Stories By Harry De Cosemo
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Sport
Busquets’ absence going to be felt by Barcelona
Sergio Busquets is one of those players who you would only notice when they are not there. And now Barcelona are going to know what that feels like. This week, the 34-year-old decided to say goodbye to his home of 18 footballing years.
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Sport
Romeo Lavia’s form for Southampton
After Southampton’s 3-1 defeat at Newcastle last weekend, Romeo Lavia slumped on the pitch. The Belgian teenager had been one of the Saints’ bright sparks in midfield at St James’ Park, exploiting space and setting their counter-attacking game plan in motion, and he deserved more for his afternoon’s work.
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Sport
Milan Derby is something to savour
Nobody saw it coming, but the fact that AC Milan will face Inter in a Champions League semi final should get any football fan excited. The perception will be that, even with three Italian teams in the quarter-finals before Milan knocked Napoli out, that the standard of Serie A is not high enough for this level of the biggest club competition in Europe.
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Sport
Joe Willock has been a vital part of Newcastle’s improvement
When is it time to talk about Joe Willock? The Newcastle midfielder has been a vital part of their seemingly unassailable ascent to Champions League qualification, but it wouldn’t be unfair to suggest he hasn’t quite got the credit he deserves.
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Sport
Sheffield United return to the Premier League with a point to prove
Sheffield United will return to the Premier League next season, and they’ll be doing so with a huge point to prove. Relegation in 2021 came with a whimper, and it was such a shame. In the previous campaign, their first since 2007, they finished ninth and for long spells looked genuinely in contention for Europe.
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Sport
Thiago Silva doesn’t get the credit he deserves at Chelsea
Chelsea’s owners are paying for a scattergun approach since taking over from Roman Abramovich, with £600m spent on players since last summer, and after defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League last week, nothing to show for it.
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Sport
Jacob Ramsey deserves England call-up
Aston Villa are in the hunt for Champions League football. After their huge win over Newcastle United, another team who have their eyes in qualification this season, that cannot be denied. Two goals from Ollie Watkins, taking his recent tally to 11 goals in 12 games, made him the story.
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Sport
What went wrong for Dele Alli?
Young footballers failing to fulfil their potential is nothing new, but in the case of Dele Alli, there is an extra sense of what might have been. Once English football’s golden boy, Dele’s career is now drifting into obscurity.
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Sport
Will Liverpool regret not signing Jude Bellingham?
There has been an active movement against Liverpool’s owners, the Fenway Sports Group, for quite some time. It hasn’t been prominent among the majority, there are no Anfield banners or protests, but it could be about to grow after the events of the last few days.
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Sport
Should Unai Emery be manager of the year?
Unai Emery inherited a flailing project at Aston Villa. Steven Gerrard’s reign was supposed to be defining; the club had been promoted in 2019 and survived under Dean Smith, and the former England midfielder, who had done so well at Rangers, was seen as the big name to establish then as a Premier League, and potentially European force.
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Sport
Bukayo Saka’s impressive form
Bukayo Saka entered this season with a bit of a point to prove. While he had successfully put his penalty miss in the Euro 2020 final, and the subsequent backlash, behind him, there was still work to be done for him to be appreciated on the same level of his fellow future England stars.
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