Category: Europa League

Juventus drops Pogba for Freiburg Europa League clash

Pogba’s return to Juve continues to be a rough one

Paul Pogba’s return to Juventus has been rocky to say the least.

The latest chapter has seen Juve manager Massimiliano Allegri opting to drop the France midfielder for Thursday’s Europa League first leg against Freiburg.

Reports from Italy claim that Pogba was late for a team meeting, and Allegri has opted to leave him out of his gameday squad as Juve hosts the Europa League’s defending champions.

Given the status of Juventus’ 2022-23 season — they’ve been docked 15 points in Serie A due to transfer accounting discrepancies — the Europa League is a far more appealing path to any sort of glory this season. La Vecchia Signora is 12 points away from qualifying for the Champions League through the league, and seven points from claiming a Europa League spot.

As such, the decision to drop Pogba for possibly the most crucial game Juve has left this season will likely result in plenty of scrutiny, particularly if things go awry against Freiburg at the Allianz Stadium.

Pogba’s troubled Juve return

It’s not clear that Pogba would have been available to start if he had been included, as his return to Turin has been hit by near-constant injury problems.

Pogba signed a four-year deal with Juve in July, but has been trapped in a cruel cycle of injury setbacks dating back to the end of his time with Manchester United. Pogba missed the final weeks of the Premier League season with a calf strain, and then after joining Juventus, he suffered a meniscus injury in preseason training.

Pogba initially opted to avoid surgery that would have likely made a World Cup trip with France impossible, but ended up having to undergo the procedure anyway. It briefly appeared that things would work out, especially when the star midfielder returned to training in September. However, before he could build up enough fitness to play in any matches, a thigh muscle problem ended his World Cup hopes.

Pogba made his return to training in January, but the long layoff likely contributed to another muscular issue, and his first appearance in a match since returning to Juventus didn’t come until February 28’s 4-2 win over Torino.

Pogba followed that 22-minute substitute appearance with a 14-minute cameo in Juve’s 1-0 loss at Roma, and was likely to factor in against Freiburg in a similar role. It remains to be seen whether his absence will be felt against a team that, after conceding 11 times in two road matches in the Bundesliga last month, has shut their hosts out in three straight away fixtures.

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Goalkeeper-punching fan sentenced to two months in jail

If you run on the field and attack a player, you will probably end up in jail

The PSV fan who ran on the field and attacked Sevilla goalkeeper Marko Dmitrović during a game last month has been handed a two-month jail sentence.

In the middle of PSV’s Europa League match at home against Sevilla, the 20-year-old man ran onto the Philips Stadium pitch and made a beeline for the Serbia international keeper.

Video footage showed the man throw a punch at Dmitrović, who then wrestled him to the ground and restrained him before security intervened.

In not-so-stunning news, the fan had 1. A prior history of soccer-related offenses, and was 2. Drunk.

“The suspect not only violated a stadium and area ban, he also went onto the field in a drunken state to assault a soccer player,” the East Brabant District Court said. “This is completely disrespectful to the victim, the soccer clubs and all true supporters of PSV. In addition, the suspect was convicted twice in 2021 for soccer-related offenses.”

The court said the fan had already been banned from the area around Philips Stadium, and had a friend buy a ticket to the game for him.

UEFA has also opened a disciplinary case into PSV, with the Dutch club expected to receive some form of punishment.

“If someone attacks me, I’m going to defend myself. I think he brushed against me, he couldn’t hit me,” Dmitrović said after the incident. “I managed to beat him. I was on the ground for a long time until security came.”

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Even if your team loses, don’t punch Marko Dmitrovic

Punching the goalkeeper is a Soccer Don’t

When you go to a soccer game, there are things you should do: sing a song, talk with friends, marvel at the amazing things people can do while kicking a ball around.

One thing you should not do, though, is go on the field after your team loses to punch a goalkeeper (or anyone else).

One PSV fan seemingly did not know that important Soccer Don’t, as a supporter ran onto the field at Phillips Stadion to attack Sevilla goalkeeper Marko Dmitrović after the Spanish side held on to a 3-2 Europa League aggregate win.

The lone fan was seen on video from the stands approaching to shove Dmitrović from behind. The fan then threw a punch after Serbia’s deputy goalkeeper seemed to more or less be asking what the problem was.

Dmitrović, to his immense credit, managed to calmly get the man on the ground and hold him there — eventually with players from both teams helping out — before stadium security hauled the fan away.

Following the game — and in a sterling example of understatement — Dmitrović told Tiempo de Juego that he was “surprised” by what had happened.

“If someone attacks me, I’m going to defend myself. I think he brushed against me, he couldn’t hit me,” said the 6-foot-4 Dmitrović. “I managed to beat him. I was on the ground for a long time until security came.”

In fact, before security arrived, the first people that showed up to help Dmitrović were PSV players, and eventually just about every Sevilla player converged as well. Dmitrović appeared to be no worse for wear, and will presumably be excited to find out who Sevilla will face in the quarterfinal.

High drama at Phillips Stadion

The match itself was more than a little dramatic. Sevilla won the first leg 3-0, and got within 15 minutes of a straightforward victory in a competition that they have long thrived in.

However, Luuk de Jong’s 77th minute goal gave PSV a glimmer of hope, and a Fábio Silva finish amid a scrum five minutes into stoppage time set up a possible grandstand finish. However, with PSV protesting for one more set piece opportunity, referee Daniele Orsato blew for full time. Mauro Júnior was sent off in the chaos, but little did anyone know, things were boiling over down at the other end of the field.

And now, unfortunately for that fan, there are some photos that make him look foolish.

(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

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Antony spun around a couple times and now everyone is Very Mad

Words like “embarrassing” and “ridiculous” were tossed around with reckless abandon

With just a couple twirls, Antony managed to set off something of a firestorm.

The Manchester United winger performed his signature move against Sheriff Tiraspol in the Europa League on Thursday, which was immediately followed by an errant pass that went out for a goal kick.

Many observers, including his manager Erik ten Hag, didn’t seem to be amused.

Antony was taken off at halftime of United’s eventual 3-0 win, with Ten Hag saying the following day that he wants his flair players to display equal parts fashion and function.

“I do not have a problem with that, as long as it is functional,” the manager said. “So from him, like everyone else, I demand more. More runs behind, being more often in the [opposition’s] box. More pressing. More dribbles against opponents. More playing in the pockets. We demand more dominance.

“Then there is a trick like that which is nice, but as long as it is functional and you do not lose the ball. Then it is OK. But it is a trick and because of the trick, I will correct him.”

Ten Hag may have been measured in his criticism, but Antony’s spin cycle caused several Man Utd legends to lose their minds.

Words like “embarrassing” and “ridiculous” were tossed out by Paul Scholes and others.

Antony, for his part, made a defiant post on Instagram, saying he wasn’t about to stop showing off the kind of skill that earned him a €95 million move to United.

Let’s check just a few of the reaction’s to the 720 heard round the world.

Matt Turner misses Europa League match for Arsenal with groin injury

The USMNT keeper missed a relatively rare chance to start for Arsenal

Arsenal goalkeeper Matt Turner missed Thursday’s Europa League match against PSV with a groin injury, his coach Mikel Arteta confirmed.

Aaron Ramsdale started the match in the Netherlands, as the Gunners’ normal top-choice keeper made his first European appearance of the season.

The Europa League has been Turner’s only chance to play for Arsenal so far this season. After moving to north London from the New England Revolution in the summer, the U.S. international has served as Ramsdale’s backup in the Premier League.

Turner has impressed in four appearances, with Arteta saying “he was phenomenal in goal” after a clean sheet earlier this month against Bodø/Glimt.

According to The Athletic, Turner’s groin injury isn’t serious and he was held out on Thursday as a precaution.

Still, missing any chance to play will be a blow to Turner, who is locked in a tight competition with Zack Steffen to be the USMNT starter at the World Cup next month.

Steffen continues to start every week for Middlesbrough, giving him an edge in playing time over Turner.

Turner would now appear to only have two chances left to play ahead of the World Cup, provided his injury is not serious: against FC Zurich in the Europa League on November 3, and against Brighton on November 9 in the Carabao Cup.

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Barcelona has non-triumphantly returned to the Europa League

For the second straight year, Barcelona won’t advance past the Champions League group stage

For the second straight season, Barcelona has been bounced out of the Champions League at the group stage.

After a thrilling draw with Inter two weeks ago, Barcelona needed something of a miracle on Wednesday night. To stay alive in the Champions League, Blaugrana had to hope Czech minnows Viktoria Plzeň — loser of all of its first four matches — could get a result against Inter.

It didn’t happen. Inter beat Plzeň 4-0, consigning Barcelona to the Europa League before its game against Bayern Munich even started.

Xavi’s side opened Group C with a win over Plzeň but consecutive defeats away at Bayern and Inter left them on the brink after three games.

Though Bayern and Inter were an unusually strong duo to be drawn in a group with, the result is still hugely disappointing for a Barcelona side that mortgaged its future to spend over €150 million on signings in the summer.

How costly another group-stage exit will be is still an unsettled matter that partially depends on how far the Blaugrana advance in the Europa League.

Barcelona could be set to miss out on up to €20 million in prize money, according to ESPN, but a deep run in the Europa League could partially offset some of the losses.

But this elimination is about more than money. It’s been more than 20 years since the last time Barcelona was eliminated at the Champions League group stage in consecutive seasons. For one of the giants of the European game, another failure is hard to fathom.

There will always be a certain cache associated with Barcelona, but a summer of negative headlines over disastrous financial mismanagement followed by another high-profile failure on Europe’s biggest stage has definitely taken some of the luster away.

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Old man Joaquín is still out here scoring golazos

We bow in the presence of a true legend

We don’t talk enough about Joaquín.

Sure, we all know about Zlatan Ibrahimović, but there is another attacking player who is even older and still doing it at a high level in a top league.

That man is 41-year-old Real Betis winger/living legend Joaquín, who is entering his 24th professional season, and still scoring golazos — as he showed on Thursday in the Europa League.

Joaquín scored a fantastic curler from the top of the box against Ludogorets, giving his side a two-goal lead in the first half.

Prior to this season, Joaquín signed a one-year renewal with Betis after he helped the club lift the Copa del Rey. It was the second time he won the competition with Real Betis, having also done so in 2004-05.

The winger has made more than 600 La Liga appearances in his career, the most ever for a field player.

We bow in the presence of a true legend.

Watch Joaquín’s Europa League goal

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Would you miss your own wedding to play in the Europa League? This guy did.

Mohamed Buya Turay has become the new standard-bearer for the phrase “take one for the team”

Mohamed Buya Turay has become the new standard-bearer for the phrase “take one for the team.”

The Malmö forward confirmed he missed his own wedding in order to report to his new team in time for Thursday’s Europa League qualifier against Diddeleng.

Malmö announced the transfer of Turay last month, as the Sierre Leone international joined from Chinese side Henan Songshan Longmen.

After coming off the bench for his side’s 3-0 win over Diddeleng, Turay revealed that his new club made a … rather big request.

“We got married on July 21 in Sierra Leone,” Turay told Aftonbladet. “But I wasn’t there because Malmö asked me to come here earlier.”

Turay posted pictures of what appeared to be him at his wedding, but said that they were taken in advance and, in fact, his brother had to stand in for him at the actual ceremony.

“We took the pictures in advance. So it looks like I was there but I wasn’t. My brother had to represent me at the wedding itself,” Turay said.

“But I will try to get her to Sweden and Malmö now so she can be close to me. She will live here with me.”

Dedication, insanity, or maybe both? At least Turay said he will be present at his own honeymoon – and hopefully celebrating a league title.

Asked if he’ll go on a honeymoon in December, he replied with a laugh: “Yes, first we have to win the league and then I go on my honeymoon.”

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‘We will host two fanbases that drink a lot’ – Police on alert as 150,000 fans invade Seville for Europa League final

150,000 fans and plenty of cold beer? Spanish police think it might be a recipe for trouble.

Rangers and Eintracht Frankfurt fans have swarmed Seville ahead of Wednesday’s Europa League final, and Spanish police are expecting them to do plenty of drinking.

At a Tuesday briefing of leaders from Spain’s national police service, General Commissioner for Citizen Security Juan Carlos Castro Estevez said that 100,000 Rangers fans and 50,000 for Eintracht Frankfurt posed a massive challenge in terms of event security.

“We will host two fanbases that drink a lot. These citizens, who are used to drinking warm beer in their countries, when they find our fresh and cold beers, will drink even more,” said Castro, adding that between the alcohol, the sheer volume of fans who will not have tickets—the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán only seats 42,714—and construction in the area, it could be “a recipe that could lead to serious problems.”

Spanish police may still be a bit bewildered at how many Eintracht Frankfurt fans ended up in the Camp Nou in the quarterfinal. The German club was allotted 5,000 tickets for its second leg against Barcelona, only for a much higher number of fans in white and black to fill the stands.

Eintracht Frankfurt players celebrate winning the Europa League, second leg, quarterfinal soccer match against Barcelona at the Camp Nou stadium, in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

UEFA has allotted both clubs 10,000 tickets to the match, and police have said they plan to keep the two sets of fans over five kilometers apart before the game, but Castro admitted there is still uncertainty. “We can’t know for sure how many will arrive by car, buses and boats. Eintracht only had 5,000 tickets to their quarterfinal at Barcelona and 30,000 showed up somehow at Camp Nou.”

As a result, security plans call for roughly 5,000 members of Spanish security forces, drawing from national and local branches, to set up in Seville. They’ve also kept tabs on how fans are arriving in Spain, detailing the prospect of fans traveling to Spanish vacation spots like Malaga, Mallorca or the Canary Islands before descending on Seville for the match.

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