1/4 Final Derby🔥| Phil Foden Goes Missing 👀| GOAT Report

Welcome to this weeks GOAT Report!

This week we preview a potential upset in the Champions League last-16 and a matchup between English football’s most successful clubs in football’s oldest competition.

We’ve also got some shocking stats, news from around the world of football and some GOAT trivia to takedown the pub. 

–Don’t miss these games

Arsenal vs Porto | Tuesday | 20:00 GMT

Having lost the first leg 1-nil after a late golazo from Galeno, Arsenal are at risk of being dumped out of the Champions League at the round of 16…again! A loss will see the Gunners knocked out at the last 16 stage for the 8th successive time. 

The first leg was a strange one. Despite scoring goals for fun in the Premier League, Arsenal only managed one shot on target in Portugal. Interestingly, the last time Arsenal failed to register more than 1 shot on target in a Champions League fixture was back in 2011 —the Gunners didn’t make it past the last 16 back then. 

Form

Arsenal are leading the way in the Premier League and have won their last 5 league games, scoring a total of 23 goals in the process. After the loss to Porto, Arsenal put 4 goals past Newcastle and 6 past a lackluster Sheffield United. Their most recent game was an edgy 2-1 home win over Brentford.

Porto are currently 3rd in the Liga Portugal but are enjoying a run of good form that;s seen them win their last two league matches convincingly. They thumped current Portuguese champions Benfica 5-0 and then beat Portimonense 3-0, with Galeno scoring in both games. Porto will take confidence from the fact they’ve conceded the fewest goals in the Liga Portugal.

Team News

Arsenal are likely to be without Gabriel Martinelli who missed the match against Brentford on Sunday. The Brazilian winger who has been one of Arsenal’s most potent attacking players this season but suffered a cut to his foot in the game against Sheffield United on March 4th. 

Porto have some key players returning from injury, including left back Wendell who did a good job against Saka in the first leg, and the powerful Iranian striker Taremi. 

Manchester United vs Liverpool | Sunday | 15:30 GMT

Looking ahead to the weekend, there’s a classic quarter-final matchup in the FA Cup. 

Manchester United and Liverpool have met 18 times in the FA Cup, with United winning 10. However, fresh from winning the EFL/Carabao Cup in February, Liverpool are going for a domestic cup double —a feat that will add extra shine to Jurgen Klopp's tenure as Liverpool manager. 

Considering United’s wild inconsistency, lack of goals and defensive vulnerabilities, it’s hard to predict anything but a Liverpool victory. But, derbies are historically unpredictable and United have the home advantage.  

Form

The most recent league fixture between the two ended in a 0-0 draw, with Liverpool dominating possession whilst United broke out of their half with the occasional counter using the pace of Rashford and Garnacho.

Overall, United’s form has been wildly inconsistent this season. In the previous round of the FA Cup, they secured a scrappy 1-0 away win over Nottingham Forest. The performance was far from convincing with United squandered plenty of goalscoring chances and relying on keeper André Onana to make a number of big saves. 

On Saturday, United secured a 2-0 home win against Everton, largely thanks to Alejandro Garnacho’s positive running with the ball. Before Saturday’s win, United were dominated by Manchester City in a 3-1 loss. Before that, there was a disappointing 2-1 loss at home to Fulham, which led to boos echoing around Old Trafford at the final whistle. 

In their previous FA Cup outing, Liverpool cruised to a 3-0 win against Southampton with the highlight being a debut goal from youngster Lewis Koumas​​.

Liverpool’s league form has been consistently strong. Jurgen Klopp’s recent announcement that he will be stepping down as manager at the end of the season seems to have galvanized the players. 

They sit second in the league, level on points with league leaders Arsenal but behind on goal difference. Jurgen Klopp’s men have won 4 of their last 5, with the most recent result being Sunday’s 1-1 draw at home to title rivals Manchester City. The top of the table clash was characteristically intense, but Liverpool had the better of it for large periods of the game and created multiple scoring chances even though they were without Mo Salah for most of the match. 

Team News

Having missed United’s last 3 games, both Harry Maguire and Rasmus Hojlund are both ‘maybes’ for the FA Cup tie against Liverpool. United have missed Hojlund’s energy and physicality. 

The return of Mohamed Salah at the weekend was a welcome boost for Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp has also stated that Ibrahima Konate has a "good chance" of being fit to play against United.

–This week’s shocker  

Phil Foden’s poor performance vs Liverpool. 

After putting in a man of the match performance against Manchester United, Phil Foden had a bit of  a stinker against Liverpool.

Phil Foden went missing against Liverpool 

The English midfielder’s stats for the game included:

• 0 goals

• 0 assists

• 0 chances created

• 0 accurate crosses

• Just 27 attempted passes

Yes, Liverpool played well, but Foden has set high standards for himself this season and he was way off it. Big players step up for the big games, and the games against Liverpool are arguably the biggest games of the season for Manchester City. 

–Around the world 

🇪🇸 Barcelona have rejected a bid of €170 million from PSG for Lamine Yamal. PSG are looking to replace Kyliian Mbappe who has told the club he will leave when his contract expires at the end of the current season. 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Celtic striker, Daizen Maeda scored a hat-trick on his 100th appearance for the Scottish champions. The 4-2 win over Livingston secured Celtic’s spot in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup.

🇩🇪 Borussia Dortmund loanee Jadon Sancho has said he doesn’t want to return to Manchester United. The English forward is reported to have said he refuses to play under Erik ten Hag. 

🇩🇰 Copenhagen winger and rising talent, Roony Bardghji, wanted by multiple Premier League clubs. Manchester United, Spurs, Aston Villa and Newcastle are interested in signing the young Swede.  

🇪🇬 Egypt have not selected Mohamed Salah as part of their squad for the Winsunited Cup. The decision comes after Liverpool requested that Salah be left out of the squad for the tournament that’s scheduled for 22nd to 26th March. 

🇮🇹 Lecce have sacked their manager Roberto D'Aversa after he headbutted Hellas Verona striker Thomas Henry. The incident took place after Lecce lost 1-0 to Hellas Verona on Sunday. 

🇸🇦 Al-Nassr captain, Cristiano Ronaldo admits he made a mistake but defends gesture he made towards Al-Shabab supporters. Ronaldo received a 1-game ban after he was found to have made an ‘obscene’ gesture towards fans chanting Lionel Messi’s name.  

–Other games to keep an eye on

Barcelona vs Napoli | Tuesday | 20:00 GMT

The La Liga champions welcome the Serie A champions for the second leg of their last-16 tie in the Champions League. The tie is on a knife edge after the first leg finished 1-1.

Borussia Dortmund vs PSV | Wednesday | 20:00 GMT

Games between German and Dutch teams are always feisty, and this last-16 ties is also sitting at 1-1 after the first leg. 

Celtic vs St. Johnstone | Saturday | 15:00 GMT

Celtic are 2 points behind Rangers with 4 games left to play this season. If both teams win their next 2 matches, the season could come down to the Old Firm fixture scheduled for April 7th. 

Getafe vs Girona | Saturday | 17:30 GMT

Can surprise package Girona keep their incredible La Liga season going and finish in the Champions League places? 

Juventus vs Genoa | Sunday | 11:30 GMT

3rd-place Juve take on 12th-place Genoa in what should be an interesting game in Serie A as both teams are struggling to find form. 

Brest vs LOSC | Sunday | 14:00 GMT

2nd place Brest host 4th placed LOSC Lille in a match that may have a big impact on each team’s hopes of Champions League qualification. Just 4 points separate 2nd and 5th place in Ligue 1. 

Freiburg vs Bayer Leverkusen | Sunday | 14:30 GMT

10 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga, Xabi Alonso’s leverkusen are getting closer to a historic unbeaten league season. 

Atlético Madrid vs Barcelona | Sunday | 20:00 GMT 

Athletico and Barca always put on a decent show, and this game has an added edge as Athletico sit directly below Barcelona in La Liga.

–GOAT Trivia

Say congrats to….

Allan Saint-Maximin [@asaintmaximin]. The jacked Al-Ahli winger turns 27 today. 

On this day in football…

On March 12th, 1973 the Brazilian legend Pelé played in London for the only time in his career. This historic event took place in a friendly match where Fulham hosted Pelé's club, Santos. The match attracted a crowd of 21,464, which was Fulham's highest attendance of the season, more than doubling their average gate.