Nisbet: Keep Rangers Scottish

Former Rangers player Scott Nisbet has urged the Rangers coach to keep ties with their Scottish roots by signing local players. He agrees that Rangers need to strengthen during the summer, but he believes that Mark Warburton should also give chances to Scottish players.

Mark Warburton is keen to improve Rangers during the summer, and he has already made a couple of stunning signings. Indeed, he has successfully convinced Joey Barton to sign for Rangers amidst interest from a couple of Premier League clubs. Among other players that have already signed for Rangers, we have Jordan Rossiter, Matt Crooks, and John Windass. Continue reading “Nisbet: Keep Rangers Scottish”

Victor Valdes joing Pep at City

There is news that Victor Valdes might join Manchester City in the summer. The player who played under Pep Guardiola while he was the Barcelona manager will love to be reunited with his former manager. Guardiola, who will be taking charge of Manchester City next season, is interested in bringing Valdes to the club in order to bring some competition to Joe Hart.

The goalkeeper who is currently available on a free-transfer after being released by Standard Liege will be glad to return to the Premier League after enduring a poor spell at Manchester United. Indeed, the Spain international has had a miserable career with Manchester United where he only managed to make two appearances in the first-team. Continue reading “Victor Valdes joing Pep at City”

Barcelona in danger of being caught by rivals

Just a few games ago, it was believed that Barcelona already won the Spanish title.

Indeed, they were leading the table with a 8 points lead over Atletico and a 12 points lead over Real Madrid. But with only 1 point in a possible 9, Barcelona has found their lead being cut off to only 3 and 4 points over Atletico and Real Madrid.

The latest defeat has been in the hands of Real Sociedad where Barcelona has always found it hard to win during recent seasons.

Real Madrid’s coachZinedine Zidane had previously already conceded defeat in the title race and suggested that the title was already won by Barcelona. Atletico Madrid’s coach Diego Simeone, on the other hand, has always claimed that they were not in the title race. But the recent run of results from Barcelona has blown the title race wide open, and any of these three teams can still claim to win the title.

This poor run of form has started with the draw against Villareal. In this match, Barcelona was leading 2-0 at some point, and they conceded two goals only to draw the game. After that, it was their poor performance in the Classico where they were beaten 2-1 by Real Madrid on their home ground despite having opened the score. Continue reading “Barcelona in danger of being caught by rivals”

Villarreal managed a stunning comeback

Villarreal managed a stunning comeback after forcing Barcelona to surrender a two-goal lead to draw the match 2-2.

When the Catalan club took a two-goal advantage in the match, it seemed well beyond the reach of Villarreal. After all, the team were without a win in the last three games and were looking devoid of confidence. However, Villarreal have shown that they have been in the mix to the Champions League qualification spots for a reason. Ivan Rakitic scored the opening goal for Barcelona after 20 minutes before Neymar’s penalty gave them a two-goal lead just before half-time.

The comeback, however, started in the second half when Villarreal pulled one back through Bakambu. Defender Jeremy Mathieu’s own goal a few minutes later saw equality return to the game. Even though Barcelona had numerous chances in the match, they were unable to get the crucial winning goal. The dropped points have seen Real Madrid close the gap to just 10 points with the two teams set to face each other after the international break. However, Luis Enrique is not worried about dropping points in such a tight contest. He accepted that his team could have lost the game had it not been for some good fortune. Hence, he is untroubled by the dropped points. Continue reading “Villarreal managed a stunning comeback”

NO SURPRISE FOR ENRIQUE

The success that Luis Suarez has achieved at Barcelona, it has not surprised Luis Enrique a single bit.

According to Enrique, Suarez has scored goals fluently right from the start of his career.

So, the kind of numbers he has produced at Barcelona, it’s not to be surprised with.

Many had doubted Suarez’s ability to dominate as much in Spain as he had done in England, but, he has proved all of them wrong.

This season in particular, the Uruguayan has played some spectacular Football in the Spanish Premiership and in other tournaments and is presently leading the goal scoring chart for Barcelona.

Praising him in his press conference the other evening, Enrique said, “It doesn’t surprise me to see Luis come to Barcelona and deliver the goods this consistently. His goal-scoring rate has been fantastic throughout his career. He has contributed heavily for all the teams he has played for. He is a player with great ability.”

When asked if 2015 was the most successful year of his managerial career as he guided Barcelona to huge amount of success, the Spaniard said, “Look, past is past. We did wonderfully in 2015, but, it’s gone now. It’s history. We need to start afresh and look to repeat it all over again and hopefully, we do that.”

“There’s not too much gap in the level of the top teams in Europe. So, you can’t take anything for granted. You have to look to keep getting better and better. And, that I am saying not only for players, but, for us coaches as well and for each and every person who is a part of the club. Everyone can improve.”

Barcelona literally won every competition they took part in, including the Champions League, the previous year.