Football News: Review Of The Day 24th April 2022

Image from: freelargeimages.com

Review of the Day

Become a Patron!

Contracts

Transfers

Colorado Rapids have spent £245,000 to sign Gyasi Zardes from Columbus Crew.

Major League Soccer side New England Revolution have splashed out £3.33m to sign Colombian winger Dylan Borrero from Atletico Mineiro.

FK Rostov of the Russian Premier Liga have loaned Aleksandr Pavlovets to Warta Poznan. The Belarussian defender had been on loan to Ukrainian team Kolos Kovalivka but the deal was ended to allow him to join the Polish club in Poznan.

Injury Round Up

It looks like Paul Pogba's Manchester United career has come to a premature end after the 29-year-old French international picked up a calf injury that will keep him out for at least 4 weeks. The midfielder is out of contract in the summer with no sign of a renewal happening, despite United paying £89m for him to Juventus in 2016 for a player they had let go on a free from their academy to join Juve in 2012.

West Ham United have been hit badly with injuries ahead of their first appearance in a European semi-final since 1976. The Hammers have just Craig Dawson as a fit first-team centre-back as Issa Diop and Kurt Zouma have both picked up injuries to join Angelo Ogbonna on the sidelines.

Managerial Changes

Burkina Faso have appointed former Togo and Sudan coach Hubert Velud as the new head coach of their national team. The Frenchman led Sudan to qualification for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations but was sacked ahead of the tournament after Sudan's poor showing in the FIFA Arab Cup. Velud was manager of Togo when the squad was ambushed in a machine gun attack ahead of the 2010 Afcon in Angola.

Didier Drogba's attempt to become president of the Ivory Coast's football federation (FIF) has ended in failure. The former playing legend was beaten by businessman Yacine Idriss Diallo.

Disciplinary Charges

PSG Title Win Marred

Paris Saint-Germain won their tenth Ligue 1 title with 4 games left to play despite only managing a draw against ten-man Racing Lens. Despite having cause to celebrate, the PSG fans started streaming out of the stadium with 15 minutes left to play and celebrated outside without the players. The club's ultras are still annoyed at the way the Parisiens crashed out of the Champions League with a meek surrender against Real Madrid despite holding a first leg lead. Manager Mauricio Pochettino, who won his first-ever league title as a manager, said afterwards: "We are going through a difficult period with the fans and we hope it will get better. We're in a democracy and we accept all protests. But we have to show respect for this title." The players did not even do the traditional lap of honour at the end of the game.

Rangnick Cedes Top 4

Interim Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick has accepted that the club's hopes of qualifying for next season's Champions League are over following the 3-1 defeat to Arsenal at the weekend. Arsenal are now 6 points ahead of United in 4th place, with a game in hand as the season boils down to just 4 games for the Red Devils. Rangnick said after the game: "For me, even before the game it was not very likely, but after today's result it is gone, yes."

Bayern Stroll To Another Title

Bayern Munich have dominated the Bundesliga once again to win their 10th successive league title after taking a 12 point lead with 3 games left to play. Despite the ease of the title triumph manager Julian Nagelsmann claimed to receive online death threats after his team lost to Villareal in the Champions League. Bayern's German international forward Thomas Muller, setting a record by becoming the first player to win 11 Bundesliga titles, denied afterwards that it is boring: "It was an opportunity to set the record straight. There has been a lot of frustration recently and it was an opportunity to let off steam. Now everything is wonderful. We really wanted to win it here. There was a lot of frustration in the past days and we could play it off today. This is not boring. This is outstanding. The more you win the greedier you get every year."

Protests As Latics Slide

For the first time in their history Oldham Athletic have been relegated from the English Football League after a defeat by Salford City as the match was interrupted by on-pitch protests by fans against the club's owners. Oldham had spent 116 years in the league and have become the first team to play in the Premier League to drop into non-league. With 14 minutes left to play supporters streamed onto the pitch and staged a sit-in on the centre circle. The players were taken off the pitch by the referee until the ground was cleared and the final minutes were played out behind closed doors.

Become a Patron!

Written by Tris Burke April 24 2022 17:01:15