Olympique Lyon vs Atalanta Bergamo Europa League 28-09-2017

Lyon vs Atalanta 
Competition: UEFA Europa League

Date: 28 September 2017
Venue: Groupama Stadium, Decines-Charpieu 
Kick-off Time: 20:05 GMT 

Lyon team won just one game out of the last six games, with Guingamp in the French Ligue 1, and this worries their coach far more than anything else. Olympique Lyon was defeated just once in the same period, when it faced PSG away two rounds ago in the national championship, while last weekend it made 3-3 with Dijon at home after a fully open match.
OL Lyon currently occupies only the seventh place in the French Ligue 1 table, although it has just 03 points fewer than third-placed Bordeaux, and can rightly expect to push toward the top later on in the season. On the other hand, in the UEFA Europa League, Lyon needs to defeat Atalanta if it wants to stay in the race for the first two places in the group, and it is expected from OL  a total offensive from the first minute. Only two players are out of action, from before injured defenders: Rafael and Marcal.
Atalanta, on the other side, had a totally different opening of new season than their next opponent as they lost in first two rounds of Serie A to Roma and Napoli but then they used in the best possible way a bit easier schedule in the following four rounds as the team defeated Sassuolo and Crotone at home and drew away with Chievo and Sampdoria last weekend. These results improved their position in the table as Atalanta moved in the upper part of it and now can play this UEFA Europa League match with Olympique Lyon in much better atmosphere.
In addition to that, two weeks ago Atalanta Bergamo played perfectly their first returnee match in the UEFA Europa League as they defeated Everton at home by 3-0 and made a great step toward reaching the knockout phase with it. Atalanta must verify its good shape in next five games and certainly one of most difficult is this away one with Lyon. Only stopper Toloi and midfielder are on the list of injured players at the moment.

Probable lineups:
Olympique Lyon: Lopes – Tete, Marcelo, Morel, Mendy – Tousart, Ferri – Cornet, Fekir, Depay – Diaz
Atalanta: Berisha – Masiello, Caldara, Palomino – Castagne, de Roon, Freuler, Spinazzola – Ilisic, Gomez – Petagna



 

Continue reading →

Real Madrid 3-1 Real Sociedad Spanish Primera Division Highlights 17-09-2017

Real Madrid vs Real Sociedad - Competition: Spanish Primera Division

 Madrid in a tough match of the Spanish Primera Division, and which ended with Real Madrid winning the game. The final score was 3-1.

Real Madrid - Real Sociedad 3-1: Spanish Primera Division 

19' Borja Mayoral 0-1 // 28' Kevin Rodrigues 1-1 // 36' Kevin Rodrigues (o.g.) 1-2 // 61' Gareth Bale 1-3

Date: 17 September 2017
Kick-off Time: 19:45 GMT
Venue: Estadio Municipal de Anoeta .

Continue reading →

Arsenal - Koln UEFA Europa League 14/09/2017

Arsenal vs Koln 
Competition: UEFA Europa League

After being present, for many years, in the UCL, Arsenal can be seen this season only in the group phase of UEFA Europa league, and they are, just like Manchester United last year, regarded as the biggest favourites to win the competition. It would also automatically set Arsenal back in the Champions League, which will certainly firstly try to reach through the English Premier League, regardless of variable form displayed in first four rounds of the new season.

For now, Arsenal players won points only at home; they won at the Emirates Leicester and Bournemouth, while they lost away to Stoke and Liverpool. At the beginning of the season they managed to win the English Super Cup after defeating the champion, Chelsea, while now in the Europa League they certainly want to start with a victory, regardless of the number of changes in the starting line-up that coach Wenger announced. Absent players due to injuries are midfielder Coqeulin and Cazorla.

Koln team earned long-awaited return to the European scene after ending up last year at excellent fifth place in the German Bundesliga, but they couldn’t even dreamed about the UEFA Champions League as their backlog behind fourth-placed Hoffenheim was very big. Reaching the Europa League is a big success for the Koln, especially when known that just four years they played in the 2nd Bundesliga.

Coach, Stoger, has made of them a very competitive Bundesliga team from which was expected to continue with good results in the new season but that hasn’t materialised as they had a three-match losing streak. In fact, Koln is for the time being the only team in the Bundesliga that hasn’t won a single point in the first three rounds so the team will certainly have plenty of problems at the Emirates stadium, especially as midfielders: Jojic and Risse, and stopper Sorensen are not fully ready.

Date: 14 September 2017
Kick-off Time: 20:05 GMT
Venue: Emirates Stadium, London

Probable lineups:

Arsenal: Ospina – Holding, Mertesacker, Monreal – Bellerin, Elneny, Wilshere, Kolasinac – Walcott, Giroud, Iwobi

Koln: T. Horn – Klunter, Heintz, Mere, Hector – Zoller, Lehmann, Hoger, Bittencourt – Osako, Cordoba

Continue reading →

Monaco vs Leipzig Champions League 13-09-2017

Monaco vs Leipzig

Competition: UEFA Champions League
Date: 13 September 2017

Kick-off Time: 19:45 GMT
Venue: Red Bull Arena, Leipzig

 

AS Monaco team has, before the start of the UEFA Champions League, suffered a “cold shower” and a difficult defeat in the derby of the Cote d'Azur and it was their first defeat in the season, if not counting the loss in the Super Cup at the very start when it was defeated by PSG. Monaco started the championship with three highly victories, while, in the fourth round, in the first derby of Cote d'Azur, mastered Olympique Marseille with 6-1. The opposite happened on Saturday against Nizza, when Monaco lost with 4-0.

The same team was on the field in these two appearances and it was a bit inconceivable that they played so differently, that they lost to Nizza in a similar way that they defeated Marseille, because they have received two goals this time in the first 20 minutes. In the end, however, Monaco sold player, Mbappe, to their biggest rival PSG, but it also brought two valuable reinforcements at the end of the transitional period: Balde and Jovetic. The latter entered from the bench in the last round, while Balde had not yet started. Now the refreshment could be player Ghezzal instead of Lemar.

RB Leipzig, on the other side, played a bad match at Gelsenkirchen at the begining of the season, and they lost to Schalke deservedly, but they showed strength in the next two rounds, and their matches have reminded their followers on those last season’s that brought them the title of vice-champion. Leipzig received the first goal in the second round against Freiburg and then scored four goals in the furious second half. In the last round, the team again dominated in Hamburg and scored goals again in the second half, this time two that were enough for 2-0 victory.

Coach, Hasenhuttl, decided to put Bernard on the right-back instead of Klostermann, while Bruma played instead of the injured player, Forsberg. The worst thing that happened in Hamburg for Leipzig was the injury of the midfielder, Keita, who will not be able to play in this duel, so the newcomer Kampl could jump in instead. Player, Forsberg, recovered and should return to the field, and Y.Poulsen could returntoo.

Probable Lineups:
AS Monaco: Subasic – Sidibe, Glik, Jemerson, Jorge – Moutinho, Fabinho, Lopes, Ghezzal – Diakhaby, Falcao
RB Leipzig: Gulacsi – Klostermann, Orban, Upamecano, Halstenberg – Demme, Kampl – Forsberg, Sabitzer – Y.Poulsen, Ti.Werner

 

Continue reading →

FC Barcelona - Juventus UEFA Champions League 12-09-2017

Barcelona vs Juventus 
Competition: UEFA Champions League

FC Barcelona team still has a perfect score in La Liga and after three rounds it is the leading team in the table. They won all the three league matches and still haven't conceded a single goal. On the other hand Barcelona scored 09 goals, out of which 05 against city rival Espanyol on Saturday. Player Leonnel Messi is definitely in good shape as he scored both goals in victory over Deportivo Alaves 2-0 and he had a hat-trick against Espanyol.

Luis Suarez has fully recovered from his injury and he scored too, just as Pique although he commands the defence. The Catalans have definitely forgotten two painful defeats by  their old opponent, Real Madrid in the Super Cup, and now, beaming with self-confidence, can hardly wait to meet again their old rival and revenge for elimination last year. Dembele had his start after he came off the bench, and now he can easily be a starter.

Juventus, on the other side, also lost in the Super Cup at the beginning of the season, although only one match was played against Lazio in Rome. However, the team started the new season without a single mistake and won all 03 league matches. In fact, Juventus is more efficient the Catalans for one goal but it is interesting that otherwise very tough defence has already conceded two goals in the league and three in the Super Cup match. Everything went smoothly for the Italian team in home matches against Cagliari and Chievo which they sent home with 3-0 but Juventus was losing to Genoa 2-0 after just 7 minutes of match but they managed to turn the result up-side down by the end of match for the final 4-2.

Coach, Allegri, combines a bit the team although he is somewhat restricted by the  injures like it is the case with Chiellini and Marchisio, who will not play against the Catalans. Player, Barzagli, should be in the team, who hadn’t been a starter in first three rounds. Some players got rest against Chievo like: Buffon and Dybala, who came off the bench later on but nevertheless managed to score a goal and for the time being he is the first scorer in Juventus. Midfielder, Cuadrado, is not eligible to play this match because he is under suspension.

Date: 12 September 2017
Kick-off Time: 19:45 GMT

 Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona

FC Barcelona last 5 matches:

13/08/17 Barcelona 1 – 3 Real Madrid
16/08/17 Real Madrid 2 – 0 Barcelona
20/08/17 Barcelona 2 – 0 Real Betis
26/08/17 Deportivo Alaves 0 – 2 Barcelona
09/09/17 Barcelona 5 – 0 Espanyol

Juventus last 5 matches:

05/08/17 Tottenham 2 – 0 Juventus
13/08/17 Juventus 2 – 3 Lazio
19/08/17 Juventus 3 – 0 Cagliari
26/08/17 Genoa 2 – 4 Juventus
09/09/17 Juventus 3 – 0 Chievo

Continue reading →

Greece 1-2 Belgium World Cup Qualification Highlights 03/09/2017

Greece vs Belgium
Kick-off Time: 19:45 GMT 

Competition: World Cup Qualification Europe
Date: 3 September 2017
Venue: Stadio Georgios Karaiskaki 

After beating Greece 2-1 in the World Cup Qualification match, Belgium officially qualified for the 2018 World Cup.

Greece 1/2 Belgium: WORLD CUP QUALIFICATION: 

70' Jan Vertonghen 0-1 // 73' Zeca 1-1 // 74' Romelu Lukaku 1-2 

Continue reading →