Football Matchday Preview and Review

 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...

There was an awful lot of speculation pre-game about the kind of starting 11 Pep Guardiola had laid out. Many claimed that he was simply "experimenting". If that was the case, someone ought to tell Pep that the Semi-Final of the Champions League was no place to experiment.  A brilliant overhead ball from all the way from the Lyon defence to striker Toko-Ekambi, who was unable to control the ball resulting it to fall within Maxwell Cornet's reach. He struck the ball well as all City goalie, Ederson could do was watch the ball go into his goal. Kevin de Bruyne is the only consistent City player and he showed his worth by equalising the game in the 69th minute from a good goal Unfortunately for Manchester City, Lyon goalkeeper, Lopes was on his best-ever performance and he denied City several opportunities. Substitute Moussa Dembele silenced his criticism by scoring in the 79th minute and putting Lyon back in the lead. At this stage, it was clear City were ready to go throug...