European Super Football

The draw for the League Phase of the 2024/2025 Champions League phase has been made. The four Premier League teams in UEFA Champions League recently discovered their eight league phase opponents as the draw was made in Monaco for the 36 participating clubs. Manchester City and Arsenal will each face Inter Milan and PSG. The 2024 Premier League champions will face Inter at home in a repeat of the 2022/23 final, while Arsenal will travel to Italy and vice versa for their matches with PSG. Last season's Premier League top two also face an additional two Italian opponents, with City also facing Juventus as Arsenal travel to Atalanta. Liverpool will face a tough draw, facing the champions of Spain and Germany, Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen, at home, while also travelling to RB Leipzig and AC Milan.   Aston Villa will face Bayern Munich, whom they beat in 1981 to win the European Cup and fans will be dreaming of glory nights once again. How does the new Champions League...

 AC Milan 1 - 1 Feyenoord (Feyenoord won 2-1 on aggregate) AC Milan’s Champions League campaign came to a crushing end as they were held to a draw by Feyenoord in the second leg of their knockout play-off at the San Siro. Author - Jack L Stadium - San Siro The Rossoneri had the perfect start, overturning their 1-0 first-leg deficit within just 36 seconds. Santiago Giménez, facing his former club, scored the fastest goal of this season’s Champions League, reigniting Milan’s hopes of progression. However, their chances took a major hit when Theo Hernández was sent off in the 51st minute after picking up a second yellow card. Feyenoord capitalised on their numerical advantage, with substitute Julián Carranza heading in the decisive goal in the 73rd minute, sealing a 2-1 aggregate victory for the Dutch side. The last-16 draw on Friday will determine whether Feyenoord will face Inter Milan or Arsenal next month. Champions League: 2024/2025 More news from Feyenoord can be found here ...

Let's take a look at some of the greatest Champions League semi-finals.  With the 2023 Champions League semi-finals just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to look back at some legendary matches at this stage of the competition.  From AC Milan to Manchester United and Didier Drogba to Zinedine Zidane, iconic clubs and players have come of age and built their modern mythology in these matches. However, which games were the best?  AC Milan v Monaco - 1994 The Champions League was still a very different competition when it officially changed its name from the European Cup in the earlier part of the 1990s.  In this game against Monaco, Milan went up early through Marcel Desailly but suffered a significant setback when Alessandro Costacurta was sent off after 40 minutes. However, they were determined not to let their advantage slip. In the end, they only held their lead but also added to it with further strikes in the second half. The season would only get bet...

Liverpool 2 - 0 Real Madrid Liverpool finally overcame their Real Madrid curse with a well-deserved victory, maintaining a perfect Champions League record in a thrilling encounter at Anfield. Author - William G from GMCR Football What's going wrong for Real Madrid? Three defeats in five games have left Real Madrid facing a tough challenge to qualify for the next stage of the Champions League. This is not the situation the 15-time European champions anticipated. Following a 2-0 loss to Liverpool on Wednesday, the Spanish giants find themselves 24th in the standings and in real danger of an early exit from the tournament they have long dominated. Champions League: 2024/2025 Under the competition’s new format, the top eight teams automatically progress to the last 16, while those ranked ninth to 24th enter a two-legged play-off. Currently sitting in the final play-off spot, the reigning champions are teetering on the brink of elimination. On the night, superstars Kylian Mbappe and...

Ahead of the start of the 2023/2024 Champions League Group Stages This article will explore some of the best matches from this stage of the competition. When did Europe's premier competition introduce a Group Stage? Since the 1997–98 season, the competition has allowed multiple entries from certain countries. It added a round-robin group stage in 1992. For a brief period between 1999 and 2002, there was a 2nd Group Stage introduced. The best Group-Stage matches  Tottenham Hotspur 2-7 Bayern Munich (2019-20) By smashing seven goals past an almost hapless Tottenham Hotspur team that had no answers to their attacking prowess at home, Bayern Munich revealed a glimpse of what was to come in the season they lifted their sixth UEFA Champions League title! For Spurs, this set the tone for what was a poor season after they came so close to European success the previous campaign. Monaco 8-3 Deportivo de La Coruña (2003-04) The 2003-04 season was a fairytale run for Monaco in the UEFA Ch...

Manchester City 0 - 0 Inter Milan Manchester City were held to a goalless draw by a determined Inter side, as the Premier League champions experienced a frustrating start to their Champions League campaign. Despite City controlling possession, Inter posed a real threat on the counter-attack, managing 10 shots in the first half – the most City have faced under Pep Guardiola in a home Champions League match, and more than they’ve conceded in any Premier League game. City's chances were limited, with Phil Foden’s effort on his return the closest they came, while Ilkay Gundogan missed two promising headers. It was far from a vintage performance from Guardiola’s men. On the other hand, Inter’s manager, Simone Inzaghi, will likely be frustrated by his team’s inability to capitalise on their counter-attacking opportunities. Champions League: 2024/2025 (eurosuperfootball.blogspot.com) A closer look at what happened in Manchester and the wider context of the result The extended format...

 Let's explore some of the best Champions League and European Cup finals. There have been some truly memorable encounters in the final of the competition since it started in the 1950s. Real Madrid 4 - 3 Stade de Reims: 1956 A football match that you have probably never heard of. This was actually the first final of the European Cup. Real Madrid triumphed in what would prove to be the first of five consecutive title in the competition. On this night, the Spanish giants came back from behind to win 4–3. This was thanks to goals from Alfredo Di Stéfano and Marquitos, as well as two goals from Héctor Rial. Benfica 1 - 4 Manchester United: 1968 A memorable night where Man United became the first English side to win Europe's premier competition.  United took the lead from Bobby Charlton's header eight minutes into the second half. Jaime Graça's 79th-minute equaliser meant the match went into extra time. United scored three times in seven minutes in the first extra tim...

It has been another dramatic season in the Champions League. In the final, Real Madrid faces Borussia Dortmund. Which side will come out on top? How did Real Madrid reach the final? The recently crowned Spanish champions snatched an incredible semi-final victory, scoring late goals to beat Bayern Munich and set up this Champions League final with Borussia Dortmund at Wembley. UCL: Real Madrid progress after astonishing drama (eurosuperfootball.blogspot.com) In a previous round, Madrid had knocked Manchester City out on penalties. They beat City in a dramatic quarter-final at the Etihad Stadium, ending the 2023 winners' hold on the Champions League.  After Antonio Rudiger's penalty secured the victory for Real Madrid, City's players slumped in despair, while what seemed like dozens of Real players and officials headed off to their supporters tucked in the far corner of Etihad Stadium. After this match, Francis, a Real Madrid fan, told us: "I am so happy that we progre...

Borussia Dortmund 0- 2 Real Madrid Real Madrid overcame a formidable challenge from underdogs Borussia Dortmund to secure the Champions League title at Wembley. Carlo Ancelotti made history once again with his fifth win as a manager in the competition, while Real Madrid claimed their 15th title in typical fashion. They weathered a stormy first half and several missed opportunities from Dortmund before emerging victorious. A brief summary of the match Dortmund's Karim Adeyemi missed two chances in the first half, and striker Niclas Fullkrug struck the post. Real Madrid's recalled goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, was also a formidable barrier. As expected, Real Madrid upped the ante, with Dani Carvajal nodding in a header from a corner 16 minutes from time, followed by Vinicius Jr racing clear to add a second goal. This victory crowned a glorious first season at Real Madrid for Jude Bellingham, but it was a night of disappointment for Jadon Sancho, on loan to Dortmund from Manch...

We're getting closer to the Champions League Group Stages Rangers 2 - 2 PSV After drawing a tense play-off first leg with PSV Eindhoven at Ibrox, Rangers' hopes of qualifying for the Champions League group stages hang in the balance. Check out this video from  Footy Adventures - YouTube Despite a lack of refinement at times, Michael Beale's side kept them alive ahead of the second leg in the Netherlands. A tense Ibrox erupted with joy when Abdallah Sima shaped in a superb opener just before the interval. A hard-fought lead would not last for long, as Ibrahim Sangare scored on the hour following an outrageous stepover from Ismael Saibari. More football news from across Scotland. Rangers were back in front after substitute Rabbi Matondo smashed Cyriel Dessers' teasing delivery into the net. Four minutes after that strike, Luuk de Jong diverted a towering header to ensure these sides will meet for a second leg in Eindhoven with both eyeing a place on the biggest stage....

This is the latest in our ' big discussion ' series of articles. Here, we will examine Porto's Champions League success in 2004 and ask whether a similar type of success can happen again. Mourinho celebrates in 2004. Photo from  mohamedkaka | Flickr Over the last twenty years, the Champions League has been dominated by a relatively small pool of teams from a limited number of countries. However, it wasn't always like this. Teams like Porto have a proud record in European competition, with their last Champions League victory in 2004. At that time, they were led by a man with a growing reputation. This was José Mourinho. How big an achievement was this in 2004? Porto has struggled to compete with the best in Europe in recent seasons. It is often anticipated that they may struggle to get out of the group stage on occasion. During the upcoming campaign, if you were betting on the Champions League, you would have seen that they were considered huge outsiders. Since Porto...

Let's have a look back at one of the most controversial moments of recent history. Many of the world's biggest clubs said they were forming a new competition. The European Super League. You can read the initial report from Greater Manchester Football by clicking the link below Clubs Announce New Super League Competition (greatermanchesterfootball.blogspot.com) At the time of the announcement, the story said: AC Milan, Arsenal FC, Atlético de Madrid, Chelsea FC, FC Barcelona, FC Internazionale Milano, Juventus FC, Liverpool FC, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid CF and Tottenham Hotspur have all joined the new competition as Founding Clubs.   It is anticipated that a further three clubs will join ahead of the inaugural season, which is intended to commence as soon as practicable.  Proposed format of the competition Twenty participating clubs with fifteen Founding Clubs and a qualifying mechanism for a further five teams to qualify annually based on achieveme...

The first sliding doors moment we are going to explore involves Manchester United and Alan Shearer. Author - Liam C In the summer of 1996, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson made a huge effort to sign England striker Alan Shearer from Blackburn Rovers.  Shearer was the most prolific goal scorer in English football at the time, having just won the Premier League Golden Boot in both 1995 and 1996.  Ultimately, Shearer chose to join his boyhood club, Newcastle United, for a then-record fee of £15 million. However, an alternative scenario in which Shearer decided to sign for Manchester United could have dramatically affected both the club and the footballing landscape in the Premier League. The Old Trafford club decided to sign a certain unheard-of Norwegian at the time. He didn't do too badly... So, what if Shearer moved to Manchester United in 1996? In this alternate reality, Manchester United sign Shearer and he joins a team fresh off winning the Premier League and...

The first in a series of articles that will look at how teams did throughout the 21/22 season, and ask how they could improve for next season. In our first season summary, we have already spoken about Man City being crowned champions. Now it's time to focus on Spurs. Premier League reaction: City and Liverpool title race goes to the last minute (eurosuperfootball.blogspot.com) This Spurs fan is clearly happy! Sacked Mourinho. Kane wanted to leave. Spent three months looking for a manager that included Gattuso & Fonseca. Hired Nuno, lost 0-3 to United, Nuno sacked. 9th in November. Six months later #Spurs have Champions League football. Thank you Antonio for making us believe again. pic.twitter.com/wJNMyeO1WJ — The Spurs Express (@TheSpursExpress) May 22, 2022 Antonio Conte told the media that leading Tottenham back into the Champions League by finishing fourth as one of the best achievements of his career. Spurs hammered Norwich 5-0 on the final day of the season to secure t...

 AFC Bournemouth 0 - 1 Manchester United Manchester United are now only a point from the Champions League after Casemiro's stunning overhead kick edged Manchester United a massive step closer.  In a match that was clear-cut opportunities, a piece of magic from Casemiro proved the difference. The midfielder picked up a beautiful pass from Christian Eriksen and turned away from Marcos Senesi before acrobatically hammering home. As was the case against Wolves last week , United lacked urgency against Bournemouth with Dominic Solanke twice going close and David Brooks forcing a fingertip save from De Gea. They were without their top goal scorer this season, Marcus Rashford , and struggled to mount a serious threat for much of the time after their goal.  Wout Weghorst almost scored late on. His strike was punched away by the Bournemouth keeper and kept the score at 1-0. Bruno Fernandes also nearly scoed before that. They managed to see the game out though, and thanks t...

Let's explore Manchester United's 2023/2024 season. It was a campaign full of drama. There was a lot of controversy throughout, but it finished with glory as they beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final at Wembley.  After being eliminated from the EFL Cup in the fourth round by the previous season's finalists, Newcastle United, they also experienced their worst performance in the Champions League group stage. They then finished in 8th position, their lowest ever place in the Premier League era.  We will now experience some of those key reports and stories from the season. The season started with a 1-0 win over Wolves. In this match, Raphael Varane secured the decisive goal with just 14 minutes remaining, propelling Manchester United to a somewhat lucky victory. It wasn't a great performance though and perhaps a sign of things to come. A few weeks later, they lost 3 - 1 at home to Brighton. After this match, we spoke to Liam, a United Season Ticket holder. He said: ...

Manchester City v Real Madrid Preview We explore what has the potential to be the match of the season. Author - Macca A clash between two of the biggest forces in English and Spanish football is nothing new. When Manchester City and Real Madrid meet in the UEFA Champions League, it will mark the fourth consecutive season they’ve faced off in the knockout stages of Europe’s elite club competition. However, this time, it’s in unfamiliar territory—the playoffs. Under the tournament’s new format, only the top eight teams in the expanded league phase secured direct passage to the last 16, and both City and Real fell short. City scraped through in 22nd place after a comeback win at home to Club Brugge in their final group match, while Real had a rocky start, losing three of their first five games before recovering to finish 11th. For the fourth season in a row, one of these European giants will see their Champions League run cut short by the other. City’s performance in this playoff...