Tag: Football

Leeds defeat dents Fulham’s survival bid | Football News – Times of India

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


LONDON: Fulham‘s bid for Premier League survival suffered a major blow as Raphinha sealed Leeds a 2-1 win at Craven Cottage on Friday.
Scott Parker’s side would have climbed out of the relegation zone for the first time since December 20 if they had managed a rare home victory.
But Patrick Bamford put Leeds in front in the first half and, although Joachim Andersen equalised before the break, Raphinha punished sloppy Fulham defending to win it in the second half.
Third-bottom Fulham remain two points behind fourth-bottom Newcastle, who have two games in hand including a crucial clash with fellow strugglers Brighton on Saturday.
Beaten in three of their last four games, Fulham have now lost 10 home league matches this season.
Survival is still possible given Newcastle’s struggles, but with only eight matches left Fulham are running out of time to avoid an immediate return to the Championship.
Mid-table Leeds’ first win in four games was their first in London in 17 attempts.
They appeared to have made the perfect start in the eighth minute when Luke Ayling looped his header into the far corner from Tyler Roberts’ delivery.
But VAR disallowed the goal after checking that Roberts’ arm was narrowly offside before he crossed into the Fulham area.
Fulham’s Josh Maja forced a superb save from Illan Meslier with a fierce close-range effort.
Leeds made the most of that escape to take the lead in the 29th minute.
A quick throw caught Fulham sleeping and Jack Harrison found space for a cross to the near post, where Bamford made a perfectly timed run to smash past Alphonse Areola from close range.
It was Bamford’s 14th goal of the season but he nearly gifted Fulham an equaliser with a miscued headed clearance that flew just over moments later.
Despite just two goals in their previous nine home league games, Fulham responded well and equalised by exposing Leeds’ long-standing set-piece weakness in the 38th minute.
When Marcelo Biela’s side failed to deal with Ademola Lookman’s corner, Danish defender Andersen got in front of Ayling to volley home from six yards.
Andersen’s first goal since his arrival on loan from Lyon last year was the 15th conceded by Leeds from a corner this term.
Meslier kept out Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa’s stinging blast just before half-time.
Having showcased his predatory instincts earlier, Bamford turned provider in the 58th minute.
Kalvin Phillips robbed Mario Lemina and Bamford slipped a deft pass through to Raphinha, who punished poor Fulham defending to poke his shot past Areola.
Unable to muster another equaliser, Fulham were left to rue VAR’s refusal to award a penalty after Bamford’s arm made contact with the ball while he jumped to clear a free-kick.

[ad_2]

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Leave a comment , , , ,

Cristiano Ronaldo named Serie A’s Player of the Year | Football News – Times of India

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo was named Serie A‘s Player of the Year for the 2019-20 season at the Gran Gala del Calcio on Friday.
Ronaldo won award, which is voted by the Italian Footballers’ Association, after helping Juventus to a ninth successive Serie A title last season
“It was a strange year, a year that no one would have wanted, but on a personal and team level, it was positive, because we won the championship,” Ronaldo told Sky Sport Italia.
“At the beginning, it was difficult to play in empty stadiums, but our goal was to win the championship and we did it. We missed the Champions League but that’s how football is.”
The Portuguese striker’s sensational strike against Sampdoria in December 2019 was also voted Goal of the Season.
“It was my best goal, I’m very sure of it,” Ronaldo added. “I want to thank my team mates, because without them it wouldn’t have been possible to receive this prize.
“Thanks to the players who voted for me, I feel very lucky. I think the trust, the endurance and passion are the secret to continuing to enjoy football.
“I feel motivated and this must be the case, as otherwise it’s not possible to play at this level when you are 35, 36, 37 or 40.”
Atalanta’s Gian Piero Gasperini won the Coach of the Year crown.

[ad_2]

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Leave a comment , , , ,

Paul Pogba goal sends Manchester United into Europa League last eight | Football News – Times of India

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


MILAN: Manchester United reached the Europa League quarter-finals after a brilliantly-taken Paul Pogba goal earned them a 1-0 win at AC Milan to secure a 2-1 aggregate victory in their last-16 tie on Thursday.
Pogba came off the bench at halftime to make his first appearance for United since Feb. 6, and the France midfielder made an immediate impact as he turned the tie in his side’s favour three minutes after the break with a fine goal.

Former United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic came on as a substitute to try to drag Milan back into the match, and he almost equalised in the 74th minute but was denied by a good save from the visitors’ goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

Milan applied plenty of late pressure but United held on to remain in the hunt to win their first trophy since a Europa League success under Jose Mourinho in 2017.



[ad_2]

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Leave a comment , , , , ,

Dinamo Zagreb stun Tottenham Hotspur as brilliant Mislav Orsic nets hat-trick | Football News – Times of India

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


ZAGREB: Dinamo Zagreb sent Tottenham Hotspur crashing out of the Europa League after a stunning hat-trick by forward Mislav Orsic gave the Croatian champions a 3-2 aggregate win over the English side in their round of 16 tie on Thursday.
Dinamo won 3-0 on the night after extra time to reach the quarter-finals on coach Dario Krznar’s debut after he took over on Monday from Zoran Mamic, who stepped down upon learning he faces a prison sentence for fraud.
Trailing 2-0 from the first leg, a resurgent Dinamo pulled one back in the 62nd minute when Orsic beat visiting goalkeeper Hugo Lloris with a thunderbolt from 18 metres into the top corner after he cut inside the from the left.
Orsic levelled the tie in the 83d with an unstoppable first-time shot past Lloris from eight metres after a flowing move saw substitute Iyayi Atiemwen square the ball to the 28-year old from the right flank.
Orsic put the icing on the cake in the 106th minute with a dazzling solo effort as he beat four visiting defenders with a jinking run before unleashing a low drive past Lloris from the edge of the area.
Intense Spurs pressure in the last 10 minutes of the absorbing contest saw them miss a pair of sitters as home keeper Dominik Livakovic denied Gareth Bale and Harry Kane.

[ad_2]

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Leave a comment , , , ,

Europa League: Arsenal reach last eight despite defeat by Olympiakos | Football News – Times of India

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


LONDON: Arsenal endured a nervous night as they lost 1-0 to Greek side Olympiakos on Thursday but progressed into the Europa League quarter-finals 3-2 on aggregate.
After a 3-1 victory in Athens last week and reaching halftime unscathed in the return, Arsenal looked comfortable.
But when Youssef El Arabi’s deflected shot left Bernd Leno wrong-footed early in the second half it gave the visitors hope and increased the tension among the home ranks.
Arsenal wasted several late chances to ease the jitters with captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, restored to the starting line-up being left out of Sunday’s north London derby for disciplinary reasons, guilty of a poor miss.
Olympiakos had Ousseynou Ba sent off late on and Arsenal were spared any late dramas as they avenged last season’s elimination by the Greek champions to take their place in Friday’s last-eight draw.

[ad_2]

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Leave a comment , , , ,

Lionel Messi: I’ll do everything to get Lionel Messi to stay at Barcelona, says club president Joan Laporta | Football News – Times of India

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


BARCELONA: Barcelona chief Joan Laporta gave Lionel Messi a hug and then pledged to do everything in his power to convince the club’s all-time top scorer to stay after being officially sworn in as the club’s new president on Wednesday.
Laporta’s pitch to Messi came two days after the Argentine equalled Xavi Hernandez as the club’s highest appearance maker on 767 games, marking the occasion by scoring twice in a 4-1 rout of Huesca.
“I’ll do everything I can to make Leo stay because he’s the best player in history,” Laporta said in his speech at the Camp Nou as Messi and fellow captains Gerard Pique, Sergi Roberto and Sergio Busquets watched on.
“You know I love you, you know Barca loves you and if this stadium were full when you played, you wouldn’t want to leave. Whatever you decide is fine in the end, but we’ll try.”
Laporta, who presided over one of Barca’s most memorable periods between 2003 and 2010, which included Messi’s rise from the youth ranks to become their best player ever, won the election on March 7 with 54% of members’ votes.
He then faced an unexpected scramble to secure a guarantee of 125 million euros ($149.70 million) within 10 days of winning the election to secure his position and avoid a second election, eventually getting over the line thanks to the backing of Catalan businessman Jose Elias, CEO of renewable energy firm Audax.
“We’ve had some night, and it wasn’t exactly a party,” he said, in reference to securing the guarantee before Wednesday’s deadline.
Laporta inherits a deep financial crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and said getting the accounts in order would be his priority, also predicting the club would soon return to earning the same amount of revenue as before the pandemic hit last year.
“It’s our priority to make the club sustainable economically and we have an immediate plan to do that. But we’re not scared by the situation and if we have to make big decisions in Barca’s interest then we will,” he added.
Barca were knocked out of the Champions League by Paris St Germain last week but Laporta urged the players to try to achieve a domestic double.
They trail La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid by four points with 11 games to go and face Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final next month.

[ad_2]

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Leave a comment , , , , ,

champions league: Chelsea march into Champions League quarters with win over Atletico Madrid | Football News – Times of India

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


LONDON: Chelsea beat Atletico Madrid 2-0 on Wednesday to reach the Champions League quarterfinals for the first time since 2014 as Hakim Ziyech and Emerson Palmieri were on target to give coach Thomas Tuchel’s rejuvenated team a 3-0 aggregate win.
Ziyech squeezed the ball under Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak in the 34th minute of the last-16 second leg as he connected with a cross from Timo Werner who had raced down the left after being fed by fellow German Kai Havertz.
The three players involved in the goal had come under pressure after falling short of expectations since they arrived as big-money signings at Stamford Bridge last summer.
Substitute Emerson made sure of the victory with a 94th-minute strike on the break for Chelsea’s second goal.
Atletico were left to rue referee Daniele Orsato’s decision not to give a penalty when, with the score at 0-0, Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta underhit a back pass and put his arm around Yannick Carrasco who went down in the box.

The leaders of Spain’s La Liga struggled to pierce Chelsea’s defence with the tireless N’Golo Kante providing extra protection from midfield.
Coach Diego Simeone hauled off Uruguay striker Luis Suarez in the 59th minute and replaced him with Angel Correa to little effect as he failed to repeat his feat of 2014 when he masterminded a Champions League semi-final win over the Blues.
The visitors finished the game with 10 men after Stefan Savic was shown a red card in the 82nd minute for elbowing Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger in the chest at a corner.
The win left Chelsea unbeaten in 13 games since Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard as coach in January. He has engineered a turnaround founded on a defence that has let in only two goals under the German, who led Paris St Germain to last year’s final.

“This is another top performance with a deserved win,” Tuchel told BT Sport although he conceded he had been a “bit frightened” by the penalty scare.
“They tried to press up very high in the first half but they opened up some spaces in the back of the midfield and we could exploit it and then scored a fantastic goal. It gave us a lot of confidence,” he said.
Simeone said Chelsea deserved the win. “The first game was more even but today they were superior to us. We tried to press them high and make it hard for them to play out from the back and we managed that occasionally,” the Argentine said.
“I won’t look for excuses and whether or not it was a penalty. The referee made his decision. They were better than us and when your opponent is better you have to congratulate them.”



[ad_2]

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Leave a comment , , , , , , ,

champions league: Ruthless Bayern Munich complete job against Lazio to ease into Champions League last-eight | Football News – Times of India

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


MUNICH: Holders Bayern Munich cruised through to the Champions League quarter-finals for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons after beating Lazio 2-1 at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday to secure a 6-2 aggregate victory.
Leading 4-1 from the first leg in Rome, Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring for Bayern from the penalty spot in the 33rd minute, his 39th goal of the season in all competitions, to virtually end Lazio’s hopes.
The German champions took their foot off the gas before substitute Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, having replaced Lewandowski, added the second goal in the 73rd minute. Marco Parolo headed a late consolation for Lazio.
Bayern joined fellow German side Borussia Dortmund in the last eight and Lazio’s exit means no Italian team will compete in the Champions League quarter-finals, with Juventus and Atalanta having also gone out at the last-16 stage.
“It was important for me that we won the game,” Bayern coach Hansi Flick said.

“Lazio defended well but I think the win was deserved. Our attack is so strong and we play a high-risk game. It’s important that we keep playing like this and defend from the front to put our opponents under pressure.”
Alexander Nuebel replaced the ill Manuel Neuer in goal for Bayern, but with Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi surprisingly leaving the club’s top scorer Ciro Immobile out, the stand-in keeper was rarely rested.
Although Lazio were facing a near impossible task – no side in European Cup history has progressed from a knockout tie after losing the first leg by three or more goals at home – Bayern named a strong starting side.

A clumsy challenge from Vedat Muriqi on Leon Goretzka gifted Bayern the penalty which Lewandowski converted, his fifth Champions League goal of the season, and the rest of match was a cruise for the Bundesliga leaders.
Lewandowski went within inches of his 40th of the season in the second half before being withdrawn and Choupo-Moting found the net two minutes after coming on, ensuring Bayern made it 19 games unbeaten in the Champions League.
Parolo did give Lazio something to take back to Italy in the 82nd minute when he headed home from Andreas Pereira’s free kick, but Bayern never looked in any danger of making a surprise exit.

“We did well, the boys were in the game then we conceded a goal from a penalty,” Inzaghi said. “We exit with honour after six matches unbeaten in the group.
“We were sorry for the first leg but I think we played a good match here.”



[ad_2]

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Leave a comment , , , , , ,

Stage set for Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s return in AC Milan’s decider with Manchester United | Football News – Times of India

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


PARIS: Zlatan Ibrahimovic looks set to face Manchester United in AC Milan‘s Europa League showdown with the English giants on Thursday as the resurgent ‘Rossoneri’ aim to announce their return to the big stage.
The Swede should be in good spirits after announcing his return to international football after nearly five years away on Tuesday, and appears to be winning the race to face his old club in the second leg of their last-16 clash at the San Siro.
The tie is locked at 1-1, with Milan having the slight advantage thanks to Simon Kjaer’s stoppage-time away goal in the first leg at Old Trafford last week.
Italian media reported on Tuesday that the veteran forward trained with the rest of the Milan squad and should be available for the first time since he left his side’s 2-1 win at Roma with a thigh injury at the end of last month.
Since then he has made headlines on a different kind of stage, co-hosting the Sanremo music festival which is possibly Italy’s biggest pop cultural event.
With 14 goals in 14 league games, the 39-year-old was a major reason behind Milan occupying top spot in Serie A for large periods of this season and his return to Old Trafford for the first leg had been highly anticipated before he picked up his injury.
Coach Stefano Pioli knows that he doesn’t need Ibrahimovic to get past United after a superb display in Manchester last week, and his side could well start the game with their talisman on the bench.
However to ensure passage to the last eight, Milan will need to turn around a dismal recent record at the San Siro which has contributed to their slipping nine points behind Serie A leaders Inter Milan having been top themselves little more than a month ago.
Sunday’s 1-0 defeat by Napoli was their fourth straight match without a win at the San Siro, preceded by draws against Udinese and Red Star Belgrade and a 3-0 derby thumping at the hands of Inter.
Five defeats in 13 league matches in 2021 also has second-placed Milan looking over their shoulders at a series of rivals for a place in the Champions League, a competition in which the seven-time European champions have not played since 2014.
The next few days will also be crucial for United’s chances of silverware this season.
They follow their trip to Italy with an FA Cup quarter-final at Leicester City on Sunday, putting their season at a crossroads with Manchester City 14 points clear of their local rivals at the top of the Premier League.
United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has Marcus Rashford back after the England forward played the full 90 minutes of their 1-0 win over West Ham at the weekend.
Of the remaining ties, only Rangers’ with Slavia Prague looks to be in the balance as they will kick off at Ibrox all square at 1-1 following their draw in the Czech Republic last week.
Steven Gerrard’s side have already been crowned Scottish champions, although they will also have one eye on the Old Firm derby with Celtic at the weekend.
Four-time European champions Ajax and Roma are both virtually assured of passage into the next round as they are 3-0 ahead in their ties with Young Boys and Shakhtar Donetsk.
Also strong favourites to go through are Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Villarreal and Granada thanks to their two-goal leads going into their second-leg matches.
Olympiakos head to the Emirates to face Arsenal, who are fresh from a derby triumph over Tottenham, but face a battle at 3-1 down.

[ad_2]

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Leave a comment , , , , , ,

Manchester City: Manchester City stroll past Borussia Moenchengladbach into Champions League quarterfinals | Football News – Times of India

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


BUDAPEST: Manchester City marched into the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the fourth straight season after a 2-0 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach on Tuesday to complete a 4-0 aggregate victory.
First-half goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan secured a comfortable victory in another impressive display from Pep Guardiola’s side in the home leg, played in the Hungarian capital due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.
De Bruyne blasted City ahead in the 13th minute with an unstoppable left-footed drive into the top corner after being set up by Riyad Mahrez — the team’s 100th goal in all competitions so far this season.
The in-form Gundogan put the tie beyond any doubt five minutes later with a confident finish after Phil Foden had broken from midfield at pace and then found the German with a perfectly weighted pass.
City, who have not conceded a goal since the opening game of the group stage in October, more than 11 hours of football, were in total command at the Puskas Arena and playing at their fluent best.

De Bruyne was a constant threat, Foden a livewire and Bernardo Silva effective, often in the “false nine” role with Guardiola leaving Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling on the bench.
The German side, who began their Champions League campaign with such promise, have hit an awful run of form since coach Marco Rose announced he would leave the club to join Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season and this was their seventh straight loss in all competitions.
City should have made the result even more emphatic after the break with Mahrez missing several chances but the Premier League leaders were able to ease off and make changes with the outcome long determined.

“It was a good performance, in control for the 90 minutes. We moved the ball quick, played really well again. A lot of players with quality who don’t lose the ball. I am delighted to be in the next stage,” said Guardiola.
City, who have won 24 of their last 25 matches on all fronts, have fallen at the last eight in each of their three appearances at that stage under the Spanish coach.
The club have reached the last four only once, in 2015/16 under Chilean Manuel Pellegrini.
The draw for the rest of the competition is held on Friday.



[ad_2]

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Leave a comment , , , , , , ,
1 2