Manchester City and Tottenham were drawn together in the Champions League quarter-finals on Friday, a tie that follows a rich history of all-English clashes in the knockout phase of the competition.
City came through a straightforward last-16 meeting with Schalke, hammering the Bundesliga side 7-0 at home in the second leg to progress 10-2 on aggregate.
Spurs were also fairly comfortable in the round of 16, running out 4-0 victors across the two legs against Borussia Dortmund.
Both teams will be expecting a gruelling tie, with all-English occasions in the Champions League rarely disappointing.
Below, we examine five classics from the knockout stages
Tottenham v Man. City
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague)
Leicester City scored three goals in the space of seven minutes to stun Liverpool as the Premier League champions slipped to a 3-1 defeat in Jurgen Klopp s 300th match in charge.
Mohamed Salah s carefully placed finish gave the visitors a 67th-minute lead at the King Power Stadium, yet from a position of strength they suffered a dramatic collapse to slip to a third successive loss.
James Maddison equalised with a free-kick from a tight angle – the strike was initially ruled out for offside prior to a VAR check – before a calamitous moment between Alisson, at fault for two goals in last Sunday s 4-1 loss to Manchester City, and debutant Ozan Kabak gifted Jamie Vardy his first goal of 2021.
With Liverpool still reeling, Harvey Barnes …
Unai Emery reckons Diego Simeone has got the Atletico Madrid job for life.
Unless Simeone decides to call a halt to his Wanda Metropolitano career, Emery cannot see the club parting ways with the charismatic Argentine boss.
That factor reduces Emery s chances of getting back into coaching at the highest level in Spain, as he searches for the next calling point in a well-travelled career following spells at Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal.
Simeone has spent over eight years in charge at Atletico, leading them to the 2013-14 LaLiga title and two Champions League finals.
Atleti have established themselves as the most consistent challengers to Real Madrid and Barcelona for the bigges
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t prizes in Spain, which is why when Emery looks at potential…
Kylian Mbappe became Paris St Germain’s leading scorer at the Parc des Princes as the Ligue 1 champions saw off Toulouse with a 2-0 victory to take the Champions Trophy.
PSG headed into Wednesday’s showpiece as the firm favourites to claim more silverware and they were ahead after just three minutes through Lee Kang-in.
Mbappe doubled his side’s advantage shortly before the interval with his 111th home strike for PSG as Luis Enrique landed his first trophy for the French side.
Paris Saint-Germain win a 1 2 th Trophée des Champions!
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English)
Ousmane Dembele returned for PSG following their 3-1 win against Metz a fortnight ago, while Toulouse made two changes with Vincent Sierro and Moussa Diarra back in the s…
Atalanta have completed the signing of Russia international midfielder Aleksey Miranchuk from Lokomotiv Moscow.
The 24-year-old is reported to have joined until 2025 and is understood to have cost an initial €14.5million.
Lokomotiv announced at the end of August they had agreed a fee with Atalanta for the attacking midfielder, but only on Friday did the Serie A club confirm the deal had been concluded.
Capped 25 times by Russia, Miranchuk made his senior Lokomotiv debut as a 17-year-old in April 2013 and went on to play 228 times for the club, where his twin Anton remains a player.
He had reportedly been tracked by Milan, among other clubs, but he bolsters the creative options of Atalanta, who are preparing for a second successive season in the Champion…
A season is a long time in football.
Rewind to 2018-19 and Inter pipped Milan to the fourth and final Champions League spot by a solitary point.
Fast forward to this season and Milan find themselves ninth and 19 points adrift of their title-chasing Serie A neighbours in February.
As Milan and Inter prepare for Sunday s latest instalment of the Derby della Madonnina, we look at why the Rossoneri have fallen so far behind the Nerazzurri this term.
COACHING APPOINTMENTS
Inter brought in a winner. The Suning Holdings Group were determined to sign former Juventus and Chelsea boss Antonio Conte and they got their man.
games played.
wins.
Our best start to ever.
The Antonio effect.
— Inter (@Inter_en)
…
Angola beat Namibia 3-0 to reach the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations after both sides finished with 10 men in Bouake.
The Black Antelopes, who won Group D, looked to have made the worst possible start when goalkeeper Neblu was shown a red card for handball outside the area in the 17th minute.
Angola, though, took the lead in the 38th minute through Gelson Dala.
FULL-TIME!
Gelson Dala Mabululu star again as Angola beat Namibia with 3 goals to none. |
— CAF (@CAF_Online)
Namibia, through to the knockout stages for the first time after finishing among the best third-placed teams, then found themselves also down to 10 men when defender Lubeni Haukongo was sent off for a second caution five minutes before half-time.
D…
Harry Maguire s dominant display in Manchester United s 3-1 win over Everton drew praise from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who also lauded Fred and Scott McTominay s midfield partnership.
United bounced back from successive defeats to Arsenal and Istanbul Basaksehir by claiming a vital win at Goodison Park, relieving some of the mounting pressure on Solskjaer.
Bernard put Everton ahead, but a quickfire double from Bruno Fernandes turned matters around before the break.
Everton toiled for an equaliser in the second half, but the contest was settled in added time when Fernandes, who has now been involved in a Premier League record 15 goals (10 scored, five assisted) in his first 10 away games in the competition, teed up Edinson Cavani for his maiden United goal.
…
When you are taking on the Premier League champions, being without your all-time leading goalscorer is a frustrating situation to find yourself in. Imagine if his usual back-up was only just returning from injury as well…
Such circumstances are certainly not ideal, and they have befallen Pep Guardiola as Manchester City prepare to host Liverpool in a clash of the two Premier League title favourites at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Sergio Aguero will not be ready to return from the hamstring injury that has kept him out of action since the 1-1 draw with West Ham two weeks ago, while Gabriel Jesus only came back from six weeks out on Tuesday – though he did manage to score in his 21 minutes on the pitch during a 3-0 victory over Olympiacos in the Champions League.
…
Real Madrid shot-stopper Thibaut Courtois is the best goalkeeper in the world, according to Belgium coach Roberto Martinez.
Courtois was dropped to the bench for Real Madrid s 2-1 win over Deportivo Alaves in LaLiga on Saturday amid criticism of his performances.
However, his international boss Martinez labelled the 27-year-old the world s best despite admitting the goalkeeper was going through a difficult period .
Thibaut is for me the best goalkeeper in the world, as he showed at the [2018] World Cup, Martinez said on Saturday.
From there, he is the best person for me to defend Real Madrid s goal.
It has been a difficult period, but I think that the opportunity to return with the national team has helped him to regain the good feelings, in th…