A Beautiful Thread for the Beautiful Game

Mourinho has been sacked from AS Roma. While the club isn't exactly in the best situation right now, I don't think that sacking the manager was the best solution this time around.

And now Klopp announced that he'll leave Liverpool after the end of the season. He argues that he's running out of energy to keep the team on top and needs a break. This will conclude a very cherished era where he won (in the following order): A Champions League trophy, a UEFA Supercup, a Club World Cup, the first Premier League trophy for the club^note to clarify, the first in the current format of the competition, a League Cup, an FA Cup and a Community Shield. The only trophy he couldn't win was the UEFA Europa League trophy (he lost the final to Sevilla in 2016, though he still has a chance this season, and in fact Liverpool is one of the favorites to win this season's edition). He also reached one League Cup final and two Champions League finals, and was also very close to winning the Premier League earlier in 2019.

NEXT-DAY EDIT: And now Xavi announced that he'll leave Barcelona after having lost 3-5 to Villareal and fallen 10 points behind Real Madrid in La Liga...

Edited by MyFinalEdits on Jan 27th 2024 at 12:34:41 PM

Qatar has won the Asian Cup, after winning 1-3 against Jordania!

Also, there's an ongoing plan to implement blue cards in matches. These cards are meant for players who protest against referees or maliciously interrupt a rival who is within the chance of scoring a goal, and will expel them for 10 minutes. If a player gets two blue cards during a match, they'll become a red card for a full-fledged expulsion. Opinions have been mixed, as usual.

Also, Real Madrid is winning 4-0 against Girona in the Spanish league, which gives Madrid an important lead in the table.

NEXT-DAY EDIT: Ivory Coast won the African Cup by winning Nigeria 1-2!

Edited by MyFinalEdits on Feb 11th 2024 at 8:20:25 AM

Huh, Paraguay won the Olympic qualifiers around here, with Argentina in second place. Brazil is out, surprisingly.

Sadly, this means Venezuela is out as well.

The first leg of the UCL's Round of 16 began. Real Madrid got a very difficult (and not exempt from controversy) 0-1 victory against Leipzig, Manchester City began losing but ultimately won 1-2 against Copenhagen, PSG won 2-0 against Real Sociedad and Lazio took Bayern by surprise by defeating them 1-0. As for Europa League, the most interesting results are Milan's 3-0 victory against Rennes, Benfica winning Toulouse 2-1, and the intense 2-2 tie between Shakhtar and Marseille.

Speaking of PSG, it's officially confirmed that this season will be the last for Mbappé in the club. Where is heading next? Time will tell.

EDIT: I had posted about Betis' surprising 0-1 defeat against Dynamo Zagreb, but that was in Conference League instead of UEL.

Edited by MyFinalEdits on Feb 15th 2024 at 10:05:16 AM

Madrid. By now, everyone would expect them to pick up Mbappe when the season's done. The Mbappe transfer saga could be over by now after years of "will-they-won't-they" stories that everyone's getting sick and tired of.

The remaining matches of the first leg of the UCL's Round of 16 have been played. Barcelona was close to winning, but Napoli ultimately managed to score a goal during the last segment of the game for a 1-1 result. Arsenal lost 1-0 against Porto, Inter defeated Atlético Madrid 1-0, and PSV and Dortmund got a 1-1 tie. Few goals this time around, but at least the matches were entertaining.

Also, it's been confirmed that Tuchel will leave Bayern Munich at the end of the current season, making it the third European club to announce in advance their manager's departure (following up Liverpool's Klopp and Barcelona's Xavi). It seems like the next transfer market won't be limited to just the players (especially since Bayern and Liverpool will no doubt try to seduce Xabi Alonso)...

The Superclásico in Argentina ended with a 1-1 tie between River and Boca.

Liverpool won the League Cup thanks to Van Dijk's goal at 118'. Congrats!

Real Madrid got a difficult 1-0 victory against Sevilla, and keepn their 8-point advantage over Barcelona (9 points over Girona, too).

FOUR-DAY-EDIT: Fluminense won the Recopa Sudamericana after winning 2-0 against Liga Quito! Marcelo continues making history.

Also, the Copa del Rey's final will be between Athletic Club (which curb-stomped Atlético 3-0 today) and Mallorca.

On a less positive note, Paul Pogba was penalized with 4 years without being allowed to play football due to doping. This will very likely spell the end of his career. Ouch....

Edited by MyFinalEdits on Feb 29th 2024 at 2:49:56 PM

So, do you expect anyone in Italy to at least make a run for the title at this point? Inter is pulling quite ahead.

Oof... Inter's advantage is far too high for there to be a realistic chance that they don't win the league. Save for an unprecedented level of bad luck, I see Inter winning the trophy.

Things at Germany aren't much different, and I'd say that things are even more evident with Leverkusen being the only undefeated team in all of Europe (despite their advantage over Bayern being only +10 points and not +12 like Inter above Juventus in Italy). Also, let's be honest, Bayern is in a very precarious situation right now.

Ironically, despite Spain being often accused of just being "either Real Madrid of Barcelona will win", its league is the most suspenseful. Real has a +7 advantage over Girona and +8 over Barcelona, and I've heard lots of sports journalists say that Real Madrid will win the league. However, many players at Ancelotti's team are either injured or exposed to overextertion (also, three of their latest five matches ended in tie, including the most recent against Valencia which had a horrific ending...), so Madrid may end up conceding points along the way.

Well, the first four qualified teams for the UCL quarterfinals are in. Real Madrid went through a horrific time facing RB Leipzig, and I admit it almost felt traumatizing to watch this game. It was 1-1 in the end, which was enough for Madrid to advance through the next round thanks to their prior 0-1 win in Germany. But maaaan, they better step up their game or else... X_x

The ones who did step up their game were Bayern Munich, which won 3-0 against Lazio and manage to tip the scales after having lost 1-0 in the first leg. The other two teams that qualified had an easier time, with Manchester City securing a convincing victory against Copenhagen with a 3-1 score. PSG defeated 1-2 against Real Sociedad, the latter probably feeling unlucky to have won their group in the past round only to get the nastiest runner-up in the drawing.

The remaining matches of the 1/8 round will rap up next week!

Barcelona and Arsenal advance to the next round of the Champions. Barça beat Napoli 3-1 and Arsenal won 1-0 against Porto and in penalties won 4-2.

Also, thanks to Barcelona having eliminated Napoli, the second Italian berth for next year's Club World Cup (which will feature 32 teams instead of only 7) will gop to Juventus, which has a better score in the current club ranking.

NEXT-DAY EDIT: The remaining quarterfinalists are Borussia Dortmund (after winning 2-1 against PSV) and Atlético Madrid (after scoring 2-1 against Inter to equalize the scoreboard and then win in the penalty shootouts). The quarterfinals' legs will be drawn this Friday!

Oh, and River Plate won the Argentinean Supercup after defeating Estudiantes 2-1.

Edited by MyFinalEdits on Mar 13th 2024 at 2:59:02 PM

Well, the teams for the Libertadores and Sudamericana are decided. The groups are decided on Monday. Glad that Colo-Colo and Palestino made it past, really.

EDIT: The Champions Quarterfinals.

And the Europa League:

Edited by Blueace on Mar 15th 2024 at 12:47:38 PM

Sigh, City yet again...

Well, at least I hope Madrid do a more decent attempt this year.

Madrid looks better than last year, at least.

Double post, but the groups for the Sudamericana were decided.

And Copa Libertadores:

Edited by Blueace on Mar 18th 2024 at 9:31:22 AM

Huh, I didn't remember that the Sudamericana now uses group phases. Historically, all rounds were "win or die" (at least they had two legs each, so losing the first match didn't necessarily mean the end).

Also, River Plate in Libertadores will duke it out with a Venezuelan club! OwO

Edited by MyFinalEdits on Mar 18th 2024 at 9:14:34 AM

Chilean teams went and crashed with Brazilian teams.

After Courtois began recovering from the injury he got in one leg, he's suffering an injury in the other. This means he'll be out for the rest of the season (in fact, he hasn't played in this one at all -_-)

But right now there's an even worse news hailing from Spain. Luis Rubiales, who had lost his position as the president of the Spanish Federation after the scandal that arose between him and Jenni Hermoso last year in the final of the Women's World Cup, is now being waited in the country to be arrested due to corruption and irregularities (he's currently in Dominican Republic, but it's only a matter of time until he's extradited to Spain).

Hopefully these FIFA matchdays will provide some much-needed escapism from the current drama.

The USA won the CONCACAF Nations League, beating Mexico 2-0, although the game got interrupted a couple times near the end because... something unpleasant.

Jamaica got third place beating Panama 1-0.

Athletic Club won the Copa del Rey for the first time in 40 years, after having tied 1-1 with Mallorca and won 4-2 in the penalty phase. Congrats to the Leones! ^_^

On a less happy note, Bayern Munich has virtually guaranteed Leverkusen's triumph in this season's Bundesliga, after having lost 3-2 against Heidenheim (and yes, the were initially winning 0-2 but the other team tipped the scales with 3 goals). Truly a fall from grace for a club that won the sextete three and a half years ago...

I want to highlight the merits of Bayer Leverkusen, though. They won 0-1 against Union Berlin and only needs one victory the next matchday to become league champions for the first time in history! Truly a magnificent feat for Xabi Alonso!

Real Madrid 3 - 3 Manchester City

I admit I'm very annoyed over the result. Real Madrid never won in Etihad Stadium so they needed to win this match to have a chance to advance to semifinals.

Arsenal 2 - 2 Bayern

Didn't watch this one. I'm just surprised that Arsenal didn't fare any better considering that Bayern is in a major rut right now.

THURSDAY EDIT: Barcelona fared better by winning PSG 2-3 in their own stadium, while Atlético Madrid won Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in their stadium.

Also, in Europa League, Liverpool got trashed 0-3 by Atalanta. Holy scheiße!

And in Copa Libertadores, River Plate won 2-0 against Nacional (Paraguay). Also, Deportivo Táchira es dead last with 0 points. Ow...

Edited by MyFinalEdits on Apr 11th 2024 at 10:48:31 AM

Neverkusen no more! Leverkusen is officially league champion for the first time in their history!

In other news, Arsenal had the opportunity of a lifetime against Aston Villa. They lost. Now Man City is at the top of the table.