Sports

Barcelona outclass Real Madrid to lift Super Cup

Published

2 years ago

January 16, 2023

Xavi claimed his first trophy as Barcelona manager after a comfortable victory over rivals Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup final.
The La Liga leaders dominated the match in Saudi Arabia and took the lead when 18-year-old Gavi fired in from Robert Lewandowski’s pass.

Lewandowski struck just before half time when he finished from Gavi’s pass.

Gavi got another assist in the second half as he set up Pedri, before Karim Benzema struck a late consolation.

The Frenchman’s late goal was scant consolation for Real Madrid, who were a distant second best throughout.

Indeed, Thibaut Courtois prevented Barcelona from winning by an even bigger margin with a couple of smart saves.

The former Chelsea goalkeeper was tested early when he turned Lewandowski’s sweeping effort onto the post and he also kept out Ousmane Dembele’s powerful strike.

But after Pedri got his side’s third midway through the second half with a tap-in there was never any doubt about the result as Barcelona won the Super Cup for the first time since 2018.

Sports

EPL: Can’t cry about it — Arteta on Arsenal’s 1-1 draw at Fulham

Published

4 days ago

December 8, 2024

Seyi Babalola

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has said they cannot “cry about” the 1-1 draw at Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday.

Arteta, however, insisted his team deserved to take all three points.

Raul Jimenez opened the scoring for the hosts in the first half before William Saliba levelled in the 52nd minute.

Speaking after the match, Arteta said: “Gutted that we didn’t win it. We fully deserved to win it. That’s the quality of the opposition, so you cannot cry about it. We generated all the chances but it’s so difficult to attack.”

Arsenal had 70 per cent possession and VAR denied Bukayo Saka what would have been a late winner.

Sports

EPL: ‘We started badly’ – Amorim on Man Utd’s 3-2 loss to Nottingham Forest

Published

5 days ago

December 7, 2024

Seyi Babalola

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has admitted his team did not do enough to beat Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Saturday.

The Red Devils suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time under Amorim, losing 3-2 to Nuno Espirito Santo’s men.

Goals from Nikola Milenkovic, Morgan Gibbs-White and Chris Wood moved Forest up to fifth place, with Rasmus Hojlund and Bruno Fernandes getting on the scoresheet for United.

The result leaves United in 13th place, 10 points above relegation places.

Amorim, speaking with BBC Sport, said: “Tough game. We started really bad. The first play we suffered a goal and then it’s hard to try to fight. We then controlled the game and had a lot of situations.

“We improved the movement in the last third. We managed to draw the game and then, at halftime, we were ready to go for the win and then started really bad. Two goals. Then we tried a lot of things with not a lot of quality.

“We didn’t have many situations to score. Tough game in a tough moment but we have to continue the job.”