The Champions Battles

The UEFA Champions League is the assembly of winners, where champions trade tackles and use tactics to outmatch each other over two legs of football contest.

This season edition have live up to expectations, with mouthwatering ties and goal galore experienced in almost all games so far.

And the underdog teams are working hard tactically to close the wide gap between them and the big boys, however the difference is just high profile signings cum big stars. 

The quarter-fnals stage kick start with enthusiastic fans ready to cheer their darling team from home due to Covid-19 protocols which has not allowed fans to return into the stadia across Europe. 

Real Madrid vs Liverpool

1st-leg (6th April) & 2nd-leg (14th April)

This is the rematch of 2017/18 final where the Galacticos beat the Reds 3-1 at the Olimpiyskiy stadium in Kiev. 

Both teams have not been convincing in recent games in their local league. It is an opportunity for Liverpool to revenge the loss three seasons ago, but Real Madrid still have the pedigree to qualify.

Manchester City vs Borussia Dortmund

1st-leg (6th April) & 2nd-leg (14th April)

This game will be interesting and it is expected to produce more goals because both teams for scoring many goals in games.

On paper, the Cityzens are the favourite but less fancied teams have knocked them out on big occasions in previous seasons which should give Dortmund the needed confidence going into this tie.

Bayern Munich vs Paris Saint-Germain 

1st-leg (7th April) & 2nd-leg (13th April)

The Bavarians are the defending champion, but they have a difficult opposition in last season losing finalist PSG.

This tie is a 50-50 game, with both sides boasting of superstars that can be the decider of the ties. Football itself is a game of how well you utilise your chances, so the team who best convert its chances will prevail.

Porto vs Chelsea

1st-leg (7th April) & 2nd-leg (13th April)

The Blues have lost just once in their last 15 games in all competitions under Thomas Tuchel. And the last time the Blues qualified for quarter-final was 2014.

The Portuguese champion are the surprised package among the quarter-finalist after beating Juventus on away goal rules in the last round, so they are giant killers and the Blues must be prepared to do the needful.

These are my semi-finalist predictions - Real Madrid, Chelsea, Man City & PSG to qualify for semifinals.

Due to the unpredictability that football is known for,  this predictions might change.

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst 

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 

The Wobbling Reds

Liverpool are presently walking alone in the face of poor results. At the beginning of 2020/21, the Reds were touted by many pundits to retain the title after winning it for the first time since 1992 when the Premier League was renamed and has we have come to know it.

Jurgen Klopp inability to find solution to the loss of form of his famed front-trio - Mohammed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane - and without exception of the injured Diogo Jota has been the major cause of concern to their dwindling results with one of the Merseyside's low point this season being the 7-2 loss to Aston villa.

The key players in defence like Virgil Van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez have all been lost to various form of injuries and their the back-up players have not being able to fill-in well for them due to little or no experience. It has taken Klopp to feature midfielders like the captain Jordan Henderson and Fabinho in that defence line for some games this season. 

Goalkeeper, Alisson Becker who was a reputable safe-hand between the sticks for the past two seasons is presently a shadow of himself due to some errors. Since he made his debut in the league, he has the made most errors leading to goal than any other goalkeeper.

However, since Liverpool defeated Crystal Palace 7-nil on December 19 2020, things has totally fallen apart. In that period, Liverpool have won just 3 games out of 11 games in all competitions, drawn 3 and lost 5.

It seems like the Klopp's high intensity (Ghen Ghen pressing)  style is fading out due to the inconsistency of his lads.

The team is short of enough goals since the beginning of 2021 calendar year and up next against is against fearless Leicester city at the Kingpower stadium.

With Champions League knockout phase around the corner the Reds must put their house in order.

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst 

Premier League 2019/20 Stats

As the new league season is about to commence later on in this month of September and teams are recruiting to gear up for better performance in 2020/21 season, it is imperative to take a look into some astonishing records of last season - the longest of it's kind which was due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Liverpool emerged champions after three decades of the Premier League formation.

Relegated Teams

Watford

Bournemouth

Norwich City

Games played - 380 matches 

Goals scored - 1,034 goals

Goalscorers - 317 different players scored

Top scorers

Jamie Vardy (Leicester) - 23 goals

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) - 22 goals

Danny Ings (Burnley) - 22 goals

Most Assists

Kevin Bruyne (Man City) - 20 assists

(equalling the assist record for a single season which was held by Thierry Henry in 2002/03 season).

Most clean sheets

Ederson Moraes (Man City) - 16 games 

Top Tacklers

Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Man United) -129 tackles

Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester) - 129

Ricardo Pereira (Leicester) - 119

Most interceptions

Diego Rico (Bournemouth) - 84

Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester) - 80

Declan Rice (West Ham) - 78

Longest unbeaten run

Liverpool - 27 games

Longest losing run

Norwich City - 9 games

Longest winless run

Watford - 11 games

Biggest home win 

Man City 8-0 Watford (21 September, 2019)

Biggest away win

Southampton 0-9 Leicester City (25th October, 2019)

Yellow cards issued - 407

Most yellow carded team

Arsenal FC - 77 yellow cards

Most red carded team

Arsenal FC - 5 red cards

Most penalty given away by a player

David Luiz (Arsenal) - 5 penalties

Corners - 1206 corners

Offside calls - 400 offsides.

Six different Managers were sacked

Promoted Teams

Leeds United

West Bromwich Albion

Fulham

The new EPL season will start on September 12, 2020.

Which team will emerge as champion in the 2020/21 season?

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst 

Never Walk Alone: Liverpool FC

Liverpool FC is based in Merseyside, the Reds was founded in 1892, and joined the football league in 1894.

The club's record appearance maker is Ian Callaghan (857 appearances between 1958 to 1978 ) while Ian Rush is the club's all time record goalscorer with 346 goals. 

Liverpool was one of the best teams in Europe with many trophies to prove it, but from 2006 - 2011 and between 2012/13 to 2017/18 seasons the club had a trophy drought. 

They have won a total of seventy(70) trophies namely;

6 European Cup (UEFA Champions League) - 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005 and 2019 more than any other English club.

3 UEFA Cup - 1973, 1976 and 2001.

4 UEFA Super Cup - 1977, 2001, 2005 and 2019.

1 FIFA Club World Cup (2019).

On the home front, they won their first league title in 1900/01, and their 19th league title in 2019/20.

7 FA Cup title - 1965, 1974, 1986, 1989, 1992, 2001 and 2006.

A record 8 League Cup - 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1995, 2001, 2003 and 2012

15 FA Community Shields

Liverpool Stats this season

With seven games remaining, Liverpool win their first championship since 1990 - it is the earliest any side has ever won the Premier League title. 

Jurgen Klopp's men surpassed the achievements of Man United in 2000/01 and Man City's centurion of 2017/18, both of those teams clinched the league with five games left.

Their lead of 23 points at the top of the table is the largest held by a champion in English top-flight history.

They need 15 points from their last seven games to set a new record points total for a top-flight campaign, and can also become the first team to win every single home game in a single season.

They defeated each and every team in a top-flight league season, first time a champion will do so.

Liverpool have 16 clean sheets so far, scored 70 goals and conceded 21 goals (49 goal difference), and 86 points.

They have won all their home matches at Anfield - 16 wins and just one loss all season in the league.

Congrats to the Jurgen Klopp led side for scaling all hurdles to break the jinx. (kudos)

Can Liverpool defend the title next season is something to ponder on?

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst

2019/20 EPL Statistics as it stands

2019/2020 season is the 28th season of the Premier League since the name change in 1992 that earmarked a new era of the way football is being done as a business entity.

Just before the coronavirus pandemic put a halt to the global way of living and sporting activities in general, Liverpool were on course to win their first ever title in 30years. And as we countdown to project restart we want to take a look at the statistics of the 2019/20 season so far...

Games played - 288 games

Total number of goals scored - 784 goals

Highest goalscorer

Jamie Vardy (Leicester City) - 19 goals

Most Assists

Kevin De Bruyne (Man City) - 16 assists

Biggest Home win

Man City 8-0 Watford (21 September, 2019).

Biggest Away win

Southampton 0-9 Leicester city (25 October, 2019).

Highest scoring game

Southampton 0-9 Leicester city (25 October, 2019).

Longest winning run -18 games (Liverpool).

Longest unbeaten run - 27 games (Liverpool).

Longest winless run - 11 games (Watford).

Longest losing run - 5 games (Bournemouth)

Highest attendance - 73,737

Man Utd 1-1 Liverpool

Lowest attendance - 10,020

Bournemouth 0-1 Burnley

Total aggregate attendance - 13,322,096.

Most clean sheets

Burnley goalkeeper Nick Pope with 11.

Player with most yellow cards 

Jorginho of Chelsea with 10 cards

Player who received most red card 

Watford's Christian Kabasele with 2 cards

Most yellow carded team - 2

Arsenal and Tottenham  with 63 apiece.

Most red carded team - 8

Arsenal, Bournemouth, Everton, Man City, Newcastle, Southampton, Tottenham, Watford - 

with 3 red cards apiece.

7 managers have been sacked.

8 players have scored hat-trick.

92 more matches are left to be play to round up this season as the EPL is scheduled to resume on June 17th 2020.

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 Match that broke the Myth

A Brazilian born Roberto Firmino 99th minute goal broke the jinx for the reds at the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup final in Doha.

For over three decades, South American clubs have been a torn in Liverpool FC flesh when it come to tournament such as this.

In the Intercontinental Cup final that was played in December 1981, Zico led Flamengo side defeated the Liverpool team that had Graeme Souness, Kenny Dalglish and co, and was managed by Bob Paisley.

Zico was the player with the magic in that team as the game was practically sealed after the Brazilian side raced to a 3-nil upfront within 40 minutes of the first-half.

The reason for flamengo's superiority in the game was their quality, as Nunez scored a brace and Adilio's goal put a gloss on the scoreline. 

Liverpool had refused to participate in the Intercontinental Cup after winning the European titles in 1977 & 1978, worried about the potential brutality on the part of the South Americans.

In 1984 an Argentinian side, Independiente beat Liverpool by a lone goal to win the Intercontinental cup. And in 2005, Sao Paulo defeated the merseyside giant in the newly found FIFA Club World Cup.

Now in 2019, the current European club champion got a win that has so far eluded them for decades. After going through 90 minutes of regular football without a goal on either side against the Copa Libertadores champion Flamengo, their Brazilian import scored in the first-half of extra time to claim the title for them. 

The title win is their third trophy in six months and made them the first English club to hold the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup at the same time.

On  the European scene, Liverpool have won 6 UEFA Champions League titles (1977 ,1978, 1981, 1984, 2005, 2019); with only Real Madrid and AC Milan having won more.

Congratulations to the latest World Champion in club football.

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst

The Championship of the Champions

In 2005, the Intercontinental Cup was merged with the FIFA Club World Championship, and it was renamed as FIFA Club World Cup in 2006.

This competition was founded in the year 2000 (19 years ago). 7 teams usually participate in the tournament annually from 6 continents namely - Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Europe and the Oceania region.

Any team that wins her confederation championship is eligible to compete in the FIFA club world cup.

Value of the Competition

The winner of the club world cup receives the trophy, a FIFA world Champions certificate, and 5 million euros while the runner-up receives 4 million euros.

Stats of Competition

Auckland City FC has played the most games - 15 in 9 different editions.

Mohamed Aboutrika, Hossam Ashour and Wael Gomaa (all played for Al-Ahly of Egypt) have the most appearances - 11 games apiece

All-time Top scorer - Cristiano Ronaldo (7 goals)

Most goals scored - 32 goals by Real Madrid

Most Decorated player

Toni kroos has won the the tournament 5 times - 1 title with Bayern Munich (2013) and 4 titles with Real Madrid (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018).

Most Successful club

Real Madrid  with 4 titles and 7 club world championship in total (1960, 1998, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2017 & 2018).

Real Madrid won the 2018 edition, to become the first team ever to win it three years in a row and 4 times in the competition history.

The final of this year FIFA club world cup will involve UEFA Champions League Liverpool and Copa Libertadores champion Flamengo .

Which team will win this 2019 edition?

Fabiyi Ridwan

Sports Writer and Analyst