Author: Dhivyadarsan G M

Following plenty of speculation and rumours that went on for the last few months, the Catalans have finally announced the signing of Dutch star Memphis Depay on their social media last night. The forward will join the club for free once his contract with French Club Lyon expires at the end of this month. “FC Barcelona and Memphis Depay have reached an agreement to join the club, once his contract with Olympique de Lyon has ended. The player will sign a contract until the end of the 2022/23 season,” the club’s statement read. This is Barcelona’s third free agent signing…

Liverpool ace midfielder Thiago Alcantara revealed that he hates the way modern football is headed and also talked about his opposition to VAR in an interesting interview with Guardian’s Sid Lowe. It causes long delays, and often both officials and players are left confused on which VAR should review decision. Spain international Thiago, who is currently busy with La Roja at Euro 2020, said that VAR removes the essence from football. Players make mistakes during a game, and it’s only natural when referees make mistakes too. “I have that ‘hate modern football’ mentality; I’m more classic in attitude. And then…

Antoine Griezmann expresses his wish to play in the Major League Soccer after finishing his current stint with the Catalans. The French international said last year that playing in the Major Soccer League is one of his career objectives which he wishes to achieve. The 30-year-old was asked if he wants to move to the MLS after three years, he told Le Figaro, “I still have three years to go. I have to pay attention to my body, because at any time it can change. My contract with Barcelona runs until June 2024 and after that, I think it will…

England have had an underwhelming Euro 2020 campaign so far. They barely scraped through against Croatia with a 1-0 win and struggled against Scotland all game in their second match of the competition. The lack of a cutting edge forward who can take on and engage two-three defenders while creating chances worked against England although manager Gareth Southgate did have two extremely useful talents in Jadon Sancho and Jack Grealish on the bench. There were plenty of calls for Grealish to come off the bench in Friday’s goalless stalemate with arch-rivals Scotland. England particularly struggled with lack of creativity on…

The football community in Norway has been fiercely critical of FIFA’s decision to hold the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and has also slammed Qatar’s abuse of human rights as they build up the biggest event in the sport next year. On Sunday, the football clubs in Norway will decide whether they will boycott next year’s World Cup in Qatar. The Norwegian Football Federation has been under severe pressure from grassroots activists regarding Norway’s involvement in the show-piece FIFA event. As a result, they have called up an extraordinary congress meeting in order to decide whether to participate or boycott…

Real Madrid’s defensive stalwart Raphael Varane, who is now guiding France at the Euros, has been a top priority for Manchester United as the Red Devils are in search of a centre back this summer. The news is very positive for United as the player’s agent prepares for a meeting with the club. Varane, who has been a regular alongside Sergio Ramos at Real, is all set to leave the club this summer. Although the decision is not yet final, there are high chances as he only has one year left in his contract. The 28-year-old has developed into one of the world’s…

UEFA have warned the United Kingdom government and the English football governing body about having a contingency plan in place, if the 2020 European Championship is deemed unfeasible to be staged at the Wembley Stadium in London. According to reports, Hungary might be the venue for the final if discussions between the UEFA and the UK government fall through. The reconstructed Wembley Stadium is scheduled to host the final of the Euro 2020 on 11th July. While the old Wembley hosted the final of the 1996 edition of this competition, this will be the first time when the new stadium will host…

England manager Gareth Southgate has voiced his support for the sponsors of UEFA European Championship 2020, after he was seen not doing a ‘Cristiano Ronaldo’ by keeping the Coca-Cola bottles at their place on the press conference table. The entire controversy started on Monday, 14th June, when Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo and his national team head coach Fernando Santos attended a press conference, ahead of their Group F clash against Hungary. Seeing two bottles of Coca-Cola placed in front of him irked the fitness-freak in Ronaldo, and he chose to remove the bottles from the camera angle. In a subsequent action, he also urged people…

UEFA have stated that they will investigate Marko Arnautovic’s disputed goal celebration in the match between Austria and North Macedonia at the UEFA European Championship 2020. This decision comes after the Football Federation of Macedonia (FFM) wrote a letter to UEFA, demanding the “harshest of punishments” for the Austrian forward. The incident happened in a Group C match between Austria and North Macedonia. Shanghai Port striker found the back of the net in the 89th minute to give his team a 3-1 lead. Just after he scored the goal, Arnautovic was seen mouthing a few heated words, initially directed at…

The match that will draw conclusion to the matchday 1 of UEFA European Championship 2021 is undoubtedly the most anticipated match of this matchday. It will be the clash of two heavyweights, France and Germany, at the Allianz Arena in Munich. The two teams are placed in Group F of the competition, which has been termed as the ‘Group of Death’ for completely justified reasons. Alongside France and Germany, the defending champions of this competition, Portugal are also in this group. Interestingly, Germany and France have crossed paths often in major competitions, but never in the group stage itself. These…