The Scottish Football Association issued a fast track notice of complaint on Tuesday against the Scotland international for allegedly committing a sending off offence that went unseen by match officials. Christie had already been booked before the incident at Parkhead. Television replays appeared to show him grabbing at Morelos's groin.
Did you have a cage in your local park with actual goals? Lucky you! For mere mortals it was a case of piling up some jumpers - maybe a few T-shirts thrown in as well - and strategically placing them an equal length apart. Many debates were had over whether it had gone in off the inside of the "post". Pay your subs!Premier League stars are paid millions to play football. For the rest of us, we rocked up to five-a-side and Sunday league games with our £3 subs to pay for the pitch hire.
Ronaldo is only the third Juve player ever to score 30 goals in a Serie A season, while Immobile is the fifth Italian to reach that landmark. The pair have also equalled the record of penalties scored in a Serie A season with 12, level with Lazio's Giuseppe Signori in 1995-96. Ronaldo is the fastest player to score 50 goals in Serie A this century, with 61 appearances. His second goal was his 51st.
Thierry Henry had scored twice, superbly, to leave the Blues trailing. The Portuguese threw Lucozade bottles and kicked tubs of Vaseline around in a fury, angry that his side had been on top but trailed. Eidur Gudjohnsen equalised in the first minute of the second half. Message received. Soon Mourinho would tell his players that not only would they be champions, they would win the league at Bolton with three games remaining.
The teams will meet again in the third round of the FA Cup in January, but it's looking unlikely Silva will be in charge then unless there is a very dramatic turnaround in fortunes. MAN OF THE MATCH Sadio Mane (Liverpool). Stole the show with a pair of sumptuous assists and a superb goal of his own. Showed just why he has had the likes of Lionel Messi hailing his brilliance, but should have added to his tally when through on two occasions late in the match.
The Scottish FA released a statement admitting that one of the three-person panel looking at the appeal “did not undertake their obligations with respect to the consideration of all the available evidence”. Translation: someone couldn't be bothered/forgot to watch the tape and just waved it all through.
Tanjong Pagar are back in the Premier League. They haven't played in the top division since 2014. They looked good in offense in the first match against Lion City and I wait for goals from them when hosting Albirex Niigata that conceded two goals in the latest match against Balestier.
Here are three talking points from the weekend's La Liga action: Real's fringe players step up Real hosted fourth-placed Sevilla missing four first team regulars, including captain Sergio Ramos and forward Gareth Bale - but you would not have known it. They rode their luck and got the benefit of a dubious VAR call, but Zinedine Zidane's side are showing they have the fighting spirit to overcome adversity and are finding ways to win with squad players stepping up.
Second-half goals from Senad Lulic and Danilo Cataldi won the match which was being played in Saudi Arabia for the second year running. Lazio also beat Juventus 3-1 in Serie A on December 7, handing their opponents their first defeat under coach Maurizio Sarri. Lazio, the Coppa Italia victors, went ahead after 17 minutes when Sergei Milinkovic-Savic laid the ball off for Luis Alberto to fire into the net.
In the past, Lund and IFK Malmö have had three matches on neutral ground in 2009, 2015 and 2019. At the moment Lund is not as strong as before, they are playing in Swedish 2nd division. . Last season, Lund ranked 14th on the standings with 29 points after 30 matches. In the home games from the beginning of the season, Lund was constantly disappointing. Specifically, the previous 12 guests in all competitions, Lund lost 9 times. The last two home matches they have even lost. Across the front line, IFK Malmö won the hearts of fans when unbeaten 4 out of 5 recent matches (won 3, drew 1)
Three consecutive defeats before the break put Frankfurt boss Adi Hutter under pressure to turn things around. However, there weren't any signs of an improvement upon their return to the pitch when they were battered in a 3-1 defeat to Gladbach. That scoreline isn't a true reflection on how dominant Gladbach were in that fixture, a late Andre Silva consolation arriving long after the game had been sewn up.
A Villa victory over Arsenal later on Tuesday will mean the Hornets start Sunday in the bottom three, with their fate no longer in their own hands. Watford down and possibly outPearson's sacking came out of the blue, as the former Leicester boss was still within sight of securing Premier League survival - the remit given to him on his appointment in December. Having taken over with the club seven points adrift at the bottom of the table, he won seven of 20 matches - results that not only lifted them out of the bottom three but also gave him the best win percentage of any Watford boss since they were promoted in 2015.
The Mali forward, 28, scored what proved to be the winning goal in the 60th minute and celebrated the goal by pointing to his skin in response to a section of the home fans who had targeted him throughout the match. He was shown a yellow card for the reaction and after the abuse continued he tried to leave the pitch, pointing his thumbs down to the crowd, but was restrained by his team mates for a number of minutes.
Rodgers has challenged his other players to score more goals and added: "If you're needing 65 goals to get where you want to be, then it's no good having a striker with 40 when the others can't contribute - it's a team responsibility. Look at Roberto Firmino at Liverpool - he's scored 10, but look at his influence and what he gives and allows to the other players. With Jamie, when he's not scoring, he's creating space for others, but it's the responsibility of everyone - full-backs, centre-halves, midfielders, front players, and the guys coming off the bench, too, to contribute.
Ian Holloway was appointed as new Grimsby Town manager this week, something of a coup for The Mariners. They then proceeded to win their first game in 12 attempts, putting themselves just a point behind their opponents this weekend with two games in hand. Whether that victory was a result of the new manager bounce that so many sides benefit from or if there is something a little more substantial for the new manager to build on remains to be seen.
I hope the editors involved in running this headline take responsibility and understand the power they possess through words, and the impact those words can have. LUKAKU Lukaku also released a statement on social media accusing the newspaper of "fuelling racism". Instead of focusing on a battle between two teams, Corriere dello Sport comes with the dumbest of headlines I have ever seen in my career.
As long as Darmstadt do believe they have a chance to gain promotion this bet is for sure on as they are a decent side with only 5 losses all season long, would have been in even a better position if they would not have a 4-8-1 record at home this season while away from home they are 4-4-4, so just 5 losses for them all season long, while in comparison the hosts have just 5 wins all season long in the league, 2nd from bottom at this moment but not quite mission impossible to avoid relegation as there have been plenty of disappointing sides this season in the 2nd league level in Germany.
Birmingham vs West Brom predictions for Saturday’s Championship fixture at St. Andrew’s. Can the hosts get the better of one of the best teams in the league? Read on for our free Championship predictions and betting tips.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid) There’s no denying Vinicius is a frustrating figure to watch. The Brazilian found himself in a number of dangerous positions throughout the match, largely lacking a final product to make the most of that. But it was Vinicius who provided the electricity Real Madrid needed to claim a crucial three points, with his goal clinching the three points.
One mooted solution is for them to be squished into mini-tournaments, to hold the semi-finals and final over a few days in Istanbul later in the year, whenever it’s safe to do so. We realise this is about 20 miles down the list of priorities, and trying to take any positives from this whole thing can seem quite insensitive, but…that does sound brilliant, doesn’t it? After all of this is boxed off, maybe domestic associations can get on with sorting out the messes that are their leagues: they all have a range of solutions, none of them perfect, most of them unfair and all of them extremely likely to violently annoy someone.
| Team | Events |
Wins | Draws |
Losses | Goal difference |
Points |
1 | Bayern Munich |
19 | 15 |
1 | 3 |
43 | 46 |
2 | Borussia Dortmund |
19 | 13 |
1 | 5 |
20 | 40 |
3 | Union Berlin |
19 | 8 |
7 | 4 |
3 | 31 |
4 | Hoffenheim |
19 | 9 |
4 | 6 |
10 | 31 |
5 | Freiburg |
19 | 8 |
6 | 5 |
8 | 30 |
6 | Bayer Leverkusen |
18 | 8 |
5 | 5 |
12 | 29 |
7 | FC Koeln |
19 | 7 |
7 | 5 |
-2 | 28 |
8 | RB Leipzig |
19 | 8 |
4 | 7 |
13 | 28 |
9 | Mainz 05 |
19 | 8 |
3 | 8 |
6 | 27 |
10 | Eintracht Frankfurt |
18 | 7 |
6 | 5 |
2 | 27 |
11 | Bochum |
19 | 7 |
2 | 10 |
-10 | 23 |
12 | Borussia Moenchengladbach |
18 | 6 |
4 | 8 |
-9 | 22 |
13 | Hertha Berlin |
19 | 6 |
4 | 9 |
-17 | 22 |
14 | Wolfsburg |
19 | 6 |
3 | 10 |
-13 | 21 |
15 | Augsburg |
18 | 4 |
6 | 8 |
-11 | 18 |
16 | VfB Stuttgart |
19 | 4 |
6 | 9 |
-11 | 18 |
17 | Arminia Bielefeld |
18 | 3 |
8 | 7 |
-8 | 17 |
18 | Greuther Fuerth |
18 | 1 |
3 | 14 |
-36 | 6 |