Branislav Ivanovic was an important part of the Serbia squad that finished runners-up at the 2007 edition of the UEFA u-21 Championship in the Netherlands. Branislav Ivanovic and Serbia went all the way to the final but the hosts had too much quality for them as they lost 4-1 to finish the tournament in second place.
In the final, Branislav Ivanovic played the entire duration and was given a yellow card for his troubles on 62 minutes. The home team led by a lone goal at the end of the first 45 minutes thanks to the 17th minute strike from Otman Bakkal. The Netherlands then scored two goals in seven second minutes courtesy Ryan Babel and Maceo Rigters.
Babel doubled the hosts’ advantage on the hour mark before Rigters added a third goal to seal the game midway into the second half. Serbia pulled one back via Dragan Mrda on 79 minutes before Luigi Bruins made sure of the result with a fourth goal for the Netherlands three minutes from time.
Serbia started the tournament in a tough group. They were in Group B alongside Italy, England and the Czech Republic. The Serbians showed their quality by topping the group with six points from three games ahead of England, Italy and the Czech Republic.
Dejan Milovanovic scored the only goal of the game on 63 minutes as Serbia began the tournament with a 1-0 victory over Italy. Bosko Jankovic scored in stoppage time to give Serbia a 1-0 win over the Czech Republic thus making it two wins from two games. The win over the Czechs sealed a semi-final berth for Serbia. They were beaten 2-0 by England in their last group game.
The Serbians booked their place in the final by beating Belgium 2-0 in the last four of the tournament.
Chelsea are reportedly interested in the signing of Bayer Leverkusen star Leon Bailey according to reports from Europe.
The Daily Mail reports that the Blues have made enquiries about the player and have been told that he is valued at around £80 million.
Chelsea have lost star player Eden Hazard this summer after he completed his long-awaited move to Real Madrid. It is understood that Chelsea have identified Bailey as the ideal replacement for the Belgium international as they possess similar attributes.
Bailey is regarded as one of the top young talents in German football after enjoying a good stint at Leverkusen. Blessed with pace and the creative attacking abilities the 21-year-old has caught the eye of several clubs with the likes of Tottenham and Liverpool interested in his services. £80 million though seems like a lot for a player that has yet to show consistency in his overall output but his versatility makes him a good addition to the team.
However, the Blues would have to overturn the current transfer ban to be able to get their man as the club are currently hit with a two-transfer window ban. Chelsea have already secured the signing of USA hotshot Christian Pulisic and have already been linked with Ajax forward David Neres. It remains to be seen how this summer would develop for the Blues but they are depended on the decision by CAS over their transfer ban petition.
Meanwhile, Manchester United are worried that David De Gea could leave the club in the summer as both parties are yet to agree on a new deal. Cillessen is seen as a good replacement for De Gea as he is a quality and experienced goalkeeper. The Netherland international has played second fiddle to Marc Andre ter-Stegen and wants a move out of Nou Camp in the summer. Barcelona reportedly wants £26.5 million as transfer fee which is actually a bargain for a player of his quality.
Former Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic has said that Christian Pulisic has plenty of talent within him and he will have a great future at the west London side.
The USA international was confirmed as a Blues player during the January transfer window but he was loaned back to Borussia Dortmund for the rest of the season.
As such, he will be formally joining his new teammates during pre-season training this summer and he has been backed to succeed by the cobatitive Croatian star, who fought tooth and nail for the Chelsea Blues whilst he was sationed on Fulham Road, alongside the likes of warriors John Terry and Frank Lampard.
Whilst Chelsea are still a far cry from being favourites for the Premier League next season – with most online betting sites placing them as third favourites behind City and Liverpool again for the 19/20 season, they are starting to build more of a coherent team, and bringing in young, hungry, talented players like Pulisic will help.
It’s not just former professionals who are looking forward to America’s Next Big Thing coming to Stamford Bridge, with Brazilian David Luiz excited with the prospect of working with the young attacker too – he said: “Christian is going to bring us a lot of talent. We are waiting for him to help him to try to develop fast and to help us. He is a great player and I think he is going to have a great future for us.”
Pulisic did not have the best of campaigns with Dortmund in the Bundesliga and he ended the season with just four goals and three assists to his name. Nonetheless, it could be said that he was regularly hampered with calf problems while the emergence of Jadon Sancho meant that he was often left on the substitutes’ bench.
At Chelsea, however, he is expected to command a regular starting role from the off and multiple sources have indicated that he could directly replace Eden Hazard on the left wing. Hazard has been the key to the club’s success over the past seven years but the Belgian appears destined to leave the club after turning down a new contract beyond next season.
Real Madrid have been regarded as the favourites to pursue the former Lille man and reports indicate that it is only a matter of time before the move is made official. Hazard is due to feature against Arsenal in this month’s Europa League final and the decision over his future is expected to be announced following the game.
Chelsea and Manchester United have played out some fierce games over the past decade and this Saturday the pair go head-to-head for silverware once more. The two clubs meet at Wembley for this season’s FA Cup Final, with no love-lost between managers Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, another intense clash is expected. We take a look at the betting odds ahead of this game and which bets are being backed by punters.
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Who’s the favourite to win?
The vast majority of Bookmakers have priced Manchester United as the favourites to win this tie in 90 minutes. United are available at odds of around 6/4, while Chelsea are being priced at around 19/10. There isn’t much in this one and the odds reflect this, however many appear to fancy United to come out victorious here.
Who’s being backed to score?
Romelu Lukaku has been priced as the favourite to get himself on the scoresheet at Wembley. The big Belgian is priced at just under 2/1 to score with most Bookmakers, with Lukaku no doubt hopeful of lifting his first trophy since joining the Red Devils whilst also getting one over his old club Chelsea.
Alvaro Morata and Oliver Giroud are Chelsea’s shortest priced players to score on Saturday. Many are still unsure who manager Conte will select to lead the line on Saturday, but both are priced at around 2/1 to score with the majority of bookmakers.
Odds to lift the trophy
In terms of outright odds to lift the trophy, Chelsea represent the better value being priced at Evens or just slightly above. The Red Devils are just below Evens with every bookmaker, again highlighting that United are the more fancied of the two. The prices for this market of course cover the team should they win in 90 minutes, extra-time or on penalties, so some may prefer to bet on this market rather than the standard win-in-90 minutes odds listed above.
German Bundesliga side RB Leipzig are expected to see off any threat from Russian side Zenit St Petersburg when both sides clash in the Europa League on Thursday. Their star forward Timo Werner will be instrumental as the German heavyweight (currently taking the Bundesliga by storm) look at booking a quarter final spot in the continental tournament.
Werner is the youngest player to reach 150 league appearances in the history of the German top flight. He reached the milestone over the weekend when they played VfB Stuggart. He was 22 years and six days. The forward was involved as the club give Leipzig the edge although Zenit skipper Domenico Criscito’s consolation made the scoreline delicate. Leipzig just need to avoid a defeat to go through to the next stage. It would be a tricky fixture as a 1-0 result is enough for the hosts at the Krestocsky Stadium.
Leipzig have been one of the most in-form teams in German football in 2017/18, and currently sit just outside of the Champions League places.
Zenit have slipped to the fourth place in the Russia top flight and they have not scored a domestic goal in the last three games. The Roberto Mancini side has a good record at home though having not lost at home in the competition. Of 18 games played in St Petersburg, they have won 17. It seems to be a good omen for the many Russian internationals who play for Zenit, who will of course be playing there when the World Cup comes to Russia this summer.
Yuri Zhirkov will likely be called on as Daler Kuzyaev remains sidelined. There are experienced players and goalscorers in the team like former Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic. The player scored the opener when they defeated Celtic at home in the last stage. Others like Aleksandr Kokorin and Rigoni will also be crucial.
The two sides who have never met before in Europe before last week will fight to secure their spot in the next stage. Leipzig have the advantage but the Russians will seek to spoil the party.
Chelsea lost the Community Shield to Arsenal amid shoddy pre-season preparations and transfer market issues, but there are bigger concerns for the Premier League champs. The Gunners might have stolen the title through a penalty shootout (after a red card to Pedro handed them the advantage in the closing minutes), but the game exposed loopholes in the Blues setup.
After a poor start last season, the 3-4-2-1 masterpiece switch helped Chelsea leap forward. Two creative forces played behind the striker, with the wing backs excellent in support. The lack of distractions helped the regular team focus on the league and they bonded. Now there is the added factor of the Champions League which will force rotation, and create tension in the team.
Diego Costa has been axed from the team; Nemanja Matic has been sold to rival side Manchester United, and Eden Hazard will miss a considerable number of games due to ankle injury. Alvaro Morata has so much promise but he does not have Premier League experience. Tiemoue Bakayoko will add impact in defensive midfield but is also lacking Premier League experience and he is even injured. John Terry, Nathan Ake and Kurt Zouma that could have supported the first 11 are no more. Antonio Rudiger joined from AS Roma but Chelsea hope he hits the ground running at best. It’s no wonder they are at odds of 8/1 on sport.netbet.co.uk to recapture the league title.
Against Arsenal in the Community Shield ‘friendly’ (making Pedro eligible for the next game despite the red card) none of the three new singings started. Morata came from the bench 17 minutes to the end of regular time but it was enough to blow a chance and throw away his penalty kick.
Coach Antonio Conte, while addressing links to Kylian Mbappe and Gareth Bale, dismissed the addition of a mega signing this summer. The Italian prefers to add several players that can improve the squad. “I think now is not the right moment for Chelsea to spend so much money on one player because we need many players. It’s important to divide this amount of money to buy many players,” he said.
Chelsea faced a similar scenario after lifting their last title under Jose Mourinho. Some Chelsea fans are likely lowering their expectations already, with the usual cold comfort: ‘you can’t win every time.’ When the 2012 Champions League winners lost to Arsenal two years ago, it was an indication of impending trouble. Conte will add more pressure to the Chelsea board in chasing his targets after the game, with the club management knowing his stance that they should free up more funds.
“I think the best way also is to speak about the club and to try to find the right solution, it’s important for me that the club knows my opinion about the number [of players] we need……the most important thing is the club knows my opinions, that they are trying to do the best for our team, for our squad, now we have to wait, we must have patience, to try to improve our team, our squad.”
Following the performance of Morata, there have been pleas from some quarters that Chelsea and Conte beg Costa to remain. The Spaniard is awaiting a move to Atletico Madrid after rejecting a purported move to AC Milan.
He fell out with Conte but he could add some power to the front and strengthen the attack if convinced to play. That would be a bitter pill to swallow for Conte. However there is not denying the impact that he could have, at least in the first half of the season, before he finally moves in January when the transfer ban of the La Liga side is lifted.
The Champions League playoff draw is slated for Friday August 4, 2017. The playoff sides would know which teams they would be facing for a chance to reach the finals later in the year.
Premier League fourth place side Liverpool would be seeded along with Serie A team Napoli, Spanish side Sevilla, Portuguese team Sporting Lisbon and Russia top flight club CSKA Moscow. They would be paired against any of Bundesliga side Hoffenheim, Turkish Super Lig side Istanbul Basaksehir, Swiss side BSC Young Boys, Ligue 1 side Nice or Romanian side Steaua Bucharest.
Liverpool piped Arsenal to the fourth place finish last year to make a return to the elite club tournament after two years. The Gunners would be playing in the Europa League – hopefully they can get to win a European title, even if it is not the one they would have preferred.
Jurgen Klopp men could clash with Nice and former Reds striker Mario Balotelli could make a return to Anfield. The Reds would avoid meeting British side Celtic that saw of Rosenborg in the last round to make the playoff stage.
Liverpool recently lost the Audi Cup final to Atletico Madrid after skipper Jordan Henderson lost his kick in the penalty shootout. They had started by embarrassing Bayern Munich 3-0 but they could not get past the Spanish team on the second day. After conceding first, it took a penalty converted by Roberto Firmino for the game to be sent further past 90 minutes.
The playoff would be return leg fixtures slated for August 15-16 and 22-23 ahead of the group stage draw for the 2017/18 Champions League season.
Zenit is yet to play its first game under the new boss Mancini, but, the skipper of the club Domenico Criscito is showering praises on him already.
Mancini has been roped in by Zenit on the place of Mircea Lucescu whose solitary season in charge was not very successful. Under him, the Lions failed to make it to Europe as they finished no. 3 in the standings of the top tier.
Criscito is backing Mancini to have a greater impact in comparison to his predecessor as he reveals that the team is training much better under the Italy native.
Criscito is of the view that Lucescu was quite good in his own rights, but, nobody is as good as the Italians when it comes to Football management especially from the tactical viewpoint.
Criscito reckons that the difference with Mancini is that he has brought the theory of the Italian brand of Football with him and he is emphasizing a lot on tactics and planning.
Criscito also says that Mancini is known to be someone who takes charge of the big clubs and the fact that he has come to Zenit shows that Zenit is amongst the biggest clubs.
As per Criscito, as a playing group, Zenit has always been ambitious for more and more trophies at all levels and the addition of Mancini who has the experience of winning trophies in top leagues is going to help fulfil that ambition to great effects.
On asked if he had any prior conversation with Mancini before the latter agreed to take up the job at Zenit, Criscito says that he did have and he let Mancini know whatever he wanted to know regarding Zenit’s project, the culture of Zenit and also Petersburg as a place.
Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic said that he is excited about the new season and believes that this will be one of the toughest ever. He said that many teams can challenge for the title and this will make it difficult for them. The best thing to do is to take each game as it comes and make sure that they get maximum points from them.
Branislav Ivanovic said that won the Premier League with Jose Mourinho and was also part of the team that under-performed last season. He has some good knowledge of how being overconfident can ruin a team performance. He said that it is better to wait for the start of the season and see how the other teams play.
Branislav Ivanovic said that each player has pledged to give their best on the pitch and believe that this can be the foundation for a successful season. With players retruning from Rio and joining the pre-season late, and more players to come in, the season is looking far from settled so far. I must confess that the inclusion of Oscar had me having a bet on Olympics for the first time ever!
As far as the Premier League is concerned, he said that it will be really challenging this season especially with the traditional big clubs investing massively in new players. He said that Leicester City will also be strong this season as they will not want to give up on their title without a fight.
Branislav Ivanovic has suffered an injury to his shoulder during the pre-season, but he has managed to return in the team since then. He said that he feels better and that he is excited for the new season as he has some unfinished business with Chelsea.
Chelsea may have found the perfect replacement for Branislav Ivanovic in Victor Lindelof. Antonio Conte is not only building a team for the short team, but he is also thinking about the long term.
There is no doubt that Branislav Ivanovic has been a faithful player for Chelsea, but we must admit that he is not going to get any younger. As a manager, it is important that you keep planning about the future if you want to ensure that your team is successful in the long-run.
Antonio Conte seems to believe that Victor Lindelof has the necessary quality to succeed at the top level and might be prepared to pay a big amount of money to bring the player to London. The defender is quite versatile and can play both at right-back and centre-back and will definitely help improve an aging defence.
Victor Lindelof has grown in stature in the last season where he managed to break into the Benfica first-team. His good form has also enabled him to be selected in the Sweden team where he has gained some great experience. Fans wishing to see him play in his debut on the first game of the Premier League season should head to 1stFootballtickets.com.
Lindelof will help Chelsea improve a defence that has been accused of being static and lacking energy last season. This is especially true in the right-back position where Ivanovic seems to be a shadow of himself. The signing of Victor Lindelof will probably mean that Branislav Ivanovic will be leaving the club in the summer. The defence will also be bolstered by the return of Kurt Zouma from injury.
Antonio Conte said that he is going to sign players that are going to improve the team and not just for the sake of numbers. He will feel that Victor Lindelof will be the kind of player that will improve the team not only in the short-term but also in the future.
