European Super Football

Sporting CP 2-0 Spurs Tottenham suffered our first defeat of the season at the Estadio Jose Alvalade on Tuesday. Two late goals gave Sporting Lisbon all three points on matchday two in the UEFA Champions League. In an even and entertaining affair, it looked like the Premier League side was going to leave the Portuguese capital with a share of the spoils having matched the hosts for the majority of the game, only to concede in the 90th minute from a Paulinho header before Arthur Gomes slotted home with virtually the last kick of the game. Both goals came from Sporting substitutes. Picture credit -  Mutsu KAWAMORI | Flickr Both sides started on the front foot wherever possible, Sporting with the first sight of goal on seven minutes when Hugo Lloris pushed a Pedro Goncalves angled shot just past the post. Brazilian duo Richarlison and Emerson Royal had half-chances but neither could get a telling touch on balls into the box and home goalkeeper Adan was able to gather on each occasion

Luis Figo is our latest icon to feature on European Super Football. Figo's journey to becoming a global superstar was remarkable.  With his immense skill, versatility, and unmatched determination, Figo etched his name in football history and left an indelible mark on the sport. In this article, we will delve into the career of this legendary footballer, also exploring one of the most controversial transfers of all time. Shining at Sporting  Figo's passion for football was evident from a young age. He joined the youth team of Sporting Lisbon, one of the renowned Portuguese clubs. His exceptional performances in the youth setup quickly caught the attention of scouts, and at just 16 years old, he made his debut for the senior team. Luis Figo in his Sporting Lisbon days is one of the greatest finds ever. pic.twitter.com/RV3ComIvLE — Old Days Football (@OldDaysFootball) March 22, 2016 The Sporting Lisbon days helped Figo hone his skills and build a strong foundation. His t

Benfica 0 - 2 Inter Milan Romelu Lukaku scored an 82nd-minute penalty as Inter Milan put themselves in a strong position to advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League after a deserved win away to Benfica. Nicolo Barella's downward header gave Inter the lead in the quarter-final first leg in Lisbon. Benfica struggled to dictate play in front of their own fans as Inter produced a defensive masterclass in Lisbon. This was almost reminiscent of their 2010 triumph with Jose Mourinho.  <Click here to find more news and stories from across Italy> Rafa Silva was denied by Andre Onana's first-half save before Inter's Netherlands defender Denzel Dumfries produced a crucial block from close range as Benfica pushed for an equaliser. The Italian visitors wrapped up their win when substitute Lukaku, on loan from Chelsea, scored from the spot after former Inter player Joao Mario handled. Premier League referee Michael Oliver awarded the penalty after watching the incide

Arsenal are ready to bring in new players and challenge again for major trophies next season. The Gunners are set to advance their pursuit of RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko, with the £55 million attacker allegedly favouring a move to last season's Premier League runners-up. European newspapers have reported that Arsenal scouts watched the Slovenian international during Leipzig's recent draw with Eintracht Frankfurt, aiming to gain an edge over rivals Chelsea, Manchester United, and Newcastle. Premier League news and stories: 2023/2024 It is believed that Sesko impressed all those watching by scoring in his seventh consecutive Bundesliga match, firing a powerful shot into the Frankfurt net and bringing his season tally to 18 goals in all competitions. Rumours suggest that Arsenal have been impressed by the Red Bull Salzburg graduate and are ready to increase their efforts. Mikel Arteta's side appears to have an advantage over Chelsea and Manchester United, as Sesko ha

Man United target a new midfielder Let's explore some of the options that they could sign to improve their squad before the transfer window closes.  Adrien Rabiot - Free agent Rabiot, 29, is a free agent after leaving Juventus. The France international is reportedly interested in a move to the Premier League. He almost joined the Red Devils last season before signing a new one-year deal. Liam, a Manchester United fan, told us: "This would be a great signing for us. On a free transfer, it would make complete sense. He has great experience and would be a fantastic partner for Mainoo in our midfield." Manchester United are currently aiming to reduce their wage bill, so you could argue that It makes no sense to revive their interest in Rabiot. However, on a free transfer, you could make the case for the transfer to give the club more experience in the midfield. Will United sign him this summer? United's hopes of securing Rabiot's signature for a second consecuti

More transfer news from Old Trafford and Goodison Park Everton have turned down a second offer from Manchester United, this time around £45m, for their defender Jarrad Branthwaite . Last month, the Toffees also rejected a £35m bid from United for the 22-year-old England international. It's believed that United's revised offer included potential additional payments if certain targets were achieved. This still falls short of Everton's valuation. Branthwaite has shone as a left-sided central defender at Goodison Park, playing a crucial role in helping the Merseyside club avoid relegation last season despite two points deductions for breaching financial loss rules. United are eager to bolster their central defence options and have been in talks over Bayern Munich's Matthijs de Ligt , who is currently representing the Netherlands at Euro 2024. With Raphael Varane having left the club, there has been no confirmation yet of a new one-year deal for veteran Northern Ireland

Can Italy retain their European Championship crown? Italy are not among the favourites in Germany.  The holders qualified after finishing second in Group C behind England, the key game being a goalless draw with Ukraine in Germany. At Euro 2024, Italy will play Albania, Spain and Croatia in one of the toughest groups of the tournament.  Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini, the defensive duo that led Italy to glory in 2021 , will watch from home. Nicolò Barella and Gianluigi Donnarumma need to step up and become the key players for the team. They will have to cope without Destiny Udogie, Nicolò Zaniolo, Francesco Acerbi, and Giorgio Scalvini, who are all out injured. Iconic Euros moments: Throwback to England v Italy (2021) How did they reach Germany? They qualified for Euro 2024 after a goalless draw against Ukraine in Germany. This was a welcome relief for everyone within Italian football after they failed to reach the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The qualifying campaign for this summe

It will be all change for Manchester United this weekend Their match against Ipswich will see a new face in the dugout as Rúben Amorim takes charge for the first time. Flickr user  freeela sawkaka | Flickr  explores the new manager's tactics The deal to bring Amorim from Sporting Lisbon was finalised on 1 November, but the Portuguese club requested he remain until the international break before moving. Ruud van Nistelrooy, who had been serving as interim manager following Erik ten Hag’s dismissal, has also departed. The former United striker was not included in Amorim’s plans for his backroom staff. Amorim's first challenge will be this trip to Ipswich Town. He's expected to introduce his favoured 3-4-3 formation, marking a significant shift from the four-man defence United played under Ten Hag. However, preparations for the match has been disrupted. Many United players have been away on international duty and might only return two days before the game. United fans will

Scotland 0 - 0 Portugal Author - Sean M Scotland put on a determined defensive performance to hold Portugal to a 0-0 draw, earning their first point in the Nations League A campaign. Scott McTominay had a golden opportunity early on but missed, and from there, the Scots saw little of the ball as Portugal pressed hard for a breakthrough. Cristiano Ronaldo, making his 200th international appearance, was left frustrated in his pursuit of a 134th goal for Portugal, as Scotland’s goalkeeper Craig Gordon and his defence stood their ground. While the result means Steve Clarke’s team have now won just one of their last 16 matches, they avoided the unwanted record of becoming the first Scotland side to lose five consecutive games. A more detailed look at what happened in Glasgow After a tough time at the Euros and a difficult Nations League campaign so far , Scotland needed to lift the Hampden crowd, and they nearly did just that within the first four minutes. Ben Doak made a surging run do

The draw has been made for the last 16 of the Champions League.  🚨🏆 Thoughts on Champions League draw? pic.twitter.com/NjTTJ2uzWA — Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) December 18, 2023 Manchester City will play Copenhagen in the last 16 of the competition.  The Danish champions Copenhagen finished above Manchester United in their group, as they reached the knockout stage for the first time since 2011. This included a 4-3 memorable victory over the Red Devils. The 14-time winners Real Madrid while RB Leipzig. Inter Milan - who finished runners-up last season will face Atletico Madrid. Bayern Munich (led by Harry Kane) will face Lazio. This is the draw in full Porto v Arsenal Napoli v Barcelona Paris St-Germain v Real Sociedad Inter Milan v Atletico Madrid PSV Eindhoven v Borussia Dortmund Lazio v Bayern Munich Copenhagen v Manchester City RB Leipzig v Real Madrid European Super Football contributor Josh gave some thoughts on the draw The luck of the draw has smiled upon the two

Sporting 4 - 1 Manchester City New Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim marked his final home game with Sporting by delivering one of his greatest triumphs, inflicting a third straight defeat on Manchester City. Author - Macca This was City’s heaviest loss since September 2020 and only the second time Pep Guardiola has suffered three consecutive defeats in a single season during his trophy-filled tenure. To add to City’s misery, star forward Erling Haaland smashed a second-half penalty against the crossbar. Sporting’s own Scandinavian star, Viktor Gyökeres, played a leading role with a fantastic hat-trick. He levelled Phil Foden’s early opener in the 38th minute, then held his nerve to score twice more from the spot in the second half. The first penalty followed a disastrous start to the second half for City, as Sporting took the lead just seconds after the restart when Maximiliano Araújo latched onto a through ball and struck a precise shot into the corner. Find more Champions

Tottenham Hotspur 6 - 2 Leicester City Spurs recovered from a poor night in the Champions League by thrashing Leicester City in a memorable match in North London. UCL: Spurs lose in Lisbon (eurosuperfootball.blogspot.com) Highlights from  Tottenham Hotspur - YouTube   Son Heung-min ended his goal drought with a scintillating 13-minute hat-trick as Tottenham ruthlessly punished Leicester's latest defensive horror show. The South Korea striker responded to Antonio Conte's decision to drop him to the bench after a barren start to the season by coming on to curl home two fantastic strikes and slot home a late third. Spurs had initially trailed to Youri Tielemans' early penalty but quickly took advantage of the Foxes' failings at set-pieces as Harry Kane and Eric Dier nodded home from corners to turn the game around. James Maddison's stunning first-time finish briefly drew Leicester level again, but Wilfried Ndidi's mistake allowed Rodrigo Bentancur to steer Tott

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

Benfica 1 - 1 Brentford Bryan Mbeumo was on target as Brentford drew with Benfica.  Mbeumo capitalised on a sloppy back-pass to give Thomas Frank's side an early lead in Lisbon, but the Eagles levelled on 24 minutes when Vangelis Pavlidis poked home Álvaro Carreras’s cross at the front post. Kevin Schade led the line for Brentford with Igor Thiago sidelined by a meniscus injury. The hosts looked to get off to a flying start on the pitch and fashioned the first chance of note in the fifth minute. Brentford took the lead four minutes later. Schade’s ball up the left channel was intercepted by Morato and the defender’s back-pass to goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin was under-hit, which allowed the alert Mbeumo to steal in and finish first time into the bottom corner. Benfica levelled midway through the first half . Aursnes played a short pass into the overlapping Carreras down the left, who took the ball in his stride, advanced to the byline and delivered a low, fizzing cross to the fr

It was a dramatic night in Group H of the Champions League One giant of European competition won't be playing in Europe's premier competition after Christmas. Paris Saint Germain 7 - 2 Maccabi Haifa Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe both scored two goals as Paris St-Germain thrashed Maccabi Haifa to reach the last 16 of the Champions League. Neymar and Carlos Soler also scored while Shon Goldberg scored an own goal. Messi's two goals mean he becomes the first player to score 80 goals in the group phase of the Champions League. PSG top Group H with 11 points from five games, the same as Benfica, while Juventus, who have failed to qualify, and Maccabi Haifa have three.  Highlights from  BT Sport - YouTube One YouTuber commented: "Mbappe and Messi's link-up is phenomenal. Their quick passes are insane!" Another added: "Messi is just something else, people can say whatever they want about the opposition, but football will never ever see anyone like him again.

 Livingston 0 - 3 Celtic Four days after their disappointing loss in the Champions League in Rotterdam, Celtic were determined to reaffirm their dominance in domestic competitions.  They faced a close call early on as Bruce Anderson forced a save from Celtic's goalkeeper, Joe Hart, and Scott Pittman's subsequent shot was cleared off the goal line by Callum McGregor. As Brendan Rodgers' team increased their attacking efforts, Daizen Hatate found himself in a promising position to score after receiving a pass from Greg Taylor. Unfortunately for Livingston, Luiyi De Lucas fouled Hatate in the box, resulting in a penalty. The Japanese midfielder's penalty squeezed under the body of Shamal George, marking his first goal of the season. The home team needed to stay competitive, and George made an excellent save to deny another attempt by Maeda. Hart's day came to an abrupt end when Sangare chased a long ball and collided with the goalkeeper outside the penalty area.

Let's have a look at all the reaction from another dramatic night of Champions League football. Atlético Madrid 0 - 0 Manchester City (Agg:0-1) City produced a  disciplined performance to hold off the challenge of Atletico Madrid - and set up a Champions League semi-final showdown with the Spanish side's city rivals Real. Knowing a clean sheet would be enough to seal the tie, City kept their cool in the face of a hostile home crowd and intimidation from a physical Atleti side showing far more ambition than in the first leg. The Manchester City boss told BT Sport: "It is the champion of Spain and they played with energy. Overall we are in the semi-finals, it is well deserved. The opponent is so tough, all the teams in the Champions League come here and suffer so it is important we go through." Tough and intense one, but we withstood it well! On to the semis! 💪🏼💙 @ManCity pic.twitter.com/XOWfk6w0xA — Ilkay Gündogan (@IlkayGuendogan) April 13, 2022 UCL: A memorable

Despite not as much money being spent, it was still a busy transfer deadline day across Europe. Premier League transfers It was certainly fairly quiet in the Premier League. Despite appearing to need new signings, Manchester United didn't bring a single player in. Most of the money was spent by teams near the other end of the table. Matz Sels [Strasbourg - Nottingham Forest] £5m Enes Unal [Getafe - Bournemouth] Loan Lorenz Assignon [Rennes - Burnley] Loan Caylan Vickers [Reading - Brighton] Undisclosed Joe Gauci [Adelaide United - Aston Villa] Undisclosed Mason Holgate [Everton - Sheffield United] Loan Click here to find more Premier League news and stories Maxime Esteve [Montpellier - Burnley] Loan Adam Wharton [Blackburn Rovers - Crystal Palace] £18m, potentially rising to £22m Lino Sousa [Arsenal - Aston Villa] Undisclosed Morgan Rogers [Middlesbrough - Aston Villa] £8m, potentially rising to £15m Rodrigo Ribeiro [Sporting Lisbon - Nottingham Forest] Loan Armando Broja [Chel

 Feyenoord manager Arne Slot has been announced as Liverpool's new boss. In April, Liverpool struck a deal with the Dutch club after deciding the 45-year-old Slot was the right person to replace Jurgen Klopp at Anfield. Klopp, who had been at the helm since October 2015, departed following Liverpool's season-ending victory over Wolves on Sunday. After the match, the 56-year-old German urged Liverpool supporters to back their new manager, leading a chant of "Arne Slot, na na na na na". Slot will officially begin his three-year tenure at Liverpool on 1 June, pending a work permit. During his time at Feyenoord, Slot guided the team to the Eredivisie title in the 2022-23 seaso n, and this year they won the Dutch Cup and finished as league runners-up. Liverpool were particularly impressed by Slot's attacking style, his personality, and his ability to develop players, which made him their top candidate. Slot, who took charge at Feyenoord in 2021, expressed his inter

Manchester United have appointed Ruben Amorim as their new head coach. The 39-year-old Portuguese manager, currently with Sporting Lisbon, will make the move to Old Trafford on 11 November and has signed a contract lasting until June 2027. Author - Liam C The post Ten Hag era started with a 5-2 win in the EFL Cup Ruud van Nistelrooy, the former United striker who stepped in as interim manager after Erik ten Hag’s departure on Monday, will remain with the team for the next three matches. Amorim becomes the sixth permanent manager since Sir Alex Ferguson’s 26-year tenure ended with his retirement in 2013. Sporting confirmed in a statement that United agreed to pay €11 million (£9.25 million) to activate the release clause in Amorim’s contract. Amorim’s debut match leading the Red Devils is set for 24 November in the Premier League against newly promoted Ipswich, following the international break. His first game at Old Trafford will be on 28 November against Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt in