FT Top 10 World Cup Snub: Honorary Mention - Leroy Sane

The FIFA World Cup is the biggest individual sports tournament in the whole world. Russia successfully submitted a bid and are going to be hosting this year’s World Cup. Many players have given their all during the 2017/18 season in a bid to get a sit on the plane to Russia to represent their national teams. Since the decisions lie on the managers and their team, it was bound that many players would be shockingly dropped in teams especially with a lot of competition for places. Here, we look at the 10 players who failed to make the cut on the final squad list.

Leroy Sane - Germany

Most arguably the biggest omission of them all. Leroy Sane, one of the best players in Manchester City’s title-winning squad, has been left out of the German team to compete at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. No one could have predicted that he would not make it having scored 14 goals and contributing 17 assists in the most competitive league in the world, the English Premier League. He also won PFA Young Player of the Year. Surely, Joachim Low has made a big decision that could backfire against him. He prefers Brandt and Draxler who have a combined 16 goals and 9 assists in the 2017/18 season. Clearly, these two are not on the 22-year old’s level which leaves us wondering. Why is it that he has been dropped out of that German squad? We need answers!

Mohamed Salah wins PFA Player of the Year Award

There were only two contenders for this season’s PFA Player of the Year award. The newly crowned champions’ Kevin De Bruyne and the current top goal scorer and record breaking Liverpool forward, Mohamed Salah. The two players have been outstanding for the greatest parts of this season. De Bruyne received praise from the likes of Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Thierry Henry, and Jamie Redknapp for his brilliant passing ability and work rate. The pundits have since drawn comparison of him to the greatest midfielders to have ever played in the Premier League. They call him a hybrid of Paul Scholes and David Beckham in one player who has been crucial to Manchester City’s success this season as they won the Premier League and the League Cup. The Citizens were rooting for him to win the award of the best player this season but they were disappointed to hear that their midfield general could not walk away with the award. Mo Salah, of Liverpool arguably deserved it more after coming into a different league and hitting everyone by surprise with 31 league goals already, equalling the record set Suarez, Shearer and Henry in a 38 game season. The Egyptian player has enjoyed a dream start to his life in England also helping his club reach the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League.

Leroy Sane also won the PFA Young Player of the Year award for his outstanding contribution this season. It was quite a shock not to see him in the team of the year for this season because he was arguably the best creator on the wings in the 2017/18 season. Guardiola really has a talent in the 22-year-old German and will hope to build on this season to push for more titles.

Salah returns and shutters Manchester City’s hopes

The two clubs met in the second leg of the clash where Manchester City were hopeful of not cutting down the 3-0 deficit from the first but also to turn around the tie into their favor and qualify to the next round. People were interested in finding out if Salah was going to start the match or not after picking up a groin injury in the first leg of this clash. It was a relief for the Liverpool fans when they heard that their start man was available for contention. Pep Guardiola made changes to the team that played the away leg as he introduced Raheem Sterling and Laporte back to the squad ahead of Gundogan and Kompany. The shocking omission was Aguero who was benched for Jesus in an attacking team filled with pacey forwards. The match kicked off with high expectations on both teams to produce an amazing performance.  Manchester City was off to a good start as they dispossessed Van Dijk and Sterling fed Jesus to score the first. It was 1-0 after 3 minutes and Liverpool were definitely parking. Manchester City dominated the first half and created many chances that should have hit the back of the net. Bernardo Silva hit the post once and Sane put the ball into the net but the ball was controversially ruled offside. City really felt hard done in a match that was intense and saw the referee producing about 5 yellow cards and saw Pep Guardiola being sent to the stands for his outrageous reaction at half-time. Arteta was under pressure as he was the man-in charge and Liverpool scored an equalizer through Salah after Mane’s brilliant run. The Manchester club had a mountain to climb as they needed to score 4 more goals to qualify. Aguero was introduced at the expense of David Silva but the damage was done. The match ended 2-1 to Liverpool after Firmino scored the second on the 77th minute which means that Liverpool are through to the semifinals with a 5-1 aggregate score. The Egyptian has once again made the difference in a big match as he scored a killer blow. It has been a while since Africa had a player that would contend for the Ballon d’Or. Mo Salah is a contender this year. What’s your take?

In other news, Barcelona were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League after losing 3-0 to Roma away from home. Roma had scored an away goal in their first leg where they lost 4-1. The scorers on this day were De Rossi, Dzeko and Manolas. Roma had enough to eliminate Barcelona by overturning a 3-0 deficit for the first time in the history of the UEFA Champions League.

Manchester United earn bragging rights by defeating City 3-2

The result means that Manchester City’s party has to be postponed. Manchester City were looking to be confirmed the champions of the 2017/18 season after defeating Manchester United on Saturday. Only a win would do on the occasion and 30 minutes into the match, they were already 2 goals up and on-course to be the champions. Leroy Sane delivered in a fantastic ball that was met by the City skipper, Kompany who bullied Smalling and scored he opener past De Gea.  Gundogan scored the second just a couple of minutes later after fooling Nemanja Matic with a beautiful turn before picking the ball into the net. City probably thought they were going to run away with the win. Little did they know that Paul Pogba had something planned to spoil the party as he scored a brace moments after the restart. The game was level at 2-2 thanks to Pogba’s first goals against a top 6 team in the Premier League. Alexis Sanchez, who provided the second for the Frenchman, was at it again as he whipped in a pass that was volleyed home by Smalling and give United the lead in the match. Manchester City were denied a clear penalty late in the match after substitute Aguero came on and was crunched on the shin by Young in the box but the referee waved clear. The Argentine tried to leave a mark on the match with an effort that only required a world-class save from De Gea to stop it from entering. Raheem Sterling also squandered a glorious opportunity to level the matters in the derby which ended 3-2 to United. Paul Pogba went home with the man of the match award and this piled pressure on a City side that has a mountain to climb in reducing the 3-0 deficit in the UEFA Champions League Quarter-Finals.

The other derby played on the same day was not as entertaining as it ended in a goalless draw. Everton were made to wait for their first win against Liverpool in a longtime.

Manchester City shocked by a 3-0 defeat from Liverpool

The mind games played by Klopp prior to this match evidently had an effect on the result of the match. He talked about his team’s strengths and predicted that his team could hurt Manchester City on Wednesday night. Before we look into how that happened, we first have to look into a special moment leading into the match.

The Manchester City bus was attacked by Liverpool fans on its way to the Anfield for the UEFA Champions League clash between the two teams. The violent scenes saw a window smashed and Liverpool FC immediately apologized when they heard the terrible news. The damage was done though because it instilled fear into the City team that was full of confidence from their domestic dominance. The match kicked off later and Liverpool were on the front foot. Roberto Firmino robbed Kyle Walker before sliding a pass to the Egyptian Messiah, Mo Salah, who fired in past Ederson in the 12th minute. Leroy Sane almost provided a quick response to his team when he charged down Liverpool’s defense only to see his miskicked effort going wide. That was the end of Manchester City’s contribution in the first half as Liverpool produced a blistering performance leading to a second goal by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who shot past Ederson from 25 yards out. What a hit it was by Ox, leaving Ederson to watch helplessly as the ball whistled by him into the net. City’s defense continued to look in disarray and failed to cope with the intensity of the home side. Sadio Mane headed down the 3rd from a cross by Mo Salah on the 31st minute and that was it for the night. Guardiola’s tactical approach of playing Gundogan instead of Sterling did not pay off as they failed to produce one short on target in the first half. The second half was better by the City side who dominated in possession and forced Liverpool to defend fantastically. Trent Alexander-Arnold went home with the man of the match award after a fine defensive performance at right-back in charge of shutting down Sane. He also blocked Silva from scoring a cross in the second half to ensure Liverpool win without conceding. City have a tough mountain to climb now just like Juventus. Can they produce a special moment in the return leg?

On another front, Barcelona won 4-1 against Roma thanks to two own goals and a goal apiece by Pique and Suarez. Messi had a fine game but the match showed that the player is still struggling with fitness issues.

Manchester City just one win away from winning the EPL

Manchester City won 3-1 away to Everton and are just 3 points away from winning the English Premier League. They are already being called the Champions Elect thanks to their amazing performances this season. On the day of the return of the EPL from the international break, Leroy Sane broke the deadlock early on in the match. Sane’s fine volley on the 4th minute brought a buzz at the away end in Goodison Park and brought confusion to Sam Allardyce’s team. Gabriel Jesus added salt to the wounded side when he followed that up with a fine headed goal on the 12th minute. 2-0 was the scoreline under 15 minutes and this was not great start for Everton. When Raheem Sterling scored the third on the 37th minute, it was already game over for the Merseyside club. City ran with the lead at the break and Everton never looked like they could do anything about that. Yannick Bolasie tried to initiate what would be a great comeback against the high fliers by scoring on the 68th minute but that was it. Everton were poor on the night in front of their fans and they have to go back to the drawing board and find solutions on how to beat the best teams in the league. Their ambitions of fighting for Europe with the clubs like Tottenham and Arsenal are very far from their capabilities hence the need to be patient. City however are just a win away from being crowned the champions and this can be made special if they win it against their rivals United.