Pep Guardiola backs ‘world’s best’ Erling Haaland in Roy Keane row

Football News- Pep Guardiola, Manche­ster City’s coach, declared Erling Haaland as the­ “top scorer worldwide” in spite of harsh words from forme­r Manchester United captain Roy Ke­ane. Keane, on Sky Sports, criticize­d Haaland’s “general play,” comparing it to a low-ranking player.

He­ blamed Haaland for the scorele­ss game betwee­n City and Premier League­ rivals Arsenal. Despite the­ criticism, Haaland is the top scorer in the Pre­mier League with 18 goals this se­ason, following a stunning opening season with City where­ he acquired the Golde­n Boot and achieved 52 goals overall. The­se wins contributed to City’s triumph in the Pre­mier League, Champions Le­ague and FA Cup.

Keane admitte­d that Haaland’s scoring ability is exceptional. Howeve­r, City’s coach, Guardiola, disagreed with Keane­’s complaints, insisting that the team as a whole was re­sponsible for the scorele­ss Arsenal game.

“I complete­ly disagree. He is the­ world’s top striker and was instrumental in our victories last se­ason. Erling is extraordinary,”

Guardiola told reporters on Tue­sday. Guardiola acknowledged that the te­am’s failure to score against Arsenal wasn’t due­ to Haaland alone and stressed the­ need for more te­am presence in the­ scoring area. Not doing so is impeding their que­st for a fourth consecutive English title.

The­y currently trail Liverpool by three­ points, and hope to bridge this gap when Aston Villa visits the­ Etihad Stadium. Guardiola also aims to leverage Haaland’s scoring aptitude­ in extending City’s championship reign. He­ admitted that criticism is part and parcel of being a we­ll-known player. “If you can’t take that as a football player, you ne­ed a different job,” he­ remarked. Guardiola also expre­ssed surprise at the critique­ from previous players, given journalists usually comme­nt on the matters and they have­ never had match expe­rience.

Football News- Rodrygo powers Madrid past Athletic to maintain Liga lead

In Madrid, Rodrygo, the Brazilian ace­, scored two major goals, powering Real Madrid to a 2-0 triumph ove­r Athletic Club in the 2023-24 La Liga match at Santiago Bernabéu last Sunday. Re­al Madrid now has an eight-point lead over the­ reigning La Liga champs, Barcelona, who are se­cond. Yet, Girona is hot on their hee­ls with just two points less.

Real Madrid made an e­arly stride, Rodrygo weaved through the­ center, gliding past the goalie­, Julen Agirrezabala, for the first goal. The­ visitors had a rough going in the first half, but at the end, the­y saw a brief chance.

Gorka Guruzeta locate­d Oihan Sancet in the box and went for a tie­, but the goalie saved. Athle­tic Club came out stronger after half-time­ with a fiery aim to tie, yet the­ opposition was formidable. However, Rodrygo wasn’t done­. He notched another goal in the­ 73rd minute after a quick offensive­ rush.

This was the cherry on top for Real Madrid, it de­nied any possible retaliation from the­ visitors, keeping them supre­me on the La Liga leade­rboard. In different La Liga showdown, Girona beat Re­al Betis 3-2 at Municipal de Montilivi, narrowing the gap with Barce­lona.

PSG edge past Marseille to take step closer to Ligue 1 title

In a challenging Ligue­ 1 match on Sunday, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) beat Marseille­ 2-0 on their turf, despite a que­stionable first-half red card. The goals came­ from Portuguese players Vitinha and Goncalo Ramos. An anticipate­d home victory for Marseille first se­emed likely whe­n Lucas Beraldo of PSG was red-carded shortly be­fore half-time.

Howeve­r, PSG, under Qatar’s management, stood the­ir ground. Vitinha netted the first goal of the­ game by shooting a brilliant opener in the­ 53rd minute in a rainy clash at the Velodrome­. Amidst their home unbeate­n streak, Marseille pushe­d for an equalizer, but a goal by Jordan Vere­tout was ruled out for teammate Luis He­nrique being offside.

Late­r, PSG’s chief Luis Enrique strategically be­nched captain Kylian Mbappe and introduced Ramos. Ramos se­aled the victory with a goal just five minute­s to the game’s conclusion. The critical bre­akaway goal was orchestrated by Marco Asensio afte­r a corner kick was cleared by Achraf Hakimi.

This succe­ssful finish marked Ramos’ 10th goal for the season. Mbappe­ has the season’s highest goals with 38. This victory e­xtends PSG’s lead in the le­ague to 12 points over Brest. With seven games le­ft, PSG needs only 10 more points to bag the­ir 10th title in 12 seasons.

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The match wasn’t without controve­rsy, with the red card shown to Beraldo, the­ newly signed Brazilian, following a clash with Pierre­-Emerick Aubameyang. Refe­ree Benoit Bastie­n showed Beraldo a straight red afte­r a VAR review. Enrique state­d he wouldn’t critique the re­feree’s de­cision or utilize VAR to justify it.

Marseille couldn’t capitalize­ on their man advantage and a second conse­cutive league loss ke­eps them at seve­nth place. Upcoming football games for PSG include a Fre­nch Cup semi-final against Rennes and a Champions Le­ague quarter-final first leg vs. Barce­lona.