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2024 UEFA Super Cup: Real Madrid def. Atalanta BC 2-0 that gave a warm welcome to new signing Kylian Mbappe with his debut goal & his first European trophy in Warsaw

by Sports Benches

Some of the major European Soccer competitions may not have started just yet but we too had an amazing UEFA Super Cup pre-season match from Warsaw in Poland between the last season’s champions – 23/24 Champions League winners Real Madrid and the 23/24 Europa League winners Atalanta BC.

Prior to this match, Madrid got away with the 2nd half stunner v Borussia Dortmund for the Champions League triumph 2-0 while Atalanta ended Bayer Leverkusen’s long unbeaten run of 51 games to hoist the Europa Cup trophy 3-0.

It was a quiet first half to begin with but again, Madrid, likewise with their 23/24 Champions League Final performance, was just too good where they’ve bagged a few tricks here and there to secure yet another UEFA trophy towards the end 2-0.

For Atalanta, you can imagine what their attack would look like if they still had their main striker Giancula Scamacca, who is currently out for half if not most of the season due to an ACL knee injury. Sure, they’ve won some ball along the way but lack the finishing touches up front where Atalanta only scored two shots on target compared to Real Madrid’s six.

They got a huge new campaign ahead including the Champions League as it remains to be seen if Atalanta can keep on going without Scamacca across all competitions.

Meanwhile, it’s great to see Real Madrid win another major European trophy ahead of another busy campaign with the Super Cup. It’s never been a better time with superstar signing Kylian Mbappe now onboard after a few years in the Paris St Germain shirt. Brazil’s Carlos Vinicius Jr. has been excellent as always with his feeds, pace and trickery off the left flank that led to two amazing goals including Mbappe’s debut goal for the team’s 2nd strike.

Gotta say Mbappe has achieved everything in France with so many goals under his belt but his European ambitions when it comes to winning silverware is yet to come & that Super Cup win is his first step towards a long way at the Bernabeu.

The new look UEFA Club competition season under the expanded “Swiss model” format across the Champions League, Europa League & the Conference League will begin mid-next month.

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UEFA Euro 2024: Spain to meet France in the 1st semi-final having seen Spain eliminate the hosts Germany while France escaped Portgual’s endless attempts via penalties

by Sports Benches

What a day it has been this morning through the first of the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship Quarter-Finals that went through the very end across Germany where the hosts were beaten by Spain 2-1 in Stuggart even though they’ve kept the game going for a bit longer while France defeated Portugal via penalties in Hamburg when no score was settled for both sides through 90 mins of normal time and 30 mins of extra time. Now that the first semi-final match is set to go on Wednesday morning between Spain v France, all eyes on 2021 runner-up England if they can get the job done tomorrow morning v Switzerland with a hint of a formation change by going with a back three defensive strategy before we will find out soon enough whether or not if Turkey’s fairy tale run will continue going into the semis at the same time v the Netherlands,

Heartbreak from the hosts who did the best they can to keep the match going having responded well to Spain’s 2nd half lead with a few attempts to try and get the job done towards goal. Yes, great to see Bayer Lekekusen forward Florian Wirtz who gave his country a lifeline off a clean strike through the middle – having his side held back Spain’s early celebration a bit longer ahead of extra time. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t the match they wanted to finish off when the keeper should’ve saved that header which turned out to be Spain’s 2nd goal as it could’ve gone onto penalties to try & boot Spain out of the tournament. Then another series of hit and misses in the last few minutes despite being given three minutes more than the added 2nd extra time period have clearly summed up their disappointment from the last eight on home soil as the next time Germany will seek their next European crown will be 2028 in the UK/Ireland – 32 years from their one & only title back in 1996.

Meanwhile, Spain did so well to put themselves ahead straight after half-time through a brilliant straight line strike off Dani Olmo when the first half didn’t go their way when it comes to the possession. They had a few scares at times every time the Germans tried to get the job done like that poor goal kick before Wirtz at least levelled the scoreboard that led to another 30 minutes of play at extra time. But they’re glad to wrap up the game with a huge sigh of relief thanks to a brilliant header by Mikel Merino when the opposition keeper hesitated to save the ball before it led to the Spaniards regaining the lead for their 2nd goal just in time for his side’s own keeper to stop Germany from slipping away towards the very final full-time whistle at the 126th minute. Now they will be in the semis yet again in the hope of advancing into the Final since 2012 when they did well last time out v Italy in Ukraine & if Spain can go all the way, then this could be their record 4th title in the Euros history.

Looking at the other Quarter-Final match, France were relieved to get away with Portgual’s endless shooting attempts with some excellent saves alongside the solid defensive work they’ve put in that didn’t make it into goal all night long whereas Portugal would be very frustrated on what has been a painful end to the tournament following a scoreless first 120 mins that could’ve been their night like scoring 2-3 goals to wrap up early instead of walking away empty handed. Yes, France might not have found the opportunities they desired up front off the back of a strong Portugal ball. But they did however win this game via penalties when a mis-timed Joao Felix penalty shootout attempt went their way through the woodwork before Theo Hernandez scored the 5th and final winning penalty goal that sent France into the semis now v Spain. It looks like France has made Portugal pay when they broke their hearts back in the 2016 Final on home soil 1-0 at Stade De France as Portugal’s poor hit and misses ultimately gave them the exit boot while France is chasing their 3rd Euros crown in 25 years now since 2000.

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UEFA Euro 2024: Defending champs Italy now out from the Round of 16 as Switzerland is in the last eight v runner-up England or Slovakia after a 2-0 win at the Berlin Olympiastadion

by Sports Benches

Looks like we will see a new UEFA Euros champion after defending champions Italy were just knocked out of the Round of 16 with a 2-0 defeat to Switzerland, who is now off to their 2nd Quarter-Finals this time v 2021 runner-up England or Slovakia come tomorrow morning. Despite being a bit off possession when Italy tried to keep on chasing the scoreboard, gotta say that Switzerland had a brilliant game where they managed to find the net twice in between two halves. That first one was quick & easy in front of the goalkeeper while the 2nd strike was clearly long and high that just went over the keeper & into the net it goes to extend the Swiss’s lead. They’ve been great in the Euros over the last three campaigns now as this could be their best ever run yet if they can knock off the other Euro finalists. Although the Swiss should take it one step at a time should they go all the way in the hope of making their own history maybe against either Hosts Germany or even Spain in the Final.

Meanwhile, it’s heartbreaking to see Italy bow out early having entered this campaign as the defending champs after they defeated England on their own turf last time out from the previous Final in Wembley 1-0. First of all, the keeper made some fine saves. But despite holding the possession, Italy just wasn’t good enough defensively where they couldn’t stop the Swiss from entering their own danger zone inside the box. Plus, their attacking executions look scrappy including one poorly timed attempt later during the 2nd half that hit the woodwork in between the net & keeper by their main No.9 Giancula Scamacca. 

Not even a near own goal by Switzerland could’ve put them back on track with sheer luck where the opposition were relieved to see the ball being deflected away past the crossbar off a defensive header that almost became very costly indeed. Now that’s something for the Swiss to watch out when clearing the ball next time. Italy’s search for a 3rd championship will have to wait until 2028 across the UK and Ireland as Switzerland’s extended run continues for the last eight next Sunday at 2am AEST.

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UEFA Euro 2024: Cenk Tosun’s last-minute winning goal puts Turkey into the Round of 16 following their 2-1 win v Czech Republic

by Sports Benches

After 36 matches, the 2024 UEFA European Football Championships across Germany is now moving onto the knockout stage beginning with the Round of 16 this weekend. We look back at the final group stage game in Group F between Czech Republic v Turkey as the first half was pretty quiet despite some Czech attacking dominance earlier on.The the Turkish did put one up ahead in the 51st minute by No.10 Hakan Calhaboglu before Czech finally found a way to level the scoreboard off Tomas Soucek sometime later where the game was almost bound to finish with a draw.  But at the end of the day however, it was substitute striker Cenk Tosun who saved the day with the win that broke the Czech hearts in the end 2-1 for Turkey.

So Turkey finished 2nd behind Portugal on equal six points but Portugal conceded the least goals of 3 compared to Turkey’s five. They are off to the Round of 16 nonetheless going into next Wednesday morning v Austria, if Turkey win they will either take on Switzerland or defending champs Italy in the last eight. Yeah, it was disappointing for the Czech to bow out without any wins – even though they were right in it every time they found the equaliser until they just couldn’t the job done other than the odd draw last week v Georgia. Leaving it so late isn’t the way to make the opposition hard to score – despite a good start to press on the counter-attack with hit and misses here and there as they finished last in Group F. Not even the poor discipline isn’t a good way to finish off early either with two red cards to Antonin Barak (20th min) & Tomas Chory (98th min).

Meanwhile, Turkey are through to the knockout stages for the first time in 16 years when they had a really good run last time up until the semi-finals by Germany 3-2. They really dominated the 2nd half where the Turkish found the net two times off the back of the Czech being tired who really want to hold this out without them picking up the win. Well, they’ve did it and what’s next for them is to try and go all in v Austria who topped Group D over France. If they can do that from start to finish, then Turkey will be in a good position to hopefully repeat their heroics past the QF by going one better if they do from Euro 2008.

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UEFA Euro 2024: Hosts Germany unbelievably dominant up front after an outstanding start v Scotland 5-1 at Allianz Arena in Munich

by Sports Benches

The 2024 UEFA European Football Championships has just taken lift-off at Allianz Arena in Munich where the hosts Germany was simply too good for the Scottish 5-1. Germany had a fantastic team effort from start to finish off the back of two early first-half goals including a successful penalty that puts them way in front ahead of half-time 3-0. Nothing has changed at all going into the 2nd half where the hosts continued to hold on up front & although they might have accidentally gifted Scotland their own goal to them in the 87th minute after that free kick deflection went so wrong but the Germans did however with the 5th and final goal to wrap up their first night and round of Euros. Germany’s next match will be against Hungary on Thursday morning AEST time in Stuggart while Scotland will look to bounce back v Switzerland next Friday.

Lots of attacking play and possession there from the hosts whom the Scottish just couldn’t stop them at their own end with goals after goals on the board. The wings have worked well for them including a few changes off the bench where the reserve striker has put up such a good threat against the keeper with one second half goal being bagged as the game goes on. Yes, they might need to be careful when looking to put away things next time rather than an own goal which is something the Germans will be tested in the knockout stages but so far, so good to kickstart the Euros campaign on home soil. Meanwhile, Scotland didn’t get what they wanted when they were really struggling to stop Germany in its tracks where that first goal should’ve easily been put away from the net but it went inside the goal instead. They were the only ones who couldn’t make the most out of their attacking opportunities despite the rare goal being gifted by centre-defender Antonio Rudgier off the free-kick not long before full-time. However, it’s just wasn’t their night unfortunately with lots more work to do in Group A.

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Borussia Dortmund’s early missed opportunities paved the way for Real Madrid to finish off with their 15th Champions League triumph 2-0 at Wembley Stadium

by Sports Benches

What a way to finish off the UEFA European club season at London’s iconic Wembley Stadium earlier this morning (our time) where Borussia Dortmund came back in the main event picture for the first time back in 2013 v the multi-championship winning Spanish giants Real Madrid. The first half was 0-0 with Dortmund leading the way up front where they had a couple of chances but couldn’t get away with a goal that gave Real a sigh of relief. The tug-o-war continued a bit longer going into the 2nd half before Real’s turnaround with the ball led to a series of advantages and that’s where they eventually cashed in two goals in return en route to full-time. One comes from a brilliant header by Dani Carvajal via a corner in the 73rd minute, while Jude Bellingham found the intercept off Ian Maatsen for Carlos Vinicius Jr. to process the finishing touches with the 2nd goal.  

Hard luck from Dortmund to fall short once again having made the best past of their first half performance with a really good threat to try & scare off Real Madrid up front. Unfortunately, they just couldn’t get themselves through the net with a couple of hit and misses here and there – including one that hit the crossbar before it deflects away from the in-goal. What they’ve done despite finishing 5th in the Bundesliga is that they’ve come from a long, long way to get they want to be as sure they will hopefully win back the league that would mean another good Champions League run next season. You got to credit the strong German teams performance across Europe that grants them an extra CL spot on top of the usual four at the best level.

Then congratulations to Real Madrid on their Champions League triumph for the 15th time including yet another major silverware being delivered by the head coach Carlo Ancelotti, which is his 2nd at the Bernabeu having last won it back in late May 2022 v Liverpool 1-0 at Stade De France in Paris, France. They’ve put in a excellent defensive display including a huge effort from the goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois following a really tough last 12 months when he was out for the majority due to an ACL knee injury before getting back out there a few weeks ago & to produce a world-class beater was incredible. Then Real was so fortunate enough to turn things around after half-time that gave them the upper hand – such as the dominant possession & winning penalties/corners/free-kicks that exposed the opposition’s poor defense in the end with the win.

The UEFA Euro 2024 tournament is not far away that will begin in two weeks time across Germany and then we will return later this year on top of the UEFA Super Cup between the best of the European champs (Atalanta from the Europa League v Champions League triumphs Real Madrid) with an expanded but new look Champions League that also applies with the Europa League and Conference League. Gonna be a brilliant few months ahead including the Olympics in Paris as well.

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Ayoub El Kaabi’s extra time goal consigns Olympiacos to a Conference League Final win v Fiorentina 1-0 with Jose Luis Mendilibar taking home another major European trophy 

by Sports Benches

It’s been an unforgettable moment to savour from Olympiacos on home soil in Athens tonight in the 2024 Conference League Final while Fiorentina fell short once again – even though the one and only goal took a bit longer to settle by the VAR. It was eventually confirmed as successful during the 2nd extra time period where Olympiacos’s main striker Ayoub El Kaabi was the hero with the winning goal after a quiet run by the two teams for nearly the whole 100-115 minutes up until this point. 

Now Olympiacos have won this trophy for the first time with head coach Jose Luis Mendilibar securing his 2nd major European honours after he got Sevilla home via penalty shootouts last year v AS Roma in the Europa League Final (1-1 with 4-1 in penalties). Olympiacos also won the UEFA Youth Cup a few weeks v AC Milan 3-0 as the last time they won a European trophy other than the Greek Super League & Greek Cup was back in 1963 with the Balkans Cup. Congratulations to them who kept the Italians quiet, especially in defense before they did enough to get the job done with the only and only goal at extra time. Next up is for them to dominate the league again for the first time in a while after they last won back in 2021-22.

Who knows? It could be with Mendilibar or a different coach. And to be a bit personal, let’s hope now ex-West Ham coach who helped beat Fiorentina last year David Moyes can take over a club that might be struggling domestically mid-season but also still the in running via the Europa League & try to win a trophy there. We’ve seen this happening before with Rafa Benitez back in 2013 at Chelsea in the Europa League for a short time as there’s not many out there & take over to finish off the job.

Meanwhile, heartbreak from Fiorentina once again who made it this far to hopefully go one better after they lost the first time 2-1 by West Ham last year. They just couldn’t make the most out of their conversions when the game dragged for so long before it was too little, too late. It’s tough to swallow yet again when the Italian Serie A team will have to attempt this for the third time next season after they finished 8th in the league where they won’t be able to reach anywhere towards the Europa League radar now maybe with a new coach as 46-year-old Vincento Italiano might want a new challenge elsewhere.

Two big finals done with Atalanta finally shut down Bayer Leverkusen’s unreal 51-game winning run last week in the Europa League Final and now Olympiacos winning the Conference League Final, there’s one more to go heading into Saturday night/Sunday morning here for the Champions League Final between Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid at Wembley Stadium.

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Favourites & Unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen finally knocked down by Atalanta BC thanks to Ademola Lookman’s hat-trick with the Europa League Final victory at Aviva Stadium

by Sports Benches

We thought this was Bayer Levekusen’s game to win for yet another time having been unbeaten for so long after their outstanding Bundesliga season without losing a game (a draw doesn’t count) with the title, but unfortunately their series of hit and misses allowed Ademola Lookman to caplitalise on his unbelievable hat-trick for Atalanta BC whose Italian side was just being crowned the champions of the Europa League at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. The final score was 3-0 after 90 mins.

Gotta feel sorry for the Levekusen fans who saw these dreams turn into reality when you got former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso at the helm as head coach and thought a series of changes later on with a deeper squad would turn things around like it was before. We just didn’t see this happening despite having the most possession as they failed to make the most out of their conversions at least inside the penalty box and instead had balls flying everywhere which didn’t work. There’s no way they can drop out from the Champions League to the Europa League again from now on since the competition format is gonna change going into next season as his next chance would have to wait at another time with Levekusen or another club.

And for Atalanta BC, every time they had the ball they absolutely controlled well whenever they had it to steer clear of the Levekusen defenders thanks to Teun Koopmeiners and their front three before Lookman got the job done from the left wing and voila – back-to-back goals earlier in the first-half plus a 3rd strike later in the last 45 mins from someone who hails from England, played in the Premier League and is a Nigerian International through his parents’ heritage. Hats off to him who made his team’s supporters night something special to cheer about wherever they are including his team-mates and of course, the head coach Gian Piero Gasperini who has never won a major trophy before until now with this one at age 66 – how good!!

We had first-time Europa League winning coaches in the last few editions like 46-year-old Oliver Glasner (now Crystal Palace coach) for Einchart Frankfurt back in 2022 v Rangers and also 61-year-old Jose Luis Mendilibar (now Olympiacos coach who is in the running for next week’s Conference League Final v Fiorentina) last year for Sevilla v AS Roma & sure we’ll see many more to come after Gasperini. Both winners have already qualified for the Champions League next season with Levekusen via their championship league position in the Bundesliga & Atalanta either way with the Europa win tonight (now guaranteed) and the extra league position for the Serie A in 5th (which will then hand over the extra winning Europa to Champions League slot to the 6th-placed side) with two games to spare against Torino and Fiorentina. So that’s it from Aviva Stadium on what has been a cracking game where the top ranked team was crushed by the Italian Atalanta side as can’t wait for the Conference League Final (next Thursday morning) and Champions League Final (next Sunday morning on June 2) throughout next week.

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Penalty heartbreak for Rangers

by Admin

By Shantanu Gupta

Rangers were beaten by Eintracht Frankfurt in the final of the Europa League in Seville on Wednesday night.

42,500 fans in the stadium and more than 100,000 fans in the city who could not get tickets for the game but were watching the match in fan parks dotted across the city, made for a raucous atmosphere from the first whistle to the last.

The Germans were the better team in the first half, and in left wing back Filip Kostić they had the most dangerous player on the pitch with his ability to get up and down the touchline and deliver teasing crosses into the box.

It was Eintracht who came closer to breaking the deadlock when Allan McGregor was forced to make an excellent save from Ansgar Knauff. Rangers had their moments but nothing seriously to trouble Kevin Trapp in the Frankfurt goal.

And it was also the Bundesliga side that started the second half much brighter, emerging with an intensity that had the Scottish team on the ropes.

But then, against the run of play, Rangers took the lead, although Frankfurt were very much the masters of their own downfall. Midfielder Djibril Sow and defender Tuta failed to deal with a bouncing ball, Tuta fell over, allowing Joe Aribo to stride forward and calmly slot the ball past Trapp.

The lead lasted 12 minutes, during which time Rangers twice survived penalty shouts against them. VAR ruled that there was not sufficient evidence to overturn the referee’s initial decision not to award a spot-kick.

When the equaliser did come, it was no surprise that the source of the goal was Kostić. He burst down the left and delivered a low cross to the near post.

Both the Rangers centre-halves were ball watching and failed to spot the run of Rafael Borré who stole in between them, and beat McGregor from close range.

Both teams pressed for a second goal, but it would not come and the match went to extra time. With players tiring in the heat – it had been 30 degrees at kick-off and not appreciably cooler later, – mistakes began to creep in on both sides, but still the game remained tied.

Still, with penalties looming, Rangers had the chance to snatch the win. Substitute Kemar Roofe, who had just come on as a substitute, got to the bye-line and pulled the ball back for Ryan Kent to side-foot the ball from close range.

Fortunately for the Germans, Trapp was able to move his feet in time, stuck out a right leg, and managed to divert the shot away from goal.

That meant that, for the second time in a matter of days, penalties were needed to decide a major final. The three spot kicks from each side were so accurately placed that neither keeper stood a chance.

However, Welsh international Aaron Ramsey, who had been introduced very late on specifically to take a spot kick, placed his effort down the middle and Trapp was able to keep it out. It was left to Borré to deliver the coup de grace, sending the Germans into raptures of delight, whilst the Rangers players slumped to the turf in dejection.

They need to pick themselves up to the Scottish Cup Final against Hearts in nine days’ time, whilst Eintracht Frankfurt can look forward to playing in the Champions League next season.

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