The Pinnacle of Football

The UEFA Champions League is the mother of all football competitions in Europe where elite teams across the leagues showcase their football playing artistry in grand style to outmuscle themselves. 

The 2020/21 knock-out stage is set to resume after the boys have been separated from the men in the group phase games which came to conclusion in December 2020.

Round of 16 Matches

RB Leipzig vs Liverpool

(Feb 16 & March 10)

This tie will be interesting as the German side are not a pushover with their last match against Man United in the group phase a testament to how good they are, but the Reds are the favorite to prevail.

Barcelona vs Paris Saint-Germain

(Feb 16 & March 10)

This mouthwatering tie should be a revenged mission for the Billionaires club in Paris due to their loss against the Blaugrana at the quarter-final stage of 2016/17 season, but overall the Catalans have a better head to head records.

FC Porto vs Juventus 

(Feb 17 & March 9)

The bookies are tipping the Bianconeri to qualify easily because the 2004 champion Porto are not a match for the Old Lady of Turin, but football is like a biscuit it can crack anywhere.

Sevilla vs Borussia Dortmund 

(Feb 17 & March 9)

This tie is a game of 50-50 with both side having an equal chance of qualifying to the next round. But if Erling Haaland is in top form, Dortmund have a better chance. However in their last two previous meeting, Sevilla has a win and a draw.

Lazio vs Bayern Munich

(Feb 23 & March 17)

The defending champions are the favourite but Lazio will give them a run for their money.

The last time Lazio qualified for round of 16 was in the 1999/2000 season. The Bavarian having just completed a sextuplet with their Club World Cup trophy will leave nothing to chance over the two legs.

Atletico Madrid vs Chelsea

(Feb 23 & March 17)

Diego Simeone's Atletico side are famed for their resolute defence and stubborn attitide in games but the Blues are progressing impressively under new manager Tuchel and therfore will make this encounter a thrilling one. During the group stage, the Blues went 355 minutes without conceding a goal.

Both side are tie in head-to-head record with two wins and three draws apiece so the pendulum can swings to either side.

Borussia Monchengladbach vs Manchester City

(Feb 24 & March 16).

Goals come easily for both side because they play without fear and their brand of football is captivating. The Cityzens are poise to go through if they can convert their chances and also the record is on their side.

Atalanta vs Real Madrid 

(Feb 24 & March 16)

The brash newcomer are the dark horse in this tie because they have scored the most goals in two consecutive season in Serie A. However the experience of Real Madrid's manager Zinedine Zidane and his boys should count in their favour and be able to get them through to the next round. 

Let's keep our fingers cross to see the teams that will get to the semis and final of this season champions league showpiece.

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst 

Lionel Messi confirms Barcelona stay for next season.

Lionel Messi has confirmed that he will stay at FC Barcelona for another year, ten days after handling in a transfer request to the team he has played for in his entire professional career.

The 33-year-old who is arguably the best player to have ever grace a football pitch has spent 20 years at the Catalan club since joining as a 13year-old from his homeland Argentina.

He had handed over a transfer request in late August that he intended to leave for free but Barça had however refused to recognise the break in his contract claiming the moment for using it had passed in June, and so a stalemate began in which La Pulga as he is fondly called tried to find a way out.

However, Messi has accepted he must stay at Camp Nou to avoid dragging his beloved club to court, but not until after a desperately sad couple of weeks.

Speaking to Goal this afternoon, Messi said “When I communicated my wish to leave to my wife and children, it was a brutal drama,”

“The whole family began crying, my children did not want to leave Barcelona, nor did they want to change schools."

“But I looked further afield and I want to compete at the highest level, win titles, compete in the Champions League. You can win or lose in it, because it is very difficult, but you have to compete.

“At least compete for it and let us not fall apart in Rome, Liverpool, Lisbon. All that led me to think about that decision that I wanted to carry out.”

“I thought and was sure that I was free to leave, the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I stayed or not,” he said.

“Now they cling to the fact that I did not say it before June 10, when it turns out that on June 10 we were competing for La Liga in the middle of this awful coronavirus and this disease altered all the season.

“And this is the reason why I am going to continue in the club. Now I am going to continue in the club because the president told me that the only way to leave was to pay the €700 million (£624m/$823m) clause, and that this is impossible.”

Taking Barcelona to court was another option being discussed in the media, on which Messi also had something to say,

“There was another way and it was to go to trial, I would never go to court against Barca because it is the club that I love, which gave me everything since I arrived.

“It is the club of my life, I have made my life here.

“Barca gave me everything and I gave it everything. I know that it never crossed my mind to take Barca to court.”

He also had something to say about the heartbreaking conversation he had with his son, Thiago and wife Antonella. 

“Mateo is still little and he doesn't realise what it means to go somewhere else and make your life a few years elsewhere,” he said.

“Thiago, he is older. He heard something on TV and found out something and asked.

“I didn't want him to know anything about being forced to leave, to have to live in a new school, or make new friends.

“He cried to me and said ‘let's not go’. I repeat that it was hard, really.

“It was understandable. It happened to me. It is very difficult to make a decision.

“I love Barcelona and I'm not going to find a better place than here anywhere. Still, I have the right to decide. I was going to look for new goals and new challenges. And tomorrow I could go back, because here in Barcelona I have everything.

My son, my family, they grew up here and are from here. There was nothing wrong with wanting to leave. I needed it, the club needed it and it was good for everyone.

“My wife, with all the pain of her soul, supported and accompanied me.”

The highest goalscorer and undoubtedly the greatest in the history of the club will now have to team up with Ronald Koeman led side in the coming days as the new season is set to begin. 

The Top 5 Leagues in Europe

There are many professional football leagues in Europe, but  according to the UEFA's league rankings and co-efficient, here are the top 5 leagues on the continent. 

Spanish La Liga

The Spanish La Liga which was established in 1929 is one of the most popular professional football league in the world.

In accordance with the UEFA's League co- efficient, La liga has been ranked as the top league in Europe over the last 5 years.

Till date, 62 teams have competed in the La liga and only 9 teams have emerged as champions.

Barcelona won the inaugural season.

The most successful team in La Liga history is  Real madrid with an overall record of 33 titles while Barcelona have 25 titles.

Athletic Bilbao, Real Madrid and Barcelona are the only teams that have never been relegated since the inception of the league in 1929 till date.

Since 2009, Barcelona have won the Spanish La Liga title 7 times (2009 - 2011, 2012/13, 2014- 2016 and 2017 - 2019) while Real Madrid has won it twice ( 2013/14 and 2016/17).

Will Barcelona continues their dominance this season ?

English Premier League (EPL)

The Football League was established in 1888,  and at the end of the 1888/89 season Preston North End were the first club to be crowned Champion after completing their fixtures unbeaten.

In 1992, the First division change its nomenclature to be called the FA Premier league.

The first 5 champions in the Premier League era were Arsenal, Blackburn Rovers , Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United who

had all won the title at least once prior to 1992.

Leicester City were crowned champions for the first time in 2016, becoming the first team to win the Premier League without having previously won the First division title.

Man United have won 20 titles - the most of any club, Liverpool are second with 18 while Arsenal are third with13 titles - all of which came after 1930.

In the last one decade, Man City have won 4 League titles (2011/12, 2013/14, 2017 to 2019) while Chelsea has won it thrice (2009/10, 2014/15 and 2016/17). Man United won in 2012/13 and Leicester City won in 2015/16.

Liverpool have never won the EPL title in this era.

Will Liverpool break the jinx this season?

Italian Serie A

The Serie A title has been contested since 1898 in varying forms of competition. Juventus are the current champions, and have won a record 35 titles.

About 14 different teams have won the Serie A title since the inaugural season.

The Serie A championship title is referred to as the Scudetto(small shield), because the winning team will wear a small coat of arms with the Italian flag on their jersey in the following season.

Juventus have won 8 consecutive scudetti from 2011 to 2019.

Will any Serie A team hijack the title from Juventus this season?

German Bundesliga

The ancient German football league begins in 1903 as VfB Leipzig emerge champion.

The formation of the Bundesliga in 1963, marked a significant change to the German football championship, as FC Koln captured the first ever Bundesliga title in the league's inaugural 1963/64 season. So far, 13 different teams have won the Bundesliga titles.

Since the inaugural win of FC Koln, the competition has been dominated by Bayern Munich which has taken the championship 29 times out of the 57 Bundesliga seasons played to 2019/20 season.

In the last one decade, Bayern have won the German league 8 times and 7 consecutive bundesliga titles from 2012/13 till date,

Which team will end Bayern dominance in Germany?

French Ligue 1

The Union Design Societes Francaises de Sports Athletiques (USfSA) was founded in 1893/94, the first champion of  french football was Standard Athletic club, who defeated the White Rovers 2 nil in Courbevoie on 6th of may 1894.

Olympique Lyon established themselves as a top club by winning a record- breaking streak of seven successive league titles from 2002 to 2008/09 season.

Olympic Marseille and Saint- Etienne have the most championship wins with 10 Ligue 1 titles each while Paris Saint-Germain have won 8.

In the last one decade PSG have won the league 6 times.

No doubt that PSG is the best team currently in the French league with the Neymars and Mbappes of this world.

Do you think PSG will match the records of Marseille and Saint Etienne soon ? 

Fabiyi Ridwan 

Sports Writer and Analyst

The Most expensive football transfers of the last decade

The evolution of football from just a sport to a commercial juggernaut has been fascinating and interesting to fans.

Once upon a time, when footballers played the game of soccer, they usually do have a regular day job.

Presently however, footballers are among the richest sportsperson in the world, and a look at how the transfer fees have escalated over the years is amazing.

Even so, four of the ten most expensive signings in the last one decade involved the purchase or sales of English Premier League players.

Spanish La liga clubs have spent the most on top talents, signing six of the top 10 most expensive players of the last decade.

In 2017/18 season, the league secured a record revenue of 4.48 billion pounds.

Here are the shortlist of Players that made it into this list;

10. Cristiano Ronaldo 

The superstar joined Real madrid from Manchester United for the then world-record fee of 80 million pounds in July 2009.

He became a legend at the Bernabeu with over 450 goals scored, alongside winning numerous titles and awards in his glittering career.

In July 2018, he joined Juventus from Real madrid for a fee of 88.3 million pounds at the age of 33 years.

So far in Turin, he has scored 46 goals in 70 games till date and has won a scuddetto title to add to his many laurels.

9. Paul Pogba 

He returned to his boyhood club, after leaving as a free agent in his teenage years.

Manchester United had to coughed out 89.3 million pounds to Juventus in August 2016 to signed Pogba.

The fee paid for him remains the highest fee paid by an English club for a player.

He has 168 appearances with 31 goals so far, and he has won the league cup and the Europa league with the red side of Manchester. 

8. Eden Hazard 

The Belgian playmaker cost more than double of what was paid for the 10th priciest footballer signed between year 2000 and 2009 - Ronaldo Nazario cost 40.5 million pounds then.

Despite having just a year left on his contract, Real Madrid paid a fee of 90 million pounds to Chelsea in 2019 to obtain the service of Hazard.

So far, he has played 21 games with 2 goals and 

2 assists to show for it.

7. Gareth Bale

The Welshman's transfer to the galaticos from Tottenham cost a fee of 90.9 million pounds back in 2014.

In Real Madrid, he has made 245 appearances scoring 104 goals and contributing 67 assists. A league title and 4 champions league titles are the laurels he has won so far with the team.

6. Ousmane Dembele 

He was signed from Borussia Dortmund to replace Neymar in Barcelona for a record fee of 105 million pounds, plus a reported 40 million pounds add- ons on August 25, 2017.

With his buy-out clause set at 400 million pounds.

Despite not shining the light as expected yet, the former Rennes forward has played 81 games for the catalonia side, scoring 20 goals and making 14 assists.

5. Antoine Griezmann 

The 208 World  Cup winner was signed by Barcelona on a fee of 107.6 million pounds from Atletico Madrid in July 2019.

Since joining in the summer, the French jewel has made 26 appearances with 10 goals and 4 assists as his contribution.

4. Joao Felix 

Atletico Madrid 's massive outlay of 126 million pounds in July 2019 for Benfica wizkid Felix is the second most expensive fee paid for a teenager after Mbappe in history.

He is regarded as one of the best talents in world football at the moment but has so far played 13 games and scored just 3 goals.

3. Philippe Coutinho 

The Brazilian playmaker moved from Liverpool to Barcelona for 130.5 million pounds in January 2018.

He played 54 games and scored only 11 goals for the catalans before joining Bayern Munich on a loan deal for 2 years in the summer of 2019.

2. Kylian Mbappe 

He is the most expensive teenager ever after joining Paris Saint-Germain on a loan deal from rival club Monaco in 2017. PSG later paid 165 million pounds to complete the deal.

So far with the Paris based club, the teenage World Cup star has played 114 games and has scored 82 goals.

1. Neymar Jr 

At the moment, he is the most expensive player ever at 199.5 million pounds.

His 2017 transfer from Barcelona to Paris  Saint-Germain cost 236% of Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid fee.

So far, he has been a decent player for the French giants, scoring 55 goals in 63 games.

His career in France though has been marred by controversies and injuries, which might be interpreted by some in certain quarters as being a wrong signing by PSG.

Which players will break the transfer record in the coming years?

Let's have your comments below.

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst

The Greatest Superstars of all-time

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are arguably the best footballers of this century.

They have scored a combined 704 league goals during the 2010s - the exact same number Arsenal FC scored in the English Premier League this past decade.

They've shattered countless records in the footballing scenery for years, a combined total of 11 Ballon D'or awards between them isn't enough to sum it all up.

Julen Lopetegui sacked by Real Madrid

Real Madrid have sacked Julen Lopetegui as manager of the club after four and a half months in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu.
It is the second time Lopetegui has been sacked this year having been dismissed by Spain two days before the World Cup.

The Spaniard succeeded Zinedine Zidane in June but the crushing 5-1 El-Clasico defeat by Barcelona on Sunday - their fifth loss in six games - put the final nail on the coffin.

They have amassed a meagre 14 out of a possible 30 points in the league this season and have taken only one from their past five matches - their worst run since they went pointless in the final five games of 2008-09 season under Juande Ramos.

They are currently six points above the relegation places in La Liga and seven behind leaders Barcelona.
The three-times back-to-back Champions League winners are ninth on the La Liga table, and enduring their worst start to a league season since 2001-02.

The 52-year-old is provisionally replaced by former Argentina and Real's player, Santiago Solari who is the coach of the Castilla.

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT | 2018-10-29

The Real Madrid C.F. board of directors, which met today, 29 October 2018, has made the decision to terminate Julen Lopetegui's contract as the club's coach.

This decision, which was taken with the utmost responsibility, seeks to bring about a turnaround in the first-team's fortunes at a time when all of this season's targets are still achievable.
 
The board considers there to be a large disparity between the quality within the Real Madrid squad, which boasts eight nominees for the next Ballon d'Or award - an unprecedented number in the club's history - and the team's results to date.
 
The club places on record its thanks to Julen Lopetegui and all of his coaching staff for their efforts and work and wishes them all the best in their future careers.
 
Santiago Solari will take temporary charge of the team, assuming his role as first-team coach from tomorrow (today) , Tuesday.

PSG announced the capture of Neymar

A new world record fee has been set by PSG as they gave a thrilling announcement on the signing of one of the best player on earth by the name Neymar da Silva Santos Junior. One of the trio of the deadly MSN attack has left Barcelona for a reported €222m to move to Paris and will be wearing the No.10 jersey.

Paris Saint-Germain is very happy to announce the arrival of Neymar Jr to the team. On Thursday the Brazilian striker signed a five-year contract in the presence of the Club’s representatives. Neymar Jr is now committed to the French capital’s club until June 30 2022.

Arriving from FC Barcelona, the former Santos player is widely considered to be an icon in world football – one of the top three players on the planet who has played at the very highest level for the past five years

At 25 years old, he has already been selected for the Brazilian national team 77 times, scoring 52 goals. As captain of the national team, Neymar da Silva Santos Junior has emerged as the leader of a team aiming to win its sixth World Cup in 2018. Wearing the Brazil jersey, Neymar Jr has already carried his country to its first Olympic title at the Rio Games in 2016.

Enjoying immense popularity across the world, Neymar Jr, admired by all for his extraordinary technique and decisive play, has already achieved 15 titles at club level. His arrival into the Paris Saint-Germain family emphasizes more than ever the club’s aims to rise to the top of world football.

"I am extremely happy to join Paris Saint-Germain, said Neymar Jr after signing his contract. Since I arrived in Europe, the club has always been one of the most competitive and most ambitious. And the biggest challenge, what most motivated me to join my new teammates is to help the club to conquer the titles that their fans want. Paris Saint-Germain’s ambition attracted me to the club, along with the passion and the energy this brings. I played 4 seasons in Europe and I feel ready to take the challenge. From today, I will do everything I can to help my new teamates, to open up new horizons for my club and to bring happiness to its millions of supporters around the world."