General Football Thread

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Messi scores two more as Miami win 4-1 at New England​

AFP
The Argentine star has now scored nine goals in just seven appearances this season

Lionel Messi continued his rich vein of scoring in MLS, finding the target twice as league leaders Inter Miami came from behind for a 4-1 win at the New England Revolution on Saturday.

With his brace Messi, the top scorer in MLS, took his tally to nine goals from seven appearances this season.

A crowd over 65,612 turned up at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, the stadium the Revolution share with the NFL's New England Patriots, to see the Argentine World Cup winner.

New England, who had been hit by a virus in the build-up to the game and bottom of the Eastern Conference, delighted the bumper home crowd after just 40 seconds through an Argentine of their own -- Tomas Chancalay.

Miami defender Nicolas Freire gave the ball away to Spanish midfielder Carles Gil who clipped a ball over the top to Chancalay, who spotted Drake Callender well off his line and chipped it over the stranded Miami keeper for the opening goal.

Messi got Miami back on level terms in the 32nd minute when he was found by Robert Taylor's through pass and the 36-year-old made no mistake, slotting home.

The eight-times Ballon d'Or winner struck again to put Miami ahead in the 68th minute when he collected a superb defence-splitting pass from his former Barcelona team-mate Sergio Busquets and finished with his usual ease.

Miami added two more in the final stages -- both created by Messi.

Substitute Benjamin Cremaschi made it 3-1 in the 83rd minute, pouncing after a Messi shot was parried out. Luis Suarez completed the scoring, finding the top corner after a pass inside from Messi.

Miami have won three straight games since their exit from the CONCACAF Champions Cup at the hands of Mexican club Monterrey with Messi scoring five times in that run which includes wins at Kansas City and at home to Nashville.

Coach Gerardo Martino said the team were starting to come together as he had hoped.



"The Kansas City game was a key for us, because we had just been eliminated by Monterrey and the team showed their character. Now we have three wins in a row and it is getting more solid every time," he said.

Martino said the rest of his players had now got used to playing in front of the large crowds that Messi is drawing.

"We've handled it well. That was a learning curve last season and now we are dealing with it well," he added.

New England coach Caleb Porter said he was disappointed that his defenders had allowed Messi the space for his goals but said the Argentine had shown his class in making them pay.

"You have to look at both those moments because I thought they were able to find two goals when we felt pretty good about the way we were limiting their effectiveness in creating clear chances," he said.

"But you know, that's Messi, he finds two goals out of nowhere and it exposes the detail in those moments from us.

"I don't think he had a ton of touches and effectiveness early in the game but, you know, that's kind of him -- he lulls you....we can't allow a ball to be popped through the back four and find him twice," he added.

Elsewhere, Christian Benteke scored twice for D.C. United as they enjoyed a 2-1 win at home to the Seattle Sounders.

The Sounders led 1-0 through a Leo Chu goal but had goalkeeper Stefan Frei sent off in the 28th minute after he brought down Jared Stroud in the box,

Benteke put away the penalty and then won the game with a trademark header at the back post on the stroke of half-time.

Real Salt Lake take over at the top of the Western Conference after handing the Philadelphia Union their first loss of the season with a 2-1 win in Pennsylvania.

RSL move above the Los Angeles Galaxy who fell to a 2-0 defeat at Austin while defending MLS champions Columbus Crew were held to a goalless draw at home to Montreal.

Crew coach Wilfried Nancy rotated his line-up ahead of Wednesday's CONCACAF Champions Cup semi-final second leg at Monterrey.

 

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Liverpool's Premier League title hopes suffer blow​

AFP

Klopp's impressive era seems to be concluding on a flat note with the team dropping points for the fourth time

 

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Ipswich's promotion bid stalled by Hull draw​

AFP
McKenna's side were just three minutes away from a priceless three points at the MKM Stadium..

 

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'VAR has damaged Premier League' says Pochettino after Chelsea drama​

AFP
The Blues late goal disallowed in their dramatic 2-2 draw at Aston Villa...

 

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Barca reach final with 'worst decision in Women's Champions League history'​

Goals from Aitana Bonmati and Fridolina Rolfo secured 2-0 victory against Chelsea

AFP
April 28, 2024

 

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Salah warns of Klopp ‘fire’ after Liverpool title blow​

AFP
April 27, 2024

LONDON: Mohamed Salah ruined Jurgen Klopp’s attempt to play down a touchline spat at West Ham on Saturday, claiming there would be a “fire” if he spoke about the clash following Liverpool’s 2-2 draw.

The Reds were desperate to bounce back after a painful midweek loss in the Merseyside derby at Everton and Klopp dropped Salah to the bench in an attempt to jolt his weary team into form.

Liverpool recovered from conceding an opener to take a 2-1 lead midway through the second half at the London Stadium.

Kane doubles up for Bayern, Leipzig beat Dortmund to tighten grip on fourt

But Michail Antonio effectively ended their faint Premier League title hopes when he headed an equaliser in the 77th minute.

Salah had been waiting to come on before Antonio’s goal and was involved in an animated conversation with Klopp, appearing to be angry with his manager.

It ended with fellow substitute Darwin Nunez being forced to push teammate Salah away before they entered the fray.

“We spoke about it in the dressing room and that is done for me,” said Klopp, in the final weeks of his Anfield reign.

Asked if Salah was OK with it, Klopp claimed: “That was my impression.”

However, when Salah walked past reporters and was asked to stop, he admitted: “There’s going to be a fire today if I speak.”

The 31-year-old has struggled to hit top form in recent weeks, scoring just once in his past six matches.

The Egypt forward has been linked with a move away from Anfield at the end of the season, with Saudi clubs understood to be interested in his signature.

 

[Fatman17]

 

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Man City's Foden wins football writers' award​

The 23-year-old is the third City player in the past four years to win football's oldest individual award

AFP
May 04, 2024

LONDON:
Manchester City's Phil Foden was Friday named Footballer of the Year by the English Football Writers' Association, with the club's Khadija Shaw scooping the women's award.
England attacking midfielder Foden joins a roll call of famous names including Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton, George Best and Kenny Dalglish.

Foden is the third City player in the past four years to win football's oldest individual award, following Ruben Dias in 2021 and Erling Haaland last year.

The 23-year-old Foden received 42 percent of the votes, heading off competition from Arsenal's Declan Rice and his teammate Rodri, who came third in a ballot of the FWA's near 900-strong membership.

 

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'End of an era': Reus to leave Dortmund at season's end​

‘I've dedicated half my life to this club, experienced a lot of ups and downs, but more ups’ says the 34-year-old

AFP
May 04, 2024

BERLIN:
Borussia Dortmund veteran Marco Reus will leave after 12 years with the side at the end of the season, the club announced on Friday.

Both parties agreed Reus' contract would not be extended, although the 34-year-old wants to keep playing and will not retire.

"I've dedicated half my life to this club, experienced a lot of ups and downs, but more ups I think," the Dortmund-born Reus said in a video message.

"The club and I came to the decision not to extend the contract. It made me incredibly proud, I'm incredibly grateful to have played for this club for so many years."

 

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'End of an era': Reus to leave Dortmund at season's end​

‘I've dedicated half my life to this club, experienced a lot of ups and downs, but more ups’ says the 34-year-old

AFP
May 04, 2024

BERLIN:
Borussia Dortmund veteran Marco Reus will leave after 12 years with the side at the end of the season, the club announced on Friday.

Both parties agreed Reus' contract would not be extended, although the 34-year-old wants to keep playing and will not retire.

"I've dedicated half my life to this club, experienced a lot of ups and downs, but more ups I think," the Dortmund-born Reus said in a video message.

"The club and I came to the decision not to extend the contract. It made me incredibly proud, I'm incredibly grateful to have played for this club for so many years."

I am sad that this legend is leaving the club after 12 years. I hope he can win the UCL. PSG isn't that hard to beat. So the Yellow Wall can do it in Parc des Princes.

 

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Kramaric snatches late draw for Hoffenheim against Leipzig​

Leipzig spent most of the match in front after Benjamin Sesko's 38th-minute header

AFP
May 04, 2024

Photo: AFP

MUNICH:
Andrej Kramaric scored in the final minute of regular time to snatch Hoffenheim a 1-1 draw at home to 10-man RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga on Friday.

Leipzig spent most of the match in front after Benjamin Sesko's 38th-minute header from a cross from Germany winger David Raum gave him a goal for the fifth match in a row.

Paris Saint-Germain loanee Xavi Simons picked up a yellow card with 10 minutes gone in the second-half for playing on after he handballed. He picked up a second yellow just 17 minutes later for a challenge on Anton Stach and saw red.

 

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Adebayo rescues Luton against Everton​

Rob Edwards' side trailed to Dominic Calvert-Lewin's penalty in the first half

AFP
May 04, 2024

Luton striker Elijah Adebayo scored the equaliser against Everton. Photo: AFP

LONDON:
Elijah Adebayo kept Luton in the hunt to avoid relegation from the Premier League as his equaliser rescued a 1-1 draw against Everton on Friday.

Rob Edwards' side trailed to Dominic Calvert-Lewin's penalty but Adebayo scored the crucial leveller before half-time at Kenilworth Road.

Despite earning just one win in their past 15 league games, third-bottom Luton are still in contention to beat the drop.

They are behind fourth-bottom Nottingham Forest on goal difference, with Nuno Espirito Santo's team facing already-relegated Sheffield United on Saturday.

 

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Lionel Messi collects 1 goal, 5 assists as Inter Miami blast Red Bulls​

Reuters

Lionel Messi had an MLS-record six goal contributions, Luis Suarez scored three times and Matias Rojas recorded a brace as Inter Miami thumped the New York Red Bulls 6-2 on Saturday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Messi, who was named MLS Player of the Month for the month of April, scored once and added five assists as Miami (7-2-3, 24 points) extended its unbeaten streak to six matches and improved to 6-0-2 in league matches in which Messi has appeared in.

The loss snapped New York’s six-match unbeaten streak.

Dante Vanzeir and Emil Forsberg had the goals for the Red Bulls (4-2-5, 17 points), who dropped to 6-4-0 in regular-season play against Miami.

Miami scored twice in a two-minute span early in the second half to erase a 1-0 deficit.
Rojas was brought on for David Ruiz to start the second half and immediately made an impact, leveling the score at 1-1 in the 48th minute by putting a left-footed strike past a leaping Carlos Coronel.

Messi picked up an assist on the goal.

 

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Real Madrid wins record-extending 36th La Liga title​

Issy Ronald, CNN
May 5, 2024

Jude Bellingham has been central to Real Madrid's title-winning campaign.
Alberto Gardin/NurPhoto/Getty Images
CNN —

Real Madrid sealed a record-extending 36th La Liga title on Saturday after rival Barcelona suffered a second-half collapse against Girona, succumbing to a 4-2 defeat which ensured that Los Blancos cannot be overtaken at the top of the table.

Real had secured a 3-0 victory over Cádiz earlier in the day, leaving Barcelona with a must-win clash to keep the title race mathematically alive with four games of the season remaining.

And initially it looked as if Barcelona might stave off the almost inevitable Real Madrid title win for another week, as goals from Andreas Christiansen and Robert Lewandowski gave the Blaugrana a 2-1 lead at halftime with only some spectacular goalkeeping from Paulo Gazzaniga preventing a bigger lead.

But Barça spurned several chances after the break and Girona equalized in the 65th minute through Cristian Portu, before Miguel Gutiérrez’s effort gave the Blanquivermells the lead just a minute later and Portu’s second goal – a glorious volley from the edge of the box – made sure of the result.

Such has been Real Madrid’s dominance in the league this season that a 36th title has seemed almost assured for a while now. It has suffered only one defeat throughout the season – back in September against Atlético Madrid – while longtime rival Barcelona has struggled for form.

 

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PSG coach Luis Enrique urges ‘calm’ in Dortmund Champions League decider​

AFP

PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique sought to take the pressure off his side going into Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Borussia Dortmund, telling them not to worry about having to win by two goals to reach the final.

PSG must overturn a 1-0 deficit from last week’s first leg after a Niclas Fuellkrug goal gave Dortmund a narrow victory in Germany.

“The objective is not to play to win by two goals, it is just to win. You can’t afford to think about having to win by two goals,” Luis Enrique told reporters on Monday, weighing up the possibility of the tie being decided in extra time and even penalties.

“We need to score one first of all, and win the match.”

PSG are looking to repeat their heroics in the quarter-finals, when they lost 3-2 at home to Barcelona in the first leg but qualified with a 4-1 win in the return – despite conceding the opening goal in Spain.

“It doesn’t matter if we concede – it happened against Barcelona – we’ll just need to stay calm,” the Spaniard added.

He also said the key to getting top scorer Kylian Mbappe more involved in the game was not necessarily to make him drop deeper to get on the ball.

Mbappe has scored 43 goals for PSG this season, including two in the second leg against Real Sociedad in the last 16, and two more away in Barcelona, but struggled to make a major impact in Dortmund last week.

“Our objective is that our best players participate. The more they take part in the game the better it is,” he said.

“But I want my strikers to be touching the ball in the areas where they can make a difference. I want him to get on the ball where he can be dangerous.”

Weekend off

Dortmund warmed up for the second leg by beating Augsburg 5-1 in the Bundesliga with a starting line-up that showed 10 changes from that which faced PSG a few days earlier.

PSG, in contrast, enjoyed a weekend off, with the French league postponing their game away at Nice until May 15 in order to aid their preparations.

“Obviously in life there is not only work. You need to also do things outside of work to be better at your job,” Luis Enrique said.

“I love sport, I love cycling, playing padel – we have a court here – I like having leisure time, and professionally it has been a good week too.

“We have had time to analyse, we have had training sessions focusing on defence and on attack, and today it will be a normal session on the eve of a game, a bit more relaxed.

“We are thinking about how lucky we are to be playing in a semi-final.”

PSG are aiming to reach their second Champions League final, after they lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich in Lisbon in 2020.

They have never won the trophy, but Luis Enrique said he was prepared for the possibility of a disappointing defeat.

“Life will continue and when the sun shines in Paris it is always marvellous.

“If we lose we will congratulate them and we will wake up again the next day.

“We might be disgusted, but we will be proud and will say to ourselves that we will get up again and try to get to the final next year.”