Football Matchday Preview and Review

 Italy boss Robert Mancini revealed the 37 man squad that would take part in the Nations League games against Bosnia and the Netherlands in September. A fairly average-aged squad with the potential to score a million goals. There's not a lot that I would like to analyse about the squad since it was somewhat expected that Mancini would call upon the same players.  Italy and Juventus captain is back into the squad after missing out on almost a year of international football. Brescia player Mario Balotelli failed to impress Mancini enough to call him up. Three uncapped players have been given their call-up to the big stage. This includes Inter's Alessandro Bastoni, and Sassuolo duo Manuel Locatelli and Francesco Caputo. Midfielders Jorginho and Sandro Tonalli were required to get their coronavirus tests before they would be allowed into the squad. Their test results have not been revealed yet, but both are expected to be part of the games in Florence, Italy and Amsterdam, Netherl...

 Germany manager, Joachim Lowe released his selections for the national team to compete in friendlies and competitions yesterday and a few eyebrows were raised on his decision to rest several key players that were part of the Champions League winning team in Portugal last week. Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka, Serge Gnabry and Manual Neuer, who all featured in the final of the Champions League against PSG have been excluded from the squad for resting. Other players not picked are Barca goalie ter Stegen, BVB captain Marco Reus, who had returned for training, Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil, and the exiled duo of Thomas Muller and Jerome Boateng. Inclusion of players like Niko Shulz and Ilkay Gundogan have also lead to debate as both players have failed to show their worth in their respective leagues by the display of inconsistent performances. The trio of goalkeeper Oliver Bauman, Atalanta wing-back Robin Gosens and Monchengladbach midfielder, Florian Neuhaus are all being given their f...

Before the game, all anyone could talk about was how PSG's wonderkid, Kylian Mbappe had made a miraculous recovery from his injury. Atalanta laid out a formation that suited their attacking style. They played their 3-4-1-2 style, with the captain, Alejandro Gomez distributing balls to the two strikers ahead of him. It was certain that they weren't afraid of PSG's attack. PSG lined up with their usual 4-3-3, with Neymar and Icardi swapping their roles while going forward. PSG started the game on the front foot with Neymar dribbling past the Atalanta defenders like they didn't even exist. He played out two world-class balls that should have been converted by Pablo Sarabia and Mauro Icardi, but both lacked the bit of pace Mbappe got into the game. Neymar, too, missed two sitters that a player of his calibre should have scored. Eventually, PSG was made to rue their missed chances as Atalanta striker, Pasalic scored a brilliant first-touch goal into the corner of Keylor  Nav...