Proven Quality

Former Cambridge United youth graduate Luke Hannant will make his professional debut at The Abbey Stadium for the first time since accepting his scholarship as a 16 year old in 2010. Hannant, now 24, will finally make his long awaited appearance at the U’s, but not as part of Joe Dunne’s side, rather as an integral member of Port Vale’s midfield after working in the retail industry only five years ago

It’s one of Barcelona’s worst defeats in recent times, and one that will make Catalans wonder if Ernesto Valverde and certain players really deserve to wear the Barcelona jersey. When you reach the quarter finals of the Champions League, you have to respect your opponents, because you know that every team that made it to that stage didn’t get there by accident. They allowed Roma to play and hold possession, they didn’t bother to organize themselves, and some players even looked like they were waiting for the final whistle so that they could jump on the plane and go back home. The defeat resulted from lack of respect, lack of interest, and lack of effort until the final five minutes.

When Zlatan Ibrahimović signed for Los Angeles Galaxy, his words were exactly what you would expect from a player moving closer to his retirement: Ibrahimović, a 36-year old former Manchester United player who last played for United on December 26 before he aggravated a knee injury in a game against Burnley, had been in top form for a number of years and played in highly respected stadiums in the football world, including Camp Nou and Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Milan. The plan worked: people bought tickets to go and see Beckham play, and kids cried when denied the chance to go and watch the superstar play in the stadium. When David Villa, Kaká, and Steven Gerrard landed, it still made sense, but that is when the MLS started fighting against the image that it had inadvertently created for itself — a retirement home for faded European stars.

After scoring four goals for Liverpool in Saturday’s win against Watford, Jürgen Klopp expressed his belief that Salah is on the way to Messi’s level. This is a huge statement, as we all know that reaching Messi’s level means scoring at least 50 goals every season, creating plenty of goal-scoring chances for your teammates, and consistently playing at the highest level possible so that the whole team relies on you season after season. That is not something that can be managed easily, so we can’t start talking about any comparison with Messi after a one-season wonder, but we can start talking that way after Salah consistently performs at this level for few seasons. The all-English quarter-final affair means that Salah and Liverpool will have to make sure they are playing at the highest level possible to negotiate their way against the genius of Pep and Manchester City.