Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was at a loss for words after his missed opportunity against Olympiakos in Europa League round-of-32 action on Thursday.

Arsenal were shocked by Olympiakos in Europa League action. Roland Krivec/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

The Gabon striker scuffed on a close-range shot in the last seconds of added extra time in Arsenal’s 2-1 second-leg loss to the Greek club at the Emirates, eliminating the hosts due to away goals.

What was even more heartbreaking for Aubameyang was that he had scored a spectacular aerobatic goal minutes before that seemingly saw the English side through into the last 16.

“Very, very disappointing. What can I say? It is very, very hard. It was a tough game again,” the club captain told BT Sport after the match.

“I don’t even know [how I missed that chance late on]. I feel very, very bad. It can happen but I do not know how I missed this chance. I was tired, I had some cramps but it is not an excuse.”

Arsenal had beaten Olympiakos 1-0 in the first leg and appeared to have done enough to squeeze through when Aubameyang struck in the 113th minute to cancel out Pape Cisse’s 53rd-minute header.

But the visitors had the last laugh as Youssef El Arabi struck seven minutes later to delight the noisy contingent of away fans, with Aubameyang then missing a gilt-edged chance to force another twist with the last kick of the game.

As Olympiakos celebrated the win, Aubameyang was visibly emotional and shaken as he walked dazed on the pitch.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta offered his disappointment after the match but noted the loss couldn’t be pinned to Aubameyang’s late miss.

“It hurts, big time. We had a lot of hope in this competition. It was a great way for us to be able to go to Europe and it is a very beautiful competition to try to win,” Arteta said. “I think we did a lot of positive things in the game.

“I think we created enough chances to win the game, but if you concede two set-pieces again in a tie like this, then you put yourself in big trouble.

“This is football and sometimes it is very cruel when the emotions are [high], then in another moment they’re [low]. You have to able to handle that if you want to be in this industry so now it’s up to us and up to me to bring this place back in and move forward.”

With Arsenal ousted from the Europa League, the team must now beat Portsmouth on Monday in FA Cup fifth-round play for any hopes of silverware this season. They have an outside shot of qualifying for Champions League next season, sitting at 37 points in the Premier League standings.

“I just want to concentrate now on lifting those players and getting back the belief, and convince them that there is still a lot to play for, and move on,” Arteta said. “It’s part of this sport that a big disappointment can happen and it happened tonight. We have to learn and react as a team and as a club.”

Source – ESPN

The Nigerian forward got himself on the scoresheet in a European clash against Club Brugge, and couldn’t hide his joy post-match.

Photo by Getty Images

Manchester United striker Odion Ighalo described scoring his first goal for the club as a “dream come true”, and dedicated the strike to his late sister.

The Red Devils romped to a 5-0 win over Club Brugge in the second leg of their Europa League round of 32 tie on Thursday night, progressing to the next round 6-1 on aggregate.

Bruno Fernandes opened the scoring from the penalty spot just before the half-hour mark, after the Belgian outfit were reduced to ten men when Simon Deli handled the ball in the area.

Ighalo broke his duck moments later, showing off his predatory instincts to turn home a neat Juan Mata cut-back.

Scott McTominay added a third on his return from a two-month injury lay off, and Fred helped himself to two goals late on as United picked up their fifth win from their last seven matches across all competitions.

United took a gamble on Ighalo in the winter transfer market, bringing in the 30-year-old on loan from Shanghai Shenhua, but he impressed on his maiden start at Old Trafford.

When asked to describe his emotions post-match having got off the mark for his boyhood club, Ighalo responded: “It was a great moment, I have been waiting for this since making my debut.

“I have it now and it starts my goal career here at the team I have supported since I was a little boy.

“It is a dream come true and I thank God for that. “

Ighalo went on to dedicate his first-half strike to his late sister Mary Atole, who passed away suddenly in December.

He said: “I promise myself that every goal I score I will dedicate to her [his late sister]. So she is up there watching me and doing well for MUFC.”

The former Nigeria international added on how he has been able to settle into his new surroundings quickly at Old Trafford: “I know some of the guys from before and they are good lads.

“In the dressing room we have fun together and it’s much easier to gel with the team.”

United struggled to break Brugge down during the 1-1 draw at Jan Breydel Stadium last week, but produced a far more expansive display in front of their own fans.

“The confidence was high, we spoke about that before the game that it’s played at home and the fans are behind us,” Igahlo continued. “We had to go all out from the first minute and push to go to the next round and we did.

“The first goal opened up everything and the red card made it difficult for them, with our attacking and playing at home too. From the start, we worked hard until the last minute.”

The Red Devils will now prepare for a vital trip to Goodison Park to face Everton on Sunday, before attention shifts to a fifth-round FA Cup tie against Derby on March 5.

Source – Goal.com

Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski will miss the second leg of their Champions League tie against Chelsea after being ruled out for four weeks with a leg injury.

Robert Lewandowski scored his 11th Champions League goal in six games this season against Chelsea

The Poland international assisted two Serge Gnabry goals and scored a third as Bayern won 3-0 at Stamford Bridge in the first leg on Tuesday.

Bayern said he fractured his tibia near his left knee joint during the game.

The 31-year-old is likely to miss at least six matches.

Bayern – who are one point above RB Leipzig at the top of the Bundesliga – play four league games, a German Cup quarter-final tie with Schalke and the second leg against Chelsea on 18 March in the next four weeks.

Lewandowski has scored 39 goals in just 33 games for Bayern this season.

Source – BBC News

David Beckham says there were times he thought his Inter Miami Major League Soccer franchise “might not happen”.

David Beckham (front, third from right) is the owner and president of the new MLS franchise Inter Miami

Inter Miami play their first official match when they visit LAFC on Sunday.

It is six years since Beckham exercised an option to own a franchise – included in the deal that brought him to MLS from Real Madrid as a player in 2007.

In the intervening years Beckham was embroiled in arguments over a stadium site, with the club playing 30 miles from Miami before it relocates in 2022.

“It has been a long journey,” the former England captain told a news conference for the launch of the 25th MLS season in New York.

“There was never a moment when I said I would walk away but there were moments when I thought this might not happen.

“I have always loved a challenge. I didn’t realise how big a challenge this was going to be, even down to putting tiles in the showers.”

Beckham – who won two MLS Cups during his time with LA Galaxy – said progress at Inter Miami only started to be made when he teamed up with Jorge Mas in 2017.

Together with brother Jose, the Florida businessmen brought a local knowledge to negotiations that Beckham lacked, allowing positive discussions with local authorities to take place after years of frustration.

“Jorge was the game changer for us,” Beckham, 44, said. “I am not from Miami. I am from east London. I wasn’t getting us anywhere.”

Recent expansion sides Atlanta United and LAFC have made a big impact on MLS.

LAFC have reached the play-offs in both of their two seasons in the league. Atlanta have done even better, reaching the play-offs in three consecutive years and winning the MLS Cup in 2018, their second season in the competition.

“Kicking the first ball this weekend is going to be success for me,” said Beckham, as his side prepare for the start of their MLS Eastern Conference campaign.

“But I didn’t want to be in partnership with someone who was in it for a vanity project. I want my children to be able to say ‘my dad built this club’.”

Source – BBC News

The Bianconeri set unwelcome milestones both in attack and defence and have some work to do in order to turn round their last-16 tie.

Photo by Getty Images

Juventus found themselves on the wrong end of arguably the biggest upset so far in the Champions League last 16, but it is the manner of defeat that will perhaps give Cristiano Ronaldo, Maurizio Sarri and Co. most pause for thought.

Despite fielding the likes of Ronaldo, Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain on Wednesday against Lyon, Sarri’s men looked toothless in attack as they went down to a 1-0 defeat.

The Bianconeri dominated possession but were woefully short of precision in the final third, failing to register a single shot on target over the course of the 90 minutes.

Lyon struck after 31 minutes through midfielder Lucas Tousart and held on to secure a win that will heighten hopes of a giant-killing once the second leg gets going in Turin.

And while the result is displeasing enough for the Serie A champions, the statistics behind their first-leg reverse make for even grimmer reading.

Wednesday marked the very first time that Lyon have beaten Juventus in European competition having lost three of their previous four such encounters and managing just a single draw

Indeed, not since November 2009 had the Biaconeri lost against French opposition in the Champions League, with the last such setback coming in a 2-0 defeat against Bordeaux in the group stages.

It is also the first time the French outfit have come out on the winning side in a Champions League knock-out tie since February 2012, when they prevailed 1-0 over APOEL Nicosia.

Juve are usually a potent attacking threat in European competition, but on Wednesday they failed to test the opposition goalkeeper for the first time in over five years.

Not since October 2014, against Diego Simeone’s notoriously mean Atletico Madrid, had the club gone an entire Champions League game without a shot on target.

And while those attacking weaknesses will be of concern, all is not rosy at the back, either.

Juventus have conceded in seven consecutive away games in all competitions, their longest such run without a clean sheet in a single season since May 2010, when they were scored upon for 18 straight matches.

Sarri’s men will have the chance to put the record straight in the second leg on March 17 when Lyon visit Turin.

For now, their attentions return to Serie A, where they currently sit just one point clear of Lazio at the top of the summit.

This Sunday sees Inter, who lie five points behind with a game in hand after their weekend fixtures was cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak, travel to the Allianz Stadium for the Derby Della Madonnina, while Lazio take on Bologna on Saturday and have the chance to go top for at least 24 hours.

Source – Goal.com

Focus will turn to the Clasico ahead of the weekend but the Blancos are extremely unlikely to turn around a shattering first-leg result in Europe.

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For a few minutes, Real Madrid were back.

“Kings of Europe,” crowed the Santiago Bernabeu after Isco sent them one up on Manchester City against the run of play. There were vibes of the ‘three-peat’ team, the record 13-time winners with the scent of the trophy in their nostrils once again.

But it all fell apart in the final quarter of an hour, with Pep Guardiola’s side coming from behind to earn a 2-1 last-16 first-leg victory on Wednesday, exposing how Zinedine Zidane has only managed to paper over the cracks since returning at the end of last season.

Madrid were humiliated by Ajax at this stage a year ago, the nadir of a disasterous campaign, and this meltdown had shades of that as Gabriel Jesus and Kevin De Bruyne struck for the visitors before captain Sergio Ramos was sent off for a late professional foul.

Los Blancos still miss Cristiano Ronaldo, their brutal goalscoring hero, with new No.7 Eden Hazard nothing like the machine his Portuguese predecessor was. Instead the Belgian has spent most of the season injured, having arrived overweight and unfit.

Madrid have instead been heavily leaning on Karim Benzema’s state of grace, but the French striker missed his only chance against City and only has two goals in his last 13 games.

Zidane wanted Paul Pogba last summer but didn’t get the Manchester United midfielder and that meant his team still hasn’t solved their chance creation problem. Instead he had to watch the masterful De Bruyne set up Jesus’s goal and score the second himself from the spot.

Madrid have only succeeded in recent months thanks to a watertight defence, but that has disappeared now and was never something that a club with this squad should have been relying on.

Ramos and Carvajal showed why, with the latter oafishly scything down Raheem Sterling in the area for De Bruyne’s penalty and then the former earning his dismissal as he stopped Jesus’s run through on goal.

Manchester City’s system was designed to puzzle Madrid, giving them too much credit, and it also stopped them from creating much danger in the first half. Jesus spent long periods of at left wing-back, while De Bruyne was operating as a false nine.

It was similar to the way they set up in the Carabao Cup semi-final at Old Trafford, when they beat Manchester United 3-1 in January, but Madrid didn’t react to it. Instead Zidane’s side were content with a cagey first 45 minutes as they had more of the ball than Guardiola’s side, but were unable to do much with it.

It was a cautious chess match, with tight passages of play only rarely breaking out into fully fledged chances. The first came for Jesus, who cut in from the left but Thibaut Courtois made a good save to deny the forward.

Vinicius Junior should have sent Madrid ahead at the other end. Ferland Mendy whipped in a cross from the left and Benzema headed it towards Ederson’s goal. It was a dangerous effort but the Brazil goalkeeper brilliantly clawed it out, with Vinicius slipping as he tried to convert the rebound.

Source – Goal.com

Five Serie A matches will be played behind closed doors this weekend – including Juventus’ match at home to Inter Milan – because of coronavirus.

Juventus are top of Serie A by one point before they host third-placed Inter

Matches at Udinese, AC Milan, Parma and Sassuolo will take place without fans.

Games at Lazio, Napoli, Lecce and Cagliari will go ahead with supporters as normal, but Sampdoria’s match on Monday is yet to be decided upon.

Italy has put towns in northern Italy into lockdown after 229 people tested positive and seven died.

nter’s Europa League last-32 home match against Ludogorets on Thursday will also be played behind closed doors because of fears about the possible spread of the virus.

Inter were one of four Serie A clubs to postpone their games last weekend.

League leaders Juventus are ahead of second-placed Lazio by one point before they face third-placed Inter on Sunday evening.

Serie A fixtures to be played behind closed doors: Juventus v Inter (Sun, 19:45 GMT); Udinese v Fiorentina (Sat, 17:00 GMT); AC Milan v Genoa (Sun, 11:30 GMT); Parma v Spal (Sun, 14:00 GMT); Sassuolo v Brescia (Sun, 14:00 GMT)

Serie A matches to be played with fans: Lazio v Bologna (Sat, 14:00 GMT); Napoli v Torino (Sat, 19:45 GMT); Lecce v Atalanta (Sun, 14:00 GMT); Cagliari v Roma (Sun, 17:00 GMT)

Still to be decided: Sampdoria v Hellas Verona (Mon, 19:45 GMT)

Source – BBC News

The Polish keeper is currently on the books of Paris Saint-Germain, but spent three years with Premier League giants Chelsea before moving to France.

Photo by Getty Images

Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Marcin Bulka has revealed that former Chelsea team-mate Eden Hazard “loves hamburgers”, while Thibaut Courtois is said to have “a big ego”.

The Polish shot-stopper swapped life at Stamford Bridge for that at Parc des Princes during the summer of 2019.

He had spent three years in west London, moving through the ranks in a famed youth academy to make three senior matchday squads.

While forming part of the Blues’ plans, Bulka got to work with some household names that he has now lifted an intriguing lid on.

Belgium international forward Hazard also left Chelsea ahead of the 2019-20 campaign, as he completed a dream transfer to Real Madrid, but he has struggled for form and fitness in Spain.

Questions regarding the 29-year-old’s weight have followed him around for some time, and Bulka admits his diet is probably to blame for that.

He told Foot Truck of Hazard: “He loves hamburgers and pizza, I saw him all the time in pizzerias.

“He doesn’t care about anything other than football and having a good time.

“In Chelsea this was not a problem, but at Real, especially with the recent injury, he probably went a bit overboard with the weight.”

Hazard is not the only Belgian who has traded Stamford Bridge for Santiago Bernabeu to have fallen under the spotlight.

Bulka has also claimed that current Blancos No.1 Courtois was a selfish presence at Chelsea who refused to accept any kind of criticism.

He said: “He has a big ego.

“If he makes a blunder, he goes to the coach and says stuff like: ‘This defender wasn’t in the right position, he should have done this and that’.

“He does not want to accept the fact that it was his fault.”

While Courtois could be a disruptive influence at times, Bulka admits that N’Golo Kante is as humble off the pitch as he is hard-working on it – with the France international considered to be a top professional.

Bulka added: “True engine of the team, you can’t start without him.

“Very humble guy, never shows off about anything. Even when they won the World Cup, it was funny watching him awkwardly smile to the camera when everyone else was celebrating and singing with the fans.

“But he always wants others to shine. If he ran the marathon, he would probably beat that guy who just went under two hours.”

Source – Goal.com

Inter Milan’s Europa League last-32 home match against Ludogorets will be played behind closed doors because of fears about the spread of coronavirus.

Roma fans were seen taking precautions because of fears of the spread of coronavirus at the weekend

nter were one of four Serie A clubs to postpone their weekend game.

Talks have been taking place between the club, Italian government officials and European football’s governing body Uefa about Thursday’s fixture.

With 165, Italy has the largest number of cases of the virus in Europe.

Many schools and colleges have been closed in Milan on Monday, although the local transport system is operating.

More than 600 Ludogorets fans were due to travel from Bulgaria for Thursday’s Europa League last-32 first-leg match at the San Siro (20:00 GMT kick-off).

It is not known whether any restrictions will be applied to Sunday’s Serie A match between Juventus and Inter in Turin. The teams are first and third respectively in Italy’s top flight.

However, after a meeting of league officials on Monday, Italian football federation (FIGC) president Gabriele Gravina said: “For our Serie A championship we have planned for and asked to play the games behind closed doors.

“That could happen as early as Sunday.”

Speaking on television on Sunday Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, discussed the possibility of postponing more matches: “I too am a sports fan, and we will have to suffer a little bit, but at this point in time I wouldn’t even know whether these measures [prohibiting large gatherings] will continue to be enforced into next week.”

In the regions of Lombardy and Veneto, a lockdown is in place in several small towns. For the next two weeks, 50,000 residents will not be able to leave without special permission.

Even outside the zone, many businesses and schools have suspended activities, and sporting events have been cancelled.

About 77,000 people in China, where the virus emerged last year, have been infected and nearly 2,600 have died.

More than 1,200 cases have been confirmed in about 30 other countries and there have been more than 20 deaths. Italy reported two more deaths on Monday, raising the total there to five.

In rugby union, Italy v Scotland in the Women’s Six Nations was postponed on Sunday.

Pro14 games involving Ospreys and Ulster in Italy next weekend have been called off. Ospreys were due to play Zebre in Parma with Treviso the venue for Ulster’s game against Benetton.

The Italian Rugby Federation has suspended its National Championship and youth games next weekend.

Source – BBC News