Athletic Club Femenino succumbed to a defeat in their opening Liga F match of the 2023-24 season. They were well beaten by Atlético de Madrid in the Spanish capital.
The Basques managed to contain their opponents until half time, but their defence was finally breached by Sheila Guijarro with a header from a corner in the 50th minute. Further goals followed from Eva María Navarro, with a fine long-range effort, and a second headed strike from Sheila to wrap up a 3-0 victory for Atlético.
American cyclist Sepp Kuss is on the verge of winning his first grand tour title at the 2023 Vuelta a España, having safely negotiated stage 19 to Íscar, which was won in a sprint by Italian rider Alberto Dainese of Team DSM-Firmenich.
Kuss holds the leader’s red jersey with a seventeen second advantage over his Jumbo-Visma team mate Jonas Vingegaard with Primoz Roglic a further 51 seconds back and only two stages remaining.
The 2023 summer transfer window was a busy one for Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag and his recruitment team, but it brought mixed results with the club being unable to shift some unwanted players and failing to strengthen the squad in a few crucial positions.
One of the main priorities was to sign a top level centre-forward and the club have put their faith in Rasmus Højlund, shelling out a reported £64 million for the Danish striker from Seria A club Atalanta. At just twenty years of age, he has bags of potential, but whether he yet qualifies as a top level striker is debatable seeing as he only managed nine goals in Serie A last season and has never yet reached double figures in a league campaign. However, his international record is impressive, with six goals in six games for Denmark so hopefully he can step up to the plate, if not immediately then in the near future in order to justify his elevated price tag. In my view they have over-paid for him, but that’s par for the course with United these days. At least he should be better than Anthony Martial from the off, and hopefully he’s less injury prone too.
Mason Mount, at £55 million from Chelsea, was United’s second most expensive signing of the summer. This doesn’t seem like a particularly inspiring acquisition to me. Mount lacks the flair to be a crowd pleasing entertainer an he isn’t really prolific enough for an attacking midfielder. He’s a hard worker and reputedly tactically disciplined and good at executing a manager’s instructions to the letter, so it’s little wonder that he’s valued more highly by coaches than he is by fans. However, I can’t really see where he fits nicely into Manchester United’s usual formation under Ten Hag without getting in the way of Bruno Fernandes. Again, they’ve vastly overpaid for him, seeing as he would have been available for free the following summer, and I can’t help but feel that there are plenty of better, and cheaper players in his position available around Europe. It’s an underwhelming addition to the squad.
André Onana was the third major singing of the summer for United, arriving at the club from Internazionale for £44.1 million. The Cameroon international goalkeeper is another player who has worked with Ten Hag previously (at Ajax) and he has a reputation as a ball-player who will build play from the back, create chances and help to retain possession. Those were major areas of weakness for David de Gea, who was allowed to leave the club in the summer despite having won the Premier League Golden Glove award, so Onana probably does constitute a welcome upgrade on the Spanish ‘keeper as they are probably equals when it comes to shot stopping.
There was also a change of reserve goalkeeper at United, with Turkish international Altay Bayindir being brought in from Fenerbahce to replace Dean Henderson, who was allowed to leave for Crystal Palace for £15 million. The twenty-five year old should prove to be a decent understudy for Onana.
So, in summary, United’s permanent acquisitions during the summer 2023 transfer window appear to have slightly strengthened the team in the centre-forward and goalkeeper positions for a net spend of £124.5 million when the fees received for Fred, Anthony Elanga and Henderson are taken into consideration. That doesn’t seem like particularly great value for money to me. I would have liked to have seen a big signing such as Declan Rice to play alongside Casemiro in central midfield and also a top class right-back joining the ranks.
There were a couple of last minute loan signings to bolster the squad. Moroccan international midfielder Sofyan Amrabat came in from Fiorentina with an option to buy at the and of the season. He has a good reputation from the 2022 World Cup and Fiorentina’s run to the Europa Conference League final, but it remains to be seen whether he will be used alongside Casemiro or as his deputy.
Spanish international defender Sergio Reguilón was also brought in on loan from Spurs due to an injury crisis at left-back that sees both Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia ruled out of for a prolonged period of time.
Finally, veteran Northern Irish centre-back Jonny Evans returns to United on a free transfer as cover for the injury-prone pairing of Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez.
The club did eventually manage to ship out quite a number of unwanted players, which has hopefully lightened the wage bill somewhat and may create more opportunities for a new generation of academy graduates, such as Kobbie Mainoo, to break through.
In addition to the aforementioned Fred, Elanga, De Gea and Henderson, the list of players who were shown the door at Old Trafford this summer includes Eric Bailly, Alex Telles, Phil Jones, and Mason Greenwood, who joined Getafe on a season-loan loan.
Lyon’s former left-back Fabio Grosso is to take over from Laurent Blanc as the new manager of the club following Blanc’s sacking earlier this week.
The defender, who won the World Cup with Italy in 2006, played for Lyon for two seasons between 2007 and 2009 before signing for Juventus.
He wound down his playing career with the Turin club before becoming part of their academy coaching setup and eventually taking his first managerial post with Bari in 2017.
His season with Bari saw them finish seventh in Serie B, but they were declared bankrupt during the close season and he moved on to Hellas Verona for the start of the 2018-19 campaign.
Verona had high expectations, having just been relegated from the top flight, and Grosso was dismissed the following May despite the team being in fifth place in the table.
A few months later, he was handed the reigns of Serie A club Brescia, following the sacking of Eugenio Corini. However, Grosso wasn’t afforded time to settle into that role and was sacked after just three games – all defeats – to be replaced by the re-instated Corini.
The following season, Grosso tried his luck in Switzerland at the helm of Sion in the Swiss Super League. Unfortunately that job didn’t work out any better for him than the previous two and culminated in his third successive dismissal, with Sion joint bottom of the table in March 2021.
However, despite a distinctly unimpressive managerial CV, Grosso fell on his feet, landing a new job just eighteen days later. Frosinone, in Italy’s Serie B, had just sacked Alessandro Nesta and decided to take a punt Nesta’s newly unemployed former international team mate.
It took Grosso five matches to record his first win with ‘I Canarini‘ (the Canaries), but on this occasion he was afforded time and he soon grew into the role, guiding them to a ninth place finish.
Frosinone went from strength to strength under Grosso’s careful stewardship the following season, and romped to the 2022-23 Serie B title seven points clear of second placed Genoa to gain promotion to Serie A.
This constituted the first unqualified success of Grosso’s managerial career and, when his contract expired in the summer, he informed the club that he would not be extending it, perhaps expecting an offer to come in from a larger club.
Now Olympique Lyonnais have come calling and he has agreed a two-year contract to head up their coaching team with four or five of his trusted staff members accompanying him to the Groupama Stadium. It represents a big step up compared to his previous roles, but hopefully he will be up to the task.
Athletic Club Femenino begin their Liga F season with a trip to Atlético de Madrid this weekend. Kick off is scheduled for 11:00 on Saturday 16th September 2023.
They had been scheduled to start their campaign at home to Granada the previous weekend, but the start of the Liga F season was delayed by one week due to a players’ strike over wages.
The players’ unions have now come to an agreement with the league that the minimum wage will rise from €16,000 to €21,000 for this season and then increase further still to €23,500 for the 2025-26 season.
Athletic Club finished in tenth place last season, with 35 points, whereas their hosts for this opening game, Atlético de Madrid, came fourth with 57 points, so it’s likely to be a stiff test for the Basques.
Athletic Club face Cádiz CF at San Mamés in a 13:00 kick off on Saturday the 17th of September for matchday five of the 2023-24 La Liga season.
The two clubs are currently locked together on seven points in the La Liga table, in fifth and sixth places respectively, having experienced similar starts to the season.
Athletic recorded an emphatic double over Cádiz during the 2022-23 campaign, winning 4-1 at home and 4-0 away, so they will be favourites to repeat that success this weekend.
The injured trio of Yeray Álvarez, Peru Nolaskoain and Óscar de Marcos are once again expected to be sidelined for the Basques.
Goalkeeper Unai Simón returns from international duty, having played the full ninety minutes in Spain’s easy wins over Georgia and Cyprus. Nico Williams also featured in those two matches, scoring once and providing three assists, although he was forced off with a slight knock during the second encounter.
Iñaki Williams was away representing Ghana during the break and played the first sixty-nine minutes of their 2-1 win against the Central African Republic in Africa Cup of Nations qualifying. He didn’t feature in their subsequent friendly win in Liberia.
Athletic Club have made a solid start to their 2023-24 La Liga campaign, winning two, drawing one and losing one match prior to the first international break of the season. The seven points that they have garnered thus far leave them in joint fourth place in the nascent league table.
Their solitary defeat came in the opening fixture, which was a tough assignment against Real Madrid at San Mamés Barria. First half goals from Rodrygo and Jude Bellingham sealed a 2-0 win for the Madrileños.
Seven days later, Athletic made the short trip to Osasuna and cancelled out that opening result with a 2-0 away win of their own. Iñaki Williams and Gorka Guruzeta were the goalscorers and both teams finished the game with ten men following a pair of dismissals.
Back at home on the third matchday, Athletic got off to a poor start against Real Betis, finding themselves two goals down after only ten minutes. However, they fought back strongly to take the lead before half-time via two Mikel Vesga penalties and a second goal of the season for Guruzeta. Unai Gómez added a fourth late on to seal the win.
Athletic were then held to a draw against Mallorca at the Iberostar Stadium on matchday four as neither team was able to find the net.
In December 2022, Nicolás Tagliafico became only the second Olympique Lyonnais player to win the FIFA World Cup whilst at the club, following in the footsteps of Nabil Fekir in 2018.
The Argentina left-back was an integral part of his country’s World Cup winning campaign in Qatar, featuring in all but one of their matches, and playing the full ninety minutes in the semi-final and final, plus most of extra time in the final before he was replaced by Paulo Dybala for the decisive penalty shoot-out.
His combativity, tough tackling and tactical discipline combined with his tireless running up and down the left flank make him one of the most reliable full-backs in world football and one of the biggest names in the current Lyon squad.
Tagliafico was born to the children of Italian immigrants in the small town of Rafael Calzada, near Buenos Aires in 1992 and made his initial breakthrough with local team Club Atlético Banfield. Having progressed through the youth ranks, he made his first team debut as a substitute on the 11th of March 2011, aged eighteen, in a 2-1 win away at Tigre in the Primera División Torneo Clausura.
He was a first team regular throughout the 2011-12 season, during which Banfield struggled badly, and were ultimately relegated from the top flight. The following season saw him loaned out to Real Murcia in the Spanish Segunda División, where he featured regularly in another struggling side, before returning to Banfield to help them gain promotion back to the top level in 2013–14.
Now aged 22, Tagliafico was starting to attract the attention of the big clubs across town in Buenos Aires and, after a final season with Banfield, he was snapped up by Club Atlético Independiente for around €2.78 million in February 2015. Three largely successful seasons followed with ‘El Rojo‘, which culminated in him captaining them to victory in the 2017 Copa Sudamericana. Tagliafico had the honour of lifting the trophy in the Estádio do Maracanã after the second leg of the final against a Flamengo side that featured future Lyon star Lucas Paqueta and Vinícius Júnior.
Shortly after that triumph, Ajax came calling and a €4 million fee was sufficient to prise Tagliafico away from Independiente for a permanent move back to Europe. His four and a half year stay in Amsterdam was as trophy laden as you might expect, with three Eredivisie titles and two KNVB Cups to his name before he was allowed to move to Lyon in the summer of 2022.
By then, Tagliafico had already become a continental champion with Argentina, helping them to win the 2021 Copa América. He played the entirety of the semi-final against Colombia but had to settle for a twenty-seven minute cameo in the second half of the final against tournament hosts Brazil, coming on for Giovani Lo Celso. However, he was once again able to enjoy lifting a trophy in the iconic Maracanã stadium, albeit an empty one due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Signed for a bargain €4.2 million, on a three-year contract, Tagliafico was one of Lyon’s most consistent players during his first season at the club, in what was an underwhelming Ligue 1 campaign sandwiched around the personal high of his career defining World Cup win.
Now aged thirty-one, and having just scored his first international goal in the recent World Cup 2026 qualifier against Bolivia in La Paz, Tagliafico shows no signs of slowing down, and will be relishing the prospect of trying to defend his Copa América title in 2024 in the USA.
Roberto De Zerbi’s high-flying Brighton and Hove Albion are the next test that Manchester United will face in the Premier League this season. The Seagulls are scheduled to visit Old Trafford for a traditional three o’clock kick off on Saturday the 16th of September, just after the international break.
Brighton have started the season well, winning three of their first four matches to garner nine points, putting them in sixth place in the nascent league table, three points and five places above United.
The game comes just a few days before both side begin their European campaigns – United away at Bayern on the following Wednesday and Brighton at home to AEK Athens on the Thursday, so both teams may have one eye on those fixtures.
The head to head form is very much in Brighton’s favour, with the Seagulls having beaten United in their last three league meetings, including a 2-1 win at Old Trafford in the corresponding fixture last season, which was on the opening weekend of the 2022-23 Premier League campaign.
However, United did get the better of Brighton in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley last April, winning through on penalties after a goalless draw.
Both teams will hope to field new signings in the match, with United potentially handing a first start to Danish striker Rasmus Højlund and a debut to Moroccan midfielder Sofyan Amrabat, if fit. Barcelona wonderkid Ansu Fati could feature for Brighton following his loan move to the south coast.
Manchester United have learned the identity of their forthcoming opponents in the 2023-24 edition of the UEFA Champions League. Drawn into a tough looking Group A, United will be travelling to Germany, Denmark and Turkey to face Bayern Munich, FC Copenhagen and Galatasaray respectively.
They begin with the toughest assignment of all, the trip to Bavaria to face Harry Kane’s new employers at the Allianz Arena, followed by a couple of home ties against Galatasaray and FC Copenhagen in which they will hope to pick up maximum points.
The return tie in Copenhagen is followed by the tricky trip to Istanbul before Bayern visit Old Trafford. United will be hoping that they aren’t relying on getting a result from that final fixture in order to qualify for the knockout stages.
The full fixture details are as follows:
Wed 20/09/2023 20:00 A Bayern Munich
Tue 03/102023 20:00 H Galatasaray
Tue 24/102023 20:00 H FC Copenhagen
Wed 08/112023 20:00 A FC Copenhagen
Wed 29/11/2023 17:45 A Galatasaray
Tue 12/12/2023 20:00 H Bayern Munich
Bayern look to be the strongest team in the group and will be expected to take top spot. FC Copenhagen are likely to be the weakest, but are more than capable of springing a surprise result. Galatasaray have invested heavily over the summer and now boast a strong roster of forwards including United old-boy Wilfred Zaha, Mauro Icardi and Hakim Ziyech, as well as former Lyon trio Leo Dubois, Tete and Tanguy Ndombele. They will mount a strong challenge for second place in the group.
