LIVERPOOL WINS THE COMMUNITY SHIELD

 

Image Credit- The Guardian 

Premier League Champions Manchester City were facing FA Cup winners Liverpool in the FA Community Shield in King Power Stadium, Leicester. Traditionally the game is played in Wembley, but due to UEFA Women's EURO the match took place in Leicester.

Everyone expected this to be an interesting contest and what a match it turned out to be. Trent Alexander-Arnold scored the opening goal of the game in the 21st minute. Post then Manchester City tried their best to equalize. Eventually in the 70th minute of the game they managed to score the equalizer. 

However in the 83rd minute of the game, Mohammad Salah scored [Via Penalty] and Liverpool were leading again, Eventually in the 94th minute of the game Darwin Nunez scored the third goal for the Reds and the match was finally done. 

The Liverpool are the winners of the FA Community Shield.  

FC BAYERN WINS ANOTHER TITLE

 

Image Credit- Playing for 90. 

FC Bayern and RB Leipzig were facing each other in the DFL Super Cup. Though the game was being played in the Red Bull Arena, Leipzig, but the Bavarians were the favorites to win the game. And that is what happened as well. 

The visitors dominated the game. In the first half itself, Bayern Munich were 3-0 up. However in the second half the hosts tried to make a comeback as they scored 3 goals in the next 45 minutes. But, it was not sufficient to turn the tie around as the visitors scored 2 more goals in the second half of the game and the game ended 3-5. 

FC Bayern have won yet another title. However they will be a bit worried about their defense. 

THE LEGEND OF LOS BLANCOS [ REAL MADRID'S UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE CAMPAIGN 2021-22]

                     

Image Credit- 90 Min. 

AUTHOR- VINITA 

Real Madrid has always performed well in the Champions League. In between 2013-18, they won 4 UCL titles in 5 seasons. Something which other teams can only dream of.  However, their performance had become less clinical after CR7's departure. But to everyone’s surprise, 2021-22 season turned out to be the greatest Champions League win for Real Madrid. In Round of 16 they defeated the French champions PSG. In the quarterfinals they defeated the defending UCL champions Chelsea. In Semi-final they knocked out the English Champions Manchester City. Whereas in the finals they defeated the favourites Liverpool.  Real was an underdog in every game, never a favourite to win in any of the knockout rounds and moreover, never was a favourite to win the UCL this season. But the Galacticos proved everyone wrong.

 

Now coming to their campaign. The Los Blancos were placed with the Italian Champions of last season Inter Milan. However Real seemed flawless in the group stage till they met Sheriff Tiraspol who exploited the chink in their armour. Still, they finished as a group topper. They met PSG and Mbappe was on fire, Real was nowhere close to winning the tie but they overturned the tie in the last half hour of the 2nd leg. Mbappe scored in both leg but it wasn't enough to overpower Benzema's comeback hat trick! Although it was just enough to trigger memes on Mbappe and Real Madrid transfer chances.

 

Real Madrid was drawn in Q/F to former champions and one of the best teams in the tournament Chelsea. This time Benzema nearly sealed the tie with the first leg hat trick but the Real found themselves in trouble when Chelsea matched the first leg deficit but then came Benzema with a 96th-minute winner in extra time.

 

Real met Manchester City in the semis. To be honest, Real's defence was as bad as Man Utd in the first leg wherein they could have lost the tie there itself. But thanks to Vinicious Jr. and Benzema who kept them in the tie scoring 3 together. Mahrez scored for City with Real needing 3 goals to win till the 90th minute. But then the world saw an unbelievable comeback of 3 goals being scored in just 5 minutes by Real.

 

Real now faced Liverpool in the finals who were on fire. Liverpool played their well-known pressing-attacking football and Mané almost put one in only for man of the match Courtouis to deny it by the finest of margins and the ball getting deflected back from the post. Liverpool put Real Madrid on their toes for the whole 90 mins, and this is how you play a cup final, not many teams can dominate Real Madrid nearly like that. Real sat back and waited for their best chance blocked numerous world-class attacks from Liverpool and grabbed their chance in 2nd half when Vini Jr. scored after Benzema cleverly left the ball for him. But the best and defining moment of the match came when Mo Salah's impossible-looking shot was blocked by Courtouis from very close range while fans were looking in disbelief. There was nothing Liverpool who were playing arguably their best football could do. Courtouis was literally the wall that stopped the whole of Liverpool, he performed exceptionally well. Overall, the balance of play was slightly towards Liverpool but Real never really looked out of the game. In fact, they were fantastic in keeping possession under pressure and playing from the back whilst soaking all the attacking play by Liverpool.

 

Real ended up winning their well-deserved Champions League title with just 1 shot on target even with Liverpool playing a flawless game. All these tough runs to the final made this win so sweet, and special. So, in my opinion, this was the hardest winning run for any UCL winner ever but yet the greatest UCL campaign of all time. No one expected them to come this far in this season. Everyone wrote them off. But they’re Real Madrid, we witnessed so many amazing comebacks by them. The UCL kings. The comeback kings. The mentality kings. Just an incredible club.

 

I believe after 10 years when we will look back at the Real Madrid’s UCL campaign we’d say "What a legendary run this was, what fantastic players Modric and Benzema were, and what a brilliant mind Carlo Ancelotti had"

THE SAVIOURS

 

Image Credit- Express.co.uk 

In November, 2021 Xavi was appointed as the manager of F.C. Barcelona. Whereas Antonio Conte was appointed as the manager of Tottenham F.C. Back then both the clubs were struggling in their respective leagues and it appeared that none of them will make into the Champions League next season. 

However then happened something which no one expected. F.C. Barcelona's performance in the La Liga and Tottenham 's performance in the Premier League improved significantly. F.C. Barcelona thrashed the La Liga winners Real Madrid 4-0 in their home. Whereas Tottenham defeated Manchester City at their home and drew with Liverpool in the Anfield. 

By the time season ended, F.C. Barcelona were second in the La Liga and Tottenham ended 4th in the Premier League thereby qualifying for next year's Champions League tournament.   

Will Xavi and Conte end the trophy drought of F.C. Barcelona and Tottenham F.C this season? The answer lies in the womb of time. But for the time being they have been savior of their respective clubs.  

FINALISSIMA 2022: A REVIEW

 

Image Credit- The Indian Express

Argentina were facing Italy in the 2022 edition of Finalissima at Wembley. An year ago Italy lifted the Euro trophy in this very same venue. However, since then a lot many things changed.  Italy failed to qualify for FIFA World Cup once again, whereas the Argentinians were on a roll. As a result everyone expected Argentina to win.

And that is what happened in the game. Lionel Messi led from the front and the South American champions thrashed the European Champions 3-0. Though Messi did not score, but he provided a couple of assists to his team mates. It was a one-sided game and it never appeared that Italy had any chance of making a comeback.  

For his remarkable performance, Messi was awarded the man of the match award and the Argentineans lifted the Finalissima trophy for the second time.