Accused of not caring about his career and being unable to stay fit, Gareth Bale still retires as arguably the best British player to have played the game. The 33-year-old Wales captain announced his retirement on social media on Sunday. Despite a fractious relationship with the club, he will go down as a Real Madrid
To the chagrin of Arsenal, Man City eked out a 1 – 0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Thursday. After a lethargic first half, Man City came out for the second re-energised and scored just after the hour mark. Substitutes Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez combined for the game’s only goal. Chelsea rallied
We’ve known Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp for long enough to understand there are two distinct sides to him. The first – the triumphant, affable, charismatic German. The man who brought the good times back to Anfield. The second – the prototypical sore loser who complains about everything that was unfair on his players. It was
Arsenal have the chance to go ten points clear at the top of the Premier League with a win over Newcastle on Tuesday night. With two wins, the Gunners have picked up where they left off before the World Cup break. They’re about the only ones who have. Their rivals have struggled, with Manchester City
Olivier Giroud, fine player that he is, didn’t have pace when he was 21 and he certainly doesn’t now. When he’s sprinting past you in a World Cup semi final and you can’t keep up, it’s probably time to call it a day. That’s exactly what happened to Morocco captain Romain Saiss, who played on
In possibly the least anticipated World Cup semi final in history, France take on Morocco at the Al Bayt Stadium. How many ‘potential World Cup underdog’ theories were posited in the build up to and early rounds of the tournament? How many of them mentioned Morocco? None of them did, because what Morocco have done
The first World Cup Semi Final takes place Tuesday night as heavyweights Argentina face a dogged Croatia team. Argentina are the favourites, but that hasn’t meant much in this tournament and it certainly doesn’t against Croatia. The 2018 runners up must be a terrifying prospective opponent. Like principal Skinner pursuing a truant Bart Simpson, they
A controversial World Cup featuring Lionel Messi and a particularly petulant Cristiano Ronaldo means people aren’t talking about Olivier Giroud. That will suit him. France’s freshly-crowned all-time top goalscorer has always fought for recognition and continues to do so in Qatar. With Portugal eliminated, the prospect of a Messi VS Ronaldo final is off the
Arsenal look set to be the biggest victims of the winter World Cup after Gabriel Jesus required knee surgery. Gabriel Jesus took a knock during his first World Cup start, a dead rubber against Cameroon to conclude Group G. The Brazilian striker was immediately ruled out for the tournament pending a scan to determine the
Many of us are facing the frightening prospect of having to get a life for the next two days with no World Cup action. When the football resumes on Friday, we have four tasty quarter final ties to get our teeth into. Brazil are the narrow favourites to win the World Cup at 7/1, but
