European Super Football

Habib Diallo scored twice for Strasbourg as they beat Metz 3-0 in Friday night's Ligue 1 fixture Watch the video below to get a good indication of the fantastic atmosphere on display on the terraces. The game is always an important date in the Ligue 1 calendar.  Strasbourg moved up to 10th place ahead of this weekend's games while Metz dropped to 19th and is one of only four teams yet to win. Many Metz fans are already concerned that their team might be in for a relegation battle this season. We believe this roughly translates as: "We don't know about you, but for us the weekend is off to a very good start! Racing wins this derby with the manner." 🏁 On ne sait pas pour vous, mais pour nous le wek-end débute très très bien ! Le Racing remporte ce derby avec la manière 🔵⚪️ #RCSAFCM (3-0) pic.twitter.com/ekCLSg2X2G — Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (@RCSA) September 17, 2021 The Metz reaction was obviously very different. The lack of emotion on display in thi

Oldham Athletic fans have been protesting about the running of their club. Pity so many within the media ignored it.  A recent article in The Guardian mentions: "Late payments of salaries, threats of player strikes and threats of administration have punctuated Abdallah Lemsagam’s reign." After weeks and months of anger, they have organised a huge protest outside the ground ahead of their League Two match v Hartlepool.   (A distant look at the Boundary Park ground back in 2014 Social media posts about the protests Throughout the protest, many Oldham fans have taken to social media to show the scale of the event taking place outside their stadium. One fan posted a heartfelt thread detailing his love of the club despite its problems. The thread starts with this tweet: "Tomorrow, I'm attending my first ever protest. I'm protesting against the current owners of my football club, Oldham Athletic, who might yet oversee the club dropping out of the EFL or worse. If

FIFA 22 will be a football simulation video game published by Electronic Arts as part of the FIFA video game series.  It will be the 29th instalment in the FIFA series. It will be released on 1 October 2021 for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles. There will be enhanced versions released for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Google Stadia. Watch a video of some gameplay in the video below.  New features of this latest instalment  The Career Mode allows you to create a club and lead them from relegation candidates to global giants. The overhauled Player Career experience gives you more ways to progress, achieve, and immerse yourself in your Pro’s journey through the game.  EA Sports also talk about true ball physics. It says on their website: "Real-world data imported into FIFA 22 takes the game’s ball physics to a new level of realism. Tuned parameters including speed, swerve, air drag, air resistance, ground friction, and rolling friction

We now take a look at one of Manchester United's greatest ever players This article was originally posted on Greater Manchester Football. The news of Eric Cantona's impending transfer from Leeds to fierce rivals Manchester United was met with hostility from Leeds fans.  However, the transfer was seen as a good piece of business by most football experts. The Yorkshire club had removed a troubled player from their side and got decent money for him even though he played a part in them winning the league during the previous season.  Watch: Eric Cantona's 14 goals for Leeds United Eric The King Cantona made his first appearance for the club on 1 December 1992 in a friendly match against Benfica in Lisbon to mark Eusébio's 50th birthday, wearing the number 10 shirt.  Eric made his competitive debut as a second-half substitute against Manchester City at Old Trafford on 6 December. United only lost on two occasions in the 92/93 season after his arrival. They finished the se

Allan Saint-Maximin's equaliser lifted some of the pressure on Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce as his side gained a point against Leeds United After a week when Bruce had to defend his position as manager following further criticism from  their fans. The mood ad threatened to turn really ugly when Raphinha cut in from the right and sent his cross into the far corner of Karl Darlow's goal after 13 minutes. As Leeds threatened to run riot, "we want Brucey out" was sung by all sides of the stadium. Marcelo Bielsa's free-spirited side should have been further ahead before the break, but after Matt Ritchie hit a post, Saint-Maximin lifted the mood when he danced around the Leeds United defence. The two tweets below were just some of the posts that highlights the anger from Newcastle fans.  After the match, Bruce told Sky Sports: "If I'm being honest I enjoyed the game and let's be honest it could have gone either way. It was like when you play at school,

This was an article first published in Greater Manchester Football's European Legends series Zinedine Zidane is a legend that played for Juventus and Real Madrid (Zidane celebrates winning the World Cup in 1998) Early life One of Zidane's earliest memories involving football came when he was watching the 1986 World Cup. The performance in that tournament of Diego Maradona had a huge impact on him. He said "Maradona was another level." Move to Juventus After playing professionally in France for Cannes and Bordeaux, Zidane moved to Juventus in 1996. The Italian giants had just won the European Cup so they had signed him from a position of strength.  Zinédine Zidane stats for Juventus (All tournaments) 🏃 212 Appearances; ⚽ 31 Goals; 🅰 38 Assists. #ZinedineZidane #Juventus #SerieA #France pic.twitter.com/E9ZnzCOfWt — Buaksib (@buaksib) April 21, 2021 In his first season, Juventus won the 1996–97 Serie A title and the 1996 Intercontinental Cup. They won the Seri

The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions.  The Cup Winners' Cup was for a long time regarded by UEFA as the second biggest European club competition, behind the European Cup (now Champions League) but ahead of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (later the UEFA Cup and now Europa League). The video below explores some of the most iconic matches and moments in the competition.  One of those iconic moments in more detail 1983 final: Aberdeen 2 - 1 Real Madrid Yes you read that correctly. Aberdeen once beat Real Madrid in the final of a European competition. It was a match and occasion that put a certain Alex Ferguson in the spotlight.  Aberdeen took the lead early in the first half with a goal by Eric Black, but Real Madrid drew level following a penalty scored by Juanito in the fifteenth minute.  It remained 1-1 so the match went into extra time. The winning goal was scored for Aberdeen by John Hew

Looking at the tables of the English Football League in recent seasons, it's really hard to believe that Bolton Wanderers were once playing in European competition. The match itself Because Bolton were actually in a relegation battle at the time, Gary Megson selected a weakened side for the match. This was how they lined up: Bolton: Al Habsi, Andrew O'Brien, Cid, Michalik, Gardner, Alonso (Giannakopoulos 56), Nolan, Guthrie, McCann, Braaten (Teymourian 77), Davies. Bolton shocked the German giants eight minutes into the game. Ricardo Gardner's effort was deflected past the iconic Oliver Kahn to give them an unlikely lead. It was Gardner's first goal in almost five years. As expected, Bayern eventually upped their game, with Lucas Podolski, Franck Ribery and Bastian Schweinsteiger terrorising the Bolton defence. 30 minutes into the game, Bayern were level as Podolski beat Al-Habsi with a driven shot. Just four minutes into the second half, Podolski scored his s

Before Sir Alex Ferguson took over at Manchester United in 1986, they very rarely performed well in Europe. They did have the occasional great night though. Context:  United lost the first leg of the 1984 Cup Winners Cup Quarter Final 2-0. A Barcelona side, featuring the late Diego Maradona, were expected to comfortably hold out on the night. Watch: 2 minute highlights What do people say about the game? In 2014, Arthur Albiston told the Guardian: "The atmosphere inside Old Trafford that night as the most intense he has ever experienced."  Read More  One United fan was asked on Twitter about his favourite United, he replied: "A bit obvious but United versus Barca 1984, cried like a good one !!" This interesting article from the Manchester Evening News  explores the match in a different way. It contains more quotes from players involved in the game. Goalkeeper Bailey said to the local news organisation: "Graeme Hogg came in because we were missing both centre bac