Lampard's closeness to retirement

Chelsea may be the first top English club to change their coach this season.

To such a step Roman Abramovich is pushed by an unsuccessful series of games at the end of last - the beginning of this year.

In the postponed match of the 18th round of the Premier League, the away team was defeated by Leicester (0: 2), which was their fifth in the last eight matches of the tournament.

In this segment, the Londoners won only two victories (over West Ham and Fulham) and dropped to eighth place in the table.

At the same time, the season began for Chelsea quite well.

In the summer, the club spent almost € 250 million on the transfer market, buying the rights to Kai Havertz, Timo Werner, Ben Chilwell, Hakim Ziyech and Edouard Mendy.

In the fall, Londoners consistently scored points in the Premier League, and also took first place in the Champions League group.

However, in December, the blue ones, like in 2019, started having problems.

In the national championship, they were defeated in all key matches (Everton - 0: 1, Arsenal - 1: 3, Manchester City - 1: 3, Leicester - 0: 2), and also lost points in meetings with inferior rivals Wolverhampton (1: 2) and Aston Villa (1: 1).

In addition, expensive newbies do not show themselves in any way.

This primarily concerns Werner.

In his last 15 games with Chelsea, he has scored just one goal (hitting Morcamb in the FA Cup) and lost his starting position.

Lampard can only be surprised that his players lost their shape so quickly.

Meanwhile, in 19 rounds of the Premier League, the team under his leadership scored only 29 points.

The worst result in the Abramovich era in this segment, she achieved only in the 2015/16 season (20 points) - then Jose Mourinho was fired after the 16th round.

Can follow in the footsteps of the Portuguese and his former ward.

According to Sky Sports, the Englishman will be fired if the Blues' results do not improve soon.

It is reported that Massimiliano Allegri or Tomas Tuchel can replace him.

FT.

# LEICHEpic.twitter.com / sSttYoFKAb

- Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 19, 2021

The Premier League giants from Manchester scored regular victories this week.

Manchester United beat Fulham 2-1 away with difficulty and remained in first place in the Premier League standings.

At the same time, Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer's charges are outperformed by Manchester City, who has a match in reserve, which scored two unanswered goals at home against Aston Villa.

But Liverpool sensationally lost to Burnley (0: 1) and interrupted a 68-game unbeaten run at Anfield in the Premier League.

The last time the Merseysides lost at home in the Premier League was almost four years ago - to Crystal Palace in April 2017.

In the reporting meeting, Jurgen Klopp's wards had many chances to score at least a point, but did not manage to print the opponent's goal.

And shortly before the final whistle, referee Mike Dean did not award a penalty for hitting the ball into the hand of the guests' defender after a cross from the flank.

But in the 83rd minute, he pointed to the "point" behind the junction of Alison Becker and Ashley Barnes in the penalty area.

The 11-meter one was sold by the victim himself.

Two missed penalties from Barcelona

The main sensation of the week took place in Spain.

After being defeated by Athletic in the domestic Super Cup semifinals, Real were also eliminated from the national Cup.

In the 1/16 finals, Madrid unexpectedly lost on the road to the Alcoiano team (1: 2), representing the third most powerful division.

To understand how big the difference between the rivals is, it is enough to refer to the data of the Transfermarkt portal: the cost of the composition of the "cream" is more than 300 times more expensive (€ 782 million versus € 2.5 million).

At the same time, one cannot say that Zinedine Zidane released the reservists onto the field.

Only defender Viktor Chust and Ukrainian goalkeeper Andrey Lunin made their debut in the team.

At the end of the first half, Eder Militao opened the scoring and it seemed that the favorite would calmly bring the matter to victory.

But Madrid failed to break through 41-year-old goalkeeper José Juan Figueres.

At the end of the match, the veteran recorded ten saves to his asset.

And shortly before the final whistle, Alcoyano regained balance.

The fate of the confrontation was decided in extra time.

In the 110th minute, the hosts were in the minority, but that did not stop them from scoring the winning goal five minutes later.

For the first time since 2000, Real have been eliminated from the Cup at such an early stage.

21 years ago, the Moscow team lost to Toledo in the second round - 1: 2.

It is curious that at that time the team played in the third league of the country.

Zidane once again failed in this tournament.

The Frenchman did not win the Spanish Cup either as a football player or as a coach.

Barcelona unexpectedly faced serious problems as well, which in the third round of the tournament met with another representative of Segunda B, Cornelia.

At the previous stage, the team from the small town of Cornella de Llobregat had already made a sensation by knocking Atlético out of the fight, and now they have made life as difficult for the Catalans as possible.

Ronald Koeman's wards put the squeeze on the opponent only in extra time.

True, in the main they earned two penalties, but both were reflected by Ramon Juan.

First, he coped with the blow of Miralem Pjanic, and then with the shot of Ousman Dembele.

But in the 92nd minute, the Frenchman nevertheless hit the Cornelli goal with a game, and in the 121st minute all questions about the winner of the meeting were removed by Martin Brightwhite.

Meanwhile, the first in the standings, Examples, Atletico won the sixth consecutive victory in the championship and increased the lead over the nearest pursuer - Real Madrid - to seven points.

However, Eibar, fighting for survival, beat Madrid away with great difficulty - 2: 1.

Already in the 12th minute, the hosts opened the scoring from the penalty spot, and Jan Oblak's goal was struck by his colleague Marko Dmitrovich.

Prior to this episode, the team in the current season of Examples has implemented only two 11-meters out of five, and the coaching staff decided to entrust this right to the goalkeeper.

The Serb did not disappoint and scored his debut goal in his career.

Luis Suarez saved Atlético.

At the end of the first half, the Uruguayan regained the balance on the scoreboard, and in the 89th minute struck an accurate shot from the "point".

The striker now has 11 goals in the current season for Examples, and he leads the tournament's top scorers with former teammate Lionel Messi.

Ronaldo's historic achievement

As a footballer, Andrea Pirlo won the Italian Super Cup three times and won it for the first time as a coach on Wednesday.

The trophy became his debut in a new guise.

Juventus have scored two unanswered goals against Napoli, which is headed by Pirlo's former partner in Milan and the Italian national team Gennaro Gattuso.

The winning goal was scored by Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portuguese had additional motivation to excel, as the goal made him the top scorer in history, if we take into account only the official games.

And in the second half, the 35-year-old achieved his goal, scoring the 760th goal in his career for clubs and the national team.

Josef Bican (759) and Pele (757) are left behind.

⬡ 1,040 games


⬢ 760 goals


⬡ 30 trophies



Cristiano Ronaldo has now scored more goals than any other player on record, surpassing Josef Bican's official total of 759. 🐐 pic.twitter.com/rAN0rsYru6

- Squawka Football (@Squawka) January 20, 2021

Ronaldo managed to win the 33rd trophy in his career and overtake Xavi in ​​this indicator.

Now in the list of the most decorated footballers in history, they share the ninth place.

More trophies were won only by Vitor Baia (34), Gerard Pique (34), Kenny Dalglish (35), Ryan Giggs (36), Lionel Messi (36), Maxwell (37), Andres Iniesta (37) and Dani Alves (42) ...

Lorenzo Insigne can be called the main loser of the match.

Ten minutes before the end of regular time, "Napoli" had a great opportunity to level the score, but the Italian failed to distinguish himself with a kick from the 11-meter mark.

It is curious that in all his career the captain of the Neapolitans missed four penalties, and three of them fell on the meetings with Juve.

Also on Wednesday, a significant event took place for Russian fans.

Oleksiy Miranchuk made his first appearance in the starting lineup of Atalanta for a Serie A. match. However, the Bergamasks are unlikely to be able to score a meeting with Udinese.

They conceded already in the first minute, managed to recoup shortly before the break, but the match ended in a draw.

As for Miranchuk, he was quite noticeable and took part in most of the team's attacks.

At the 58th minute, the midfielder was replaced by his main rival Josip Ilicic.

After the end of the meeting, one of the most reputable Italian sports publications La Gazzetta dello Sport gave Alexey the lowest mark among Atalanta players - 5.0.

Neuer's 196th clean sheet in the Bundesliga

In Germany, the first round of the Bundesliga ended.

The leader was Bayern Munich, which is four points ahead of its closest rival, Leipzig.

At the same time, in the match of the 17th round, Munich not without difficulty beat Augsburg with a minimum score.

Robert Lewandowski brought them another victory.

He converted a penalty kick in the 13th minute and broke the tournament record for the number of goals in the first round.

He has 22 goals, while the legendary Gerd Müller scored 20 times in the 1968/1969 season at this stage.

Also in the "Bayern" should be noted Manuel Neuer.

He played the 196th clean sheet in the Bundesliga and repeated the record of the former Munich goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.

The latter has already congratulated his colleague on the achievement.

"Augsburg" that evening failed to hit Neuer's goal even from the 11-meter mark.

In the 76th minute, Alfred Finbogasson struck the post from the penalty spot.

196 mal zu Null in der #Bundesliga.

Glückwunsch @Manuel_Neuer zu dieser Zahl und dass Du meinen Rekord eingestellt hast!

👏🏼 Es war gestern ein schwieriges Spiel mit 3 wichtigen Punkte.

⚽ @ FCBayern # MiaSanMia # WeiterImmerWeiterpic.twitter.com / BO22hmUeHp

- Oliver Kahn (@OliverKahn) January 21, 2021

Sporting comeback

Sporting and Braga will play in the Portuguese League Cup final.

The teams with the same score (2: 1) beat Porto and Benfica, respectively.

Moreover, the Lisbonians managed to accomplish almost a miracle.

By the 86th minute, they were inferior until the joker of the team, Giovanni Cabral, entered the game.

With almost the first blow, the striker equalized the score, and in the added time by the judge brought a strong-willed victory to the green and white.

In turn, the current trophy holder Braga in a less dramatic meeting proved to be stronger than Benfica.

The main hero of the confrontation was the pupil of the "eagles" Ricardo Horta, who gave two assists to Abel Ruiz and Vitor Tormenu.