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At Old Trafford, José Mourinho’s Manchester United were set for a match against Arsenal, who won Tottenham 4-2 in a thrilling match. It would be the 100th game between the two sides., and would be a thrilling match, with a lot of chances created, with goals scored in a close span of time.

Four minutes after kickoff, Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford took a shot but was blocked by Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno. Close to the 12th minute, Manchester United’s striker Anthony Martial took a shot, only to be blocked by Leno. At the 26th minute, a corner kick for Arsenal allowed centre-back Shkodran Mustafi to head the ball towards goal. Goalkeeper David de Gea blocked the header, but the ball went behind him. Midfielder Ander Herrera kicked the ball ‘out’, but he was behind the goalline which meant the ball had just barely crossed the line. 1-0 Arsenal.

After 4 minutes of the first goal scored, Manchester united defender Marcus Rojo took a free kick. It was well taken, but was blocked by Leno. The ball would have gone out, but Herrera managed to keep the ball barely in. He passed the ball to Martial. Martial beat Leno and scored. Mourinho did not celebrate although Manchester United equalized. Half-time, 1-1.

The first scoring chance after half-time was created at the 51st minute when Marcus Rashford raced toward Arsenal’s goal. He decided to pass the ball to other United players but his pass was blocked by Mustafi, causing the ball to go out. At the 58th minute, Rojo took a shot, only to be blocked by Leno. At the 61st minute, left back Sead Kolašinac, for Arsenal, tried to score but the ball was saved by De Gea.

At the 68th minute, forward Alexandre Lacazette was right outside penalty area, with the ball. Marcus Rojo tackled him, but at the same time, the ball hit his feet, causing it to cross the line. An own goal allowing Arsenal to a 2-1 lead.

After the second goal, and the third kickoff, Manchester united sprinted toward goal, and Arsenal defended poorly. Just ONE MINUTE after Rojo’s own goal, Jessie Lingard scored to equalize for the Red Devils. 2-2.

At the 71st minute, a shot by Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was saved by De Gea (see picture above) . Another shot by midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan was missed earlier at the 71st minute. At the 74th minute, a shot by Aubameyang was aved again by a more ‘awake’ De Gea. At the 84th minute, a long-range shot by Rashford was saved by Leno. At the 88th minute, before a goal kick, Lacazette snatched the ball from De Gea and scored a ‘goal’. One minute later, a shot was blocked by De Gea, but the ball fell to Henrikh Mkhitaryan. An amazing goal would be disallowed for offside. Full time whistle, 2-2.

A match with skilled players, and skilled playing. Amazing moves, and an amazing goal which was disallowed. However, Manchester United had a poor performance for drawing at home. Their performance could be improved, with Paul Pogba possibly playing at the start of the match, but that’s just my opinion. What is yours?

The 2018 Ballon d’Or has been announced. Croatia and Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modrić won the award. Paris fans jeered the Croatian when he went on stage to get the award. They were annoyed with the fact that one of their world champions did not win the award. Not only did the Paris crowd disagree with Modric deserving of the award but also many other football fans.

Many were annoyed when legendary striker Lionel Messi, who would either win or be runner-up for the Ballon d’Or, placed 5th unexpectedly. Another shock was that Messi’s main rival- Cristiano Ronaldo- was short of 277 points to win the Ballon d’Or. Many critics suggested two reasons why ‘CR7’ or ‘LM10’ did not win the Ballon d’Or was because:

1. The Ballon d’Or voters thought too heavily of performances of the world cup compared to club matches. Both Ronaldo and Messi did not perform well in the world cup- unlike Modrić – who bought his team to the final surprisingly. Also he won the Golden ball award at the world cup.

2. Voters were tired of seeing either Ronaldo or Messi constantly winnig the Ballon d’Or, so they decided to take a ‘spin’.

Modrić, in Laliga 2017/18 (last season), scored 1 goal and had 6 assists in 26 games. In the UEFA champions league last season, he had 1 goal and an assist. People may say,” Oh, but he’s a midfielder. What do you expect?”. I totally agree with that argument. However, for a midfielder, his performance was average.

Ronaldo, on the other hand, would score 26 goals and had 5 assists last season (for Real Madrid in La Liga, before his move to Serie A club Juventus), in 27 games. Which meant that he would have a goalscoring ratio of 0.96 goals a game. In the champions league last season, he scored 15 goals and assisted 3 in 13 matches. This meant in that tournament, he would have a goalscoring ratio of 1.15 goals per game.

Last season, Messi, in La Liga, scored 34 goals and assisted 32 in 36 games. In the champions league last season, he scored 6 and assisted 2 in ten games.

Looking at the statistics, how would Modrić win the award? Sure, he deserves respect. but this is about football. Here is how I will list my top 5:
1. Cristiano Ronaldo
2. Lionel Messi
3. Antoine Griezmann
4. Mohammed Salah
5. Luka Modrić
What do you guys think?

At The Emirates Stadium, The North London Derby was set to happen in a front of 59,973 people. It would be a 6 goal thriller, with Arsenal winning at home.

Ten minutes after kickoff, a free kick for Arsenal led to a handball by Tottenham Hotspur defender Jan Vertonghen in the penalty box , for an immediate penalty. Surprisingly, the referee did not give the central defender a red card; he only gave him a yellow card. Striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored from the spot, with goalkeeper Hugo Lloris going the wrong way, giving the gunners the lead.

Arsenal created another scoring chance but Aubameyang could not score Arsenal’s second as he slipped and fell in the crowd of defenders. He did not appeal for a penalty though; a rare sight that many football fans don’t see. Tottenham’s Korean striker Son Heung-Min created another chance for his team, but it was saved by Arsenal goakeeper Bernd Leno. Spurs created another chance, but Erikson’s shot missed the goal. Finally, at the 30th minute, Spurs managed to equalize. A free-kick taken by Eriksen allowed elegant central defensive midfielder Eric Dier to head the ball in. 1-1.

Just three minutes after Dier’s goal, Son Heung-Min was in the penalty box but he ‘fell’. The penalty, however was awarded. An Arsenal defender was chasing him and his leg came into contact with Son’s. Son then fell. The awarded penalty was controversial but the referee was firm with his decison when Arsenal players appealed. Prolific English striker Harry Kane scored from the spot, managing to beat Leno. 2-1 Tottenham. Arsenal centre back. Shkodran Mustafi headed the ball towards goal, only for it to be saved by Lloris. Aubameyang created the last scoring chance before half-time. However, not only was the ball saved, but Aubameyang was also caught offside. Half-time, 2-1 Spurs.

After half-time, a free-kick taken by Spurs striker Harry Kane was well saved by Leno. Another free-kick by Eriksen was saved by Leno again. After the half-time substitutions, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan substituted for Aaron Ramsey, and Alex Iwobi substituted for Alexandre Lacazette, Arsenal were looking in better form. At the 56th minute Ramsey passed the ball to Aubameyang, who, unexpectedly shot the ball right outside the box and scored, leaving Lloris stunned. 2-2, and Aubameyang’s second goal.

After a while, Arsenal’s corner kick allowed Mustafi to take a shot, but the shot was blocked by a more alert Lloris.The ball fell to defensive midfielder Lucas Torreira, but his shot missed the goal wide. Héctor Bellerín’s pass was intercepted by Son, but his shot was saved by Leno. At the 74th minute, half-time substitute Alexandre Lacazette was between two defenders in an empty area, and as more Spurs players came to defend, Lacazette took an amazing shot at the bottom left-hand corner of the goal, to net Arsenal’s third. The Emirates goes crazy. 3-2 Arsenal.

Three minutes after Arsenal’s third goal, Spurs were threatened again . Poor denfending would cost them a two goal defecit. Lucas Torreira managed to slip the ball past the Spurs defenders and scored for Arsenal. 4-2 Arsenal. After Arsenal’s fourth goal, both teams played defensively, so there were no scoring chances crated for the rest of the match. At the 85th minute, Verthongan fouled Lacazette, which would give him a second yellow, or a red card. It did not change the match though; the score was still the same after the 85th minute.

One of the most thrilling North London Derbies, from a one goal defcit to a two goal lead for Arsenal. After the match, Dier was mocked by Aaron Ramsey, after Dier taunted Ramsey during the match to ‘sit down’ during the first half of the match. Son Heung Min was also criticized for ‘diving’ at the 34th minute. What an eventful North London Derby, don’t you think?

At Anfield, the Merseyside derby was set to happen. With an enthusiastic crowd on Liverpool’s side, the chances of The Reds to win was vey high. Little did the fans know Everton would have a firm defence and Liverpool would barely win the match at the last minute.

Both teams created a lot of opportunities, but missed a lot of shots. 24 shots were missed in total. Alexander-Arnold created Liverpool’s first scoring chance but while trying to pass the ball to star striker Mohammed Salah, the ball went out for a corner to Liverpool. Alexander Arnold took the corner kick but it was defended by Everton easily. A foul by Alexander-Arnold on Bernard led to a free-kick for Everton. Yerry Mina should have scored from a close header but the ball went out.

Everton could have created another scoring chance had the ball not gone out due to pressure by Alexander-Arnold. Mohammed Salah, after a while, was chasing for the ball but goalkeeper Jordan Pickford calmly blocked the ball with his foot. Everton attacking midfielder, Gylfi Sigurðsson, was racing toward Liverpool’s goal but he slipped and the ball was defended. Salah created another chance for Liverpool but there were too many defenders crowding around him so the ball was cleared.

Liverpool then counterattacked and Senegalese Striker Sadio Mané took a shot but it was saved by Pickford, causing the noise level by the Liverpool fans to go down. Richarlison created yet another scoring chance for Everton but he slipped and the ball was cleared. At the other end, a shot by Brazillian striker Roberto Firmino was missed. Another corner for Liverpool. Again, the ball was cleared.

Liverpool counterattacked again with left-back Andrew Robertson contributing significantly to it. Mané could have scored for Liverpool, had he not been caught offside. For Everton, André Gomes’ header was saved by Alisson but fell down close to the line. Everton players tried to use that opportunity to score but Liverpool defenders narrowly cleared the ball, with only half of the ball crossing the line.

Just before half-time, Xherdan Shaqiri shot the ball toward Everton’s goal but the ball was saved by Pickford. Half-time, 0-0.

After half-time, Liverpool created a chance to score but the ball was saved by Pickford. A light push by an Everton defender caused André Gomes went down. Liverpool appelead for a penalty but the referee ignored the appeal. Mané took a long shot but the shot was effortlessly saved by Pickford. For Everton, Bernata took a shot but he missed the goal wide. A free-kick to Everton was taken but was clumsily missed by Richarlison. Firmino took a shot but it missed the goal wide.

At the second last minute of the game, a long pass by Virgil van Dijk was blocked by Pickford. However, the ball went on the cross bar and fell in front of goal , allowing Divock Origi to head it in in what would be a freak win for Liverpool.

The Merseyside derby was a thrilling one. Jürgen Klopp ran onto the pitch like a madman and celebrated with Alisson after the freak goal. However, in his post-match interview he apologised for his actions and personally apologised to Everton manager Marco Silva saying that ‘he respected his work a lot’ but the Everton manger did not reply back.The goal was unexpected but this win closes the gap between leading club Manchester City and Liverpool, who are 2 points behind in the title race. Do you think Liverpool can be title winners this season?

At Parc des Princes, Paris-Saint Germain were set for a match against Liverpool, the champions league runners-up last season. Liverpool would be in hot water if they lost to Paris-Saint Germain following their shocking 2-0 loss to Red Star Belgrade, potentially meaning that they would have to settle playing in the Europa league instead.

The match kicked off with PSG having the ball. All around the stadium, the were chants to cheer on PSG. A shot in the 5th minute by attacking midfielder Ángel Di María was saved by Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson. However, in the 13th minute, Star Striker Kylian Mbappé’s pass to Cavani to score a goal was blocked, but the ball fell to Juan Bernat. He ran slightly with the ball before taking a shot which could not be blocked by Alisson. 1-0 PSG.

At the 23rd minute, a foul by Italian central midfielder Marco Veratti cost him a yellow card. There were slight protests by the PSG players, but the referee was firm with his decison. AT the the 35th minute, PSG counter-attacked with Neymar running from Liverpool’s field to their field. Then passing it to Mbappé,who then passed it to Cavani. Cavani took a shot but the ball was saved by Alisson but fell to Neymar, who took a shot which beat Alisson. 2-0 PSG

Liverpool were desperate to come back into the match and they showed it at the 44th minute with Striker Sadio Mané came running toward PSG’s goal. Di Maria, in desperation, tried to get back the ball but he unintentionally slide tackled Mané in the box. PENALTY! Striker James Miner took the penalty, manging to beat legendary goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon to score, causing the stadium to be filled with dead silence. 2-1 PSG.

After half-time, the first scoring chance was made at the 55th minute when Mané passed the ball to Robertson but his pass was blocked by PSG’s captain Thiago Silva. At the 69th minute, Neymar’s corner allowed Marquinhos to head the ball in, but was saved by Alisson. The ball fell to Mbappé but he missed the goal wide. The last scoring chance was created in the first minute of injury time when Neymar took a free kick. However, Alisson, again, came to the rescue. Parc des Princes was filled with joy and truimph once the fianl whistle blew. PSG 2, Liverpool 1.

Of all the matches in matchday 5 of the group stage, Liverpool vs PSG was the match people talked about the most. It was sweet revenge for PSG after losing to Liverpool 3-2 away from home. Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp complained in the post-match conference about the ‘biased’ referee giving 8 yellow cards to Liverpool’s players compaared to PSG’s 2, but this match would be included in a list of the most thrilling UEFA Champions League 2018/19 matches. What do you think?

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton