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Planet Football Having starred for Chelsea, expectations were sky-high when Juan Mata completed his £37.1million move to Manchester United in January 2014. During his two-and-a-half years at Stamford Bridge, Mata established himself as the Premier League’s most creative force and won back-to-back Chelsea Player of the Year awards. The Spain international also played an integral […]
Read More… from An ode to Juan Mata at Man Utd, a magical square peg in a round hole
Planet Football After a humiliating 8-2 Champions League exit at the hands of Bayern Munich in August 2020, Barcelona decided the time was right for a full squad cleanout. In the transfer window that followed, Barca shipped out players old and young, simultaneously trying to free up space in the squad and reduce the wage […]
Read More… from Every player Barca sold in 2020 & how they’ve fared
Local derbies are something of a rarity on the international stage, which ensured the meeting between England and Scotland at Euro 96 meant so much more. The 10-year gap between the 1996 meeting and the previous clash between Scotland and their ‘Auld Enemy’ was primarily due to the hooliganism that brought an end to the […]
Read More… from Ally McCoist: I look at Euro 96 with regrets and fondness
As a fresh-legged Fernando Torres scampered away into the cool Camp Nou air in 2012, his compatriots in Barcelona’s star-studded side could only watch on helplessly as he confirmed Chelsea’s place in the Champions League final. Torres had only been introduced by Roberto Di Matteo 11 minutes earlier as the Blues desperately clung onto their […]
Read More… from Goal, assist, Golden Boot: Fernando Torres’ coolest cameo ever
For Lionel Messi, it must feel like he’s climbed out of the frying pan and immediately been engulfed by the flames of the hottest fire. The club season has ended and he has escaped the media circus that surrounds him in Barcelona. For a while at least, the speculation about his future can be put […]
Read More… from Copa America 2021: Messi’s last chance for glory with Argentina?
While the likes of Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood have established themselves in the Manchester United first team, other academy graduates have to forge careers elsewhere. United look to sign exciting prospects for their academy every summer, meaning some talented players decide to leave or are deemed surplus to requirements by the club. We’ve looked at the […]
Read More… from The 12 academy grads Man Utd released in 2020 & how they’ve fared
The 2020-21 Premier League season was a campaign unlike any that came before it. Christmas usually roughly marks the halfway point, but due to the delayed start, only about a third of games had taken place this time. It’s a considerable sample size, with some interesting results. Manchester City did fare better than any other […]
Read More… from The Premier League table since Christmas: Arsenal 3rd…
Liverpool will be glad to have waved goodbye to their disastrously injury-hit 2020-21 campaign, with a disappointing lack of silverware following their Premier League and Champions League triumphs of the last couple of seasons. But there can be some renewed optimism at Anfield after they rallied late in the campaign to secure a third-place finish and […]
Read More… from The 10 Liverpool players loaned out in 2020-21 & how they fared
When former Leicester City prospect Joe Dodoo signed for Turkish side Ankara Keciorengucu last summer, he could not have imagined he would end the season helping Wigan Athletic survive in League One. Dodoo has a penchant for Lancastrian crisis clubs, having played for Blackpool and Bolton before moving to the Latics in January to help […]
Read More… from The story of Joe Dodoo: From Leicester hat-trick to League One
As footballing mismatches go, there aren’t many bigger. Guam, an unincorporated territory of the United States with a population of 170,000, versus China, population 1.4 billion. It is Asian football’s largest member association against its smallest, and when the two met on Sunday in a World Cup Qualifier in Suzhou, the game pitted Guam’s group […]
Read More… from How Brazilians and England-born players could lead China to Qatar 2022