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Atalanta reach Champions League for the first time
Atalanta qualified for the Champions League for the first time on a dramatic final day of the Serie A season. Atalanta qualified for the Champions League for the first time in their history on Sunday, coming from behind to guarantee their place with a 3-1 win over Sassuolo in a match marred by a brawl. Domenico Berardi, who was later sent off during the fight, gave Sassuolo a shock lead in the 19th minute but Duvan Zapata levelled before halftime and second-half goals from captain Alejandro Gomez and Mario Pasalic sent Atalanta into Europe’s showpiece competition. Atalanta, usually a midtable team, finished third in Serie A with 69 points, ahead of Inter Milan on their head-to-head record, and one point in front of AC Milan, who missed out despite a 3-2 win over SPAL. Although Atalanta wer...
Kroos signs Madrid contract extension to 2023
The World Cup-winning midfielder will be sticking around at the Santiago Bernabeu, with another 12 months added to his terms in the Spanish capital Toni Kroos has committed his future to Real Madrid by agreeing a contract extension through to 2023. Kroos, 29, joined Madrid for €25 million in July 2014 and won 12 trophies including three Champions Leagues and one La Liga title in his first four seasons in Spain. The World Cup winning-midfielder had been tied to the Blancos until 2022, but another 12 months have now been added to his terms at the Santiago Bernabeu. That means he will be going nowhere during a summer expected to deliver much change in the Spanish capital. Real said in a statement on their official website: “Real Madrid CF and Toni Kroos have agreed to extend the player’...
Lyon Beat Barcelona 4-1 In Women’s Champions League final
Lyon continued their remarkable European dominance against Barcelona. French giants secure a fourth consecutive Women’s Champions League title with 4 goals. Three weeks before the world cup in France (June 7- July 7) Lyon beat Barcelona in the women’s champions League final by 4-1. Both teams feed with players the French and the Spanish national teams. Ada Hegerberg scores 4 goals and Dzsenifier Marozsan scored the other one. The French team won their fourth consecutive champions league and the sixth in their history. FC. Barcelona had the first opportunity to score of the game. Toni Duggan took a shoot that ended up very close to Sarah Bouhaddi’s right post. However, Lyon counterattacked and opened the scoreboard in the fifth minute by Dzsenifer Marozsan. Lyon th...
Arsenal’s Mkhitaryan Will Not Play In Europa League Final
Arsenal’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan Will Not Play In Europa League Final Because UEFA Can’t Guarantee His Safety Arsenal announced on Tuesday that star midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not be joining the club in Baku, Azerbaijan for the Europa League final against Chelsea due to safety concerns, depriving the London club one of its best players for what seem to be entirely avoidable reasons. Mkhitaryan is from Armenia, Azerbaijan’s neighbor with which it has a strained relationship. Due to the longstanding conflicts between the countries, Arsenal feel like Mkhitaryan would not be safe venturing to Baku for the final. This despite UEFA and the Azerbaijani soccer authorities insisting as recently as last weekend that they could guarantee Mkhitaryan’s safety. Tahir Taghizadeh, the Azer...
Real Madrid’s unwanted Champions League hero
It is almost a year to the day since Gareth Bale scored probably the greatest ever goal in a Champions League Final – a brilliant overhead kick in Kiev to beat Liverpool and once again deliver the trophy to Real Madrid. Bale scored again that night and it was his two goals that made the difference in a 3-1 victory and meant that he – and Madrid – had won the European Cup for the fourth time in five years and further enhanced his status as the most successful British player ever to play for an overseas club. Except Bale had come off the bench. Coach Zinedine Zidane preferred Isco for the final and afterwards Bale left the door open that he might be on his way out of Madrid. “I have to sit down in the summer and discuss it with my agent and take it from there,” he said. The evening summed up...
Wayne Rooney has driven a revolution at DC United
For years, DC United had targeted June 2018 as a turning point. It was the moment everything would change for one of American soccer’s most storied institutions, which had fallen on tougher times in recent years. And, as it happened, the opening of a new $400m stadium last summer did coincide with a dramatic upturn in fortunes for the club. Bricks and mortar cannot explain what has happened at DC United over the past year, though. Whether by design or not, the opening of Audi Field coincided with the arrival of Wayne Rooney, something that will go down as the most significant moment in DC United’s recent history. The former England and Manchester United striker was always likely to make an impact in MLS, such is his undoubted quality, but few predicted the cultural change he would bring to...