Unbeaten Barcelona run ended by Levante

Levante hosted Barcelona in the Estadi Ciutat de València for a La Liga clash between the two Spanish teams. The Catalonia giants had not been defeated up to this stage and were on course to be a part of the historical Invincible sides like Arsenal and Juventus who achieved this feat in their league. All they had to do was to avoid defeat in their last two matches but Levante had other ideas. Valverde started the match with Mina and Vermaelen in the middle of defense flanked by Semedo and Alba. He was made to rue this decision as he saw his Barcelona team ship in a number of goals. Barcelona started off well with Dembele fizzling a shot just too high over the goal before seeing his cross to an unmarked Suarez was blocked. On the 8th minute, Ghanaian striker Boateng scored from Jose Luis Morales cross. The forward scored Levante’s second on the 30th minute when he latched onto Sasa Lukic’s pass before rounding off Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and shrugging off a challenge from Barcelona right-back, Nelson Semedo. Philippe Coutinho reduced the deficit in half when he struck a beautifully curled effort on the 38th minute past the Levante goalkeeper.

From then, it was all Levante as Enis Bardhi scored just 33 seconds into the second half from a through pass by Jose Campagna. Boateng completed his hat-trick before Bardhi scored Levante’s 5th of the night. Barcelona needed to score 5 to win the match and they came close through Coutinho’s second-half double and Luis Suarez’s penalty. 5-4 was the final score from the match and Boateng shined on the greatest night in Levante’s 108-year history. This result marks the first defeat for Barcelona in La Liga meaning that Iniesta will leave the club without completing this final piece.

Manchester United through to the final after beating Tottenham 2-1

Manchester United have done it again and are on the right path to prove that they are becoming a competitive team in England. The club have been struggling since Alex Ferguson left but Jose Mourinho has achieved instant success after taking over from Louis Van Gaal. The Portuguese manager won what he calls a treble in his first season i.e. FA Community Shield, Carabao Cup and the UEFA Europa League which gave them qualification to the UEFA Champions League. This season, he tried to catch up with the cash rich City side who invested a lot but could not push for a title challenge as everyone anticipated. The club also crashed out of the Carabao Cup this season before being knocked out of the UEFA Champions League by Sevilla in the quarterfinals. Mourinho’s man now only had their eyes on the FA Cup for a last chance to salvage some silverware to the club. They had enough to defeat their opponents today to make it to the final of the tournament but it was not easy.

Dele Alli opened the scoring for Tottenham on the 11th minute from a Christian Eriksen cross and it looked like it was going to be a defeat for the Red Devils but they had other thoughts. The winter signing scored the equalizer for United to make it 1-1 on 24 minutes after Paul Pogba outmuscled Dembele on the left before delivering a perfect cross for the Chilean forward to score. Jese Lingard wasted an opportunity to give United the lead three minutes later when he blazed over the goal from a cross by Lukaku only 3 minutes after Sanchez had scored. Dier also had an opportunity when he shot from distance and saw his effort hit the post. Lukaku then combined with Sanchez in a counter attack that saw the Spanish midfielder, Ander Herrera scoring the winning goal. This is such a disappointment for the Tottenham team who have been improving year on year. They really need to start winning trophies soon if they are to keep their top talent because they have come short on so many occasions. Kudos Mourinho and his team. On to the next one now.

Messi scores a hat-trick against Leganes

Many Barcelona fans were probably angry when they heard that Messi was in the starting line up to face Leganes. This is not because the player is off form or that they do not like him. In fact, they love him too much to care for his fitness and wanted the coach to allow him a breather especially considering the number of crucial games that Barcelona are still yet to play. This concern is valid but coach Valverde had other ideas. He did not want to compromise on achieving the record which his club was set to equal if they brought their A game. Messi scored a sublime freekick on the 27th minute to open the scoring for Barcelona. This is his sixth goal that he scored from a free-kick this season. The Argentine magician was on the score sheet again 5 minutes later from a pass by Coutinho. 2 goals were enough before the break before Leganes came from the break with a hunger for scoring. They gave Barcelona a scare as their impact substitute, Claudio Beauvue, came close to scoring when he headed over from a good position. Pique also squandered an opportunity from close-range to make it three as he blazed his shot over the top. El Zhar’s goal on the 68th minute looked like it was going to spoil the record for Barcelona with the way they were playing in the second half. Messi then later on made sure that there wasn’t going to be any comeback from Leganes as he controlled Ousmane Dembele’s pass before scoring his 39th goal in all competitions. Do you think Valverde should have rested Messi in this match?

The Football Governing board to probe allegations of racism between France and Russia’s recent friendly match

The match between France and Russia showcased a fine performance from Paul Pogba, however the 90 minutes were overshadowed by the ugly side of the game. It has since been reported that monkey chants could be heard from the crowd and these were obviously directed at the black players in the France national team. The Russians do not seem to be learning from their mistakes and this probed the intervention of FIFA. Evidence from the pitch-side photographer’s testimony and the audible abuse on a television broadcast after Pogba’s goal are to be considered before any decision is to be made. FIFA have also contacted the anti-discrimination Fare Network to help them investigate the racism case. No comment will be released until they have reached a conclusion on that investigation. This incident is one of the many that has been raised against Russian teams and FIFA’s punishment does not seem to work. Football is becoming toxic to the victims and this needs to be stopped. What does this mean for the World Cup which is going to be hosted in Russia? If racism is failing to be curbed in these friendlies, what more when thousands of black people tour the country during football’s premier tournament?

Former Borussia Dortmund boss opens up about the reasons behind leaving the club

Former Borussia Dortmund boss Thomas Tuchel has publicly stated that he is no longer the man-in-charge thanks to the bomb attack that his team experienced during his time. Before the attacks, Tuchel had successfully managed to transition his team from Klopp’s old foe and tactics as he brought fresh players like Dembele and Pulisic who made his team’s attack very threatening. He won the DFB-Pokal in 2016/17 which was his only trophy before leaving the club at the end of the season. He admits that some of his former players are still traumatized by the bomb attack which happened so close to his team bus. This definitely had an effect on the team’s performances thereafter. There was also a major discrepancy claimed by Aki (Borrusia Dortmund Chairman) and Tuchel says that the essence of this discrepancy was that Tuchel was on the bus and the Chairman was not. This led to a fall out which resulted in Tuchel leaving. He is a talented manager and should be given a platform to express his abilities. Who do you think should hire Tuchel in the summer?