuesday.
Believe it or not, O’Shea has been playing continuously since his departure from Manchester United in 2011.
O’Shea spent 12 years with United and was part of five Premier League championship teams as well as one Champions League-winning team.
John O’Shea has announced his retirement from football:
Iker Casillas, the World Cup-winning goalkeeper with Spain and three-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid, suffered a suspected heart attack during a morning training session with Porto on Wednesday.
Casillas, 37, was taken to a local hospital in Porto and is in stable condition and “out of danger.”