European Leagues

Manchester City In Injury Crisis As They Are Dealt Another MASSIVE Blow

Manchester City are officially in an injury crisis with five of their big stars now out for an unknown period.

The crisis deepened against St Polten in the Women’s Champions League with captain Alex Greenwood stretchered off the pitch with a suspected knee injury. Fans had to wait nervously for an update with concerns the injury is an ACL rupture.

However, the club have now confirmed Greenwood has had surgery on a medial collateral ligament in her knee which she is now rehabbing.

Manchester City: What has Gareth Taylor said about injuries?

City have also recently been without Bunny Shaw. Vivianne Miedema and Lauren Hemp are also out with knee injuries, while Chloe Kelly is returning to play after concussion.

Manager Gareth Taylor gave updates on the fresh injury concerns to Shaw and Greenwood.

Taylor said on Jamaica international Shaw: “I’m not too sure [what the injury is], we’ve had multiple scans on the area that she has the issue with, we’ll have to wait and find out. I don’t think we’ll see her until the new year which is a shame for us because she was in a really good vein of form.”

He had said on England international Greenwood, who won the Euros in 2022, before her injury was confirmed: “We’ll have to assess. Alex doesn’t normally come off unless it’s an issue, hopefully it’s nothing too bad because we could do without it, we’re missing so many players.”

City are also currently without Naomi Layzell and Sandy McIver. He added: “We’re really up against it player-wise.”

The club do not have anymore games left of 2024 with the WSL break now in place. The 14/15 December was the last round of the WSL until the league returns on 17 January.

The final games of 2024 saw City record back-to-back defeats to Everton and Barcelona.

The loss to Barca, which is FourFourTwo’s view would have been a lot worse had it not been for the saves of goalkeeper Khiara Keating, means City no longer top their group in the European competition.

The impact of this means they will face one of the group winners in the quarter-finals. The draw for those fixtures is taking place on the 7 February.

Barca are one of the group winners with Chelsea, Arsenal and Lyon the other three.

European Leagues

David Moyes Drops Julen Lopetegui Sack Verdict As West Ham Prepare For Busy Festive Period

Ahead of the busy festive period of Premier League matches, former West Ham manager, David Moyes, has given his opinion on whether his successor, Julen Lopetegui, should be sacked by the Hammers after a poor start to his time at the London Stadium.

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The Scot left West Ham at the end of last season after the Premier League club had decided that there needed to be a fresh voice in the dressing room.

Julen Lopetegui perhaps wasn’t a universal choice and here we are a few months after his appointment with the West Ham manager one game away from the sack.

David Moyes’ strong opinion on Julen Lopetegui
David Moyes was almost Leicester City’s new manager, though in the end that job went to Ruud van Nistelrooy, and the Scot knows exactly what the pressure is like in the Hammers hot-seat.

It’s perhaps with that in mind that he’s given Lopetegui his backing.

“I watch West Ham all the time. Look, they’ve got a great group of players, a fabulous squad of players, lots of really talented players and I think they need to make sure they give everyone time, give the manager time to settle in there,” he said to Sky Sports.

“But overall you know, the league is difficult, the Premier League at the moment is so hard for, you know some of the teams that are doing so well this year are making it tough.

“But look, they’re beginning to pick up, they’re beginning to get some results West Ham so let’s hope that continues.”

Julen Lopetegui must turn West Ham’s form around

Moving forward, should West Ham continue to look to Lopetegui rather than replacing him in the dugout, the Spaniard has got to find the sweet spot and get things right with his team.

Though there’s no deadline that has been made public knowledge as to how long the club will give him before they decide to replace him, it’s clear results need to change sooner rather than later.

If not, Lopetegui could find that he goes the way of David Moyes and is eased out of the London Stadium exit door.

European Leagues

Carlo Ancelotti Delighted To Become Real Madrid’s Most Successful Manager

Real Madrid’s Intercontinental Cup triumph marked a remarkable milestone for Carlo Ancelotti on Wednesday as the Italian became the manager with the most titles in the club’s history with a total of 15 trophies.

After his side breezed past Pachuca 3-0 in a largely one-sided contest at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar, Ancelotti surpassed the late Miguel Munoz, whom he equalled in August by winning the European Super Cup against Atalanta.

“There are so many of them [titles]! I’m delighted, really happy, it’s a success story,” said a smiling Ancelotti.

“Today [Wednesday] I liked the attitude from the players. Up front, they made the difference, Vinicius Jr had a great game. Offensively we did well.

“We have a lot of quality. Kylian [Mbappe] had a good game, Rodrygo scored the second. We are happy because we won a title far from home and in the middle of a busy season.”

The 65-year-old Ancelotti has one of the most decorated CVs in world football.

When he was lured back to Madrid for a second spell three years ago, after the departure of club great Zinedine Zidane, he knew his only mission was to increase Real’s trophy haul and he has not disappointed.

He became the first manager to capture titles in each of Europe’s top five leagues — England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France — and has guided Real Madrid to two Champions League and LaLiga doubles in three seasons.

Ancelotti’s Real Madrid silverware shows three Champions League titles, two Club World Cups, three European Super Cups, two Spanish League titles, two Spanish Cups, two Spanish Super Cups and, now, one Intercontinental Cup title.

European Leagues

PSG Win At Monaco But Lose Goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma To Horrible Face Injury

Unbeaten French leaders Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) secured a 4-2 win against Monaco in a Wednesday league match, but the victors’ Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma left the field after suffering a horrifying facial injury.

PSG’s French star Ousmane Dembele scored twice for the visitors at Monaco’s Stade Louis II. Eliesse Ben Seghir and Breel Embolo scored for the hosts in the matchday 16.

In addition to Dembele’s double, Desire Doue and Goncalo Ramos were the other PSG players to score goals.

During the match, Donnarumma took a knock after a reckless challenge by Monaco defender Wilfried Singo.

Donnarumma had to be subbed off as Singo caught the PSG goalkeeper in the face with his football studs to cause a serious injury.

The Italian international received staples for cuts so that his facial wounds were closed temporarily.

Donnarumma has “multiple cuts” on his face and will return to Paris with the team, PSG said in a statement.

“He will undergo medical examinations tomorrow and will have to rest for several days,” it added.

Singo did not get a red card after his tackle.

Following the away win, Luis Enrique’s men increased their points to 40 on top of Ligue 1 as PSG opened up a 10-point gap against their nearest opponents Olympique Marseille and Monaco.

Second-place Olympique Marseille have a game in hand.