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Kylian Mbappe started the match doing Mbappe things, slicing through the Barcelona before providing a sweet finish to put Madrid ahead under Five minutes. And that was all, by the end of the first half, Real Madrid conceded four goals.
Final score was Madrid 2 Barcelona 5, this was despite Barcelona having their goalkeeper sent off. This also makes it the second time this season that Barcelona has taken Madrid to the cleaners. However, this time Barcelona walked away with the Super Cup trophy. Forget what the La Liga table might tell you, there is something wrong with Real Madrid this season and I think it is time for us to admit it. Carlo Ancelotti might need to retire from Club Management.

Real Madrid to Win the La Liga is at 1.80 Odds here - https://m.betking.com/sports/events/outright/football/spain/la-liga

Yes, Madrid have been unfortunate with injuries especially in the Center back positions but with the quality of players, they should not be losing to a Barcelona team going through all sorts of transition. There seems to be no laid-out plan for Real Madrid except to get the ball out to Vinicius or Mbappe and wait for them to work on some Magic. This has always been Ancelotti’s method. Work out the right formation, the right players for each position and send them out to play. Not much on tactical instructions on what to do when in/out of possession. While this has worked a lot over the years and won him countless trophies, it is time for a new approach. These days “progressive” coaches have patterns coached to the players to do when with/without the ball. If to switch to 3 at the bank when attacking or a single/double pivot, when to overload and switch wings. But for Real Madrid, however, it is a simple matter of everyone know your position and work hard, the end.

According to Rumors, Madrid is looking to hire Xabi Alonso at the end of next season but from the looks of things, it just might be wiser to make that move a year early.

Real Madrid to win the Champions league is at 7.00 Odds here - https://m.betking.com/sports/events/outright/football/spain/la-liga

I slept and saw the future, actually my babalawo saw it. Anyway, it does not matter who saw what or who the messenger is...... Here are the Predictions.

Napoli to win the Serie A.
That is currently at 3.75 Odds on BetKing - https://m.betking.com/sports/match/1001286370/winner

Liverpool to Win The Premier League.
That is at 1.22 Odds(Not a lot) on BetKing - https://m.betking.com/sports/events/outright/football/england/premier-league

Manchester City to make Top 4.
That is at 1.50 Odds on BetKing - https://m.betking.com/sports/match/1001283719/top-4

Newcastle To make Top 4.
That is at 2.75 Odds on BetKing - https://m.betking.com/sports/events/outright/football/england/premier-league

Real Madrid to win La Liga.
That is at 1.83 Odds on BetKing - https://m.betking.com/sports/match/1001286368/winner

Real Madrid to win the Champions League.
That is at 7.00 Odds on BetKing - https://m.betking.com/sports/match/1001286371/winner

What a match?! What a way to start the New year for Manchester United fans. Going away to the most in-form team in Europe and current league leaders Liverpool was a trip nobody wanted to make. Not even the most optimistic United fan wanted to go to Anfield. But they went ,they saw and they nearly conquered. If Zirkzee had taken a shot instead of passing to Maguire, if Maguire had been more composed...perhaps this year might have started with a bang for United fans. Bets had gone out for Liverpool to run riot, for Mo Salah to get a hattrick or more but man proposes...... A 2-2 result away to Liverpool might just be the best way to start the year after all.

Bruno Fernandes played one of the games of his United career as he was all over the place, making the right tackles, passes (His assist for Lisandro's Martinez's goal was heavenly). If Fernandes was the man of the match, Manual Ugarte was right in second place showing United fans just what they had been expecting from Casemiro. Ruben Amorim might finally be getting boys to play in his way.

Although a decision might have to be made if this is the right time for Leny Yoro to get a shirt ahead of De ligt who had a horrible game.

Manchester United to make the Top 4 is now at 100 Odds - https://m.betking.com/sports/match/1001283719/top-4

2024 was a fun year for football fans all over the world, well I am not sure Manchester City fans are going to agree with that. Because even though they won the premier league for the fourth time in a row, they ended the year as one of the worst teams on Earth. On the other side of town, Manchester United is closer to relegation than the top 4. The last few weeks seems to have shown us that the problem has always been the players and not the coaching personnel apparently. Can they put themselves together to avoid relegation with just 7 points separating them and the bottom 3?

Manchester City to Win the League is at 40.00 Odds on Betking - https://m.betking.com/sports/events/outright/football/england/premier-league

Kylian Mbappe finally moved to Real Madrid, a move 5 years in the making. And after a few shaky months, he seems to be settling in okay. with a good supporting cast of Vinicius and Jude Bellingham, it is going to hard to stop them in full flow. Not even Liverpool might be able to. Never bet against the biggest club on the planet although they might be unable to retain their La Liga crown with Atletico Madrid looking like the most serious team in the League right now.

Real Madrid to win The Champions League is currently at a huge 35.00 Odds
https://m.betking.com/sports/events/outright/football/england/premier-league

Atletico Madrid to win the Spanish La Liga at 4.50 Odds - https://m.betking.com/sports/match/1001286368/winner

The toughest League in the world right now might be the Italian Serie A with just 1 point separating the Top 3 teams. Atlanta, Napoli and Inter Milan have the right coaches to get them through a dog fight. Napoli might have the slight advantage with their lack of European football this season giving them enough days off between match days.

Napoli to win the Serie A is at 5 Odds - https://m.betking.com/sports/match/1001286370/winner

With 2024 a few days from wrapping up, we might as well have this conversation of the best footballer of the year. Rodri got the Ballon D'or while Vinicius got the FIFA's best. In all honesty, neither should have won anything. The real player of the year for 2024 is Jude Bellingham. What is even shocking is why Real Madrid went with pushing a campaign for Vinicius when he was not even their own player of the year. Bellingham was Real Madrid's player of the year and also La Liga player of the season. So how exactly did Madrid expect award organizers/voters to take them seriously?
As for Rodri, the less said, the better. 2023 should have been his year but FIFA's fixation of breaking into the American market led the award going to Lionel Messi. And the conversation steers towards team trophies, then Dani Carvajal should have swept all the awards. He was very instrumental to Madrid winning the league and UCL double(Scoring in the Champions League final), same for the Spanish team winning the EUROS.

All that is done and gone now, Who do you think is going to be the Player of the year for 2025?

I Agree o

emperor4love:
Him juju don fail am

Manchester City have no plans to sack Pep Guardiola ,not now, not in the nearest future. After all, this is the coach that has put the club on the world map not to mention the 4-peat Premier league titles (a record by the way). So it is totally understandable for them to be unbothered about the team's current run of bad form/luck. But the question is how bad is bad? How bad does it have to get before Guardiola raises an eyebrow and rips apart his contract. He signed a new one year right at the start of the current form which has give us 8 losses in 12 matches now. The signs do not look good or suggest that they will get back on track anytime soon, the players looked to have given up on the season already.
Pep Guardiola might be a great coach, perhaps the greatest but one thing he has never really excelled at is team rebuilding. Think of How Sir Alex Ferguson reinvented his title winning squads over and over again, Pep has never had to do that. He has always just got to get pieces that would fit into his system and that is why instead of getting a younger midfield option, he has gone to resign Ilkay Gundogan on a free transfer. That is why the team is still dependent on a 33yr old Kevin De Bruyne after selling 22yyr old Cole Palmer to Chelsea, which is why there is no stand in replacement for Rodri after selling out Romeo Lavia. It is always why Pedro Porro is flourishing at Tottenham and Kyle Walker is having the worst season of his career. Can Pep rebuild? how long and how much is it going to take?
Or he should just throw in the towel?

Manchester City to win the League is currently at 35.00 odds on BetKing - https://m.betking.com/sports/events/outright/football/england/premier-league

Nobody not even Arne Slot himself would have predicted the amazing season Liverpool is having. Top of England, top of Europe....Who or what can stop them? Not sure even a drop in form for Mo Salah would be enough to stop this train. This was very evident in Sunday's Demolition of Tottenham Hotspurs. Let's check back by February now, shall we?

Liverpool to win the League at 1.45 Odds - https://m.betking.com/sports/events/outright/football/england/premier-league

Liverpool to win the UEFA Champions League is at 5 Odds - https://m.betking.com/sports/match/1001286371/winner

Arsenal football club has been in the wilderness for so long that they had forgotten what competing for titles felt like.....well, that was until Mikel Arteta came along. Pep Guardiola's trusted right hand, the man to led Arsenal into the promise Land. Now stepping about to step into his Sixth year and with hundreds of millions of pounds spent, it is safe to say He has gotten the team as far as he can. It is a little sad that all he has got to show for it is just one FA cup trophy not to mention bottling the title race twice. There might be a case for him to be given a little more time but the truth is if Chelsea wins a league title before he does, he needs to go. Arteta and former football director Edu were given a free hand to assemble what they believed to be the strongest Arsenal team in years yet they have gassed out at the business end of the last two league seasons while also losing to the weakest Bayern Munich team in decades (UCL).

He has gotten Arsenal to the gates but getting them in seems to be beyond his powers.

Arsenal to win the Premier League Title is currently at 4.75 Odds on BetKing -
https://m.betking.com/sports/events/outright/football/england/premier-league

The theme for this weekend seems to be "Nobody wants the title" across Europe. Let's start with the most popular English Premier League when League Leaders Liverpool dropped points at home to Fulham while Arsenal could not find a way past Everton at the Emirates. Manchester city got burned at the derby, losing 1-2 to United. That is 8 loses in 11 matches for Pep Guardiola now, time for him to go? Chelsea on the other hand got a win over Brentford with Nicolas Jackson stepping up to make up for his misses. Hard to deny at this point that they are favorites for the title.

Chelsea to win the Premier league is currently at 4.50 on BetKing - https://m.betking.com/sports/events/outright/football/england/premier-league

Atletico are currently the most inform team in LaLiga at the moment (They have not lost any match since the 1-0 defeat to Real Betis on October 27th) and they stepped up again with a 1-0 win over Getafe. This on a weekend where usual suspects Barcelona and Real Madrid dropped points. Madrid drawing away to Real Vallecano and Barcelona losing at home to Leganes. Perhaps this is another time for a third party to win the league.

Atletico to win the La Liga is currently at 5.50 on BetKing - https://m.betking.com/sports/match/1001286368/winner

"You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain" is a popular quote that should be ringing long and clear in Pep Guardiola's head at the moment. The Manchester City boss is at his lowest, never has he had to face such a crisis in his fabled coaching career. One win and two draws in a run of ten games is enough to get any Grade A coach fired not to mention any regular coach. But while we agree that is not enough for City to get rid of Pep, the question is if and how soon he can rediscover his magic touch.
The signs at the moment don't look so good, from Pep reminding the Anfield crown about his six titles to self harming after the draw against Feyenoord, this does not look like a man on a recovery path. If anything, he is beginning to seem more and more like a Mourinho on the path to self destruct. Unfortunately it is not about to get easier with the Manchester derby up next for him and his soldiers. Wednesday night's loss against a Juventus team also out of form has thrown up the most obvious question. Is it time from Pep to take another sabbatical from Football or is this just a blip?

What do you think?

Just one word - Defenders. As much as Chelsea's fanbase and officials have tried to downplay their Title credentials, the truth is they are in it and there is nothing they can do to change that. Well, unless their defenders have a say. Their weak link this season seems to be their Center back pairing to their goalkeeper. Granted Levi Colwill and Wesley Fofana seem to be a decent pairing but both can not be guaranteed to stay fit for at least 80% of their matches. Tosin Adarabioyo is nothing more than a decent backup while there is nothing to be said about Axel Disasi and Badiashile.
Roberto Sanchez might seem like a really good shot stopper but his tendecy for errors especially at crucial moments might just be the biggest threat to Chelsea's title hopes. He does more and more each day to remind us all about Fabian Barthez. Such a shaky goalkeeper will do little to help the already unbalanced Center backs. The Sooner Chelsea can fix this problem and find some stability, the sooner they can accept that they are Title contenders and are as a matter of fact going to win the title.

The Knockout phase is going to be a whole different ball game and to be honest, how many of these mentioned lcubs have got experience at that Level.

Juvechelsea96:
REAL MADRID WILL NOT GO BEYOND THE QUARTER FINALS THAT IS IF THEY ARE NOT ELIMINATED IN THE ROUND OF 16.

Having stated that, this year is more about form than historical antecedents.

APART FROM LIVERPOOL WHO ARE OBVIOUSLY THE MOST IN FORM CLUB,ANY OF THE UNDERLISTED 7 CLUBS CAN SURPRISINGLY GO ALL THE WAY IF THEY QUALIFY FOR THE NEXT PHASE TO LIFTING THE 2024/25 UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TROPHY COME MAY 2025 NAMELY:
1) INTER MILAN
2) ASTON VILLA
3) MONACO
4) SPORTING LISBON
5) STADE BREST
6) FC BARCELONA
7) BORUSSIA DORTMUND

It is looking inevitable at this point that Real Madrid are going to be champions of Europe again, I mean look around you.. which team do you realistically think is going to challenge them when the season enters the business end and they have a fully fit squad. Only team that might stand in the way is Liverpool but here is the question, is the Liverpool squad strong enough to be challenging on two fronts? Madrid have the experience and personnel to do both and they likely will once they solve their Mbappe/Vinicius Conundrum.
It all begins tonight with a win over Atalanta.