Posts

The 25-year-old midfielder has endured some tough times this season, but when he is at his best, he is a joy to behold and some of his football at Malaga was wonderful. Real won this fixture 2-1 on the final day of last season to claim the title. There would be no repeat of that success this time around, with Barcelona running away with La Liga, but a victory by the same scoreline at La Rosaleda at least moved Madrid back up to third place in the table with six rounds remaining....

The 21-year-old had enjoyed two magnificent seasons at La Rosaleda, developing into one of Europe's most exciting young midfielders. After inspiring the Andalusians to the Champions League quarterfinals last year, Isco became the first signing of Carlo Ancelotti's Madrid reign for a fee of 30 million euros. He was expected to be a key man for los Blancos following the sale of Mesut Ozil to Arsenal but, despite a bright start to his career at Santiago Bernabeu, Ancelotti's decision to switch from Jose Mourinho's 4-2-3-1 system to a 4-3-3 forced Isco out into the cold....

Ishan tore apart KKR bowling, especially Kuldeep Yadav who was clobbered for four consecutive sixes, en route to his 21-ball 62 (5x4, 6x6) as MI scripted a turnaround in the middle overs. The momentum shifted in favour of MI in the 14th over that yielded 25 runs with Ishan making a mockery of chinaman Kuldeep’s bowling. The bulk of Mumbai’s runs – 148 – came from boundaries. First, Ishan swept Kuldeep high over deep square leg, then smashed across the line, followed by stepping out to hit the bowler over long on to get to his fifty – the joint second fastest of the season with Sunil Narine....

Following his exploits in international cricket, Pant has become India’s No.1 wicketkeeper-batter across all formats. As such, Kishan has found it difficult to find a regular place in the playing XI in white-ball cricket. He usually gets a chance when Pant has been rested or if there has been an injury in the team. The 23-year-old, however, asserted that he is not competing with Pant or vice versa. In an interview with TOI, he spoke about his equation with India’s first-choice keeper:...

With three matches to go, ATK will have to go one better and engineer a win which has been eluding them for the last four matches where they have lost one and drawn three. Jose Molina’s men conceded in the second half in their last game away to Chennaiyin FC after marquee striker Helder Postiga had given them the lead in the 39th minute. The defence has been a bane for ATK with neither central pairings of Arnab Mondal or Tiri, or Mondal and Henrique Sereno or Tiri and Sereno playing well in tandem....

Chennai Titans have a tie-up with Italian giants Inter Milan and thus club legend Materazzi is in contention to become the manager of the franchise. Materazzi won the 2006 World Cup with Italy and the Champions League with Inter Milan in 2010. The former defender spent ten years at Inter and was capped 41 times at senior international level. The 41-year-old visited India back in May, representing Inter for their youth development program....

The 20-year-old midfielder was picked by ATK in the Indian Player Draft before the 2017-18 season and he went on to impress in an attacking role during the season. Hitesh made 14 appearances for ATK, which included nine starts, in what was ultimately a turbulent season for the Kolkata franchise which saw them finish ninth on the table. He clocked an assist and had a successful passing percentage of 75 per game....

And Kerala Blasters, after sacking coach David James, are forced to introspect over their recent signings and management. But one signing, which is rumoured to materialise at the end of the season is that of Ashique Kuruniyan, the FC Pune City winger. Why is it a good sign? Over the last five years, Blasters have transformed from a winner to an inconsistent, but mostly bad, a team known more for twisting the knife in its jaded fan-base....

A group of loyalists however couldn’t help but notice the absence of some of the marquee foreigners who otherwise dominate headlines in the other football tournament in India, the I-League. In fact, I remember pondering over a possible lisit-icle with a fellow journalist chronicling “Five I-League stars who aren’t part of the ISL.” One of the names which featured prominently in the discussions was that of Dudu. The Nigerian international, who had flourished at domestic clubs here like Pune FC, Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Dempo wasn’t picked by any of the eight franchisees; however midway through the season, an offer from FC Goa meant the 30 year old added another chapter to his tryst with the beautiful game here....

The visitors took the lead in the 28th minute via a Juan Belencoso header after threatening to do so since the beginning of the game. However, after a first half that saw Atletico run riots all across the pitch, Goa came back in style and Mandar Rao Dessai’s ripper of a shot from a few yards outside the box helped Goa back into the contest. However, as Goa went for the glory, they were caught out as Steven Pearson secured all three points for Jose Molina’s men....

Bengaluru FC were forced to rebuild their team as a result of the club’s entry to ISL. They successfully retained the service of skipper Sunil Chhetri and got hold of quite a few quality Indian players from the ISL draft but their biggest coup in this season is the signing of Indian international goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu. Albert Roca’s men travelled to Spain this year for their pre-season campaign. They have also played two friendly matches against old foes East Bengal....

After three seasons under the tutelage of Brazil legend Zico, the Gaurs have adopted a Spanish avatar under head coach Sergio Lobera this season. The change in coach has also seen the majority of foreigners hailing from Spain instead of Brazil which was the case until last year. FC Goa have registered six players from Spain, besides one Portuguese and the other from Morocco to complete the tally of eight overseas players....

Steve Coppell did not make any changes to Jamshedpur FC’s winning combination which beat Bengaluru FC in their previous match. Mehtab Hossain, who had to leave the pitch early against Bengaluru due to an injury, was back in the playing XI. Chennaiyin FC, on the other hand, made as many as three changes to the starting XI which managed a 1-1 draw against Kerala Blasters. Dhanpal Ganesh was back from his suspension and he replaced Anirudh Thapa in the central midfield....

As the count to the fourth edition of the Indian Super League (ISL) ticks down, Goal analyses the strengths and weaknesses of each of the ten clubs participating this time around. Next in line are NorthEast United FC, who are hoping to reach the playoffs for the first time in the fourth season of the tournament. The John Abraham-owned outfit are one of the two teams who have been ousted from the league stage in all the three editions of ISL....

When you are looking forward to a fixture that has been hyped up for a few months, you are not just interested in the overall outcome. There are key battles on the field that can really serve as an excitement pill for most football fanatics. When Bengaluru FC travel to Kochi to take on Kerala Blasters in an Indian Super League (ISL) game on New Year’s Eve, the responsibility of keeping his team under control in order to execute their gameplan will be on the two captains - Sunil Chhetri and Sandesh Jhingan....

Chennaiyin also announced the signing of seven AIFF Elite Academy graduates – midfielder Saurabh Meher, defender Ajin Tom, defender Mohammed Sarif Khan, winger Joysana Singh, forward Aman Chetri, defender Aimol Chongompipa Reamsochung and defender Hendry Antonay, who was part of India’s 2017 U-17 FIFA World Cup squad. Earlier in December, Sportskeeda had reported that Chetri had signed with the ISL team’s reserve side. In addition to the seven new boys who are all U-18 players, the ‘B’ team comprises local talents from Tamil Nadu as well as other players scouted by Chennaiyin from all across the country....

In case you didn’t know… The 34-year-old Spanish midfielder is a product of Barcelona’s acclaimed La Masia. However, the mercurial winger never got the chance to play for the Catalan club at a senior level. Lanzarote did enjoy a decent career in Spain, however. The Spaniard mostly played for lower division sides. However, he has also represented relatively well-known clubs, such as Real Zaragoza, Eibar, and Espanyol. Lanzarote’s only trip outside Spain, before coming to India, was to Greece where he played for first division side Asteras Tripoli....

Bengaluru FC has a stellar record of winning silverware every season after its inception in 2013. This season they will be aiming to forget their last season’s defeat against Chennaiyin FC in the final and continuing to winning ways. The Five players who will play a key role in the ISL 5th edition for Bengaluru FC are: Sunil Chhetri The captain of Bengaluru FC and Indian football team, Sunil Chhetri is still going strong after turning 34 years old last month....

“It felt good. Because it’s early season and we are now at the top of the table. We did not have a good season last time but this season we started well we must say, so it’s a good start, we are happy. It is a very big challenge; we just got two days off and played an away game,” said Robert after the 1-0 win over ATK on Thursday....

Jamshedpur FC tactician Cesar Ferrando was very apt with his answers in the pre-match conference, he means business during his visit to the ‘City of Joy.’ When asked about whether missing key players will be a disadvantage to them, he said, “I don’t want to give any excuse. Tomorrow, we are going to line-up the best team to play against ATK. If we lose the match, I don’t want an excuse for anything....