Dortmund blame bus delay for a torrid night in Monaco
April 20 – Spare a thought for Borussia Dortmund’s players, staff and supporters after their Champions League elimination in the most unfortunate of circumstances.
Performance
Bayern fury as multiple referee blunders gift CL semi-final spot to Real Madrid
By Andrew Warshaw
April 17 – It’s hard enough to beat Real Madrid at the Bernabeu at the best of times, even harder when you go into a game against them a goal down from the first leg.
Nice to return to CL play as they keep pressure on PSG and Monaco
April 18 – OGC Nice have booked a ticket for next season’s Champions League after a comfortable 3-1 win against Nancy, guaranteeing a top three finish in Ligue 1.
Dortmund complain UEFA gave players no choice over rescheduled Monaco game
By Andrew Warshaw
April 13 – Handed a rare home defeat in their re-arranged Champions League quarterfinal first leg, Borussia Dortmund have thrown the book at UEFA claiming European football’s governing body “totally ignored” the players’ state of mind following the previous day’s explosions near the team bus that led to the fixture being postponed for a mere 24 hours.
Unfair competition: CL and Europe’s Big 5 leagues lead the stats of most 3 goal thrashings
April 11 – The issue of competitive balance in European competition was brought into political focus recently with UEFA’s new Champions League qualification criteria which sees four teams from the top four nations automatically qualify for the group stages. Not only does this reduce the opportunity of other teams from smaller leagues to challenge but it will likely concentrate more of the revenue towards the biggest teams.
2018 qualification fears force Argentina to fire Bauza with four games left
April 11 – Just days after being given the dreaded vote of confidence, Edgardo Bauza has been sacked as Argentina coach, with the team outside the automatic qualifying places for next year’s World Cup.
Ranieri absolves Leicester players from his ‘killing’ but someone was ‘behind me’
April 11 – Claudio Ranieri has finally broken his silence over his controversial sacking at Leicester City by hinting he had been betrayed by an unidentified party – but denied his players contrived to force him out.
AFA backs Bauza as world’s top ranked nation teeters on brink of Russia 2018 qualification
By Samindra Kunti
April 7 – The Argentine FA (AFA) has given its under-fire coach Edgardo Bauza a vote of confidence in spite of Argentina’s precarious World Cup qualifying position.
EFL boosts ‘home-grown’ rule and requirement for club-developed players
April 7 – English Football League (EFL) teams will have to increase the minimum number of home-grown players in their match-day squads from next season and from 2018-19 will have to make way for at least one ‘club-developed’ player.
Liverpool hit with fine and academy recruitment ban after trying to poach Stoke player
April 6 – Liverpool have been fined £100,000 by the Premier League and handed a two-year ban on signing academy players from other English clubs for breaking strict recruitment rules.
US Club Soccer tests its current crop of id2 players on Spanish tour
April 4 – The Mediterranean International Cup (MIC) kicks off this week, a friendly tournament for leading youth teams played on the Spain’s Costa Brava, this year it will feature a team from US Club Soccer’s id2 programme for the first time.
Swiss league tops Euro ranking of goals per game, La Liga 3rd, Premier League 7th
April 3 – If it is goals you want to see then the Swiss Super League is the place to watch football with an average 3.33 goals per game. The Big 5 leagues don’t fare too badly with Spain’s La Liga ranking third (2.9), the Premier League sixth (2.84) and Serie A seventh (2.82).
PSG beat Monaco to win French League Cup, now chase is on for Ligue 1 title
By Samindra Kunti
April 3 – Paris Saint-Germain won the French League Cup for the fourth consecutive season with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Monaco to alleviate some of the pressure on their coach Unai Emery.
Celtic wrap up SPL title with eight games still to play
April 3 – The statistics are pretty impressive. Unbeaten in the league domestically, a sixth consecutive title and only four points dropped.
Video ref steps in twice to change goal decisions in Spain’s 2-0 win over France
March 29 – Video technology, which FIFA hopes will be used at next year’s World Cup, was used to correct two wrong decisions as Spain beat France 2-0 in a friendly in Paris.