IN KEEPING with previous seasons, the Premier League computer has paired one of the promoted teams with a big-six giant on the opening weekend of the 2024-25 season. Ipswich Town, returning to the top flight after a prolonged absence, are at home to Liverpool in their first game, followed by an away trip to Manchester City. A tough start for any club! Reigning champions City start with a game at Chelsea, while Arsenal are at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers. The other two promoted teams, Southampton and Leicester, will play Newcastle United and Tottenham respectively. There is one London derby on the opening day, Brentford hosting Crystal Palace.
UKRAINE sent a very striking message to the EURO 2024 community with a display taken from a destroyed football stadium to remind the world what is being inflicted upon the country by Russia. The Sonyachny Stadium in Kharkiv has been unusable since May 2022. The ground was deployed as a training base for the Netherlands in EURO 2012 and has also served as a facility for the men's national team. More than 500 sports facilities have been damaged by Russian attacks since the invasion in February 2022.
PORTUGAL scraped a 2-1 victory in their opening game of EURO 2024, but 39 year-old captain Cristiano Ronaldo has come in for criticism over his post-match antics. CR7 was seen to taunt goalkeeper Jindrich Stanek and then comment to Petr Sevcik. Ronaldo had a quiet game with his only notable contribution a header that struck a post and rebounded to Diogo Jota who headed home. Unfortunately, Ronaldo was in an offside position. The Czechs had taken a 1-0 lead through Lukas Provod but an own goal levelled the scores. The winner came from substitute Francisco Conceicao in the dying seconds.
THE DRAWS for the early stages of the European competitions have taken place in Switzerland. In the Champions League first qualifying round, Welsh champions New Saints play FK Decic of Montenegro and if they get through that tie, they will face Ferencvaros. Northern Irish champions Larne play Lativa's Rigas FS while the Republic of Ireland's Shamrock Rovers are up against Vikingur Reykjavik of Iceland. One of the more interesting ties is Dynamo Kyiv versus Partizan Belgrade, while Jose Mourinho's Fenerbahce play Swiss side Lugano. In the Europa, Kilmarnock have been drawn against Cercle Bruges. Four times European champions Ajax are in the Europa 2QR and will meet Vojvodina. The Conference League draw sees Caernarfon Town take on Crusaders while Derry City play FCB Magpies of Gibraltar.
ENGLAND goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck has joined Barcelona from Manchester City. The 24 year-old has won 11 caps and played over 100 games for City. After being part of England's 2022 European Championship winning campaign, she missed much of last season due to suffering a stroke. She had also fell out of favour in the England set-up, losing her place to Mary Earps. Her contract with City expired and she jumped at the chance of reigniting her career with a move to Barcelona.
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