Weekend FOOTBALL Preview.
Did you missed the weekend mouthwatering matches across Europe best leagues or Sadio Mané's led Senegal claiming AFCON glory to match their continental status?
Do not be despaired, Patrick Ekong will tell you about Senegal's first ever AFCON title to their name, PSG - Paris Saint-Germain scoring for fun, and Xavi Hannadez delivering his best FC Barcelona win against the reigning champions.
Oh! Least I forget, Cristiano Ronaldo has surpassed 4 million followers on Instagram.
SADIO MANNE STRUCK TO CLAIM SENEGAL FIRST AFCON GLORY.
Like a lightening, Sadio Manne rose to the occasion to struck a decisive penalty to hand Senegal their first ever continental silverware and condemned Mo Salah's led Egypt to their third defeat in the continental showpiece finals.
Mane, the player of the tournament who had his a fourth-minute penalty saved by Egypt's goalkeeper, Gabaski, netted Senegal's final penalty of the shootout after Edouard Mendy had saved Mohanad Lasheen's effort, with Bouna Sarr and Mohamed Abdelmonem also failing to convert for each side.
Senegal head into the match as the only African country among the top twenty Men's team on FIFA WORLD RANKING who has not lifted the Africa Nations Cup before after recently failing in the tournament, 1-0 to Algeria in the 2019 showpiece.
While Senegal was the standout team during the knockout stages following a turgid group-stage performance, it was Man of the Match, Gabaski whose series of fine stops kept The Pharaohs of Egypt in the game to allow for extra time.
The Egyptians endured a turbulent outing in 2021 AFCON, having only win all of their four knockout game through penalty shootout.
The result means Sadio Manne stand a better chance of winning the continent player of the year for the second time when the event will be held later this year.
XAVI DELIVER AS ATLECTICO MADRID CONCEDED FOUR.
Elsewhere in the Spanish major city of Barcelona, Xavi delivered a master class performance in his first big win in the Barcelona dockout, thanks to a thrilling 4-2 win over the reigning champions, Atlectico Madrid at the Camp Nou.
Yannick Carasco eight minutes low strike into bottom right corner of Marc Andre Ter Stegen post, finishing off Luis Suarez pass, gave the Atlectico Madrid the lead.
Barcelona responded almost immediately with a fine cross by their new recruit, Dani Alves, which met Jordi Alba at the far post allowing the left-back to volley home a goal certain to be a contender for goal of the season.
21 minutes later, Gavi turned a beneficiary as Adama Taore fine foot work set up the youngster, following Atlectico Madrid failure to deal with Toare's dangerous cross, allowing the youngster to head home past goalkeeper, Jan Oblak.
The visiting team hope of coming back into the game was dealt a hard blow as Barcelona raced into a 3-1 lead at half time thanks to Ronald Araujo who reacted quickest to tap in from close range after Ferran Torres had headed against the bar from Alves' free-kick.
The win ended Barcelona in the Champions League spot since November last year when the club legend, Xavi return as a coach.
For Atletico,this was a sixth defeat in the league this season and another uncharacteristic defensive display, with Diego Simeone admitting after the game: "We've been defending extraordinarily well for 10 years and this year we aren't doing what we usually do."
MESSI DAZZLES, MBAPA THRILLS AS PSG ROUT LILLE.
With much talks of incompetency surrounding Mauricio Pochittino's career at Paris, it all looks good as Paris Saint-Germain shakes off an humiliating defeat to Nice in the Coupe de France last Monday to demolished Lille, the reigning Ligue 1 champion - 5-1 away in the north of France on Sunday night.
Few days before their trip to Real Madrid in the Champions League round of 16, Lille posted a tough test for the Parisiens club as they needed to go into the Madrid game on a positive note.
Lionel Messi was spectacular, scoring one and setting up another, so was the electrifying Kylian Mbapa who caused the Lille defence all sort of problems, getting on the scoresheet himself.
What Pochittino will be most pleased about the sunday game is his team pressing, controlling the game right from the blow of the whistle till the end.
Real Madrid represents another tough opponent in the Champions League and if Pochittino's men are to come out on top, sustaining the tempo of the Lille's clash will give them a better chance of progression.
FA CUP FOR THE GOOD.
Manchester United may have crashed out of the FA Cup in the hands of Middlesbrough, thanks to the magic of the game, English Football Cup competition offered so much to digest over the weekend.
Let's flip through!
Two close game saw two Premier league teams won in the extra-time (Chelsea v Plymouth Argyle and West Ham) and elsewhere, Manchester City in their Typical City, trounced Fulham 4-1, Everton and Tottenham all joining the Citizens to advance into the next round of the tie.
While Thomas Tuchel will be happy his team grinded a win out of the stubborn fourth division Plymouth, his team's lack of niche to kill games present Tuchel tough work to do if they are to maintain the Champions League spot where the sit comfortably on third place in the Premier League table.
The weekend presented a lot to talk about but this are my weekend picks. I hope you enjoy reading this.
Comments
Post a Comment