Atletico Madrid's Engine Room

Jan Oblak is a Slovenian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Spanish club Atletico Madrid and the Slovenia national team. He was born on 7th January 1993 (age 27 years) in Škofja Loka, Slovenia.

He is considered by several pundits to be one of the best goalkeepers in the world. His athleticsm, quick reflexes, outstanding positioning, agility, as well as his reading of the game, composure, shot-stopping abilities and ability to instill a sense of confidence in his team's back-line as garnered him a lot of praises even from opposition fans and managers.

Youth Career

Locan (1998 - 2003)

Olimpija (2003 - 2004)

Olimpija Ljubljana (2005 - 2009).

He signed for Portuguese club Benfica at the age of 17, and was part of the team that won the domestic treble in the 2013/14 season but he made only 16 appearances for the team because he had loan spells at Beira-Mar, Olhanense, Uniao de Leiria and Rio Ave all between 2010 to 2013 while being a player of Benfica.

He joined Atletico Madrid for a fee of 16 million euros in 2014 becoming La liga's most expensive goalkeeper at the time, and he is estimated to worth about 90 million euros presently.

In 2015/16 season he conceded an all time record low of 18 goals in 38 league games.

He has over 250 appearances in all competitions for the Rojiblancos and became the fastest goalkeeper to achieve 100 clean sheets - first non-Spanish goalkeeper to do so - in La Liga history in his 182nd Liga game in June, breaking an almost 50-year old record of Miguel Reina who did the same in 222 league appearances.

National team

He represented Slovenia at various age grade tournaments and made his debut for Slovenia national team in 2012 with 28 appearances till date.

Honours

Primeira Liga (2013/14)

Taca da Liga  (2013/14)

Taca de Portugal (2013/14)

UEFA Europa League runner-up  (2013/14)

Supercopa de Espana (2014)

UEFA Champions League runner-up (2015/16)

UEFA Europa League title (2017/18)

2018 UEFA Super Cup title.

Individual Honours

Primeira Liga Best Goalkeeper award (2013/14)

La Liga Zamora trophy (2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19).

La Liga Best Goalkeeper award (2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19).

UEFA Champions League squad of the season (2015/16 and 2016/17).

La Liga Team of the season (2015/16 and 2016/17).

Slovenian Footballer of the year (2015, 2016,  2017 and 2018).

He was also nominated for the 2017 and 2018 Ballon d'Or awards.

Will Oblak eventually leave Atletico Madrid or stay with the team is a question that resonates with everyone during any transfer window.

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst

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 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.

SportBetting: How to win football bets across the four major leagues

Tobi Adesina

Unlike casino & virtual bets; football or soccer (like the Americans call it) comes with some level of certainty. To a higher degree, risk could be measured via antecedents leading up to the game.

98% of my bet money goes into football. Within a calendar year; i spend a little above 500ground in staking bets. For someone who stakes that high on sportbetting, it is important you monitor 'your teams' week in week out so as to keep tabs on their form and performance.
Note: "Your teams" are those clubsides whose present form is consistently yielding profit.

For that reason alone, i select games ONLY from the four major leagues (EPL, LaLIGA, SERIE A, Bundesliga). Every sunday night, i make sure to get replays, highlights & stats of 'my teams' regardless of the outcome.

STEPS...
1. Bet early.
2. Don't select games through your bookmakers platform.
3. Have numerous bet account with various Bet companies.

Bet early: Always bet 3-4days before the game KO. Odds drop as KO time approaches. This act by bookmakers lure Punters into ACCUMULATING several games in a single ticket.
Remember, "the longer your ticket -the farther your pay-day".

Don't select games through your bookmaker's platform: This is where psychology come to play in betting. The Bet companies will always try to mess with your thinking by projecting "funny" cheap odds. If you fall prey, all your selection will be based on odds and third-party opinion. Instead, you select games from livescore portals and other fixture portal you have. Afterwards, login to your preferred Bet portal/Bet shop and play the games regardless of the odds.

Have numerous bet account with various Bet companies: With this, you can easily compare and contrast which bet company is offering you the highest return for the exact same event.

Bet Advice: Don't accumulate more than 2event, each of 2odds[max]. Total shouldn't be more than 4-5 odds combined. Revise your bet slip if you have more than.