Pundits react to Aberdeen's penalty shootout heroics
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
23 minutes ago
- Reuters
Guardiola says one win does not signal that "City are back"
WOLVERHAMPTON, England, Aug 16 (Reuters) - The several thousand Manchester City fans who travelled to Molineux on Saturday sang "City are back" as Pep Guardiola's men kicked off their season with a thorough 4-0 Premier League thrashing of Wolverhampton Wanderers. But Guardiola, whose once-mighty team stormed to four consecutive league titles before last season's shocking third-place finish, pleaded patience, saying that one win meant little. "The start is a good result, (but) no more than last season. Last season we started against Chelsea, 2-0 (win), and look what happened later," Guardiola told Sky Sports. "Last season also, we started with hunger and energy," he added. "We see just the first game. So many, many points are still to play (for)." Revamped City are playing their first season in 10 without midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, while Rodri is sidelined with an injury, Jack Grealish left last week for Everton on a loan deal and goalkeeper Ederson, who is rumoured to be on the move to Turkey, missed Saturday's game with what the club said was an illness. Guardiola was thrilled with his summer signings, however, as Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki both scored and goalkeeper James Trafford was solid in net in a tantalizing hint of what could be an entertaining season to come. "Tijjani is an exceptional player, one of the best players from Serie A. He has an unbelievable rhythm," Guardiola said. "The new players have come and we've got a bigger squad, so we'll have to see what happens. We'll have to use the squad because it'll be difficult to sustain the vibe of the team." Guardiola said his squad was too big. "Too many people," he said. "It's not about Eddy (Ederson), today (there) was no Rodri, Phil (Foden), (Mateo) Kovacic, Savinho and Josko (Gvardiol). On the bench we had Nathan (Ake) and Gundo (Ilkay Gundogan). "I like a deep squad to compete in all competitions but I don't want to leave players at home. It's not healthy. You cannot create a good vibe or atmosphere to compete. "The club has known it since last season but the situation is what it is. In the next two weeks, people will talk with players and agents to find a solution. We have to reduce the squad because it will be difficult to sustain the vibe of the team."
The Guardian
23 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Marcus Rashford makes debut as Barcelona stroll to win over nine-man Mallorca
In the end Marcus Rashford did get to make his competitive debut for Barcelona as they began their defence of the La Liga title. Formally registered a little after 10.30 on Saturday morning, Barcelona's economic obstacles overcome, he was introduced just after 9pm with 22 minutes left of a sticky and ultimately successful night in Mallorca. By the time he pulled on his shirt and stepped up the line, one of three subs brought on, the temperature had dropped a little, if still not enough, the game was already won, he was up against just nine men, and he got 10 touches. It wasn't much, but it was a start. Earlier than expected, too: Rashford had insisted he was confident but the doubts over him being registered were not resolved until the morning of the match. And so, on 68 minutes, there he was waiting to come on. Playing through the middle with Barcelona already 2-0 up and drifting through a second half that Hansi Flick said he didn't like at all, Rashford produced a couple of neat layoffs, a handful of passes and had two fleeting glimpses of goal. In one, he was a little slow to react, in the other the ball was caught under his feet as he trued to cut back inside. He did though get a close-up glimpse of another moment of magic from Lamine Yamal, who provided the final touch with that Lamine Yamal goal. That's some teammate he has there. A video from training had done the rounds last week in which Lamine Yamal had responded to another bamboozled opponent by declaring: 'I'm unstoppable,' and he didn't waste time lending weight to that claim. His season was just two minutes in, when he twisted, turned, stopped started and escaped into the area, a warning to Johan Mojica and Mallorca – if they needed it – that this wasn't going to be an easy evening. Just five minutes later, he slipped the knife in, clipping in what appeared an easy, almost lazy ball to the far post. There, all alone and from close range, Raphinha headed Barcelona into the lead. There was a kind of stillness about the place, like someone had pressed pause: if had been too simple, the space the Brazilian had too big for it to be real. But, while the referee did pause to check for offside, it was. Mallorca did react, Vedat Muriqi laying off inside the Barcelona area when he might have taken the shot himself. Mojica was making progress up the left in those moments when he was released from watching Lamine Yamal, his low deliveries the source of the most danger. There was an attempted overhead kick from Takuma Asano and an opportunity for Muriqi, which he struck straight at Joan García in Barça's goal. And then Barcelona scored a second. Again, there was something strange about it – more so than the first time. Lamine Yamal had come inside and hit a shot that Antonio Raíllo had blocked with his head. The centre-back collapsed to the floor, his head in his hands, his face on the turf, and the ball looped up. When it came down again, Lamine Yamal just about controlled. Ferran Torres took the ball, stumbled past a couple of chances and smashed a superb shot into the top corner. Bayern Munich eased past VfB Stuttgart 2-1 thanks to goals from Harry Kane and Luis Díaz to lift the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup. The Bavarians were sharper throughout and their goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was in fine form less than a week before the Bundesliga season starts. With all eyes on the Stuttgart striker Nick Woltemade, who Bayern are keen to sign, last season's Bundesliga top scorer Kane pounced on a defensive error by Luca Jaquez to give the champions an 18th-minute lead. The German Cup winners went in search of a quick equaliser and Woltemade went close, only for his point-blank shot to be saved by Neuer. The 39-year-old keeper again came to the rescue in the 75th when he showed good reflexes to palm a deflected shot wide. Díaz, a summer signing from Liverpool, scored with his first effort on goal, heading in a Serge Gnabry cross 13 minutes from time. The Colombia international striker marked his goal with a tribute to Diogo Jota, copying the late Liverpool forward's video game celebration (pictured). Stuttgart grabbed a stoppage-time consolation through Jamie Leweling's close-range header. In France, Eric Dier scored on his competitive debut for Monaco, who kicked off their Ligue 1 campaign with a comfortable 3-1 home win over Le Havre. An own goal by the Le Havre defender Gautier Lloris put Monaco ahead in the 32nd minute. Dier doubled the hosts' lead shortly after the hour mark, finding the target off Lamine Camara's cross. Le Havre, who finished one point above the relegation playoff spot last season, struck back six minutes later with Rassoul Ndiaye cutting in from the left and finding the net near the far post with a low right-footed shot. The visitors pushed for an equaliser but paid the price for their high defensive line when Denis Zakaria ran up the empty space into the Le Havre box and crossed to Maghnes Akliouche for a close-range finish. Lyon also got their campaign off to a winning start when Georges Mikautadze scored in added time before the break to give them a 1-0 win at Lens. Reuters Six seconds had passed, Raíllo was still down, and while no one had stopped exactly, or not physically, perhaps mentally they had, as if waiting for a whistle that never came. The shot flew past Raíllo who was still on the ground and Leo Román didn't dive – although that might have been as much about the possibility of getting there anyway. Pedri slapped palms with Torres but there was a kind of shrug from the scorer, as if everyone assumed this wouldn't count. It did. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Mallorca were incensed, and soon their inferiority was irredeemable. Two goals down, they were quickly two men down. An outrageous turn and run from Lamine Yamal began on the halfway line and, beyond Mojica and Sergi Darder, ended on the edge of the Mallorca area, where Manu Morlanes clipped him. Morlanes was shown a second yellow. That was on half an hour; within nine minutes, another man walked. Muriqi was originally shown a yellow card for his challenge on García but, freeze-framed, it looked worse on the video assistant referee screen: a set of studs in the keeper's face led to the yellow being upgraded to a red. This was done bar the shouting – and there was a lot of that, of course. Hands were up because this, the fans claimed, was a robbery. Lamine Yamal wanted his goal, twice sending shots just wide before the break and then bending one over at the start of the second half. Flick though was not happy with what he saw in that second half, and Lamine Yamal would have to wait until the final minute. There had been chances for others too, even if Mallorca resisted pretty well two men down. Raphinha shot wide, Dani Olmo hit a post, Ronald Araújo volleyed wide. Leo Román made a superb save from Olmo and another from Eric García. Rashford joined in but didn't get the chance to test the keeper, a swift one-two with Pedri earning him a raised thumb but not a shot on goal. And then, as the clock went past 90, when he was looking for space to shoot he appeared to tread on the ball, leaving time for just one more moment, and that belonged to Lamine Yamal.
Daily Mail
23 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Rangers 4 Alloa 2: There's no case for the defence as hosts stumble into next round of Premier Sports Cup
There was warm applause around Ibrox at the end. No drama. No catcalls. But, my goodness, only the most myopic of Rangers supporters could have failed to see the red flags raised by this almighty struggle of a victory. Particularly with regard to the defence. Considering League One Alloa could barely get up the pitch in the initial stages, it is quite remarkable that this Premier Sports Cup last-16 tie was only settled right at the death when home substitute Findlay Curtis served up an excellent finish to make it 4-2. Not as remarkable, though, as the goals the home rearguard in a much-changed side gave away to keep it so competitive. Flamin' Nora. To say that Russell Martin's men continue to look wobbly at the back is a cataclysmic understatement. Right now, you could put them out against 11 training-ground dummies and the chances are they'd still find a way to concede. One-up through Nedim Bajrami, the concession of an equaliser through a Joe Rothwell own goal midway through the first half was just bonkers. A calamity of errors verging on straight-out slapstick. After an effort from Manny Fernandez and a James Tavernier penalty had created a false sense of security among the home support, the Scott Taggart goal that made it 3-2 was just so easily conceded. More fuel to the argument that defending against set-pieces is a real Achilles heel within this team. It was like taking candy off a baby. So, yes, Rangers are through. They got the job done in the end, but it wasn't pretty. As for anyone forcing their way into the starting XI for Tuesday night's Champions League play-off first leg with Club Brugge? Hmmm, don't bet on it. Nasser Djiga was the only survivor of the midweek visit to Viktoria Plzen, but no one really stood out. Mikey Moore made his debut on the left wing and showed some nice touches in the first half, in particular, before going off. Rothwell returned to midfield and was okay. Bajrami played a big part in the destination of the game, in the end, but only a brave man would bet on him taking a starting jersey in the big matches. Thelo Aasgaard also made his first appearance after injury and delivered one strong run that required a save from visiting keeper Liam McFarlane. With Hamza Igamane not fit enough to begin games, Rangers certainly had better hope Cyriel Dessers is back fit because you cannot possibly continue with Danilo. He was anonymous here, hasn't scored a goal in competitive action and doesn't look like scoring one. As for who plays at left-back, it certainly won't be Bailey Rice, who had a torrid time out of position. Jayden Meghoma is close to signing on loan from Brentford, but, with Jefte off to Palmeiras and Ridvan Yilmaz tipped for a return to Turkey, more competition in that area of the park will surely be required. Rangers did have the lion's share of the ball against Alloa, as you'd expect. There wasn't enough consistent aggression in their play, though. At times, it felt like they were trying to bore their opponents to death instead of blowing them away. Moore, in fairness, showed up well from the off. Within 10 minutes, he'd had three goes at goal of varying quality and played a part in setting Bajrami up for the opener. Rothwell played a forward pass from midfield, Bajrami nudged it out to Moore on the wing and he fed it back inside to the Albanian. His curling effort from outside the area was destined to hit the net all the way — eventually finishing up there off the underside of the crossbar. At that point, Alloa had barely been able to get the ball out of their own half. Then, they realised that just launching the ball and putting some remote element of pressure on this Rangers backlot is likely to bear fruit. On 24 minutes, after Steven Buchanan had tested Liam Kelly, the visitors made it 1-1 thanks to the kind of defending that could only have been made more comical had the Benny Hill theme tune been playing over the tannoy. Buchanan skinned Rice and made it to the byeline. His low shot cracked off Kelly, rebounded off his leg and fell to Luke Rankin. His shot was then blocked by the arm of Rothwell on its way to goal, but it didn't matter. There was more chaos to come. Stefan Scougall scuffed an effort goalward, Max Aarons attempted to boot it clear and succeeded only in whacking it straight off the nut of the grounded Rothwell — seeing it shoot back in the other direction and cross the goal-line. Madness, really. Thankfully for Martin, Fernandez, making his competitive debut, got Rangers back in front — and prevented the atmosphere from descending into something uncomfortable — before the half-hour. Oscar Cortes didn't do much during the game, in keeping with the rest of his Ibrox career. However, he did win a free-kick out on the right and that paved the way for Rothwell to send a quite delicious delivery into the heart of the area. Fernandez seized his moment well — with an unchallenged header from inside the area beating McFarlane all ends-up. That's when it should have become a procession, but it didn't. Kurtis Roberts tested Kelly with an ambitious effort from about 40 yards after another defensive mix-up and, after being skinned one time too many, Rice came off for Tavernier at the end of the opening 45. The goal that offered Rangers welcome breathing space after a decent start to the second period finally came via the penalty spot on 67 minutes. McFarlane parried a shot from Bajrami into the path of Cortes and it looked like the Colombian would score until Alloa substitute Cameron O'Donnell appeared from nowhere to block. It was as clear as day the ball had struck his hand, with the only surprise being that it took so long for the VAR check that led to referee Daniel McFarlane going to the pitchside monitor and giving the award. Tavernier stepped up to smash the penalty low and hard off the inside of keeper McFarlane's right hand post and that should have been that. Only it wasn't. After seeing Conor Sammon caught by Fernandez when clean through on goal after an intercepted pass from Djiga, that old problem of being unable to deal with set-pieces made for an interesting last 10 minutes. O'Donnell fired in a free-kick from the right, David Devine rose high at the back post and, when his header came off the underside of the crossbar, Taggart was waiting on the goal-line to stick it into the net. It took Curtis, not long on for Cortes, to settle the nerves seconds from the end of the regulation 90 when taking a pass from Kieran Dowell on the right of the area and placing it first-time into the net off the far post.
