Luka Modrić and Real Madrid’s La Liga title hopes were crushed Sunday night in a 2-1 loss to Barcelona in El Clasico. Modrić got the start and played 76 minutes in the loss, leaving the pitch with the match still tied at 1-1. 90min.com gave Modrić an extremely harsh 4/10 rating as he was “Not quite at his best and struggled to deal with De Jong’s energy.” Modrić did however send two fantastic balls down field that could have resulted in goals. Real Madrid simply weren’t good enough in the Barca box as their lone goal was scored by a Barca player and their 81′ go-ahead strike by Asencio was correctly ruled offside by VAR. With the loss, Real Madrid now trail Barcelona by 12 points in La Liga. Game over.
Ivan Perišić bagged his first Tottenham Hotspur goal on Saturday, coming off the bench in the 37th minute. His half-volley into the ground from 18 yards out would make it 3-1 Spurs, however, Tottenham would blow the lead and concede twice in the last 15 minutes of the match, as 20th place Southampton would come back from the dead to force a 3-3 draw. This result will hurt Spurs’ top-4 Champions League hopes. Although Perišić scored in this match, he was only given a 5/10 grade from Football London for his poor defense. “All too easy for Walcott to get behind him for the hosts’ leveller early in the second half. He then scored his first goal for Spurs with a bouncing half-volley past Bazunu. Was beaten too easily though at times down his flank and beaten to the ball for the header across leading to the late penalty. Gets an extra mark for his goal.”
We have a Andrej Kramarić siting! Krama converted two penalties for a struggling Hoffenheim side Saturday in a 3-1 victory over Hertha Berlin. The win pulls Hoffenheim out of the Bundesliga relegation zone by one point with only nine matches remaining in the season. They will surely need to win at least three more matches if they want to stay up in the top tier.
Mateo Kovačić got the start for Chelsea and played 81 minutes in a disappointing 2-2 draw at home versus Everton. Kova was taken off for additional defensive support in Loftus-Cheek but Chelsea would concede an equalizer to the Toffees eight minutes later. Kova received an 8/10 grade from Goal.com as he “Created some chances as Chelsea looked to capitalise on their dominance, was a direct threat on goal and won a lot of balls.”
Joško Gvardiol played the full 90 minutes in a disappointing 1-0 RB Leipzig loss to Bochum.
Josip Juranović played the full 90 minutes in Union Berlin’s 2-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt Sunday. The win gives Union sole possession of 3rd place in the Bundesliga with non matches remaining. A top-4 finish will see them play in Champions League next season.
Mitrović behaving like a Neanderthal after a PK was awarded vs Fulham via VAR. Shoved the referee, belly bumped him and then tried to bait him into a fight.
I can’t imagine any of our players behaving in that manner. One of the things people always say is how we conducted ourselves after being hosed in the last 2 World Cups and no one went off the deep end. 👍🇭🇷
The whole Serb National Team were doing the same thing at the past World Cup too.
It’s the guy on the team with the mentality where if they are losing the game they will just start a fight so they have something to say they did and can feel like a tough guy.
I hate playing with or against those guys. Usually the worst player on the team who has nothing to offer so they fight so they can feel better about their lack of contribution. It’s their way of convincing themselves they did something for the team and that is why they are “needed.”
They do it because they are the weaker team.
Morocco did it during our third place game too. We were obviously the much better team, and we were unlucky not to score 4 or 5 goals that game.
But when a weak foul was committed on our end against Hakimi outside the box…he desperately threw himself in the box, and their entire team immediately swarmed the referee in desperation for a PK call.
They knew that was their only chance at another goal because they were getting slapped around all game. Even after the game, their coach and players were going after the ref…as if he was the reason they lost, ha ha. Should have been a 5-1 result.
Now compare that, to the many times we were scored on…only for us to keep our cool, keep on playing, and come right back.
We know we have the ability to beat anyone in the World.
Most teams would have given up in that Brazil game when Neymar scored that extra time goal. Probably would have acted out in frustration, but you knew that Cro would probably pull off some stunt the way they did in that game.
4/10?
Ha!!!! Comedy.
The Camavinga hype is ridiculous. Constant giveaways, sloppy tackles.
4/10 is criminal. I counted at least 5 interceptions in addition to several great transitions from defense to offense. All the while thinking to myself how Barca got taken by the DeJong hype from Ajax’ excellent run a few seasons ago.
Rennes up 1-0 at PSG at the half. What’s the scuttlebutt on Majer? On bench. For all the ballyhoo, shouldn’t he be playing more? Or are we here just too close to the ballyhoo and it doesn’t reflect reality?
Not sure why Majer was.sitting out, he may need to look for a move come the summer transfer window. I don’t think he will come close to winning a UCL with Rennes, they are barely able to keep up on the Europa League.
And as is usually their case, they are a poor team defensively.
Majer’s a good guy to have coming off the bench for the National Team, but one or two of the regular posters rave about him as if he’s the second coming of Luka Modrić.
He can definitely start, but only as a #10 and only with the right midfielders behind him. Majer is more of a Robert Prosinecki (or a better version of Niko Kranjcar).
Majer has elite-level dribbling and passing. Great offensive player and it’s reflected in all of the French League stats. But he’s not a box-to-box midfielder like Modric and Brozovic, who are both capable of defending well and covering large areas of the field with tireless running. As good as Majer is, you can tell he doesn’t like to run.
A move to Spain or Italy would be good for him, where his skillset is more appreciated.
Perisic looked so sad after he scored. Think he needed that to silence the haters, but still, no celebrations. Does he want to be there?
Perisic is not a world-class player
so he must do what the other Croatians do
looking other clubs – once riding a bench1
Kramaric will still be a top priority forward
for the garbage coach dalic 0i- that means
no room for Musa – Ljubicic – Simic there1
Nobody cares what you think.
Kramarić is still a good enough player to keep his place on the team. Until someone else gets called up AND does more in training to prove he deserves Krama’s playing time, Kramarić will play, even if it’s at RW or as a second-half substitute. If Kramarić played for a better club, he would be scoring more frequently. As it is, he is consistently rated as their best or one of their best players. If Hoffenheim gets relegated, then expect him to go elsewhere to start scoring goals again.
Perisic scores!
I think the graphic above for El Classy needs some updating lol.
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Would love for Real to win tomorrow. Barca, sadly, has become boring.
Ya, because they don’t have any Croatians
Would be fantastic if Madrid steal these 3 points
6 points to make up is doable
Does Madrid just put more effort into CL overall?
I mean with barca basically shitting out in Europa they really only have la liga to focus on
Great to hear that Dalic is extending his contract
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp7YTcpqews/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Dalic has signed his rumoured contract extension that will take him to the 2026 World Cup.
I thought that already happened
Assuming it goes into World Cup
Well guys at least we have this steadiness and know what to expect
Most of the old guard will leave by then and the new look should be all in
I’m not sure if Perisic will stay till then. He actually may be one that may stay too long and end up hurting us by then
Kova and broz should still be good. Majer should be that third main piece. Defence can look largely how we have it now
And I’m certain we should have 3-4 decent regular forwards integrated by then that aren’t in the mix now
I really wonder if this means Luka said he may try to ride it all the way to 2026 and him and dalic leave together
this garbage coach who relies on luck –
he really likes the concept of 48 teams }
another time-wasting for us :{[ sigh…
to see a bright future for youngsters1