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CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: MAN CITY FACES REAL MADRID TEST
Pep Guardiola faces a resumption of hostilities with Real Madrid after Manchester City were drawn against the Spanish giants in the last 16 of the Champions League, while there will be a rerun of the 2012 final when Chelsea meet Bayern Munich.
The draw was tough for the Premier League sides, with Liverpool landing a two-legged tie against Atletico Madrid.
However Tottenham will be relatively satisfied after drawing RB Leipzig from the group winners.
Finishing top of their group has not done much for City’s hopes, even though they will play the second leg of their glamour tie against Real at home.
Txiki Begiristain, City’s director of football, admitted the difficult task of facing Real, saying: “It’s a difficult one. Real Madrid are the best. We want to be the best so we have to try and beat them.
“It’s always a pleasure to play against Real Madrid. We know them very well. They know our manager.”
Real’s enviable firepower will push City’s defence to the limit, though Guardiola’s links with Barcelona means he will not lack motivation when he comes up against the 13-times European champions.
The City manager beat Real in the semi-finals when he was in charge of Barcelona in 2011 but he lost heavily to them over two legs with Bayern in 2014.
Memories of beating Bayern eight years ago will boost Chelsea when they face the Bundesliga champions.
But while Frank Lampard played in that game, the Chelsea manager will know his inconsistent team will need to find form against the Germans, especially as the second leg will be played at the Allianz Arena.
Liverpool will need to be at their best to deal with Atletico, who are always hard to beat. The European champions have the second leg at Anfield but Diego Simeone’s team have a history of upsetting the odds in Europe.
Atletico director Clemente Villaverde said: “The task is going to be difficult because we have an opponent that are the reigning champions.
“They are the champions, they have all the assets to be called the best team in Europe. We will have to use all our hard work and our experience. We know they are not going to make it easy.”
Tottenham, who finished second to Bayern in their group, will be relieved to have avoided one of the heavyweights.
However Jose Mourinho’s team cannot afford to underestimate Leipzig.
Julian Nagelsman’s side are top of the Bundesliga and have an attack led by one of the best young forwards in Europe, Timo Werner.
Former Spurs defender and their club ambassador Ledley King noted: “It’s a tough task. They play with a lot of pace and intensity and have proved a surprise package.
“It’s a challenge we won’t be taking lightly. I hope that our experience of being in the Champions League will be important. The manager has been there and done it. His experience will rub off on the players.”
Elsewhere, Barcelona will face Napoli, Atalanta meet Valencia, Borussia Dortmund play Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon will take on Juventus.
The draw: Borussia Dortmund v Paris Saint- Germain; Real Madrid v Man City; Atalanta v Valencia; Atletico Madrid v Liverpool; Chelsea v Bayern Munich; Lyon v Juventus; Tottenham v RB Leipzig; Napoli v Barcelona (First legs to be played on Feb 18 and 19, 25 and 26. Second legs to be played March).
UEFA appears poised for an emergency vote on suspending Israel from European competition next week, with national federations scrambling to position themselves amid mounting political pressure following calls for action.
The brewing crisis intensified this week when United Nations experts called for Israel’s suspension from international football amid the unfolding genocide in occupied Palestinian territory.
A source confirmed that Europe’s soccer body could potentially decide next week to vote on whether to suspend Israel from European competition.
Should UEFA vote to ban Israel, it would put the organisation on a collision course with the government of the United States — co-hosts for the 2026 World Cup — which is vehemently against such a motion.
“We will absolutely work to fully stop any effort to attempt to ban Israel’s national soccer team from the World Cup,” a spokesperson for the U.S. state department told Sky News.
But even though UEFA has the power to suspend Israel or its clubs from their competitions, it may not be able to stop them from competing in World Cup qualifiers, which fall under the ambit of global soccer body FIFA.
The general secretaries of all UEFA national associations are meeting this week in Marbella, where Israel is not officially on the agenda, but officials expect UEFA to call an emergency vote next week.
FIFA did not respond to a Reuters request for comment while UEFA declined to comment.
Palestinian Football Association president Jibril Rajoub said Israelis should not be allowed to participate in any matches, whether they are under UEFA or FIFA.
“Israel has violated the principles, values and FIFA’s statutes. Therefore, I believe that Israel should be sanctioned,” Rajoub told TV2.
“The sanctions should come from UEFA and FIFA.”
WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS
Israel’s national team are set to face Norway and Italy, the top two teams in their World Cup qualifying group, next month.
“We don’t have any indications that we are facing such an act (UEFA suspension),” a spokesperson for the Israel Football Association told Reuters.
“We are focusing on our international matches against Norway and Italy.”
Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) is one of the member associations that have been the driving force behind calling for a meeting on the Israel situation. The NFF declined to comment.
Lise Klaveness, the president of the NFF and a member of the UEFA Executive Committee, has also been vocal about the crisis in Gaza ahead of her country’s home game against Israel on October 11.
“Neither we nor other organisations can remain indifferent to the humanitarian suffering and disproportionate attacks that the civilian population in Gaza has been subjected to for a long time,” Klaveness said in a statement last month.
“We want to donate the proceeds (from the game) to a humanitarian organisation that saves lives in Gaza every day and provides active emergency aid on the ground.”
The Dutch football federation (KNVB) said it knows nothing about a vote to suspend Israel.
“As soon as the football association receives a message about this, it will take a position,” the KNVB told Dutch outlet NOS.
Last week, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Israel should be banned from international sports competitions. However, officials from the Spanish FA (RFEF) have kept a low profile on the matter.
Israel maintains that its war is not against the population of Gaza but against the Hamas militant group whose fighters led the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and precipitated the war.
The subsequent war in Gaza has killed more than 65,000 people, according to local health officials.
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A hat-trick from George Agha and a sublime free-kick goal from David Edeh ensured a comfortable start for five-time world champions Nigeria in the WAFU-B U17 Championship, as the Golden Eaglets routed Baby Cheetahs of Benin Republic 4 -1 in Yamoussoukro on Wednesday.
Agha converted from the spot three minutes into the game after Boluwatife Thompson was hacked inside the box.
Edeh displayed fantastic football artistry to score from a free-kick in the 5th minute of the encounter.
The Eaglets were in cruise control as Agha bagged his brace in the 14th minute. The charges of Manu Garba were very dominant with a three-goal advantage.
Warris Soumanou in goal for Benin Republic was caught napping and his error of judgement gave the Eaglets another goal after a beautiful exchange of passes and dribbles between Thompson and Edeh, which set up Agha for his hat-trick in the 32nd minute.
It was raining goals and it was the turn of the Beninoise in the 45th minute, as a low drive from Jeremy Zannou gave the Baby Cheetahs a consolation goal.
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Mohamed Salah’s dramatic stoppage-time penalty ensured Liverpool maintained their winning start to the Premier League season with a 1-0 victory at promoted side Burnley on Sunday.
With British record signing Alexander Isak forced to wait for his Liverpool debut having been left out the squad for the trip to Lancashire, the champions struggled to break down a dogged home side in the first half.
After a regroup at the break, the visitors upped the ante in the second half, with Dominik Szoboszlai finally forcing a fine save from Martin Dubravka in the Burnley goal.
Burnley were holding on for a well-earned point with ease, before the ball agonisingly struck substitute Hannibal Mejbri’s arm in the penalty area and Salah slotted the spot kick into the net in the 95th minute to break home hearts.
Liverpool are still to really get going this season, requiring a winner in the last 10 minutes of all four of their league victories so far. The goal that clinched an undeserved success at Turf Moor was certainly the most fortunate.
After one of the longest transfer sagas in Premier League history finally reached its expected conclusion, Liverpool supporters were forced to wait two weeks for their first glimpse of their 125-million-pound ($169.45-million) goal machine due to the international break.
While coach Arne Slot said this week that Isak would have to be utilised carefully due to his previous injuries and lack of action so far this season, the Swede was still expected to at least be on the bench at Turf Moor.
The wait goes on as, without their expensive new forward, Liverpool mustered just one shot on target in the first half, from left-back Andrew Robertson.
Burnley, who conceded the fewest goals in English football league history last term to earn them promotion, otherwise frustrated the champions with ease. Even Lesley Ugochukwu’s red card for two bookings in the 84th minute did not seem to fluster them.
Even without Isak, Liverpool still had much attacking talent on the Turf Moor pitch but they just could not find that killer pass.
Salah was especially below par but he made no mistake in the most pressurised moment after Hannibal had stuck up an arm to block Jeremie Frimpong’s cross
The champions’ impressive Premier League goalscoring streak stretches to 38 games nonetheless, their longest such run in the competition.
-Reuters
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