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Champions League Round of 16 Preview 1

Champions League

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February 12, 2018

The UEFA Champions League Round of 16 is upon us!

Tuesday means the return of the Champions League and there are some mouth watering matches. There will be a fair number of Argentinians taking part in the matches this week. Here are the matches for Tuesday and Wednesday:

Champions League Round of 16 – Tuesday:

Juventus (Paulo DYBALA and Gonzalo HIGUAIN) vs. Tottenham (Erik LAMELA)
FC Basel vs. Manchester City (Nicolas OTAMENDI and Sergio AGUERO)

Champions League Round of 16 – Wednesday:

FC Porto vs. Liverpool
Real Madrid vs. PSG (Angel DI MARIA, Giovani LO CELSO and Javier PASTORE)

All eyes will be on the showdown in Madrid with back-to-back champions Real Madrid hosting star studded PSG. However, the big news is coming out of Turin with Paulo DYBALA of Juventus missing out on the squad for Tuesday’s match despite returning to training on Monday.

DYBALA has been out since he pulled a thigh muscle back in early January. In form Gonzalo HIGUAIN will try to keep his goalscoring form up as they receive a visit from Mauricio POCHETTINO’s Tottenham with Erik LAMELA now back from injury.

The other match on Tuesday involves two other Argentinians as Nicolas OTAMENDI and four goal man Sergio AGUERO make the trip to Switzerland.

One of the matches on Wednesday involves zero Argentinians with the other in Madrid having three representatives of the sky blue and white.

Luciano VIETTO, Rodrigo PALACIO, Federico FAZIO all score

Roy Nemer

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February 12, 2018

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It was an eventful weekend for Argentinians in Europe as Luciano VIETTO, Rodrigo PALACIO, Federico FAZIO all scored for their clubs.

Recently signed on loan from Atletico Madrid to Valencia, Luciano VIETTO found the back of the net for the first time in the league for his new club (after having scored a hattrick for them in the Copa del Rey). A 3-1 win for Valencia against Levante puts them back into third place. After having been hot on the trails of Barcelona in the league standings, Valencia took a bit of a hit going on a losing streak lately but the win puts them back on track.

Switching over to Serie A, Argentinian international Federico FAZIO found the back of the net in AS Roma’s 5-2 win against Benevento.

Still in Italy, former Argentina international Rodrigo PALACIO scored a cracker of a goal for his fourth of the season in Bologna’s 2-1 loss to Inter.

Right next door in France, Emiliano SALA scored twice for Nantes in their 2-2 draw against Lille. Now 27 years old, SALA has now scored 10 goals this season.

Luciano VIETTO goal

Rodrigo PALACIO goal

Federico FAZIO goal

Argentina’s black away kit for World Cup leaked

FIFA World Cup

Roy Nemer

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February 11, 2018

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Argentina’s black away kit for World Cup leaked

Argentina’s black away kit for the 2018 FIFA World Cup has leaked.

With the World Cup coming up, we’ve already seen the Argentina National Team wear the home kit which they’ll be using at the World Cup. Lionel MESSI, Angel DI MARIA and even goalkeeper Geronimo RULLI were modeling the new home kit (as they’re all signed with Adidas which makes the shirts).

The new shirts were used for the 1-0 win against Russia as well as the 4-2 loss to Nigeria. However, the away kit has not yet been released. Different variations of the shirt have been leaked but according to the reliable Todo Sobre Camisetas, the rumored Argentina black shirt for the World Cup has been leaked.

Adidas used the same type of template for this Argentina shirt as they did with Colombia’s home kit.

Argentina away kit World Cup — Argentina’s black away kit rumored for the World Cup.

Colombia home kit — Colombia’s home kit for the World Cup.

What do you think of the shirt?

Sergio AGUERO breaks EPL record, CERVI, BIGLIA score

Roy Nemer

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February 11, 2018

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Sergio AGUERO breaks EPL record, CERVI, BIGLIA score

Sergio AGUERO breaks EPL record by scoring four goals with Franco CERVI and Lucas BIGLIA also scoring on Saturday.

It’s been an impressive 2017-2018 season for Sergio AGUERO and his numbers continue to impress. In an English Premier League record, Sergio AGUERO scored four goals for the third time in his career. No other player has accomplished that feat as Kun scored four goals in Manchester City’s 5-1 win against Leicester City. With the goals, AGUERO has now scored in seven straight English Premier League matches at the Etihad, a personal record. He has also scored 12 hattricks in the English Premier League.

Ahead of the team’s trip to Basel for Tuesday’s Champions League Round of 16 match, City continued to widen their gap at the top of the table. The race for the Golden Boot in England is very tight with AGUERO tied for second place. Here’s the table:

Player	Number of Goals	Number of Matches
Harry KANE	23	26
Sergio AGUERO	21	22
Mo SALAH	21	25
Raheem STERLING	15	25

Following the match, Manchester City boss Pep GUARDIOLA said that AGUERO “deserves all the credit” for the win. Here’s what else he had to say:
“Sergio fought hard and he is so important to us. We played quite similar to the way we played in our draw against Burnley last week, but the difference here was we took our chances.”

Sergio Aguero’s game by numbers vs. Leicester:

55 touches
16 (84%) passes completed
7 shots
4 shots on target
4 take-ons completed
4 goals
1 chance created

The third time he’s scored at least 4 goals in a single Premier League game. pic.twitter.com/PVq7tJb4xf

— Squawka Football (@Squawka) February 10, 2018

In Portugal, Franco CERVI proved to be the hero for Benfica scoring early on in their 3-1 win against Portimonense. CERVI’s goal came after six minutes through a lovely finish from inside the area.

Switching over to Italy, Lucas BIGLIA managed to get on the scoresheet as he opened his account for 2018 scoring in AC Milan’s 4-0 win against SPAL. If you missed it, Diego MARADONA had some harsh words to say about Lucas BIGLIA in his latest comments.

Sergio AGUERO breaks EPL record with goals

Franco CERVI’s goal

Lucas BIGLIA’s goal

Diego MARADONA comments on Lionel MESSI, attacks DI MARIA, BIGLIA

Latest News

Roy Nemer

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February 10, 2018

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Diego MARADONA comments on Lionel MESSI, attacks DI MARIA, BIGLIA

Diego MARADONA comments on Lionel MESSI while attacking the likes of Angel DI MARIA and Lucas BIGLIA.

Speaking with Diario Popular in Dubai, Diego MARADONA had strong words to say about coach Jorge SAMPAOLI, while heaping praise on Lionel MESSI, Gonzalo HIGUAIN and Carlos TEVEZ. Here’s what the 1986 World Cup winner had to say:

Diego MARADONA on Gonzalo HIGUAIN

“Pipa (Gonzalo HIGUAIN) is 10 times better and for me deserves another chance. But this guy (Argentina coach Jorge SAMPAOLI) knows nothing. What he does know is to go eat at his friend’s houses, that he knows perfectly. He goes even without a GPS.”

Diego MARADONA on Lionel MESSI

Diego Maradona stated that Argentina coach Jorge SAMPAOLI is “lucky” because Argentina “has a 60% chance of being champions in Russia” as long as “the little guy MESSI is lighting it up. The others can sing in the choir but no one can replace him (MESSI) when he sings. The only one that can sing is him, the others can’t.”

Diego MARADONA on Lucas BIGLIA

MARADONA also talked about some of the setbacks in the National Team as well as the lack of midfielders who are able to recover the ball: “I say this without wanting to offend, BIGLIA (Lucas BIGLIA), would you have ever imagined him wearing the shirt of the National Team?”

Diego MARADONA on the Argentina National Team

“What bothers me is that it’s cost us a lot to respect us, that people are afraid of Argentina. Today, except for MESSI, they have lost respect for the shirt. In the last match against Nigeria (in a 4-2 loss), we could have gotten eight scored on us, please…”

On the possible inclusion of River Plate’s Leonardo PONZIO (now 36 in the Argentina team)

“Don’t fuck around, if PONZIO is the savior of Argentina’s midfield, we’re talking about a team like Honduras.”

Diego MARADONA on Carlos TEVEZ

MARADONA stated that “he deserves a chance”. “It’s not a debate. We have no one else. We’re rubbing two rocks together to get a number nine, one that can perform. Carlitos is cold blooded, it’s contagious.”

Diego MARADONA on Angel DI MARIA

“The other day, they asked DI MARIA what his dream was. “Winning the Champions League” he said. And the World Cup with the National Team? That’s how they think.”

On Argentina coach Jorge SAMPAOLI:

“We had a project with SAMPAOLI in Sevilla. He called me when I was watching the final of the Davis Cup in Croatia, he was desperate. “Call me when you’re in Dubai and we’ll talk” I told him. He said “No Diego, Sevilla wants to pay tribute to you. “How? Don’t fuck with me, I played three matches with Sevilla.” It didn’t make sense to me. What happened there is that he had everything setup with the National Team and he wanted to use me for the picture. He wanted me to be his shield.”