Joe Green Sports

As registered Barcelona player Philippe Coutinho scored Bayern Munich's 8th goal, Lionel Messi looked despairingly to the heavens, stunned into immobility and silence, a European campaign once again defined by humiliation. On the end of the biggest quarter-final defeat in Champions League history, in a neutral venue over 1000km from his footballing home, in front of nothing but empty seats and the power structure and finances of his boyhood club in tatters, it seemed almost fatal to ask; could this really be Messi's last dance in a Barcelona shirt? A question that would have seemed absurd less than twelve months ago became a shocking reality earlier this week when arguably the best player of all time handed in a transfer request and expressed his desire to find a new club. And yet the traumatic scenes in Lisbon at the hands of eventual champions Bayern may not even be the the final chapter in this nightmarish denouement, as Messi's last appearance as a Barcelona player lo...

On a night where Manchester United could have done with a fairly pedestrian 90 minutes with potentially their two biggest games of the season to come in the next ten days, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer's men were frustrated by a resilient and at times dangerous FC Copenhagen side across an energy-sapping 120 minutes of Europa League football.  Mason Greenwood thought he had given United the lead on the stroke of half-time with a stereotypically clinical finish off the inside of the left post after a half of constant but hardly threatening pressure from the English side, only for VAR to intervene and correctly rule the 18-year-old was a yard offside. Greenwood was to also have a starring role in the next moment of drama in the second half, as his marginally less accurate shot from just inside the box in the 57th minute cannoned off the right post into the path of Marcus Rashford, who did not have to wait for VAR to rule out his tap-in after the linesman raised his flag for offside. T...

After Manchester City won the Premier League at the end of the 2017/18 season with arguably the greatest squad in the competition's history, accumulating a record-breaking 100 points, scoring a record-breaking 106 goals and winning a record-breaking 32 games in the process, they spent a club-record £60m on Leicester City winger Riyad Mahrez. After retaining their title in the 2018/19 season with 98 points and another 32 wins, they spent a club-record £62m on Atletico Madrid midfielder Rodri and £58m on Juventus full-back Joao Cancelo. After finishing a lowly 2nd this time around, deals have already been agreed for Valencia forward Ferran Torres and Bournemouth centre-back Nathan Ake, both believed to be worth around £40m. If it was clear that City were not intent to stand still after winning back-to-back titles, then they seem to be as busy as ever in the transfer market after losing their domestic crown. With this in mind, can newly-crowned champions Liverpool afford another seaso...