A grey winter in Manchester; Mbappe blossoms at Real Madrid while De Gea finds spring at Fiorentina
A grey winter in Manchester; Mbappe blossoms at Real Madrid while De Gea finds spring at Fiorentina
An inexcusable loss to Manchester United was not the end of a nightmare run for Pep Guardiola and Manchester City. In its following league game, Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers ran riot against City, casting a dark and gloomy shadow of doubt over whether Guardiola’s reign on English soil had run its course.
The doubts escalated further when relegation-threatened Everton held City to a 1-1 draw on Boxing Day, with Erling Haaland draining any remaining Christmas cheer after missing from the spot.
“Life is not easy. Sport is not easy,” Guardiola said after the match.
Over the last few years, City has been known for losing the odd game here and there during the season, but one win in 13 games is inconceivable. Now, even an unbeaten run similar to those seen in the recent past might not be enough to catch high-flying Liverpool at the top of the table.
However, Guardiola’s record-breaking feats with the club are enough to ward off any suggestions of a sacking, especially with half the season remaining.
City will be buoyed by its 2-0 win against Leicester City in its final match of the year, and a busy January transfer window could very well rescue its season and secure a top-four finish.
Meanwhile, across the road, Manchester United has not fared well since shocking its city rival. Newly-appointed manager Ruben Amorim might feel he has bitten off more than he can chew after his side suffered successive defeats to Bournemouth, Wolves, and Newcastle United.
For the first time in the Premier League era, United finished in the bottom half of the table at Christmas.
One of the major talking points of Amorim’s tenure so far has been Marcus Rashford’s exclusion from the team. The Portuguese coach has omitted Rashford from the United squad in four of its last five games, starting with the derby, prompting the winger to admit that he is ready for a “new challenge.”
Despite three of Rashford’s four league goals this season coming under Amorim’s tenure, a move away from his boyhood club in January is looking increasingly likely.
United ended the year 14th in the table.
Any doubts regarding Kylian Mbappé’s impact at Real Madrid were quashed by the Frenchman after he scored and assisted in its 3-0 win against Pachuca in the FIFA Intercontinental Cup 2024 final.
In its last league game before the winter break, against Sevilla, he recorded yet another goal and assist to propel the record winners to second place in the table, above arch-rival FC Barcelona.
Mbappé has now already won two trophies with Real Madrid since his high-profile move in the summer from Paris Saint-Germain, scoring 13 goals and providing three assists in his 23 appearances so far.
His attacking partner Vinícius Júnior, on the other hand, was compensated for his Ballon d’Or snub after being named The Best FIFA Men’s Player.
He became the first Brazilian and the third Real Madrid player to win the award after racking up 24 goals in 39 appearances last season while winning La Liga, the UEFA Champions League, and the Supercopa de España titles.
In search of an elusive trophy, Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane has been tearing it up in the Bundesliga, scoring 14 goals and providing seven assists in his 13 appearances.
Despite being sidelined for three weeks at the start of December due to injury, the England captain leads the goal-scoring charts in the league, closely followed by Eintracht Frankfurt’s Omar Marmoush, who has 13.
His presence on the pitch was sorely missed as Bayern succumbed to its first league defeat of the season against FSV Mainz 05. Furthermore, a 10-man Bayern side was knocked out of the DFB-Pokal Round of 16 by Bayer Leverkusen, which edged out a 1-0 victory.
Nevertheless, Bayern tops the league standings with a four-point gap over second-placed Leverkusen. With Kane making his return in Bayern’s 5-1 thrashing of RB Leipzig, the Bavarians will be cautiously optimistic about their chances of holding onto the lead and handing Kane his first major title.
More than three and a half years later, the European Super League has re-emerged from the shadows, this time in a new avatar. Renamed the ‘Unify League’, sponsor A22 Sports Management announced that it had approached both FIFA and UEFA, requesting official recognition for the competition.
As an eye-catcher, the company revealed that the tournament, featuring 96 teams divided into four leagues, would be streamed for free on its own platform.
However, just as in 2021, the proposed idea was quickly shut down. The European Leagues issued a statement saying that, despite A22’s claims, they had not been consulted about the relaunch.
They described the model as “unrequested and unsubstantiated” and warning that it would increase the number of international matches in an already congested calendar.
Fiorentina has emerged as an early challenger for the Serie A title, sitting fifth and nine points behind leader Atalanta, which has played a game more. Much of its success this season can be attributed to the addition of Spaniard David de Gea between the sticks.
Returning from his one-year hiatus after leaving Manchester United, the 34-year-old seems sharper than ever, keeping six clean sheets in his 14 league appearances this season.
Despite spending the first three games of the season on the bench, De Gea is well on his way to surpassing Pietro Terracciano’s tally of eight clean sheets from last season. He is also second only to Genoa’s Nicola Leali in terms of save percentage in the league, with 78.6 compared to Leali’s 79.2.
While lifting the Scudetto seems improbable, the veteran custodian could play a massive role in leading Fiorentina to a top-four finish and ensuring its return to Champions League football for the first time since 2009-10.
