Media Referee

As per a report from Portuguese outlet Record, Leeds United are interested in making a move for Benfica forward Diogo Goncalves. The Whites have been through a series of ups and downs this season but with their chances of a promotion virtually nil for this season, it only makes sense for Paul Heckingbottom to scan the market and find quality options to build a team to his liking for the next season.

There will be a lot of pressure on the manager and the club to deliver strong results next term and it goes without saying that Leeds are in dire need of a new goalscorer.

Ever since Andrea Radrizzani took charge of the club as the sole owner, they have been investing in the future by bringing in younger players. While that is well and good, the fact is that they need quality players to address their many problems right now.

And 21-year-old Goncalves appears to be the latest name to adorn Heckingbottom’s list of transfer targets for the summer.

One might argue that Goncalves is quite young and relatively inexperienced as well but he boasts of ample skills and has played for Benfica in the Portuguese top-flight and has appeared in a few Champions League encounters as well. At present, Benfica are filled to the brim with talented attackers and Goncalves will be looking for an escape route to register more playing minutes.

As far as Leeds are concerned, one of their biggest problems has been the lack of power from their wingers. Ezgjan Alioski, Hadi Sacko and Stuart Dallas have been extremely inconsistent this season and because of that, Leeds have struggled in front of the goal. If the Yorkshire-based outfit are to do better and advance to the next level, they will need a new winger or two – somebody who can find the back of the net even in the most trying situations.

To that end, a move for Goncalves does make sense for the club. He is primarily a winger and can also play as a secondary striker. He is quite clever when it comes to his attacking prowess and he seems to have a creative side which Heckingbottom will be looking to explore at Elland Road. In addition to all that, Goncalves is very industrious and speedy, meaning he could prove to be missing piece for Leeds in the final third.

Hence, this move will have a certain risk factor associated with it since Goncalves is quite young but nevertheless, it is a deal worth pursuing.

The Champions League has been regarded as the holy grail of club competition in football for several decades and it is hard to argue against why that is the case.

We are approaching the final stages of the 2017/18 campaign which promises to bring yet more drama and excitement to various homes and stadiums in the knock-out stages.

I personally began my love affair with the competition after that exhilarating 2005 final which saw Liverpool come back from 3-0 down at half-time to be crowned European champions after a penalty shoot-out victory.

There have been few moments as remarkable as that night in Istanbul in the years which have followed and that is of little surprise since Liverpool’s triumph was a ‘once in a lifetime’ occurrence.

Nonetheless, here are five of the most iconic moments in the competition since 2005 and thanks to Zezo Cartoons for capturing all of them in artistic style.

Steven Gerrard heading home Liverpool’s first goal of the dramatic five-minute comeback against AC Milan. 

Sergio Ramos scoring the late, late equalizer for Real Madrid ahead of a rampant extra-time show which saw them win the 2014 final. 

Paul Scholes scoring the only goal of the semi-final tie against Barcelona to book Manchester United a place in the 2008 final which they won on penalties against Chelsea. 

Xavi consoling an emotional Kaka after the 2015 final which turned out to be the last time the midfield maestros would meet on the big stage. 

Kaka producing a virtuoso performance for AC Milan with two well-taken goals in the 3-2 semifinal first-leg defeat to Manchester United in 2007.

Paul Pogba moved to Old Trafford from Juventus with a reputation like no other young footballer at the time, and that was not just because of the hefty £89 million fee which was paid for his services.

But 18 months down the line, it has become obvious that Jose Mourinho wants to play a 4-2-3-1 formation; also 18 months down the line, it is obvious Pogba is incapable of thriving in that 4-2-3-1 system.

With Mourinho almost guaranteed to remain at Manchester United for at least another two years, a decision should be made on Pogba’s future.

The France international is still arguably one of the most talented players in the current Red Devils squad, but that counts for little if he is not able to implement that talent during the 90 minutes of game.

Therefore, is it logical to perpetuate Pogba’s position-induced underperformance, or just accept that him and Jose Mourinho’s system are not compatible?

Perhaps, offloading him for a couple of more suitable, tactically responsible midfielders who can actually get a grip of a game against decent opposition, a right winger and another 10 would be a better move by United.

Selling Pogba now would be far more profitable than a few years later when the world has accepted that he is struggling to live up to the potential we all saw in him.

In an ideal world, 4-3-3 will become the default system for United and Pogba would flourish as the most advanced of the three, but there’s nothing to suggest that will be the case.

A sample of an improved formation here would be…

Kroos-Matic
Mahrez-Sanchez-Martial

….That looks far more comprehensive and balanced than the current midfield of Mourinho’s side.

The United manager clearly wants a double pivot to provide the platform for the attacking quartet to perform upon, and as it stands, Paul Pogba is too erratic to fill that role responsibly.

Tottenham Hotspur will have a golden opportunity to move further above Arsenal in the Premier League table when the two sides lock horns on Saturday.

In their last league fixture at home, Spurs were in rampant form as they defeated Manchester United 2-0 through a very early opener from Christian Eriksen and an own goal from Phil Jones on a memorable day at Wembley stadium.

Despite fears of that momentum being halted at Anfield where Tottenham do not have the best record, Mauricio Pochettino’s men managed to hold Liverpool to a 2-2 draw last weekend, thanks to a last-ditch penalty kick from Harry Kane.

The mood in the Tottenham dressing room is definitely a positive one going into Saturday’s affair against local rivals Arsenal who have been easy to beat on their travels so far this season.

A victory for Mauricio Pochettino’s side will increase their chances of sneaking back into the top four of the Premier League with Chelsea appearing to have lost their form at a vital stage in the season.

Harry Kane will also be hoping to continue his outstanding form in this particular fixture after a roller-coaster show against Liverpool a week ago.

With Manchester City seemingly on course for the Premier League title, much of the debate is now about the chasing pack of five team behind them.

There is an accurate notion that Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea are all fighting for the same top four spots but in truth, two of those teams, United and Chelsea, are effectively ahead of the rest in the race…not necessarily mathematically but theoretically.

First of all, Spurs face United (H) and Liverpool (A) next, after dropping points in their ‘banker’ fixture previously, with a 1-1 draw at Southampton, despite looking like they would pull away from Arsenal and fight it out with Liverpool and Chelsea for the top four.

Mauricio Pochettino’s men will need a result soon, otherwise they are likely to be 6th come the time the Champions League returns. Also, not to forget, Spurs actually play Arsenal, the weekend before they face Juventus in the Champion’s League first leg.

Imagine if they lost all three of these crunch games and failed to beat Juventus at Wembley? It would be quite a concerning run.

Arsenal have much better fixtures before they play their north London rivals, with Swansea (A) and Everton (H). You would expect them to win both, though with recent results for other teams it’s a clear reminder anything can happen.

They could have folded last time out, and therefore they deserve a bit of credit. Trouncing Palace within the first 25 minutes did them a world of good as they went on to knock Chelsea out of the League Cup and make it to Wembley.

It is all probably just papering over some cracks, but the Gunners have got to hold onto these kind of things and take some confidence from it.

Win their next two and Spurs drop some points and they can really put the pressure on. Arsenal honestly looked like they were out of the picture and even though I still expect them to miss out on the top four (and probably finish 6th eventually), they can give themselves every chance now.

However, if Wenger’s side does not win the next two league games and lose to Spurs, they should put all their eggs in the other two baskets like Manchester United did last season. Go all-out to beat City in the League Cup final and hell for leather in the Europa League.

Liverpool on other hand, basically pulled off a ‘Liverpool’ by losing to bottom of the table Swansea after such a massive result.

On paper, they have some favourable fixtures in the next three, with Huddersfield (A) and Southampton (A) either side of Spurs (H).

However, what are the odds on them getting 1/6 points from Huddersfield and Saints, but beating Spurs? Knowing them, probably pretty high.

They most likely need all three wins if they don’t want to be slugging it out for the latter stages of the season.

Thus, I expect Liverpool to be in a really tight fight with Spurs and Arsenal rather than United and Chelsea if they can’t put these next few games to bed.

Manchester United’s decision to hand Jose Mourinho a new contract was not a popular one amongst all the fans but with the highest win rate of any Red Devils boss ever (62%), the man does deserve some credit for doing the ‘dirty job’ of fixing all sorts of faults left over by Louis van Gaal.

Eric Bailly, Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic, Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez, Zlatan Ibrahimovic (mostly last season) have all been top quality buys for Manchester United.

Victor Lindelof is improving game by game and he will be a different player next season.

At various points in time Ander Herrera, Juan Mata, Anthony Martial, etc, were players who if they did not perform, United would not win.

Now, there are players above the first two in the pecking order, and the third has a lot of competition. Ashley Young, Antonio Valencia, Phil Jones and Marcus Rojo have all improved while Chris Smalling is regaining form.

The squad is in the best shape it has probably been since 2009. Add a couple of more Pogba-type buys and in terms of depth, it could be one of the best squads the club has ever assembled.

On top of that, form this season has been title winning (in almost every other season), and last season, Mourinho won two cups.

Indeed, winning the league and Champions League are realistic possibilities next season if United fans are to be optimistic.

When Jose Mourinho said he would prefer to buy 22 players, it is now clearer what he means now.

He has spent two years very slowly shaping the squad he inherited (which was a mess, to say the least) and he has axed the deadwood but in politically smart ways.

The Portuguese tactician handled the Rooney situation perfectly and he has also taken care of the Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial cases in the right manner.

He could not come in and drop Rooney immediately, or sideline key players instantaneously, because the squad would not play for him.

Instead, Mourinho has had to slowly build and shape his own squad, and after the summer, he will have a first XI which is entirely his (even if it includes some players at the club before him like Ashley Young, Antonio Valencia, Phil Jones, David de Gea, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard).

The idea of ‘second season success’ from Jose Mourinho will take three seasons to come to fruition this time because that is how woeful United were when the former Chelsea boss first arrived.

In June 2016, Corinthians’ two-time Serie A winning manager Adenor Bacchi departed the club after multiple spells to preside over the national team.

And in response to that exit, the club joined the annual managerial merry-go-round of the national league by appointing Oswaldo Oliveira and later Cristovao Borges with little success.

After six months of waiting patiently for results to go their way, the club promoted Fabio Carille as their first team manager. Being a defender during his playing days, Carille gave the team a playing style that well reflected his identity and position on the pitch.

In the Sao Paulo state championship at the start of the year, Corinthians emerged unlikely winners by edging out more talented and expensive squads of Palmeiras and Santos.

Throughout the league, Corinthians conceded a miserly 11 goals over 18 matches, the least of all. Despite clinching the 2017 Campeonato Paulista, Timao failed to impress football pundits and bookmakers alike.

Yes, they are a big name in Brazilian football but there were too many problems inside the club, paying for the new stadium being one of them.

Considering their 7th place finish in the Serie A last year and lack of talented attacking players on the field – apart from Jadson and Jo – Corinthians were not deemed as favourites for the Brasileiro Serie A.

As we arrive in the final third of the league marathon, Corinthians have gone from also-rans to running away with the title. The squad has proved its critics wrong in emphatic fashion but having said that, this is no flash in the pan form.

The club has been tested on several occasions this season with the team coming out on top almost every time but the derby against defending champions Palmeiras was largely viewed as a litmus test.

The Big Greens were trailing Corinthians by five points and a victory would have cut the difference to just two, making the title race tighter in the penultimate stages.

However, at the Arena Corinthians, the home side ran out 3-2 winners with Angel Romero being the star of the match while the unsung hero was defender Fabian Balbuena who did well to keep the opposition at bay.

Balbuena, along with Pablo, has formed a rock solid partnership at the back that has helped Cassio keep 17 clean sheets in the league. The sturdy defense has leaked a mere 23 goals in 33 games in the league.

Those numbers do not mean Timao are simply parking the bus to win points though. Through the fluid 4-2-3-1 system, the team now has the joint third best number of goals scored in the league. Of the 44 goals scored, Jo has netted 16 and been involved in three more.

He is currently the joint top scorer of the league along with Fluminese’s Henrique Dourado and the side has become a pleasure to watch as they attempt intricate through balls and attack from the flanks.

Despite their solid defensive record, Corinthians do boast the third best possession in the league at slightly above 53%. Further, their aim of playing tiki-taka with short passes has made them the team with the best pass success rate in the league at close to 84%.

With an eight-point lead at the top of the table and five matches to go, Corinthians can be champions in their next fixture against Fluminese if other results go their way.

While their impending triumph may not be a shock, Carille has quite surprisingly built a well-oiled machine which has bagged the title in emphatic fashion.

Many fingers have been pointed at AS Roma’s current chairman for being the cause of their underwhelming standing this term but it is difficult to agree with accusations that James Pallotta is actually mishandling the club.

One figure has to be thrown out there: Roma have been the champions of Italy on only three (3!) occasions since its founding in 1927.

Therefore, missing out on the title cannot be considered as an immense failure.

Using more facts as reference, 7th, 6th, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd have been where the team has finished in the table since the American takeover and of course, there is a painful defeat in the Coppa Italia final to add to that.

For a club looking to gradually grow its brand and size, this should be considered as progress regardless of how slow it might appear to be from the view of some impatient fans.

Indeed, judging by the results from a bar chart and statistical perspective, it honestly seems as though Roma are a team on the brink of success.

Whether they are going to take a step back this season remains to be seen, but it will not be for a lack of owner intervention.

And on the subject of owners and how they have handled transfer market business, mistakes have been made, but it has not been from negligence as much as naivety.

Those who live in Rome are aware that any new construction does not reach completion status overnight, even when all the plans are laid out in immaculate order.

The stadium is key to stabilizing the club’s revenue stream and being able to control its destiny.

Even if there have been any errors, Pallotta is not the only one responsible for that.

Afterall, from 2010-2016, Roma was 9th in gross spending across Europe’s big five leagues.

This is certainly consistent with his long-term plans of playing with the big boys and therefore, the chairman has every reason to believe that he has taken care of his part of the Roma agenda.

Also on that note, it is fair to suggest that Eusebio Di Francesco’s steadfast adherence to the 4-3-3 formation which has already proven to be faulty is perhaps what should be questioned more.

Matters in the dressing room are far more directly related to Roma’s issues on the pitch because the truth is that the men upstairs are actually pulling their weight, contrary to popular belief.

Jurgen Klopp will be hoping for another big performance and a victory from his side as they host fierce rivals Everton at Anfield on Sunday.

The Reds are aware that three points this weekend will be crucial with top six rivals Manchester United and Manchester City facing each other.

Liverpool continued their impressive recent form in midweek as they thrashed Spartak Moscow on a very memorable night in the Champions League.

Next on the fixture list for Jurgen Klopp’s men is a massive clash with local rivals Everton in the Merseyside derby and there may be a few changes for the team which played on Wednesday.

With that said, here is the line-up we are expecting the former Dortmund boss to put together this weekend.

Nearly three years ago, there was a considerable amount of hype surrounding Martin Odegaard; a boy who was deemed to be European football’s golden prospect.

Several big clubs around the continent were in pursuit of the youngster and it was difficult to not jump on the bandwagon of calling for your favourite team to secure his services.

Real Madrid eventually won the battle for Odegaard’s signature and despite the Spanish giants’ relatively untidy track record of grooming youngsters, it was a move which many fans of the teenager backed.

But following two years of life at Madrid, there is a new uncertainty about whether Odegaard’s decision to pick the La Liga side over other suitors was the right one.

The level of progression we expected from the boy by this stage is not showing and that is somewhat concerning in this generation of football where players are given a lesser amount of time to deliver the goods regardless of how old they are.

If Norway had managed to qualify for last summer’s European Championships, the teenager would have received a great platform to show off his potential even if Zinedine Zidane was unwilling to hand him a chance on the big stage just yet.

Instead, Odegaard is still mingling with the reserves at Madrid while having to overcome the daunting prospect of matching the standards of players like Cristiano Ronaldo, James Rodriguez, Isco and Gareth Bale in order to earn the faith of the Santiago Bernabeu crowd.

And even if Odegaard tried to test his versatility by switching to a central midfield role, there would still be the likes of Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic to contend with.

Sure, the Norwegian is still very much an embryonic talent and he deserves patience to grow into the star many have predicted him to become, but he needs to start edging closer to a breakthrough because 18 is hardly an unprecedented age for stardom.

After all, at 18, Michael Owen was scoring more than 20 goals in a season for Liverpool and shining for England while Wayne Rooney’s exploits were similar at that age after his switch from Everton to Manchester United.

In fact, Rooney’s rise can be used as a valuable lesson for Odegaard in picking the right club at the right time to set the tone for your development as a young footballer.

Had Rooney moved from Everton to Real Madrid in 2003 when there were stars like Raul, Luis Figo, Ronaldo and David Beckham to blur out his promising cameos, he would have never turned out to be the accomplished striker he became.

The situation could soon change for Odegaard, but as it stands, the boy might just have picked the wrong club to be nurtured at.

Real Madrid’s remarkable unbeaten streak last season saw much of the credit handed to Zinedine Zidane for his ability to make the right tactical decisions at the right times.

However, one man who played a decisive role in that run without receiving as many plaudits as his manager was indeed Sergio Ramos.

The combative Spaniard has taken full responsibility of guiding the Madrid back four in a similar way to how John Terry used to perform at his peak for Chelsea.

In addition to that, Ramos has made himself the go-to guy for last gasp equalizers and late winning goals when his team needs him the most.

Therefore, the question on the minds of many fans now would be whether the former Sevilla man is actually worthy of a place on the list of some of the best defenders of his generation.

Perhaps, it does not say a great deal about the standards of defenders from this era but it would be hard to argue against Ramos being in the top five centre-backs from the past decade.

After all, most of the legendary defenders from some time ago were rather playing in highly organized and defensive teams, usually in Italy.

Without taking too much away from the likes of Nesta and Lucio, it is fairly easier to shine as a defender in a well-coached defensive system than an attacking-minded one.

With the overlapping runs and bombing forward of players which often occurs in Real Madrid’s ultra-attacking team of today, Ramos has to be lauded for managing to impress many at centre-back.

Another factor which has to be considered is that for a defender in this generation and particularly in La Liga, there is the intimidating task of facing the likes of Messi, Griezmann and Suarez every season.

Madrid do often fail to keep clean sheets but on the several occasions where Ramos has faced some of the world’s finest attacks, he has rarely been exposed.

When at his best, the 31-year-old is both dominant in the air and calm with the ball at his feet. Unlike his compatriot Gerard Pique, Ramos is never short of answers when confronting opponents who are gifted with pace.

And considering the fact that he kicked off his career as a right-back at Sevilla, the Madrid skipper has versatility to include on his list of attributes.

Add all of that together and you certainly have a centre-back whose place in history cannot be disputed.