Welcome to MUACOL.
A football-centric sports blog with a primary focus on my favourite teams:
Manchester United, Athletic Club, Olympique Lyonnais & England.
Featured Articles
Match Report: Elgin City v Hibernian
A photo-essay covering a Scottish League Cup group stage clash at Borough Briggs in July 2024.
Retro: Sheffield Wednesday 5-2 Lyon
A look back at Olympique Lyonnais’ first ever visit to Britain, in October 1961, when they faced Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
Retro: Tottenham Hotspur 4-3 Lyon
A look back at another classic match from Olympique Lyonnais’ history. Their visit to White Hart Lane in December 1967 to face Spurs in the European Cup Winners’ Cup.
Latest Manchester United Posts
Mid-Season Report: Manchester United
Manchester United Men: It has been a pretty dire first half of the 2023-24 season for Manchester United. Their injury hit squad has struggled in the Premier League and crashed out of two cup competitions …
United suffer again at the hands of Brighton
Manchester United produced yet another poor performance against a buoyant Brighton and Hove Albion side, who had no trouble in collecting another three points from their latest visit to Old Trafford. Former United striker Danny …
Latest Athletic Club de Bilbao Posts
Mid-Season Report: Athletic Club
Athletic Club Men's Team: It has been a very positive first half of the 2023-24 season for the Athletic Club men's team. They have performed above expectations, playing some exciting attacking football, and are in …
Bilbao and Lyon top big five leagues for home-grown players
The Football Observatory at the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) has published a world ranking of football clubs showing which have fielded the most home-grown players in domestic league matches so far this season. …
Latest Olympique Lyonnais Posts
Georges Mikautadze – Player Profile
When Georges Mikautadze signed for Olympique Lyonnais in the summer of 2024, the move represented an emotional homecoming for the twenty-three year old. It's a little known fact that the Georgia international striker was actually …
Moussa Niakhaté – Player Profile
Moussa Niakhaté is a tall and imposing left-footed centre-back who signed for Lyon from Nottingham Forest for €31.9 million in July 2024. He was ostensibly brough in to replace Jake O'Brien, who was sold to …
Latest England Posts
North Macedonia 1-1 England
England concluded their UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with a 1-1 draw against North Macedonia in front of 27,982 fans at the Toše Proeski National Arena in Skopje. It was a fairly insipid performance blighted …
England U19 beat Japan in Marbella
Simon Rusk's England U19 team gained a second win in as many matches when then narrowly beat Japan in Marbella on Saturday. They had recorded an emphatic 6-0 victory over Romania three days earlier but …