FOOTY BLAZE

Barcelona and Real Madrid will line-up against each other at the Camp Nou on Sunday to play their first El Classico in over a decade without the iconic Barcelona duo, Andreas Iniesta  Lionel Messi, and Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo. Luis Suarez and Sergio Ramos will once again lock horns against each other (Source: Beinsports) Julen Lopetegui and Real Madrid side will be once again under pressure to win against eternal rival Barcelona at the Camp Nou after a disastrous start to the season that has seen the reigning European Champions at the 7th spot in the La Liga table. A loss against the Blaugrana might lead to manager Julen Lopetegui getting the sack with reports of former Chelsea boss Antonio Conte set to take the reigns from the Spaniard. Barcelona, on the other hand, sits second in the table with a single point deficit to Atletico Madrid with the Madrid side having had a game more. While a morale-boosting victory over Italian giants Inter Milan ...

The reigning Premier League champions Manchester City is set to visit the home of English football, Wembley, since their FA Charity Sheild triumph when they take on a Tottenham side which has shown a lack of consistency. Manchester City will be looking to draw level on points with Liverpool after the Merseysiders won comprehensively against a hapless Cardiff City side while Tottenham will looking for the second victory of the season against another side from Manchester. The clash of the Premier League most potent strikers (Source: Sky Sports) Team News Manchester City will be bolstered by the addition of Kevin De Bruyne back into the starting XI while Ilkay Gundogan and Fabian Delph are doubtful for City. Danilo and Claudio Bravo are sure to sit out this on with an injury. Tottenham Hotspur will welcome back midfielder Dele Alli into the side while key defender Jan Vertonghen and Danny Rose are out injured. Predicted Line-up Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Trippier, Al...

The prodigal son returns to the hallowed grounds that saw the rise and rise of the young Portuguese winger from Madeira. On Wednesday when Manchester United hosts Juventus at the Old Trafford the Stretford end will once again sing the song "Viva Ronaldo" with the Portuguese winger donning the famous black and white striped jersey of the Old Lady of Turin. The match will also witness Paul Pogba playing his first match against his former club since his switch to the red of Manchester. This will be the first time since 2013, when Alex Ferguson infamously snubbed the post-match interview due to a harsh red card awarded to another Portuguese winger Nani, that Cristiano Ronaldo will be playing at the ground where he took his first step towards greatness. Manchester. This will also be the first time in 15 years that the two European giants will be facing off against each other and only the third time since the classic 1998/1999 UEFA Champions League semi-finals. Team News...

On Saturday Kerala are set to host its second consecutive home match with the hosts taking on Delhi Dynamos in the 13th match of the Hero Indian Super League. The team from the south have been in impressive form in their opening matches with victory in their opening match against ATK and then earning an unfortunate draw against Mumbai City at home. Delhi Dynamos, on the other hand, has been in poor form failing to win any of their opening two matches with a draw against Pune City and a loss against ATK in their first two home matches of the season. Team News Kerala Blasters Abdul Hakku and Cyril Kali are still injured for the Kerala Blaster while Prasanth is doubtful. Anas Edathodika is still serving his 3-match ban. Delhi Dynamos Midfielder Bikramjit Singh and striker Daniel Lalhlimpuia are doubtful for the team from the capital city. Kick-off Information Date: 20th October 2018, Saturday Time: 19:30 p.m Venue: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi Predicted XI Keral...

The day that saw a host of records being re-written in Benito Villamarin, England defeated Spain 3-2 in the UEFA Nations League match.  The match started with Gareth Southgate's cruising to a 3-0 lead at half-time that saw Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling scoring the first goal, his first goal for the Three Lions since his goal against Estonia on the 10th of October 2015, in the 16th minute with Marcus Rashfording adding the second in the 29th minute and Sterling completing his double in the 38th minute. Raheem Sterling was rewarded with the man of the match after scoring a brace, his first goal since 2015 (Source: Getty Images) The Spanish Armada was stunned by the pace of the English side as they tried desperately to keep the young lions at bay in the first half. The second half saw the 2008 World Cup winners enjoying much more space and freedom as they started to crawl back into the match with ono-form striker Paco Alcacer heading one in the 58th minute to make i...

Italian international and former AC Milan, Inter Milan and Real Madrid forward Antonio Cassano has announced his retirement from the World of football. One of the greatest talent in World Football who failed to live up to the expectations(Source: C1thejournal.ie) The 36-year old made a total of 514 appearances and scored 141 times while making 109 assist in a career that saw the Italian playing for Bari, Roma, Real Madrid, Sampdoria, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Parma. The Italian international won 2 Suppercoppa Italiana, 1 La Liga and 1 Seria A during his career and was named the Seria A Young Footballer of the Year twice. 

Arsenal legend and ex-Monaco player Thierry Henry is set to take up the AS Monaco manager role after Leonardo Jardim was sacked a couple of days before. Theirry Henry will be rejoining his boyhood club after more than 19 years since leaving for Juventus (source:  pininterest.com)  The 1998 World Cup winner will be taking on his first managerial role after serving as Belgium assistant coach during the World Cup. The forward spend 5 years with the Monaco based club and has 105 appearances and 20 goals to his name for the Los Monegasques. 

India has announced a strong 22-man squad to face China on the 13th in their first ever International Friendly meeting on Saturday India and China have faced off against each other 17 times and the Chinese have been victorious on 12 occasions with the rest ending as draws. The last time both the teams met was in 1997 at Kochi in the Nehru Cup and ended with the Red Dragons winning 2-1 The only major omission from the Indian squad is that of striker Balwant Singh who was denied Chinese visa after finding that his passport will expire in 6 months. Indian Squad Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Karanjit Singh Defenders: Pritam Kotal, Sarthak Golui, Sandesh Jhingan, Anas Edathodika, Salam Ranjan Singh, Subashish Bose, Narayan Das Midfielders: Udanta Singh, Nikhil Poojary, Pronoy Halder, Rowlin Borges, Anirudh Thapa, Vinit Rai, Halicharan Narzary, Ashique Kuruniyan Forwards: Sunil Chhetri, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sumeet Passi, Farukh Choudhary 

Chelsea legend John Terry is set to take the Aston Villa assistant coach role role with Dean Smith set to take the hotseat after the departur of Steve Bruce. John Terry will be taking his first coaching stint since his announcing his retirement a couple days ago (Source:  lastwordonfootball)  John Terry who had a 19-year trophy laden career with the Blues, last played with Aston Villa making made 32 appearances for the 8-time champions of England before announcing his retirement from active football a couple of days back. After 12 rounds of the English Championship Aston Villa languishes in a precarious 15th position. 

Kylian Mbappe is the first footballer to be nominated for both U21 Balon d'Or and Balon d'Or award (Source:  foot01)  The France football has announced the 10 men shortlist for the first ever Trophee Kepa or the U-21 Balon d'Or,  presented to the best young player in the age group. The trophy is named after the French football legend Raymond Kopa and will be presented along with the 2018 Balon d'Or. 2018 Trophee Kopa Nominees Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool,  England) Houssem Aouar (Lyon,  France) Patrick Cutrone (AC Milan, Italy) Ritsu Doan (FC Groningen,  Japan) Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan, Italy) Amadou Haidara (RB Salzburg, Mali) Justin Kluivert (AS Roma,  Netherlands) Kylian Mbappe (PSG,  France) Christian Pulisic (BVB Dortmund, USA) Rodrygo (Santos, Brazil) 

The 2018 Balon d'Or award is set to be presented in the 3rd of December. (Source: Marca) The 30-man shortlist for the Balon d'Or contains 8 players from the Champions League winning Real Madrid, 4 players from the runners-up Liverpool, 3 players each from Atletico Madrid, PSG and Barcelona, 2 players each from Manchester City, Chelsea Juventus and Tottenham and finally 1 from Manchester United make up the 30-man shortlist. David De Gea, who made it to the UEFA FIFPRO XI team this year is the only a notable absentee in the nominations. Balon d'Or: 30-man shortlist Sergio Aguero (Manchester City, Argentina) Alisson Becker (Liverpool, Brazil) Gareth Bale (Real Madrid, Wales) Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France) Edinson Cavani (PSG, Uruguay) Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus, Portugal) Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City, Belgium) Roberto Firmino (Liverpool, Brazil) Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid, Uruguay) Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid, France) Eden Hazard (Chel...

Spain has announced their squad for the upcoming UEFA Nations League matches against England.  The young Spanish squad will be up against another youthful side England (Source:  Soccerlaudma)  The Spanish armada has decided to add few new faces to the squad with Paco Alcacer, Marc Batra,  Iago Aspas and Koke coming back into the squad while Real Madrid duo of Isco and Carvajal missea out on injury Diego Costa and Jordi Alba still remains sidelined by the the new coach Luis Enrique.  G oalkeepers:  David de Gea, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Pau Lopez Defenders:  Cesar Azpilicueta, Raul Albiol, Nacho, Sergio Ramos, Marcos Alonso, Jose Gaya, Jonathan Otto, Marc Bartra Midfielders:  Sergio Busquets, Saul Niguez, Rodri, Thiago Alcantara, Dani Ceballos, Marco Asensio, Koke Strikers:  Alvaro Morata, Suso, Rodrigo, Iago Aspas, Paco Alcacer

2018 World Cup semi-finalists England have announced their squad for the upcoming UEFA Nations League fixtures against Croatia and Spain. The young lions will be vying to make their post permanent with some gritty displays Gareth Southgate has announced a very young squad with James Maddison, Jordan Sancho and Mason Mount called up to the national side for the very first time. Nathaniel Chalobah, Raheem Sterling and Harry Winks have been recalled to their squad while Ross Barkley makes his first call-up in nearly 2 years. Goalkeepers: Marcus Bettinelli  (Fulham),  Jack Butland (Stoke City),  Alex McCarthy  (Southampton), Jordan Pickford  (Everton),  Marcus Rashford  (Mancheste r United) Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold  (Liverpool),  Harry Maguire  (Leicester City),  Joe Gomez  (Liverpool),  Danny Rose  (Tottenham Hotspur),  Luke Shaw  (Manchester United) ,  John Stones  (Ma...

The German squad for the upcoming UEFA Nations League fixtures against France and Netherlands has been announced. The 2014 champions will be out to prove a point (Source: soccerladuma) Mark Uth is the only new name in the squad with Ilkay Gundogen and Nils Peterson missing out on injuries. Goalkeepers:  Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt) Defenders:  Mats Hummels (Bayern Munich), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea), Niklas Sule (Bayern Munich), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Monchengladbach), Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Jonas Hector (FC Koln), Nico Schulz (TSG Hoffenheim), Thilo Kehrer (Paris Saint-Germain) Midfielders/forwards:  Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen), Julian Draxler (Paris Saint-Germain), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Timo Werner (Red Bull Leipzig), Leon Goretzka (Bayern Munich), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), Kai Havertz (Bayer L...

The World Cup winners have announced their squad for the upcoming UEFA Nations Cup against Germany and the Netherlands. France will be looking to continue with their positive start to the inaugural UEFA Nations Cup (source: Newsclick) Anthony Martial is the only big name missing from the French squad. Goalkeepers:  Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Alphonse Areola (Paris Saint-Germain) Defenders:  Djibril Sidibe (AS Monaco), Benjamin Pavard (VfB Stuttgart), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid), Presnel Kimpembe (Paris Saint-Germain), Lucas Hernandez (Atletico Madrid), Lucas Digne (Everton), Kurt Zouma (Everton), Mamadou Sakho (Crystal Palace) Midfielders:  Paul Pogba (Manchester United), N'Golo Kante (Chelsea), Blaise Matuidi (Juventus), Steven N'Zonzi (Roma), Tanguy Ndombele (Lyon) Attackers:  Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain), Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Ousmane Dembele (FC Barcelona...

The title favourites for the Premier League this season, Liverpool and Manchester City will clash against each other for the first time in this season when they meet in Anfield on Sunday. Pep Guardiola will be vying for revenge, after losing to the Merseysiders in the last 3 encounters with the Merseysiders. Pep Guardiola has failed to defeat Jurgen Klopp in the last 3 encounters (Source: liverpoolfc.com) Both the teams enter the match undefeated in the league and on identical points with Manchester City leading on Goal difference. Liverpool v Manchester City: Kick-off information Date: 7th October 2018 Time: 16:30 (local time), 21:00 (IST) Venue: Anfield Liverpool v Manchester City: Team News Naby Keita may be available for the Reds after suffering a back spasm in the midweek Champions League fixture while Adam Lallana and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain are still out. Recent tensions between Guardiola and Mendy might see the Frenchman sit out in the potential game of the s...