There is no denying that Celtic, under Nancy, are exciting to watch. There are shades of Ange Postecoglou's "we never stop" attitude at the top end of the pitch. They look like they don't care how many goals they concede, they'll just score more. In the first half against Livingston they generated an xG (expected goals) of 3.52 from 13 shots, four of which were on target. They had 11 shots inside Livingston's box and and created five big chances.
The Germans carried a 0-0 aggregate scoreline in from the first leg, having - somewhat improbably on both counts - controlled possession and created the lion's share of serious scoring chances. The nil-nil felt ominous and sure enough Spain struck thrice in under 15 second-half minutes, through Clàudia Pina (twice) and Vicky López, to cement the result. Nicole Anyomi, as she had in the game before, had a chance to punch the Germans aside.
I am proud of the players. There was a lot of learning. Every one of our biggest defeats, we will always come back better. These players are maxing. You don't want to lose a game but you have to learn from it. It feels horrible but you have to live within the performance parameters. We have already qualified. That was a goal of ours, it must be a goal of ours at Manchester United to go through.
Barcelona have opened up a four-point gap at the top of the La Liga table thanks to a hard-fought 3-1 against Atlético Madrid at Camp Nou on Tuesday night. A fantastic game of football that had everything ended with three deserved points for the Blaugrana, who played their most complete match of the season against a heavyweight opponent and sent a strong statement in the title race.
Ancelotti watched on as Hazem Mastouri's 23rd-minute strike handed Tunisia a shock lead at Stade Pierre-Mauroy before Estevao restored parity with a penalty before the break. Brazil were handed a huge chance to seal the win when Ferjani Sassi fouled Vitor Roque inside the box, but Lucas Paqueta blazed over Aymen Dahmen's net from 12 yards. Estevao then struck the post with almost the last kick of the game, but Tunisia were able to hold on as Ancelotti endured another frustrating encounter early in his Brazil tenure.
Scoreboard flattered Andy Farrell's team but bench-impact is a positive That the better side won convincingly - on the scoreboard at least - is beyond dispute but that the better side deserved to win convincingly is not. Before Saturday's game against Japan, Andy Farrell had declared his pre-match mantra as "a lot needing to be better as far as accuracy is concerned but our intent in how we play the game, we need a reaction to that".
Germany was in need of a good performance and Luxembourg was the right squad for the moment. The team spirit appeared to be much higher than the last international where the German were flat and the renewed energy helped power the team to a 4-0 victory. An early red card played a massive role in the outcome, but Germany likely would have rolled easily even without being a man-up for three quarters of the match.
With the start Arsenal have been handed to this campaign it was absolutely essential they got some points on the board early and they've done that at a stadium which has not been a happy hunting ground for them in the past.
We lost, but I'm holding on to the positives that emerged. We lacked efficiency and were more decisive in the good moments of the match. We could have scored after Julian, but football is wonderful; the opponent took advantage of the set-pieces.
