Author: RevSportz Comment

RevSportz Comment The marathon first round of UEFA Champions League matches has come and gone, with 18 matches played across three midweek nights in the revamped format. A brave new world, or merely old wine in a new bottle? Apart from Sparta Praha and Bayer Leverkusen – beaten by Zinedine Zidane’s wonder goal in the 2002 final – each of the teams in the nascent top eight is a former winner. Real Madrid, serial champions, lurk in ninth. Any shocks or surprises? Not really. Barcelona losing to Monaco away was an eyebrow-raiser, but that was largely the result of a…

Salvatore ‘Toto’ Schillaci, the surprise hero of Italia ’90, when his six goals helped the hosts to third place, has passed away. He was 59. He had been diagnosed with colon cancer in 2022. Schillaci played for Messina in his native Sicily, and enjoyed spells at Juventus and Internazionale before finishing his career in Japan as one of the stars of the new J-League A 25-goal season with Messina in Serie B in 1988-89 opened the door for a move to Juventus, then rebuilding after the glory years of the early and mid-1980s. He hit the ground running at Juve,…

Football is all I’ve known. From the time I was a teenager, I was told that I would be one of the faces that would take Indian football into a new era. I played every match for India when we hosted the Under-17 World Cup in 2017, and scored the winner against Argentina in a youth tournament just days before my 18th birthday. I was 19 when I was told I could never play football again. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Two big words. For me, they were like a death sentence. Imagine being a teenager who’s told that you can no longer…

RevSportz Comment “Players going on strike?” Rodri asked at a press conference in the build-up to Manchester City’s opening UEFA Champions League game against Internazionale of Milan. “I think we are close to that, it is easy to understand. “I think if you ask any player, he will say the same.It is not the opinion of Rodri or whatever. I think it’s the general opinion of the players. And if it keeps this way, there will be a moment where we have no other option, I really think, but let’s see. “I don’t know what’s going to happen but it’s…

Sport isn’t merely about numbers. But sometimes, they can paint a stark picture. The story of Indian football over the past decade would put a yo-yo to shame. Players who were part of a 2-1 defeat to Guam in June 2015 – prizes for anyone who can find the island on a map – were then part of a 0-0 draw against all-conquering Qatar in September 2019. India could beat Kuwait, who made a World Cup appearance more than 40 years ago, and then lose to Afghanistan, who haven’t played a home match in decades. It’s all very well to…

Pavel Nedved will be happy. A generation unaware of what a complete midfielder he was now knows of his existence because of the 2024 Ballon d’Or nominations. With no Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi on the 30-man longlist for the first time in over two decades, it’s only natural that the curious will look back at the 2003 awards, the last time neither featured at the ceremony. Nedved, The Czech Republic’s talisman who was then at the heart of a magnificent Juventus side that lost the Champions League final on penalties in 2002-03, was the clear winner, ahead of Thierry…

When the revamped UEFA Champions League kicks off in ten days’ time, Victor Osimhen, the African Footballer of the Year, might be watching on television. Having beaten Achraf Hakimi and Mohamed Salah to the prestigious individual award in 2023, Nigeria’s Osimhen will spend at least the first half of the season playing in the second-tier Europa League for Istanbul’s Galatasaray. For one of the most lethal strikers of his generation, the theme music of Champions League nights – which even Cristiano Ronaldo said used to fuel his dreams – will have to wait. How did it get to this? How…

RevSportz Comment It’s one of the oldest taunts in football – ‘Show us your medals!’ In the aftermath of Manchester United’s dismal 3-0 home loss to Liverpool, that was exactly what Casemiro’s wife did, giving a glimpse of the many trophies the Brazilian defensive midfielder had won during the course of a glittering top-flight career. While Casemiro was well below par at the base of United’s midfield – he was yanked off at half time, after being partly responsible for both Liverpool goals – she wasn’t alone in thinking that he was a convenient scapegoat for a tactical disaster-class from…

RevSportz Comment Arne Slot isn’t the first Liverpool manager to enjoy a perfect day at the home of his club’s biggest rivals. Bill Shankly, the architect of modern-day Liverpool Football Club, managed a 3-0 win against Manchester United in 1972, a time when the side managed for nearly a quarter-century by his fellow Scot, Sir Matt Busby, was in inexorable decline. One of Rafael Benitez’s finest hours was the 4-1 thumping of Sir Alex Ferguson’s champion side in April 2009. Even Brendon Rodgers won 3-0 at Old Trafford during a surprise title tilt in the spring of 2014. As for…

Even as the Uefa Champions League switches to a new format, more than three decades after the old European Cup in its pure-knockout guise was modified, the focus is on one of the quieter transfer windows that European football has seen in recent years. After the huge exodus to Saudi Arabia last summer, even that path was little trodden, as the continent’s biggest clubs appeared to pause and take stock. The biggest move, by a distance, was one that didn’t cost a penny in transfer fees. Real Madrid had been eyeing Kylian Mbappe ever since he scored six goals for…