Bayern Munich overcome the Sevilla scare

 

Winning trophies and Bayern Munich are synonymous right now. For a long time, Europe and World Football have not witnessed such a stronger club, who plays with a ruthless fashion, and even when the game becomes tighter, they just find a way to stay in the game and ultimately win it. The Royal Whites – Real Madrid and AC Milan had such intensity to win with great panache and leave their mark.

But at times, even such teams find the going tough!

Just a few months back, Bayern completed the treble and their UEFA Champions League journey had been nothing short of a brutal display. The next challenge was the UEFA Super Cup clash against the sturdy Sevilla, who are habituated to fight back and make the opposition sweat.

Bayern struggled against a stubborn Sevilla side who had been unbeaten since February – a run that included a record sixth triumph in the Europa League, formerly the UEFA Cup – and when they went ahead through Lucas Ocampos penalty.

Luuk de Jong's cushioned header reached Ivan Rakitic, and the midfielder – back at the club after re-joining from Barcelona – was barged over by David Alaba, with Ocampos outfoxing Neuer from a no-look spot-kick.

Julen Lopetegui planned to neutralize the unfettered swagger of Bayern by relying on counterattacks with a quick one-touch football.  Then, press the Bayern defense and Manuel Neuer up high, to keep Flick’s men from pushing the defense up the pitch. This keeps Bayern from congesting the field of play, a key aspect of Hansi Flick’s tactics.

Again, defend in a medium-block with enough emphasis on the flanks, to isolate the wingers from the full-backs. This would prevent Bayern from overloading the flanks, and cut off the supply to Thomas Muller and Robert Lewandowski.

The plan of Lopetegui worked and the German Giants found the going tough, but they bounced back.

Lewandowski failed to beat Yassine Bounou from a one-on-one as Bayern responded, but he made up for that before half-time, laying the ball back for Leon Goretzka to pick his spot and score the equalizer.

Bayern thought they had the lead within six minutes of the restart after Muller teed up Lewandowski, having initially been presented with the chance himself by the Pole, but VAR spotted Bayern's number nine was offside when first collecting Leroy Sane's pass.

Bounou denied Serge Gnabry and Diego Carlos blocked the rebound from Sane, who had a goal disallowed himself after Lewandowski was adjudged to have fouled Sergio Escudero in the build-up.

Sevilla responded - Lopetegui masterfully set up his team to find space inside Bayern’s suffocating press, and it paid rich dividends.

While Sevilla did all the right things to shut down Bayern Munich in the wide areas - Leroy Sane and Serge Gnabry, who had four goals and two assists between them against Schalke, struggled to spread their wings because the fullbacks failed to inject the attacking intent.

With Lucas Hernandez starting ahead of Alphonso Davies, Bayern struggled to create any real pressure down the left flank. Lucas was defensively decent, but what Bayern actually needed was the pace to penetrate the loading of Sevilla in the flanks.

 The best of Sevilla’s counterattacks came in the 87th-minute when Jesus Navas set free En-Nesyri, who beat the Bayern defenders and he had only Neuer to beat and strike the winner. The German goalkeeper took the position sideways when he watched En-Nesyri coming forward, thinking he might have to come forward and use his feet, but quickly switched a rather well-set position when he noticed that En-Nesyri would shoot.

En-Nesyri shot and Neuer’s quick reflexes prompted him to make one of the best saves in his career.

Without a doubt, Neuer is still the best goalkeeper in the world.

The game went to extra-time and Javi Martinez was the unlikely hero as he came off the bench to head in the 104th-minute 2-1 and secure the title.

Bayern overcame the Sevilla scare, but from here Hansi Flick needs to evolve because the rest of the clubs would surely study Lopetegui’s tactics and exploit it to stop Bayern Munich.

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 25/09/2020 Bayern Munich overcome the Sevilla scare

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Faisal Caesar 

 

 

Douglas Luiz: The talent is transforming into deeds

 

The World Cup Qualifiers would start soon in Latin America and Brazil are geared to make an impact. Tite has announced the squad for the upcoming matches against Bolivia and Peru. There was no sign of Arthur Melo because of his recent lack of playing time, but he has included Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz, who has been brilliant in the Premier League and his performance against Sheffield United justifies Tite’s selection as well.

Douglas was born in Rio de Janerio on May 9, 1998.

Douglas hails from a poor socioeconomic background. He experienced poverty and like many Brazilian kids, he realized that football could be the best option to change his fortune.

When he was 14 years old he was accepted in the Vasco da Gama youth academies and while playing for the Under-17 team, he made a big impact years later.

He was given the option to play as a full-back on the right, but Douglas was not accustomed to the position, but he could realize the fact, the competition to play in the initial XI was an uphill task, as Vasco had three players constantly called into the national team of the category (Andrey, Evander, and Mateus Vital), so Douglas thought it was better to play as a right-back than not no play.

As Vasco was in the Brazilian Serie B in 2016, they were forced to use some domestic solutions and promoted nine youngsters. Well, Douglas was not amongst them, but injuries and suspensions forced the team to call for even more kids and that’s when Douglas started to draw some attention.

When the team passed through its worst moment in the year, Douglas was like a light at the end of the tunnel. The coach Jorginho liked what he saw and the player had a six-game sequence, enough to convince everyone.

When Vasco managed to uplift themselves among the elite of Brazilian football, Douglas was even better – he took the role from full-back to manage the center of the park. Douglas flourished as a midfielder.

Again, at times he failed to hit the jackpot when it was needed the most and that was the case in the Under-20 South American Championship. Douglas, Felipe Vizeu, Richarlison, and Guilherme Arana had a decent tournament but weren’t enough to win the title for Brazil.

Back to Vasco da Gama, Douglas soon began to leave his supporting role to play as the main actor, becoming popular for his calm and composure in important games, such as the derbies against Flamengo, Botafogo, and Fluminense.

That was enough to put him in the Campeonato Carioca’s best XI and catch the attention of the scouts from Monaco, Borussia Dortmund, and Manchester City to Brazil.

However, even though his contract had recently been renewed, Vasco could not hold him when the €12M offer arrived from England.

Douglas caught the attention of Pep Guardiola.

Douglas Luiz completed a move to Manchester City on 15 July 2017, signing a five-year contract.

In August, he was loaned to La Liga side Girona FC for his first season with the club. Douglas made his debut for Girona, replacing Portu in a 1–0 home win against Malaga CF.

A year later, Douglas Luiz was again loaned to Girona due to the UK Home Office denying him a work permit.

In 2019, Douglas signed for Aston Villa subject to a work permit. His work permit was granted and he officially became an Aston Villa player on August 7, 2019. 10 days later, Douglas Luiz scored his first goal for Aston Villa against AFC Bournemouth; Villa would eventually lose the game 2–1.

At one point, Aston Villa were at risk of relegation, but they escaped the scare courtesy of the brilliance of Douglas in the 2019-20 season.

He featured in 28 matches for Villa – 8 of them is coming on as a substitute. Douglas spent 2855 minutes on the pitch with 79 minutes per match. Scored thrice with an xG of 2.40. Took 22 shots on goal among which 12 off them were on target. Provided 2 assists. Made 1235 passes among which 1025 had been successful with a success rate of 83%. Completed 46 successful tackles among 92 and blocked 16 shots.

He was the pivot in the midfield and the game flowed through him.

Douglas is great on carrying the ball, posses a superb technique and versatility to adapt to different situations and it is not surprising that he is well-equipped to dribble past the ball – typical of any Brazilians.

According to WhoScored, “Of the 303 players to have attempted 25 or more dribbles, Douglas has a better dribble success rate (93.1%) than any other player since the start of the 2017-18 La Liga season.”

And if the dribble is not an option, that is not a problem. He has a really precise pass, especially when he tries layoffs for fast wingers. If the strategy is intensity, his passes can cut the opposition lines. If possession is the focus, he can patiently wait for the opportunities.

While starting for Villa in the early days, Douglas knew neither was he good in long-distance shot nor well-equipped in man-marking and thus, invested more on his positives smartly and worked hard to improve the shortcomings. Over the years, one can say, Douglas has improved and he is ready to make an impact in even better clubs and Brazil.

 Note: This article has been posted as Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 23/09/2020 Douglas Luiz: The talent is transforming into deeds

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Faisal Caesar 

 

Manchester United were below-par

 

Manchester United signed the better players to start the new season with a great spirit. But at the end of the match, they were left shell-shocked as Crystal Palace stunned them with a stunning 3-1 victory. This defeat was unexpected for the United fans because according to the hype the signings created, United were expected to become better.

Sadly, they looked pale, and even if one cancels outs the controversial VAR decision against United, the performance was heavily below average.

“Our approach will be about fine-tuning what we can do better this season,” Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wrote in his program notes ahead of Saturday's Premier League clash with Crystal Palace. “And we know what areas we’re looking to improve upon.”

Going by their performance at Old Trafford, he would be thinking, still a long way to go.

United's passing was sloppy, their movement slow, and the defence all over the place.

 Ed Woodward was used on the right, where he struggled big-time while Daniel James had to be substituted after a poor display in the first half.

Timothy Fosu-Mensah, who started as the right-back with Aaron Wan-Bissaka linked up with James 12 times in the first half – more than any other partnership on the pitch. However, the duo failed to make an impact and so it was no surprise to see James replaced by Mason Greenwood for the second half.

The vulnerability at the United backline was evident within just seven minutes Luke Shaw was beaten to a cross from Jeffrey Schlupp by Andros Townsend, who fired the visitors ahead with a back-post finish. Victor Lindelof was also at fault in the build-up, as he allowed Schlupp to get by him far too easily.

Then there was Paul Pogba, whose passing was not accurate, poor on possession, and making errors all over the pitch whereas the highly rated Bruno Fernandes was hugely ineffective.

The injection of Greenwood and Donny van de Beek gave United some momentum, but it is hard to put things together with a fragile defence.

The home team was unfortunate with some of the VAR decisions that went against them.

According to the law, the visitors were rightly awarded a penalty in the 74th minute, after Jordan Ayew’s shot bounced onto Lindelof’s arm, but it only further highlighted the harshness of the new rules.

The decision to order a retake of the subsequent penalty, which was saved by David de Gea, because the Spanish goalkeeper had stepped marginally off his line, was a total joke.

The net result, though, was Wilfried Zaha succeeding where Jordan Ayew had failed, leaving United were left with a mountain to climb.

Later, Zaha sealed a deserved victory for Palace by easily brushing aside Lindelof before firing low into the bottom corner of the net.

Remarkably, Zaha became the first player to have played for United in the Premier League to then score twice in a single game against Manchester United in the competition.  

Manchester United started off badly and without compactness, Ole can’t even think of a better outcome in the coming days.

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 19/09/2020  Manchester United were below-par

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Faisal Caesar 

 

The gifted Sandro Tonali

 

At a very early age, the boy created a big impression in the international arena. He found himself on the wish list of some of Europe’s top clubs. The reports of the scouts have been impressive and after the observation of the experts, the boy from Lodi - a city and comune in Lombardy, northern Italy, primarily on the western bank of the River Adda – became the hotcake in the transfer market.

Sandro Tonali is all set to become another gifted midfielder from Italy and according to many, he is one of those gems who could be the next Regista like Andrea Pirlo, who, like Tonali, also started his career in Bresica.

He took his first steps as a young player for Lombardia Uno, a Milanese team with which he competed in the Pulcini category in the 2007-08 season, when he was just 7!

The following year he moved to Piacenza, where he stayed for three seasons, before moving to Brescia at the age of 12.

Tonali made his professional debut for Brescia Calcio in August 2017 aged just 17, coming on as a substitute in the Serie B away match lost 2–1 against Avellino.

In April 2018 he scored his first professional career goal, in a 4–2 defeat against Salernitana in Serie B. He obtained 19 league appearances in total during his first season as a professional player, scoring two goals and providing two assists during the 2017–18 Serie B season.

The following season, Tonali won the Serie B title with Brescia, and achieved promotion to Serie A, featuring as a starter for the club throughout the entire 2018–19 season.

He made his Serie A debut against Cagliari in the 2019-20 campaign with a 1-0 away win and played a total of 35 matches this season.

Then, he assisted Mario Balotelli's goal from a corner kick in a 2–1 away loss to Napoli; he also scored a goal during the match with a powerful shot from outside the area, which was disallowed by VAR, however, for a foul by Brescia's Dimitri Bisoli on Napoli's Nikola Maksimović.

He scored his first Serie A goal with netting a long-range free-kick into the top corner from the left flank, which was the opening goal in an eventual 3–1 away defeat to Genoa.

A strong, energetic, elegant, and creative, midfielder, with excellent vision and an ability to read the game, Tonali usually plays in a central or defensive midfield role as a deep-lying playmaker and shows maturity and character beyond his young age.

Dictating play for Brescia with his passing in midfield, he set up two goals and even scored two himself in his 19 appearances in Serie B during the 2017–18 season.

Although naturally right-footed, he is known for his accurate long passing ability with either foot.

In addition to Pirlo, Tonali has also cited Steven Gerrard and Luka Modric as influences and has also compared his own playing style to that of Gennaro Gattuso.

In July 2019, he was named by UEFA as one of the 50 promising young players to watch for the 2019–20 season.

Inter, Juventus, and Barcelona were after him, but Tonali has never hidden his support for Milan and has always been vocal of his support for club legend Gennaro Gattuso. A letter was written by Tonali as a child surfaced on social media where he asks for a Milan shirt.

Brescia president Cellino said “We have received an offer in January from Barcelona for Tonali. Manchester United made a bid for him before Milan, but once Milan came forward the player went crazy and asked to join Milan because it’s the team he supported since he was a child.”

Right now, one of the most wanted midfielders in Europe is a part of Rossoneri.

In the last season, AC Milan have given the impression of making a comeback and they would wish to maintain that momentum in the new season as well.

Once upon a time, the midfield of AC Milan consisted of gems and jewels, and keeping that mind, Paolo Maldini wished to inject dynamism at the center of the park and surely, Tonali is someone who could fulfill that expectation.

In Brescia, he sat back in front of the defence and dictated the game from deep by forwarding quick balls, whereas the Italian coach Roberto Manchini exploited him as a box-to-box midfielder because since they already have a Regista in the form of Jorginho in the Azzurri setup.

In the AC Milan, Stefano Pioli usually uses the 4-2-3-1 formation which changes accordingly to 4-3-3, and in this formation, Tonali could be utilized as a pure Regista, which Milan would need to boost their midfield.

Ismael Bennacer, who performed the role of a Regista and holding midfielder in a double pivot, shone brightly with Franck Kessie last season, and it might leave Pioli to use the midfield option more smartly – a 4-5-1 formation with Zlatan Ibrahimovic as the lone striker and five in the midfield – Tonali lying deep along with Bennacar and Kessie, Ante Rebic on the wider area and Hakan Calhanogolu moving from wide to center, aiding Ibra.

The game would flow through Tonali.

He would be the initiator of the build-up play.

Once the ball is at his feet, Tonali quickly scans the pitch for his team-mates to try and gauge who is not being marked and could therefore generate a chance. He also can float in balls inside the box from wide areas. Tonali however being the Regista can mostly be seen occupying central areas of the pitch or occupying half-spaces between the opposition’s lines of defence.

Tonali can accelerate suddenly and link-up in the counterattacks during transitions and again, seen holding players off by shielding them and has a fair amount of physicality to show he has some brawn and not all brains.

Tonali’s main defensive strength lays in his unique ability to read the game and often the mind of the opponent. This gives him quite a number of opportunities to intercept passes and put his foot into tackles.

The 20-year-old does not dive into tackles but he does have a habit of giving fouls away in dangerous areas of the pitch, which is something to work on. His pro-active sense of defending is similar to Gattuso.

By the way, he could be deadly in set-pieces as well – serve the ball wickedly.

A distinguishing aspect of Pirlo’s passing was the unique body orientation that helped him angle in passes between defenders. Tonali has emulated some of this technique in his stride which has gained him comparisons to Pirlo and a lot of praise from the maestro himself, who even called him ‘more complete’.

Tonali would mature and shine in Milan and that is what everyone back in Italy expects.

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 11/09/2020 The gifted Sandro Tonali

Thank You

Faisal Caesar

Cristiano Rolando: No drama. No excuses. CR7 only delivers the best for country & club

 

Cristiano Rolando was just 16 years old when he first experienced the taste of international football. He began his international career with Portugal at the 2001 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival, debuting in a 3–1 defeat to Finland. The following year he would represent his country under-17 side at the 2002 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship, where they failed to progress past the group stage.

Ronaldo also featured in the Olympic squad at the 2004 Summer Olympics, scoring one goal in the tournament, though the team was eliminated in the first round, finishing bottom of their group with three points after 4–2 defeats to eventual semi-finalists Iraq and quarter-finalists Costa Rica.

During his international youth career, Ronaldo would go on to represent the under-15 team, under-17, under-20, under-21, and under-23 national sides, amassing 34 youth caps and scoring 18 goals overall.

At age 18, Ronaldo made his first senior appearance for Portugal in a 1–0 victory over Kazakhstan on 20 August 2003.

He was subsequently called up for UEFA Euro 2004, held in his home country, and scored his first international goal in a 2–1 group stage loss to eventual champions Greece.

That was his first goal in international football at the senior level and after 16 years, the Portuguese has bagged 101 international goals.

For a while, he was hanging with 99 goals and after missing the match against Croatia in the UEFA Nations League, the opportunity came against Sweden at Friends Arena, Solna, Sweden. Cristiano has fond memories against Sweden and he loves dishing out brilliant displays against the Swedes.

Ronaldo reached the milestone just before half-time of Tuesday's Nations League match against Sweden, slamming home a free-kick from outside the box to score the game's first goal.

It wouldn't take long for Ronaldo to reach his 101st goal as the forward netted a fine strike from outside the box in the 72nd minute, giving Portugal all they would need in a 2-0 win.

With his brace today, Ronaldo has scored 7 goals against Sweden. That's tied for the most against a single opponent (with Lithuania).

This was Ronaldo's 24th brace for Portugal. The man has more braces for his nation than any of the other members of the current 23-man Portugal squad have goals. Andre Silva is the next highest scorer, and he has 16.

Ronaldo is tied with France's Michel Platini for the most goals at a UEFA European Championship (final tournament), with 9. The next closest is England's Alan Shearer with 7. Ronaldo is, though, the only person to have scored at 4 different Euros.

It’s Cristiano Ronaldo again, again and again – and he does not know how to stop at the age, when others plan to retire and either hold a mike or start a coaching career.

Goals scored by Ronaldo before turning 30 - 52 in 118 at 0.44 a game.

Goals scored by Ronaldo after turning 30 - 49 in 47 at 1.04 a game!

Ronaldo has scored more goals as a 30+ year old than Sergio Aguero has in his whole international career (41).

The 35-year-old is only the second men's player to reach 100 goals for his country after Ali Daei, who scored 109 times for Iran.

Ronaldo's goal was also the 57th of his career from a direct free-kick and the 10th for Portugal.

Ronaldo had to wait 10 months to overcome the final hurdle and reach the milestone, with his 99th international strike coming in November 2019 against Luxembourg. The forward had netted a hat-trick in the previous match against Lithuania to take his total to 98.

What's perhaps most impressive about Ronaldo's tally is that only 17 of his 101 goals have come in friendlies, though he has certainly beaten up on the European minnows along the way. Seven of his goals have come vs. Lithuania and Sweden, while he's scored five apiece against Andorra, Armenia, Latvia and Luxembourg.

Digging further into his century-mark of goals - Ronaldo has scored 9 hat tricks for Portugal. This is tied for the most international hat tricks by a European man - with Sweden's Sven Rydell (who played between 1923-1932).

To put this in context - no one that took the field for Portugal against Sweden last night has scored more than a total of 7 international goals (Pepe).

He has netted 30 goals in World Cup qualifying and 31 in European Championship qualifying.

He's delivered seven goals on the World Cup stage and another nine at the Euros in his career.

Ronaldo is the only European player to score in ten consecutive international tournaments (4 x Euros, 4 x World Cups, 1 x Confederations Cup, 1 x Nations League).

When Ronaldo scores, Portugal's results are Win - 55, Loss - 6, Draw – 5!

Ronaldo is by far and away the active leader in international goals in men's soccer. India's Sunil Chhetri (72) and Argentina's Lionel Messi (70) are the next closest. On the women's side, 17 players have hit the 100-goal mark, with seven of them Americans. Canada's Christine Sinclair is the all-time leader with 186 goals, two more than USA's retired forward Abby Wambach.

It is never an easy task to perform consistently for the club and country – very few have been able to do such and Cristiano Ronaldo is one of those legendary footballers, who is the winner both for the club and country.

No drama.

No excuses.

Cristiano Ronaldo only knows how to deliver the best for club and country.

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 09/09/2020 Cristiano Rolando: No drama. No excuses. CR7 only delivers the best for country & club

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

 

Lionel Messi stays at Barcelona: What would be the consequences?

 

In one of the biggest dramas of this season and perhaps in the history of football, finally, it ended by Lionel Messi deciding to stay in Camp Nou. Since that 8-2 thrashing against Bayern Munich in Lisbon, the Messi leaving Barcelona saga took over and overshadowed the disgrace. The world is familiar with such drama in the past, but after this new drama, the majority understood the real meaning of all these speculations and throwing mud at each other.

Messi would stay in Barcelona and those people who are tagged as the harsh critics of Messi kept on saying that he lacks the gut to leave this club and play somewhere else proved right. Yes, his fans and well-wishers would certainly want to save their beloved hero by dishing out the loyalty issue, but deep down, they also know, Messi has become a loser.

But Messi is not the only loser.

Marca stated, “Rather than end the crisis with his intervention on Friday evening, Lionel Messi has pulled even further at the stitching of a club that has been in trouble for too many months. He himself is one of the losers in all of this because it's clear that he wanted to leave Barcelona, even if he spoke of it being his lifelong club. He hasn't even cleared up if he will or will not leave once his contractual situation allows him to next summer. Many Barcelona fans have felt abandoned by the club legend.”

“Josep Maria Bartomeu also comes out of this as one of the losers. The fact that he has survived this, by threatening to take the matter all the way to court, and that he isn't going down as the president who let the star leave could bring personal relief and calm. However, Messi hit out at the club president in his interview. Now, the captain and president will have to try to live together over the course of the next few months. If Bartomeu was already finding it difficult to justify his management, the comments from Messi about him only make it worse. He has been condemned to being remembered as a damaging president.”

“Then, the institution of Barcelona also comes out of this with a defeat. Not only were they talked about across the globe for the sporting humiliation suffered with the 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich, but now they've been at the center of this global story. Part of the discussion has been about the club's finances. But, it's sentimentally that Barcelona have been hurt the most. This entire episode was hugely distressful for all the club's fans. The Barcelona badge should be above everything and everyone.”

Then there are risks of consequences of Messi staying in Barcelona.

Marca stated accordingly:

Financial limits

As COVID-19 has huge impacts on cubs' accounts, the club will have to accept that they'll spend at least 100 million euros as a result of Messi.

That's how much they'll fork out on his salary, while no transfer fee will arrive for him.

Potential signings like Lautaro Martinez, Georginio Wijnaldum, and Memphis Depay now appear more unlikely than before.

Institutional cracks

Messi is staying, but he's taking shots at those above him at the club.

"The truth is that there has been no project or anything for a long time," he told Goal.com.

"They juggle and cover holes as things go by".

The relationship between Bartomeu couldn't have been more damaged and there will undoubtedly be a lot of people looking forward to the March elections.

Fans divided

The various chapters to have unfolded over the last few weeks have left the supporters torn as well.

Messi's critics have increased in their number of late, and bad performances could now prompt a reaction that he's never had to deal with before.

Messi might not be as untouchable as he has been.

Dressing room atmosphere

The captain is staying, but it's likely that some of his teammates and best friends will leave.

All eyes are now on Luis Suarez, who looks likely to leave soon, while Arturo Vidal is another Messi ally who looks certain to be on the way out.

Only Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets are expected to stay on.

As for the coach, Ronald Koeman's strong character was known before he took the job and he wasted no time in showing it, even to Messi himself.

The relationship between the coach and his No.10 will be key to deciding how the 2020/21 season unfolds.

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 06/09/2020 Lionel Messi stays at Barcelona: What would be the consequences?

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Faisal Caesar