Tag Futebol

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Injury News series, which considers the impact of the latest updates on players’ fitness.

Jurgen Klopp has said that Fabinho’s injury is “massive”.

What’s the story?

The Brazil international was in the starting line-up against Napoli in the Champions League on Wednesday, but he only lasted 19 minutes before being taken off due to an ankle injury. Georginio Wijnaldum came on to replace him.

Speaking after the match, Klopp was clearly worried about the knock, saying: “The biggest thing is the Fabinho injury, that’s massive.

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“It’s early and we all hope it’s not too serious but it’s pretty painful and in an area you don’t want to have pain, around the ankle.”

Henderson to step into the breach

Fabinho has been in fantastic form so far this campaign. In September, Gary Neville said he was the best defensive midfielder in the world (Sky Sports via Metro), and he has started all but one Premier League game this term.

His absence, should it be a long one, would be a huge blow to the Reds.

The question is, who will step into the breach? Well, it could actually present the perfect opportunity to play Jordan Henderson in a position that suits him far more.

He may be a Champions League-winning captain, but he is far from immune to criticism amongst the club’s fanbase, with Klopp evening expressing his bewilderment at the extent of Henderson’s criticism when addressing the issue back in 2018, per Daily Mirror.

Perhaps that is because he has been predominantly used in a central midfield role when his attributes appear to be better suited to a more defensive-minded position.

Check out footballers’ biggest fashion disasters in the video below…

Only Fabinho has more tackles per match than Henderson in the Reds’ team in the Premier League, whilst it is the same in regards to interceptions as well.

The England international is certainly not a regular goalscorer in a red shirt – he has just 26 goals in 341 appearances for the Merseyside outfit – and he has just 46 assists for the club as well. Yet his voice and influence is something that Liverpool cannot do without, which means he is needed on the pitch.

With Fabinho potentially out of the picture for a while, Henderson could have the chance to show his boss where he is at his best.

Not only that, it could have allow him to show his true worth to those fans who have doubted him.

In other news, Liverpool fans are shocked by one man’s omission from James Pearce’s Team of the Decade.

With Liverpool confirming this week that they will use two separate squads for their Carabao Cup game at Aston Villa on December 17th and Club World Cup semi-final in Qatar a day later, @TrollFootball on Twitter came up with a mock Reds team for the game at Villa Park.

They substituted in people and places with names similar to those in Liverpool’s first team squad, suggesting that American actress Alison Becker would take the place of Reds goalkeeper Alisson Becker.

She took the joke with good humour, responding with a tweet saying “Haha this is awesome” [via @thealisonbecker]

It is not the first time that she has poked fun at the similarity of her name to that of the Liverpool and Brazil goalkeeper. She previously tweeted a photo of her head on Alisson’s body after he was named Champions League Goalkeeper of the Season for 2018/19, as well as joking that she would play in goal against Newcastle in September while Alisson was out injured with a calf problem.

These Liverpool fans on Twitter reacted with a similar degree of humour to her latest Reds-related tweet:

What did you make of Becker’s tweet about Liverpool? Comment below with your views!

أعلنت لجنة الحكام باتحاد الكرة عن حكم مباراة الزمالك وبيراميدز غدًا الأحد في بطولة الدوري المصري الممتاز.

وتستكمل غدًا مباريات الجولة التاسعة عشر من عمر البطولة المحلية.

طالع أيضًا | رغم الإصابات.. الزمالك يواجه بيراميدز بآمال الحفاظ على صدارة الدوري

مباراة الزمالك وبيراميدز، يُديرها الحكم جهاد جريشة، ويعاونه عمر فتحي وشهاب راشد، وسامح حسين حكمًا رابعًا، ومحمد الصباحي حكمًا لتقنية الفار، ومحمود أبو الرجال حكمًا رابعًا.

بينما يدير مباراة إنبي ومصر المقاصة أحمد جمال، ويعاونه محمد السيد وصالح محمد عفيفي، وأحمد صلاح عبد الفتاح حكمًا رابعًا، وخالد الغندور حكمًا للفار ويعاونه مبروك نبيل.

ويخوض الزمالك مباراته وهو محتلًا صدارة ترتيب بطولة الدوري برصيد 40 نقطة، فيما يأتي بيراميدز ثالثًا برصيد 30 نقطة.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Off the Bench series, which places in-game managerial decisions and squad selections under FFC’s microscope.

Barcelona fell to a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Granada at the weekend and Ernesto Valverde’s decision to bench Arthur Melo might have been his biggest blunder of the game.

On the chalkboard

Barcelona opted to go for a rather mixed lineup for the encounter. The main area of experimentation, indeed, was the middle of the park.

Watch Spanish Football Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

The trio of Sergio Busquets, Frenkie de Jong and Arthur Melo, that started the game against Borussia Dortmund, was completely dismantled and turned into an Ivan Rakitic, Sergi Roberto and De Jong trident instead.

It’s safe to say that Valverde’s little project failed and the team suffered the consequences.

Granada ran away with the game, scoring twice and leaving Barcelona with just a single shot on target throughout the 90 minutes.

And after his mammoth performance in the clash with Dortmund – he registered 106 touches, one key pass and a 91.7% passing accuracy – Melo’s omission from the lineup is the biggest mystery of them all.

Unrightfully benched

The 23-year-old Brazilian joined Barca with an initial €31m (£27.4m) price tag and the Blaugrana have been getting their money’s worth so far.

Melo was one of the top performers in the clash in Germany mid-week despite a rather poor overall showing for the team.

With such a display under his belt and throughout the season, the decision to suddenly leave him out was a rather strange one.

Whether he actually could’ve saved the game for Barca, we’ll never know but taking into account the impact he managed to muster against Dortmund in front of the Yellow Wall, it’s fairly safe to assume that his skill-set was required on the night.

Quite simply, the Brazilian must be restored to the starting XI as quickly as possible if Barca want to get back to winning ways.

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Quoted by Rangers’ official Twitter account, Gary McAllister has revealed that the Gers are set to name a strong side for their Scottish League Cup quarter-final with Livingston on Wednesday night.

What’s the word?

Rangers take on Livingston in the Scottish League Cup and will be determined to try and get a win as they go in search of domestic glory.

The Gers have had to sit by and watch Celtic dominate on the home front with the Bhoys earning a clean sweep of trophies in the Scottish game in the last three years.

Rangers, though, have started the season strongly, notching up five wins in six league matches and also getting off to a winning start in Europe with a 1-0 victory against Feyenoord.

The crowded fixture list might well dictate in fans’ minds that players are going to get rested against Livi, then, but McAllister’s comments have offered a different view:

Verdict

These comments underline the Gers’ desperation for domestic glory.

The club has gone too long without lifting a major trophy and, though in part that was enforced on them because of their financial woes, they are back at the top table of Scottish football and need the silverware to back that up.

Fans should be pleased by the commitment to this competition, even with a big game against Aberdeen at the weekend, because the chance to end Celtic’s repeated treble-winning form is too good to turn down.

McAllister, and his boss Steven Gerrard, will also know from their time together at Liverpool that winning one cup can often lead to more.

After a six-year wait for silverware, Liverpool’s League Cup win in 2001 quickly lead to an FA Cup and a UEFA Cup in the same season, followed by another League Cup, a Champions League title and another FA Cup by summer 2006.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…

The Champions League is finally back.

Barcelona’s group opener against Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park, however, left a lot to be desired.

The two sides played out a 0-0 draw, with the Catalan giants struggling to find a way through against their Bundesliga opponents.

Ernesto Valverde will surely have to go back to the drawing board and make a tweak or two for future fixtures if Barca want to come out of a tough group that also includes Inter Milan and Slavia Prague.

One man, in particular, fluffed his lines in a game where Barca needed him to turn up.

Watch Spanish Football Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Luis Suarez endured a difficult night, with Valverde’s men registering seven shots to Dortmund’s 13 and Barcelona’s number nine failing to make any sort of impact.

Suarez had 70.4% passing accuracy on the night, attempting only 27 passes and registering just 41 touches during the game.

Only four players had fewer touches and two of them were substitutes. Another was Jordi Alba, who was injured before half-time and the final player was the goalkeeper, Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

His passing accuracy was the worst in the whole team and he also had second-most unsuccessful touches within the Blaugrana ranks – three to his name.

When we factor in that he also had only one shot on target and three overall throughout the game, it becomes much clearer that his performance was not at the required standard.

Valverde will now have to decide whether the 32-year-old remains the right man for the job or whether a change is needed. Only time will tell.

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Lots of Aston Villa fans have taken to Twitter to pinpoint the centre-back pairing of Tyrone Mings and Bjorn Engels as an eye-catching factor of their return to the Premier League, despite it ending with a 3-1 defeat to Tottenham.

The Villans took an early lead through John McGinn’s well taken effort, and were in front for 73 minutes of the game before Tanguy Ndombele evened things up – Harry Kane’s late double made the game look flattering in Tottenham’s favour.

A big part of Villa’s ability to keep Spurs out for a large portion of the match was the hard work of Tyrone Mings and Bjorn Engels at the back, both of whom were signed in the summer – Mings’ loan deal from Bournemouth was made permanent for £20m, whilst Engels signed from Reims for £9m.

Together, they blocked seven shots and made a whopping 21 clearances on a day where they were unfortunate to be on the losing side, but their evidently strong partnership has got the Villa fans on Twitter talking excitedly about what’s to come.

Check out some amazing tekkers in the video below…

Let’s see what the Villa supporters on Twitter have been saying about Mings and Engels…

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Tottenham Hotspur loanee Jack Clarke has been called up to the England Under-20 squad, the FA have confirmed.

What’s the word?

The winger, signed from Leeds United in the summer and immediately loaned back to the Whites, has yet to play in the Championship this season.

He has made two appearances in the League Cup, though, playing 70 minutes in the 3-0 win over Salford City and 45 minutes in the penalty shootout defeat to Stoke City.

Nevertheless, he has been selected in Keith Downing’s squad, his first call-up for the age group.

Promising signs

This is good news for Spurs.

International recognition for a player of any age is something to be celebrated, with England’s Under-20 side set to take on the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Watch Tottenham Hotspur Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

He is now likely to play alongside defender Japhet Tanganga, who is also on the books at Spurs.

Clarke has yet to gain too many minutes for Leeds this season but this is a step forward and, at the very least, a chance for him to get some game time under his belt.

If he proves his worth, his burgeoning reputation will only grow.

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According to Sky Sports’ deadline day transfer centre (August 8, 5:29pm), Crystal Palace failed to reach an agreement with RB Leipzig over the signing of striker Jean-Kevin Augustin, and now they could suffer as a result in the next few months.

What’s the word, then?

Well, Sky Sports reported earlier this week that the Eagles were considering a move for the former Paris Saint-Germain man, and it seems they attempted to bring him to Selhurst Park before the deadline at 5pm on Thursday.

However, Sky Sports’ transfer blog says that while the south London outfit held talks with Augustin’s agent over a £15m move, the player wanted more time to consider his options on the continent with many other countries’ windows not slamming shut until the end of August or the beginning of September.

That left Palace without a new striker, although they have kept hold of Wilfried Zaha as things stand, with the attacker who has handed in a transfer request now only able to join a foreign club before January.

Palace may suffer

Given Christian Benteke and Connor Wickham scored one Premier League goal between them last season and another flop in Alexander Sorloth has left on loan having failed to score in 16 top-flight outings for the Eagles, it seems strange that they didn’t push harder for a new striker.

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Rumours linked with them with Augustin and Russia international Fedor Chalov, but ultimately they failed to get a deal over the line.

The former may not have been a regular at Leipzig last term, but his record of 20 goals in 67 games for them – including a goal every 167 minutes on average in 2018/19 given he netted eight times in just 1,339 minutes on the pitch according to Transfermarkt – prove that he can be clinical when given a chance.

With Benteke also only scoring three times in 2017/18 and Wickham only making 42 appearances in four years with Palace having suffered some huge injury issues, the side could easily suffer in terms of their goal tally if the duo and the likes of Andros Townsend, Luka Milivojevic and Zaha fail to produce the goods.

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أعلن نادي ليفربول الإنجليزي، عن قائمة الفريق، من أجل استكمال مسابقة دوري أبطال أوروبا، والتي تستأنف من جديد، في فبراير الجاري.

ليفربول تأهل لدور الـ16، ومن المُقرر أنّ يواجه لايبزيج الألماني، إذ تُقام مباراة الذهاب، يوم 16 من الشهر الجاري في ألمانيا.

اقرأ أيضًا.. موسيماني: الخطيب أسطورة مثل كيني دالجليش في ليفربول

وشهدت قائمة الريدز، قيد صفقتي الفريق الجديدة، ثنائي الدفاع، بن ديفيز، أوزان كاباك، إلى جانب المدافع نات فيليبس.

وعلى الرغم من اعتراف المدرب الألماني، يورجن كلوب، المدير الفني لـ ليفربول، باستحالة مشاركة فيرجيل فان دايك في أي مباراة هذا الموسم، ألا أنّ لم يتم استبعاد الهولندي من القائمة. قائمة ليفربول في دوري أبطال أوروبا

حراسة المرمى: أليسون، أدريان، كويمين.

خط الدفاع: فان دايك، جوميز، كاباك، تسيمكساس، روبرتسون، بن ديفيز، فيليبس، ترينت ألكسندر أرنولد.

خط الوسط: فابينيو، فينالدوم، ألكانتارا، ميلنر، نابي كيتا، هندرسون، تشامبرلين، شاكيري.

خط الهجوم: فيرمينو، ماني، صلاح، جوتا، أوريجي.