Vesper

ideal (for us) semi finals: Semi 1 Real v Bayern (probably the 2 best teams in terms of winning the CL atm IMHO) Semi 2 Napoli v Citeh (the next 2 best teams) Semi 3 AC Milan v Benfica or Inter (Inter if they beat Porto) Semi 4 Chels v Porto or Benfica (if Porto lose to Inter) then in the Semis we draw the winner of Semi 3 IF we avoid the top 4 teams left until the final we have a real shot, and IF the final is us v Napoli, then we have a 50/50 shot I wager

Håland with a hat trick already

this shit is likely damn well over

2 nil Håland again

well fuck 1 nil 2 1 on agg

alt streams https://www.vipleague.st/manchester-city-vs-rb-leipzig-1-live-streaming https://www.vipleague.st/fc-porto-vs-internazionale-1-live-streaming

CL streams 21:00 - 22:45 | CET CHAMPIONS LEAGUE | MANCHESTER CITY VS RB LEIPZIG – S1 21:00 - 22:45 | CET CHAMPIONS LEAGUE | PORTO VS INTERNAZIONALE – S2

Josko Gvardiol transfer: How Chelsea, Real Madrid, Liverpool and Man City interest could play out https://theathletic.com/4302498/2023/03/14/josko-gvardiol-transfer-Chelsea-real-madrid-manchester-city/ Josko Gvardiol is a man in demand. The Croatia international only signed a new contract at RB Leipzig in September — a deal that, in theory, ties him to the Bundesliga club until 2027 — but few expect him to see it out. Gvardiol’s deal contains a release clause set at £97million ($118m) but does not become active before the summer of 2024. Despite Leipzig’s high valuation and strong contractual position, the 21-year-old, who underlined his status as one of Europe’s most promising centre-halves when helping Croatia finish third at the World Cup in Qatar, can expect a scramble to secure his signature this summer, with most of the continent’s leading clubs expected to form a pretty disorderly queue. Follow live coverage of Manchester City vs RB Leipzig in the Champions League He faces one of them, Manchester City, with a Champions League quarter-finals place on the line tonight, having equalised for Leipzig in the first leg in eastern Germany three weeks ago. Here, The Athletic analyses where Gvardiol may be playing his club football next season, and what the factors could be behind any decision. Chelsea Chelsea were the Premier League club most keenly interested in Gvardiol last summer, and could well have gone through with the deal had the terms been easier to nail down with Leipzig. Initial discussions started over a fee worth around €70million (£60.5million), which rose to €80m and finally €90m, before collapsing. Instead, they kept their powder dry and signed Monaco’s Benoit Badiashile — for less money than Gvardiol would cost — in January. Relations between the two clubs are generally good, and they have successfully come to agreements on other major deals in recent seasons: Timo Werner (in both directions), Christopher Nkunku (who will join Chelsea this summer after signing an agreement in October) and Christopher Vivell, who joined the Londoners as technical director in December after leaving the German club. Chelsea’s interest in Gvardiol has not disappeared and the struggles of Kalidou Koulibaly (like Gvardiol, a left-sided centre-half) in his debut season in the English game at age 31 mean that a summer move cannot be discounted. However, there are several factors counting against it. The form of Badiashile has impressed Chelsea’s coaching staff, who might be reluctant to stunt the 21-year-old’s development by signing another first-team defender. There is also the question of what happens to Levi Colwill, the 20-year-old who is on a season’s loan in the domestic top flight at Brighton & Hove Albion but remains very much part of Chelsea’s long-term plans. Thiago Silva is 38 but the Brazil captain has also recently signed a new contract. In short, head coach Graham Potter is not lacking for central defensive options. Chelsea might also be losing one of the potential trump cards in persuading Gvardiol to join — his Croatia team-mate Mateo Kovacic. The midfielder revealed in September that he had been asked about Gvardiol by Chelsea’s new owners and it seems inconceivable that he would not also have been talking to his international colleague about what the west London club have to offer. But there is a possibility Kovacic, 28, is going to leave Stamford Bridge come the summer. He has just one year left on his contract and, as The Athletic reported recently, talks over an extension have yet to start. Finally, Chelsea’s close-season transfer window priorities are likely to fall in other areas. They are looking for a new goalkeeper, possibly another midfielder and a top striker (again) to name just three, as well as weighing up whether to buy Joao Felix, who is on a half-season loan from Atletico Madrid. Gvardiol is greatly admired by Chelsea executives, but any possible deal for him may have to wait until 2024 at the earliest. Manchester City One of Gvardiol’s nicknames is ‘Little Pep’ — mainly a nod to the similarities between their surnames, although it also echoed their playing careers, as the Croatian began life as a central midfielder, Pep Guardiola’s old position. Regardless, the Manchester City manager is a fully signed-up member of the Gvardiol fan club, along with the director of football at the Premier League champions, Txiki Begiristain. Last summer, when Nathan Ake was tipped to leave the Etihad Stadium in pursuit of more regular first-team football, City made an enquiry to Leipzig to gauge the possibility of signing him. Reports of their interest flared again during the World Cup before Christmas and there have been informal talks between Guardiola and the player. City would doubtless put themselves in the mix for his signature this summer given chances to sign players of this quality are rare, but the club are conscious they already have five senior centre-backs on their books: Ruben Diaz, John Stones, Ake, Aymeric Laporte and Manuel Akanji. If Guardiola wishes to add another, particularly for the sort of money Leipzig would be demanding, one of those five would have to leave. Laporte would be the most likely candidate for an exit, but that would inevitably complicate matters. Real Madrid The reigning Spanish, European and world champions always feature in discussions around the futures of the continent’s top talents, and there is no doubt that executives at the Bernabeu Stadium are fans of Gvardiol. The La Liga club met the player’s representatives in December after his fine performances at the World Cup, underlining the extent of that admiration at the highest level. But there is an acceptance that Gvardiol will probably be out of their reach — an increasingly common scenario as Madrid find themselves pitched against the Premier League’s financial behemoths, such as in the pursuit of Borussia Dortmund’s England midfielder Jude Bellingham. GO DEEPER 'Josko Gvardiol is the best centre-back in the world' - the Croatia defender by those who know him Madrid are no longer in a position to pursue several high-cost targets in the same window, and they will not countenance spending the kind of money Leipzig will demand for Gvardiol — especially when some Premier League clubs will be happy to pay such a sum. The inability to compete with England’s elite is the driving force behind Madrid’s continuing demands for a European Super League: ironically, a club who have benefited greatly from outmuscling rivals financially for so long now see it as the only way they can close the economic gap. There is also a feeling within the club that their squad does not need central defensive reinforcements. Liverpool Gvardiol is admired by senior recruitment figures at Liverpool, who have closely tracked his development. They also have a good relationship with Leipzig having bought Naby Keita and Ibrahima Konate from them. However, Liverpool have bigger transfer priorities than centre-back. Their focus this summer is on strengthening their midfield department. Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham, the club’s top target, would command a fee higher than £100million. Liverpool also retain an interest in Wolves’ Matheus Nunes and Chelsea’s Mason Mount. Centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate remain Jurgen Klopp’s first-choice partnership, with Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and Nathaniel Phillips providing back-up. Matip will enter the final year of his contract this summer and Phillips is expected to leave in search of regular game time. So Liverpool may well need to bring in another centre-back as cover but given the competition for his signature and the size of the fee that will be required to secure his services, it’s unlikely to be Gvardiol. Juventus Ordinarily, Juventus would be the only Italian club able to compete for a player in Gvardiol’s price bracket — as they did, successfully, when Matthijs de Ligt left Ajax in the summer of 2019. Juventus need a centre-back but their 2022 close-season signing Gleison Bremer is the defender they wish to build the back line around, and there is uncertainty surrounding their budget for the summer. Whether the Turin side would represent an attractive proposition to Gvardiol is another factor, too. They have been docked 15 points this season due to an accounting scandal, which has left their hopes of qualifying for the 2023-24 Champions League in tatters, despite their record being the second-best in Serie A. Juventus hope to get that ruling overturned but there could also be further punishments inflicted on them. There are precious few other options in Serie A. Inter Milan are losing Milan Skriniar on a Bosman to Paris Saint-Germain this summer and have no cash to reinvest. AC Milan, meanwhile, will not pay more than £30million for a player and already have a surfeit of fine prospects at centre-back. Comfortable on the ball, aggressive defensively We can develop an impression of Gvardiol’s skill set using Smarterscout, which assigns players’ attributes a rating from zero to 99 based on either how well or how frequently they perform a particular action. The scores below are adjusted for Premier League standard and measured in comparison to other centre-backs — in other words, Gvardiol’s maximum score of 99 for ‘defending intensity’ means he engages opposition attackers more than almost any other centre-back at the highest level. Even better, his high rating for ‘defending impact’ (88 out of 99) shows he is effective at forcing turnovers when he does pressurise the other team. Gvardiol’s data from last season also highlights that he is not only confident carrying the ball out of defence (‘carry and dribble volume’, 67 out of 99), but that he also has a tendency to play longer, riskier passes upfield to build the attack for his team (‘progressive passing’, 64 out of 99). GO DEEPER The Radar - The Athletic's 2022 World Cup scouting guide RB Leipzig There is always, of course, the option of staying put. Leipzig certainly seem in no rush to push him towards the exit, and that recent contract extension served notice of how highly they think of him. That much has been obvious since he was signed from Dinamo Zagreb back home in 2021, when Leipzig’s then-sporting director Markus Krosche announced that “we have signed one of the best defensive talents in Europe”. His stock has only risen since then. Indeed, he has been referred to within Leipzig as the ‘Erling Haaland of centre-backs’ and they are acutely aware his value should be adjusted accordingly. There is an acknowledgement that Gvardiol may ask to move for a lower fee than his release clause stipulates but club executives are minded to hold their ground. “Josko Gvardiol will be an RB Leipzig player next season as well,” said their head coach Marco Rose last month. “I am the coach and I am asking for that. He is happy here. He said he wants to play in the Premier League, but he didn’t say when.” Time will tell if Rose’s wish is realised.

Pulisic is shit I was always at the vanguard of opposition to buying him I early on called him a marketing gambit caught a tonne of stick for that and was totally vindicated when Buck admitted as much, plus, other than that one half a season, Pulisic played like shit and was (and is) ALWAYS injured made of glass the lad is sell his arse

'It's not normal' - Enzo Fernandez's breakneck rise from River Plate loanee to Chelsea https://theathletic.com/4251053/2023/03/14/enzo-fernandez-Chelsea-profile/ His ascent has been so swift, such a magic carpet ride, that it can be hard to wrap your head around. But if you had to boil it down to one thought, one sentence, it would probably be something like this: Enzo Fernandez is the best footballer in the world that you had never heard of six months ago. By some margin, too. Caveats obviously apply here — anyone with even a passing interest in Argentinian domestic football will be rolling their eyes — but the broad point stands. In August, Fernandez was taking his first steps in Europe after leaving River Plate, his boyhood club. Benfica had paid an initial fee of just €10million (£8.9m; $10.6m) and, though there was excitement about his potential, it was seen as a long-term bet. He had a grand total of two youth caps for his country. And now? Fernandez is a World Cup winner, the fifth most expensive player in the history of his sport, and widely expected to be a pillar of the Chelsea team for the next decade. Inside Argentina’s World Cup win… Messi’s voice, lucky Aguero and lots of beef — how they won in Qatar Michael Cox on ‘the most tactically flexible World Cup winners ever’ Life, as another whip-smart youngster once noted, moves pretty fast. For some, it has all been a bit too quick for comfort. Benfica, for example, would have preferred a little more time to enjoy Fernandez and the chance for their investment to pay off on the pitch as well as on their balance sheet. Back home, though, the general reaction to his progress has been joyous, open-mouthed wonder. Fernandez’s family are said to be stunned by how briskly things have moved and ex-colleagues and coaches feel the same way. “I expected him to reach this level, but the speed of it all has surprised me,” says Ezequiel Unsain, a former team-mate. “He has improved a huge amount in a short period.” Hernan Crespo, the former Chelsea and Argentina striker, is even more emphatic. He managed Fernandez during a formative loan spell at Defensa y Justicia between 2020 and 2021 and sums up his old charge’s jet-powered journey in three words. “It’s not normal,” Crespo tells The Athletic. Fernandez grew up in Villa Lynch, a scruffy corner of Buenos Aires, with his parents and three brothers. His father, Raul, bounced between jobs: after being laid off at a metalwork plant, he worked as a labourer before landing a position in an ink factory. His passion was football, River Plate in particular; Enzo was named after Enzo Francescoli, the elegant Uruguayan playmaker who led River to Copa Libertadores glory in 1996. Fernandez started off at his local club, La Recova, playing small-sided games. They call it ‘Baby futbol’ in Argentina, but that is not to say it isn’t serious business. The scouts from the big clubs always have their eyes peeled and it was not long before one of them — Pablo Esquivel, the coach of a rival team but also part of River’s extensive network — spotted Fernandez. “He was unstoppable,” Esquivel later told the Clarin newspaper. “He was so young but you could see how intelligent he was.” Esquivel recommended Fernandez to River’s academy chief, then visited Raul and his wife, Marta, at their home. They initially insisted Enzo was too young: he was only five at the time. But Esquivel remained on the case and, a year later, was given the green light to sign him up. At River, Fernandez continued to play baby futbol with a side called Parque Chas, an affiliate of the bigger club — team-mates called him “The Musician” because he was said to conduct the orchestra — before moving up to 11-a-side. He trained after school, catching the No 28 bus to River’s training ground with his mum. They usually only arrived back home at night due to the suffocating traffic on Avenida General Paz. Fernandez moved serenely through the early age groups, impressing with his technique and vision. “The ball almost came up to his knee, but this little boy made decisions that you saw the big boys making,” Bruno Quinteros, his coach at under-9 and under-10 level, said in an interview with Infobae. “He always understood the game very well.” Fernandez could be unruly off the field — he once got in trouble for starting a stone-throwing fight with team-mates — but was never anything less than deeply committed when it came to football. Quinteros tells the story of a winter trip to the mountains of Neuquen, where a 10-year-old Fernandez demanded an extra morning training session to prepare for a game against a local side in the afternoon. “It was eight degrees below zero and the cars were covered in snow,” Quinteros recalled. “But Enzo knew he had to train.” Things slowed down when he entered his teens. Team-mates had growth spurts and Fernandez — “small and a bit chubby” in the words of one youth coach — was overtaken. In the under-13s and under-14s, he was bumped down to what was effectively the B team, playing in local competitions rather than the national league. Sometimes he did not even start at that lower level. His confidence was dented. Esquivel, his mentor at River, told him the solution was training more and eating better. His family found him a personal trainer and a nutritionist. Team-mates from that time still call him ‘Fatty’, but Fernandez knuckled down and reaped the rewards. “He lost five kilos in one month and never looked back,” his father said in an interview on Argentinian radio. At 17, Fernandez was training with River’s reserves. His coach there was Luigi Villalba, who saw similarities between him and Exequiel Palacios, a young midfielder who had already made the step up to the River first-team and now plays for Bayer Leverkusen. “Enzo was an excellent passer, over short and long distances,” Villalba tells The Athletic. “He had a good shot from the edge of the box. But above all, he had a great head on his shoulders. He was a leader, a big personality. “He was always asking us what was missing in his game, what he still had to work on. He would take our views on board and put them into action in no time. He had a special mentality.” Tactically, Fernandez could anchor the midfield — as he has for Chelsea — but tended to do his best work a little further forward. “Sometimes he was the No 5, the deepest player in a midfield three,” says Villalba. “But I mainly used him as an ‘interior’ — just to the right or just to the left — with the freedom to break into the opponents’ area. “The team really benefitted when I let him loose like that because he’s so good at playing the final ball, slipping passes through to the strikers. But he performed brilliantly in every position. He just had this intelligence.” When River’s first team saw off Boca Juniors to win the Libertadores in December 2018, Fernandez did what most of the club’s fans in Buenos Aires did: he went to the Obelisco in the centre of town and celebrated like a maniac. A month later, he was playing against the senior players in a training match at River’s Ezeiza complex — and doing so well that Marcelo Gallardo, the head coach, put him in the squad for the league meeting with Patronato that weekend. He would have to wait another year for his debut, but it was enough to make experienced figures at River sit up and take notice. Team-mate Leonardo Ponzio, who played more than 350 matches for River across two spells, says Fernandez made an excellent first impression. “As he came through the age groups, you’d always hear his name,” Ponzio tells The Athletic. “People spoke about this kid who had good feet, looked after the ball well and knew how to make the team tick. He showed all of those attributes when he joined the first-team squad. Even as a young kid, he understood the rhythms of a match.” At that stage, Fernandez still had a few rough edges to smooth. “He needed to show a bit more commitment off the ball, to sacrifice himself more when the time came to defend,” says Ponzio. “He wasn’t so good at the invisible work of helping the team.” Villalba concurs: “He was brilliant with the ball, but he needed to be more alert out of possession — to deal better with changes of rhythm, to be less passive. That was something he had to resolve before being ready for the first team at River.” The other thing he needed was experience, but the route to the first team was congested: Ponzio, Enzo Perez, Bruno Zuculini and Santiago Sosa were all vying for spots in central midfield. Even after playing a starring role in the Under-20s Copa Libertadores in early 2020, Fernandez only managed one substitute appearance for the first team across all competitions before the summer break. Gallardo’s solution was to send him out on loan to Defensa y Justicia, one of Buenos Aires’ smaller professional clubs. He told Fernandez he could build some momentum before staking his claim back at River. Defensa had no option to buy; Fernandez had no option but to prove himself. Defensa played dynamic, front-foot football. “I wanted the team to press without the ball and generate (situations of) superiority with the ball on the ground,” Crespo explains. This suited Fernandez, whose quick thinking and refined technique allowed him to accelerate things from deep. “He helped us to develop our identity,” says Crespo. “He was a very complete player who understood the responsibility of playing in midfield.” Unsain, the captain of that team, was similarly enamoured. “Enzo improved us,” he tells The Athletic. “He was intense and aggressive. He really stood up in the midfield, organising the play and always demanding the ball in complicated situations. “His level never dipped: he seemed to get better and better in every game. He became one of our best players.” Nor was this just any old season for Defensa. They made history by winning the Copa Sudamericana (the continent’s equivalent of the Europa League), with Fernandez coming to the fore at key moments. He came off the bench to score a vital goal in the quarter-final against Bahia, started both legs of the semi-final and shone in the final against Lanus. “He was brilliant in those games,” says Unsain. “We had talented players all over the pitch, but he was the boss of the team. It was our first international trophy and he played a fundamental role. It was like the ball belonged to him.” For Crespo, those knockout games showcased one of Fernandez’s best assets. “His technical skill was there for all to see, but I would also highlight his mentality,” he says. “He is a winner and an optimist. Although he was young, he rose to every challenge — especially in important moments. He has this ability to adapt and perform very naturally on the big stage.” Gallardo took note and recalled Fernandez midway through 2021 — six months earlier than planned. That rankled a few at Defensa, who had just reached the last 16 of the Libertadores for the first time in their history and suddenly found themselves a key player short. “Painful,” Unsain calls it. For Fernandez — and yes, there’s a bit of a theme emerging here — the timing worked out. He scored his first River goal in August, cemented a starting spot in October and won the league in December. “He came back a different player,” says Ponzio. “He had become the footballer he is today: someone who wins the ball as well as passing it. His movement was good, he had great vision, he could create. He made everything look easy and played with real personality. He was a phenomenon.” Again, Fernandez played as a box-to-box midfielder, usually just to the right of a holding player, with the licence to get forward. “That’s the position I like the most,” he told newspaper Ole in January 2022. “I’ve always felt comfortable playing near the goal, looking for pockets of space so I can create a chance or shoot.” The River fans loved him, not just because he shaped so many matches — Fernandez scored eight goals and laid on six more in 19 games in the first half of 2022 — but because he represented them on the field. He was the local kid who went away and clawed his way back, who made a point of throwing his jersey into the crowd after nearly every game. “That is part of his identity,” says Ponzio. “He was a typical River player: technical, driven, obsessed with winning. It’s not easy to come back to the club after going on loan, but he was made to succeed at River.” Benfica won the race for Fernandez in the summer of 2022. The fee was relatively modest (€10million for 75 per cent of his rights, plus up to €8m in add-ons), but the Portuguese club were prepared to let him stay in Argentina until River had completed their Libertadores campaign. In the end, they did not have to wait very long at all: River lost their last-16 tie with Velez Sarsfield in early July and Fernandez headed to Lisbon. There, he pressed the fast-forward button again. Fernandez scored on debut in the Champions League qualifier against Midtjylland, then repeated the trick in the return leg, with a league goal against Arouca sandwiched in the middle. “Deadly Enzo” was Record’s early description of him and soon the other aspects of his game came to the fore as well. Fernandez became “the compass of the team” (Expresso) and earned rave reviews from the Portuguese football establishment. “His passes and vision remind me of Zinedine Zidane,” said Jose Peseiro, the former Sporting Lisbon and Porto manager. “He also finds solutions just by controlling the ball in a certain way. His level is absolutely amazing.” (Nor is Zidane the only Real Madrid legend to whom Fernandez has been compared. “He has a panoramic view of the game and a refined touch, very similar to Luka Modric,” one of his old River mentors once told Clarin.) You’ll know most of the rest. Fernandez was a late bolter for Argentina’s World Cup squad — you won’t find his image in the official sticker book — but played with the confidence of a veteran after being given a chance against Mexico. World Cup winner’s medal, best young player at the tournament, national hero status: not a bad month’s work, all told. “He was not fazed at all,” says Crespo. His Benfica exit was not quite as frictionless. Rumours about his future were already swirling when he scored in the cup game against Varzim on January 10, but his celebration — a tap of the badge and an “I’m staying here” gesture — made supporters believe he was prepared to stick around until the end of the season. There was, after all, a hugely promising Champions League run to conclude. But Fernandez, when push came to shove, decided he wanted to go. “He was not committed to Benfica,” the club’s sporting director, Rui Costa, said in an angry interview. “It was not a transfer we wanted to do, but I’m not going to cry about a player who didn’t want to play for us.” The hope for Chelsea, who spent a British record £106.7m to bring him to the Premier League in January, will be that Fernandez is in it for the long haul because his early contributions have been encouraging. He has been a reassuring presence — particularly on the ball — in recent wins against Leeds United, Borussia Dortmund and Leicester City, which have helped steady the ship at Stamford Bridge. Already, just a few weeks after his arrival, he looks like a player the club can build around. Tellingly, the usual worries about integration and getting up to speed in the Premier League have been a complete non-factor — no surprise, really, given his path to this point. Fernandez just seems to have an unshakeable sense of purpose. Destiny, you might even call it. “So much has happened for him since in the last three years,” Unsain says. “He has a knack for adapting quickly, even when he makes a step up. River, Benfica, Argentina at the World Cup… it speaks volumes about his personality.” Crespo agrees and believes Fernandez is now in exactly the right place. “Chelsea is a great step for any player,” adds the Premier League side’s former striker. “I have the best memories of my time there and it’s a great place for Enzo to develop. “He will handle the pressure. He is a very good guy, humble and hard-working. “And he has consistently shown that he has the ability to adapt to new challenges.”

Chelsea to host Open Iftar at Stamford Bridge https://theathletic.com/4305928/2023/03/14/Chelsea-iftar-stamford-bridge/ Chelsea have announced plans to host an Open Iftar at Stamford Bridge in partnership with the Ramadan Tent project. Part of Ramadan, an important month of the Islamic calendar where Muslims worldwide engage in fasting, prayer, and reflection, Iftar is when those practising break their fasts during the evening and come together to pray. Chelsea will host their Open Iftar at the side of their pitch on March 26, during the upcoming international break, in a first for a Premier League stadium. “Ramadan is not a strict thing, it is open,” Chelsea defender and practising Muslim Kalidou Koulibaly said. “In the night, everybody is happy to be together and everybody is happy to eat together. “It can be a big community and this is the beautiful part of Ramadan.” GO DEEPER Being a footballer during Ramadan Wesley Fofana, who joined Chelsea from Leicester City last summer, is also a Muslim and spoke about what the holy month means to him. He said: “When it is Ramadan, you must be together with your friends. “I have friends that are not Muslim, but they still come and eat and stay the night with me. “We stay together and it is beautiful.” The Ramadan Tent Project is a charity that was set up in 2013, that aims to bring communities together and spread the spirit of Ramadan through various initiatives. GO DEEPER Manchester City like Ben Chilwell and need a left-back – Chelsea must keep him

Premier League announces kit rebrand with new font for player names and larger numbers https://theathletic.com/4307196/2023/03/14/premier-league-kit-names-numbers-font/ The Premier League has announced kit changes for next season, with larger numbers and a new font for player names. Top-flight clubs will wear shirts with rebranded elements from the 2023-24 term that the Premier League says will provide “increased visibility and more impact both on and off the pitch”. The number heights have increased from 230mm to 250mm, with the Premier League logo at the bottom also bigger. Avery says the bigger negative space in the numbers also increases visibility from distances. Next season’s shirts will also include a resigned sleeve badge featuring a standalone Premier League lion. The tweaked design will be replicated in gold for the ‘champions’ badge worn by the 2022-23 winners. The Premier League has worked with its official name, number and sleeve badge supplier, Avery Dennison, on only the fourth redesign in its history. Will Brass, chief commercial officer at the Premier League, said: “We wanted to work closely with Avery Dennison, using their expertise and experience to create new names and numbers, which were not only clearer for those watching matches in stadiums or at home, but which also incorporated the Premier League brand more readily. “The names and numbers have become part of the fabric of the Premier League.” The Premier League say the names, numbers and sleeve badges will be produced at Avery Dennison’s factory in Western Norway, “powered by renewable energy from a nearby glacier” and using a digital process “to ensure minimal waste”.

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FIFA approves plans for expanded Club World Cup in 2025 with Chelsea, Real Madrid qualifying automatically https://theathletic.com/4307281/2023/03/14/fifa-club-world-cup-2025-teams/ FIFA has approved plans for an expanded Club World Cup in 2025, with Chelsea and Real Madrid handed automatic qualification spots. The current format of the tournament involves seven teams competing for the title, but FIFA president Gianni Infantino revealed plans in December for an expanded 32-team tournament from June 2025 and FIFA approved the proposal at its council meeting in Rwanda on Tuesday. The new format of the tournament will consist of eight groups of four, with the top two teams of each group going through to a knockout round. As the last two winners of the Champions League, Chelsea, and Real Madrid will be guaranteed a spot in the tournament and two more spots will be issued to the 2023 and 2024 Champions League winners. As the Copa Libertadores is currently due to be held in November, South American clubs would not have finished their qualification tournaments in time to qualify for the new Club World Cup that year. The new 32-team tournament is scheduled for 2025 and then 2029, but the current seven-team format will continue in its current December slot in 2024 — and in the years between the bumper version. That smaller tournament will run under a new name. Speaking at a press conference ahead of the World Cup final in December, Infantino said the expanded tournament would be “like a World Cup”. The international match calendar will be altered from 2025, with one extended break taking in four matches in late September and early October replacing two separate windows in September and October. The governing body said that the other windows — in November, March and June — would remain unchanged. Since taking over from Sepp Blatter in 2016, Infantino has sought to expand the Club World Cup and add to the pool of teams. Speaking in 2016, he said: “Today football is not just about Europe and South America. The world has changed and that’s why we need to make the Club World Cup more interesting for teams, and also for fans around the world.” Real Madrid are the current holders of the Club World Cup after defeating Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal last month to win the trophy for a record fifth time. GO DEEPER The FIFA Club World Cup: Infantino's proposed changes

and we should be 3 and 0 over the last 15 years (Moscow, arffff) and in 2021, we destroyed Real Madrid in the semis smoked them like a blunt with our pace and their lack of it our 2012 win at Bayern is the biggest CL final upset in the past 30 years (Pool beating AC Milan is up there too, especially with that lead Milan blew) biggest upset IMHO since Marseille upset one of those insane AC Milan teams in 1992/93, 1 nil (and Marseille were hardly shit, they were actually quite loaded too, Völler, Deschamps, Desailly, etc etc)

Vlahovic is not at all WC at pressing, so he is perhaps not in the mix these are the true press monsters Victor Osimhen Jonathan David Ivan Toney (as long as the betting shit is sorted) Randal Kolo Muani Rasmus Højlund (super pace)

here is the original source (I am NOT saying this is a true at all) Google translated from Italian btw EXCLUSIVE – Kovacic has offered himself to Milan: the situation | PM News https://www.pianetamilan.it/news-milan/esclusive/calciomercato-milan-kovacic-Chelsea-ultime-news-oggi-12-03-2023/ Mateo Kovacic, Chelsea midfielder, would be interested in wearing the Milan shirt in the summer. Here's what we found out Matthew Ronchetti March 12 - MILAN The transfer market never sleeps and Milan , as a club that is always vigilant and attentive to the opportunities that the Italian and international panorama presents, obviously does not find itself unprepared. On the other hand, it is in this period that the foundations are laid for the negotiations which will eventually be developed next summer. Milan transfer market: a meeting with Kovacic took place According to what we learned during Milan's recent trip to London , where coach Stefano Pioli 's team faced Tottenham , eliminating them from the Champions League , the Rossoneri managers Paolo Maldini and Frederic Massara had a very interesting market summit in the hotel. In fact, the technical director and sporting director of the Via Aldo Rossi club met Mateo Kovacic , the Croatian midfielder born in 1994 at Chelsea and his entourage. Kovacic, a former Real Madrid and Inter Milan player, actually offered himself to Milan as he intends to leave the ' Blues ' at the end of the season. He would welcome a return to Milan after the years spent in the Nerazzurri. Milan interested for the summer, under the right conditions What was Milan's response? Maldini and Massara listened, interested, and registered Kovacic's desire for Milan . In the summer, therefore, if the technical and economic conditions exist, it is not excluded that Milan will make an attempt for the Croatian national team player. After all, Kovacic's name returns to the Rossoneri orbit: he had already been compared to the Devil at the time when he played for Real Madrid. Kovacic's contract with Chelsea will expire on 30 June 2024 , so for the price tag, possibly, the economic outlay shouldn't be too high. Even as far as salary is concerned, we would be within Milan's parameters, given that, according to ' Calcio & Finanza ', the number 8 of the ' Blues ', in London, receives 2.86 million pounds net per season, equal to 3.2 million euros net per year. Milan market, identified the right man for the defense >>>

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cox_VfYjYdN/?hl=en

2022-23 English Premier League Crystal Palace Manchester City https://www.topsporter.net/sports/2023/premier-league-crystal-palace-vs-manchester-city-s1/ https://www.vipleague.st/crystal-palace-vs-manchester-city-1-live-streaming

first away EPL win since mid October I think!

his age is super tricky I went into long detail on it long ago in the Transfer forum

last player I have seen get knocked over so easily as Pulisic is Mr hair dryer Morata