A 'Three'-ling day of Football

5 out of 6 Premier fixtures saw homeside score 3 goals against there opponents as the day turned out to be obsessive with the number 3.
In LaLiga Santander, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Real Sociedad also hit 3 goals each.

It all started with Watford vs Everton in the Premier League at Vicarage Road.

A struggling Everton side was up against Watford. After going a down by a Romelu Lukaku goal, Watford replied strongly with 3 goals and thus took the game out of Everton's reach.

A late Romelu Lukaku second saw some hope for the Merseysides but Watford held their nerves and ran out a 3-2 winners.

Arsenal vs Stoke City also saw a scoreline which included 3.

Arsenal started the game dominantly as they played around the ball comfortably in the Stoke's half, but it was Stole City who drew first blood.

A penalty was awarded to Stoke after Granit Xhaka appeared to have deliberately elbowed Joe Allen on his face while defending and thus leaving referee with no choice. It looked a cynical foul but Xhaka was lucky not be sent off.

CharlieAdam on his birthday, gifted himself and the team with well taken penalty, sending Peter Cech the wrong way. Arsenal were behind as the clock hit the 30 minute mark.

Arsenal had to reply back and they didso, with a brilliant Arsenal link-up play as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain released Hector Bellerin on the right with a piercing pass, who crossed it inside the box for a Theo Walcottt finish at the near post with the outside of his boot.
Arsenal grabbed the equalizer before halftime.

In the second half, a brilliant lofted cross by Oxlade-Chamberlain into the heart of penalty area found Mesut Ozil all alone as he headed a beautiful looping header into the goal to give Arsenal the lead with 50 minutes on the clock.

Stoke City had their chances with Peter Crouch coming closest as he was brought in as a substitute. He would have scored with his first touch from the corner but it was parried away Peter Cech.

Minutes later, Arsenal got their 3rd, as another substitute Alex Iwobi, ran into the box after Alexis Sanchez was fouled just outside the box. The ball fell onto the path of Iwobi as the referee played the advantage and he finished a low shot into the right corner giving goalkeeper no chance.

A 3 goals and 3 points for Arsenal as they move to the top of Premier League for the time being.

Another 6 goals thriller was witnessed at KCOM stadium where Hull and Crystal Palace hit 3 goals each.

Hull City took the lead after a penalty was awarded but it appeared out to be horrible decision by referee as the replay showed a no contact and a clear dive by the Robert Snodgrass. But Hull City grabbed the opportunity with both hands as Snodgrass gave the Tigers the lead.

Crystal Palace came back strong and equalised with a Christian Benteke penalty. Karma played some role as Snodgrass brought down Wilfried Zaha in the box and Benteke rolled the ball home to level the score.

Zaha gave Palace the lead in the 70th minute with a tremendous effort into the roof of the net.
The lead lasted for just 2 minutes as Hull City stored the parity with Adam Diomande who showed some great feet in the box.

Hull were back in lead in the 78th minute with Snodgrass and Livermore combining as Crystal Palace were stunned.

But Palace didn't give up and got their equalizer again and Wilfried Zaha was the architect as he sends a beautiful cross onto the head of substitute Frazier Campbell.

The game ended 3-3.

Burnley also hit 3 goals against Bournemouth as Jeff Hendrick stunner was the goal of the game.

After going down by 2 goals inside the first 20 minutes, Bournemouth had no other option but to reply back. They did so just before halftime when Benik Afoebe pulled one back.

In the second half Burnley scored their 3rd with George Boyd as Bournemouth only found a late goal through Charlie Daniels to make scoreline look a bit respectable.

Swansea City also hit 3 goals against Sunderland in the bottom of the table clash.

The battle of relegation took place in Liberty stadium as Swansea and Sunderland went head to head.

Sunderland last week defeated the champions Leicester City and hoped for another win against struggling Swansea City.

But the 3 goals in second half sealed a win for the Swansea City as Sunderland moved to the bottom of the table and Swansea City pulled out of the bottom three. It was just third win of the season for the Swans.

A Jamie Vardy treble inspired Leicester City to a 4-2 win against Manchester City

The game of the night took place at King Power stadium. Leicester City had struggled this season and couldn't find their rhythm, but against they seemed to have found the lost touch as Jamie Vardy and Andy King scored goals inside first 5 minutes to stun Pep Guardiola's Manchester City.

It looked like the champions reinvigorated their lost spirit and put up a goal feast. Jamie Vardy grabbed his 2nd from a brilliant counterattack as Riyad Mahrez provided an assist.

City were 3-0 down at halftime.

In the second half, City were punished again by Vardy for their sloppy defending as Vardy hit his 3rd of the night.

City got two late goals as consolation but it was Jamie Vardy's night all the way. As the champions found their lost touch in the night when it mattered. 

City remained at 4th place in the table.

In LaLiga Santander, Barcelona ran out 3-0 winners away against Osasuna. Luis Suarez opened the scoring before a Leo Messi double sealed 3 points for the Catalans.

Sergio Ramos is the saviour again

Real Madrid took lead through a brilliant strike from outside the box by Alvaro Morata in the 50th minute but Deportivo hit 2 goals in as many minutes through Joselu as Real Madrid were left trailing at the Bernabeu, with 67 minutes on the clock.
It was the last league game of the year for Real Madrid before they travel to Japan for the Club World Cup. A win was must for Los Blancos as they had to keep their six point cushion at the top.

Substitute Vasquez and Mariano combined to store the parity with 84 minutes on the clock. A deadly cross by Vasquez found Mariano's header as the youngster proved his worth in style.

Stage was set for Sergio Ramos as in the 93rd minute of the match, Toni Kroos' delivery from a corner found Ramos' header to win 3 points for Real Madrid as Cristiano Ronaldo watched from the private box.

It was an ecstatic moment and Real Madrid proved why they are on this unbeaten streak. It was an amazing header by Ramos almost inevitable.

3 points in the bag and the unbeaten streak is upto 35.

Real Sociedad won 3-2 against Valencia

Valencia went 2 goal down by at Anoeta but showed great spirit to fight back. Willian Jose grabbed a double in the first 25 minutes. But Valencia grabbed one back through Dani Parejo penalty. 

The second half was more pulsating as Carlos Vela missed a penalty totake the game away from Valencia. The dram continued as Joao Cancelo saw 2nd yellow in the 83rd minute to add misery to the Valencia.

Sociedad scored their 3rd in the 91st minute as the game was put to bed but Valencia grabbed one back in 94th minute as they showed great fighting spirit.

It ended 3-2 at Anoeta and Valencia are now 7 games without a win in LaLiga Santander. 

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

Relentless Kohli takes India to a commanding position

It was Virat Kohli's day all the way as he hit his 15th Test Century to help India take a lead of 51 runs.

India suffered an early loss of wicket when debutant Jake Ball dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara(47) on the second ball of the day. Pujara misjudged the line as he left the ball and it came straight onto his stumps kissing his thigh pad.

In came the skipper, who knew the importance of his wicket and also the criticality of the situation.

Starting slowly and steadily, he build a partnership with Murali Vijay. Vijay was already settled on the crease as he continued his innings from yesterday.
He gave good support to the skipper and just played his basic game.

Vijay got his reward as he reached yet another century. It was his 2nd century in this series. Vijay was given out LBW when he was on 116 but he successfully reviewed the decision as the ball hit bat and then pad.

India ended the first session on top as they scored 101 runs and lost just one wicket. They didn't let England take hold of the game.

The second session was dominated by England as they scalped 4 wickets and kept India under some pressure. Their only worry was Virat Kohli as the swashbuckler was still present in the middle. 

Kohli and Vijay had a 116 run stand for the 3rd wicket before Vijay got a bit casual and hit the ball straight into the hands of Adil Rashid. Rashid fumbled first but successfully grabbed it the second time.

Karun Nair(13) once again failed as he got LBW on a Moeen Ali delivery. The decision was initially not out but England reviewed the decision successfully.

The highlight of the second session, though, was Joe Root.

Root showed he has got golden arm as he picked up two wickets in successive overs.

First one to go was Parthiv Patel(15), who edged the ball as it went up in the air only to be taken by Jonny Bairstow. Next was R. Ashwin(0), he was stunned when he got out on short leg.

Debutant Keaton Jennings took the catch.

India came under a bit of pressure as they were still 95 runs behind England. 

But Ravindra Jadeja and Virat Kohli played sensibly and made sure India didn't lose another wicket. 

However Virat Kohli got dropped on 68 when he hit the ball straight but Adil Rashid failed to grab it in his hands.

India scored 101 runs again but lost 4 wickets in this session.

In the last session of the day, India came out strong as they lost just one wicket in the face of Ravindra Jadeja(25). Jadeja tried to hit the ball long but an abrupt bounce in the dust makde him mishit the shot and got caught by Jos Buttler.

Virat Kohli stood tall and went on to complete his 15th Test Century after he took a single of a miss field. It's Kohli's 8th century as captain and it just showed how well he handles pressure. 

It was a treat to watch as he hit shots all over the ground and delighted the 20,000 audience in the stadium and millions on the TV. 

Kohli played some brilliant shots after the century and looked classier than ever.
Jayant Yadav gave good support to the captain as he hung in the middle. He also contributed some valuable runs lately once he settled himself.

Virat(147*) and Jayant(30*) helped India reach 451/7 at the end of the day's play.

India summed up the day on top. 

Stat Attack -

• Virat Kohli completed 1000 runs in tests in 2016.
• He also goes past 4000 runs in Test Career and becomes 14th Indian batsman to do so.
• Kohli has now 8 centuries as captain only 3 behind leader Sunil Gavaskar, who hit 11 centuries as captain of Indian team.

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

Football Updates

Arsenal must loose their pockets to keep Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez inisists former Gunner

Former Arsenal goalkeeper, David Seaman, who won three titles with Arsenal, has implored that club must forego there usual financial frugality to keep the dup at Emirates.

Following recent speculations around new contract talks of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, Seaman has made it clear that if Arsenal have to won their first Premier League title since 2004, they must keep Ozil and Sanchez at any cost.

"To win the title Arsenal have got to keep their best players," he said, in quotes reported by the Mirror. "We used to do that. When big clubs came calling for Thierry Henry or Patrick Vieira, we always managed to send them packing.

"But then the club went through a phase of selling them, although maybe that was partly because finances forced our hand.

"Now they are in a situation where they have a great chance of winning the Premier League for the first time in 13 years and they don't need to sell.

"The Emirates Stadium is paid for, the bank manager is happy, so if it means paying Sanchez and Ozil what they are worth - or perhaps even a little bit more - just do it.

"If Arsenal lost Sanchez now, they would have to spend a colossal amount of money, maybe £50-60million, to bring in a replacement of his quality.

"Why not just go the extra mile to keep him and Ozil at Arsenal? They are special players, and it's special players who make the difference between winning the major trophies and coming close.

"People talk about breaking the wage structure and upsetting the applecart, but in the dressing room nobody will complain if the club accommodates a couple of higher earners who are in that 'special' bracket and they deliver the title.

"Arsene must make sure that if either of them leaves - and all the supporters hope it doesn't come down to this - it must not be for financial reasons.

"I'm all for good housekeeping, but sometimes in football you've got to push the boat out a bit further. You have to stay ambitious."

Arsenal are currently 2nd in the Premier League, 3 points behind leaders Chelsea and are through to the next round of Champions League as group toppers.

No agreement for transfer of players with Real Madrid, BVB CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke

BVB CEO has put down all the rumours regarding the possible agreement discussions for thetransfer of his players to Real Madrid.

Spanish daily, Marca, claimed on Thursday that Real Madrid had reached an agreement with the German outfits that they will be informed beforehand if Aubameyang, Julian Weigl or Ousama Dembele will be sold to any other clubs.

It was also rumoured that Dortmund would themselves are interested in James Rodriguez and Casemiro to take them to Signal Iduna Park if it's agreeable to Florentino Perez.

However Watzke admitted that he dined with Real Madrid President Florentino Perez and spend time with him during Wednesday's 2-2 draw in Champions League, but did not discuss anything about possible transfer of any player.

"It's right that I had lunch with Fiorentino Perez and we sat next to each other the stadium," he told Bild. "But we did not spend one second taking about players of Borussia Dortmund. There's no agreement."

Well, it was interesting to hear Aubameyang after the match when he reiterated his desire to join his dream club, Real Madrid.

Cavani: I'd like to play with Griezmann one day

PSG striker has expressed his desire to play alongside the Frenchman after offering him a native Uruguayan drink.

Griezmann has been a hot property in the transfer market following his excellent run of form last season with both club and country.

Although he has signed a new five year deal in June, speculations has always been around.

Recently Cavani sparked rumours of a possible union, when he posted on Twitter an invite to join him in enjoying some mate, a traditional Uruguayan drink.

Cavani thought blamed media to get carried away with the situation, but he did not deny his desire to play alongside Griezmann.

"It's the press that said I wanted to invite Antoine Griezmann to Paris," he said.

"I sent him a message to take a Uruguay mate. I'd like to play with him one day, he is a great striker and a beautiful person too."

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

India to face England in Junior Hockey World Cup today in Lucknow

After defeating Canada in their opening match, India now faces tough challenge in the form of England.

England won their first match against South Africa, scoring four goals and conceding two.

Indian coach, Harendra Singh said after the first game that the team played in first gear mode but against England they have to shift to second gear as they are a strong opponents.

The strategy of Team India in this tournament is to take one game at a time, and step by step progress further.

©TheIndianExpress

India has not won this tournament since last 15 years and they will be hoping to end this drought this time.

India defeated Canada 4-0 in the inaugural match of the tournament and are full of confidence. But they must not get buoyed with the performance as there is still a long way to go.

England has also not won this tournament in their history, so they will give their all to beat India in their own backyard.

India, unlike England, will have full home support and the English coach is aware of this fact. But he still hopes his team will perform with full confidence against India.

Key players from the Indian side are forward Mandeep Singh, defender Harmanpreet Singh, captain Harjeet Singh, penalty corner specialist Varun Kumar and goalkeeper Vikas Dahiya.

A look at the various results so far in the Tournament-

 NEW ZEALAND vs GERMANY (1-2)

©FIH

In their quest for the 3rd consecutive world cup, Germany had to sweat it out for a win against New Zealand.
The Kiwis gave a tough fight but in the end the experience of the champion team took them to victory.
Germany went down by a goal inside opening 5 minutes but Germany didn't panic and made a flurry of attacks on the Kiwis goalpost. They equalised in the 24th minute and got their reward of winning goal in the 51st minute.

Germany are currently top in their pool.

NETHERLANDS vs MALAYSIA (7-2)

©FIH

                                           

The Dutch side thrashed Malaysia with their fast paced game. Malaysia got their entry in the tournament at the expense of Pakistan.

Malaysia scored their first goal in the 59th minute when they were 6-0 down.
It was a completely dominating performance by the Dutch.

Their next match is against Belgium, which may well be pool topper decider.

ARGENTINA vs AUSTRIA (1-1)

©FIH

Argentina were held for a draw by Austria, who qualified for the first team for this tournament.

Led by an Indian coach, Austria stunned Argentina as the match ended on a draw.

First half remained goalless but in the second half Argentina took the lead, but Austrian team equalised after 16 minutes through penalty corner.

The performance of Austria certainly grabbed a lot of eyeballs and it will be interesting to watch how they fare against other teams.

BELGIUM vs EGYPT (4-0)

©FIH

Belgium faced a weak challenge in the face of Egypt and cruised to a comfortable victory with two goals in each half.

All four goals were scored by four different players.

SPAIN vs JAPAN (4-1)

©FIH

After losing their first match against defending champions Germany, the Spanish side came hard at Japan.

They hit 3 goals in the first half. In the second they played defensively according to their strategy.

Lucas Garcia scored two goals for Spain.

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

Australia complete 3-0 whitewash of the Kiwis

David Warner once again proved to be a task too much for the kiwis at the MCG today.

©CricketAustralia

In the final ODI of the Chappell-Hadlee series, New Zealand were playing for their pride as they had already lost the 3 match series.

Australia won the toss on a sunny day in Melbourne and Steve Smith chose to bat. The decision seemed to backfire as the Aussies lost two early wickets, opener Aaron Finch's(3) poor run of form continued, while Steve Smith(0) could not even open his account. Trent Boult took both the wickets.

©AFP

George Bailey and David Warner steadily continued the innings to build a partnership in order to recover from the early losses, they managed to add 62 runs.


After Trent Boult, it was the turn of Colin de Grandhomme, who struck twice in a single over to remove George Bailey(23) and Mitchell Marsh(0). With the two wickets in quick succession, New Zealand felt like they can restrict Australia to a low total but David Warner was still there in the middle.

©CricketAustralia

Warner and Travis Head, took Australia out of the trouble and added 105 runs for the 5th wicket, meanwhile David Warner completed his century. His 7th in calendar year 2016. The menace of Warner didn't let New Zealand bowlers escape as he hit them all over the park.

Wickets fell on the other side at regular intervals but Warner stood tall, he went on to cross 150 mark with the help of 13 fours and 4 sixes.
Warner could have finished the innings on unbeaten 156 only to get run-out by Trent Boult on the last ball of the innings.

Australia scored 264/8 in 50 overs.

New Zealand started there innings confidently as the openers, Guptill and Latham, added 44 runs for the first wicket. Latham(28) was the first one to depart, on a Pat Cummins delivery. Captain Williamson and Guptill took the responsibility on their shoulders to score some runs, but Williamson(13) couldn't do much as he got out LBW on James Faulkner delivery. Williamson even challenged the decision but it was turned down as the three reds stopped his innings there.

©CricketAustralia

Guptill(34) was the next one to go. New Zealand were 79/3 when Guptill was dismissed. After his wicket, New Zealand added just 68 runs and lost 7 wickets as Australia bowled them out for just 147 runs.

Trent Boult was the last one to bite the dust as Australia claimed a 117 run victory.

Australia completely dominated the Kiwis in the Chappell-Hadlee series as they completed the clean sweep.

David Warner was awarded Man of the Match and Man of the Series.

His words after the match - "It's a team performance. Credit to the bowlers for coming out and executing the plans. Us as batsmen, we had to relay the message and they did extremely well. My first coach of cricket until I was about 16 or 17 passed away, my condolences to his family. I would like to hope my form is getting better, but I need to keep hitting the nets and work harder."


©sportskafun.blogspot.com

Great gesture by FC Barcelona

Barcelona has shown a great gesture and proved why football is such a great sport.

They have invited Brazilian Football Club, Chapecoense to play a pre-season friendly match with them next summer which will be for Joan Gamper trophy.

It's been evident that, 71 people lost their lives in a plane crash including 19 players and staff of the Chapecoense team when they were traveling to Colombia to play first leg of Copa Sudamericana final against Atletico Nacional.

After the incident, whole footballing got together to show solidarity towards the victims families and the club.

In one such gesture, Barcelona want to help the club by offering to play a friendly.

The Match for Joan Gamper trophy is played every year between Barcelona and an invited team.

Barcelona said they wanted to make the Joan Gamper trophy "a great tribute to the world of football through various activities around this match".

"Along with the invitation to Chapecoense to the 2017 Joan Gamper Trophy, Barcelona would like to collaborate on the institutional and sporting reconstruction of the club, and help to recover the competitive level that it had," they added.

"Barcelona has today sent a formal letter of invitation to the current board of directors of Chapecoense."

Well, this tells us that why football is the most popular sport in the world.

The club and the people related to it will be needing more of such support to rebuild and its time every footballing body join hands to help them achieve this.

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

Henrikh Mkhitaryan on the scoresheet as Manchester United are through to the Round of 32 in Europa League

Henrikh Mkhitaryan proved his worth, again, this time on a chilly night in Ukraine.

It was a cold performance from Manchester United against a mediocre opponents in the first half as there was no change on the scoreboard.

Manchester United just needed a draw to seal their qualification to the next round, but a win was must for them given the recent run of form they have had in premier league.

Too much of draws had kept the Red Devils faithfuls waiting for a win for a long time. And this was the correct opportunity to boost the moral despite not so favorable conditions.

After a stale first half, Mkhitaryan stepped up to spark some life into the United attack as he single handedly dismantled the Zorya defense, sprinting all the way from halftime into the box and a finish into the bottom right corner, to get his first goal in United colours.

It was a reminiscence of his Shakhtar Donetsk days as he continued his excellent run of form against the Ukranian clubs.

Zorya too had their chances, but they weren't incisive enough to get past Sergio Romero.

United took the 2-0 lead and put the game to bed in the ending minutes with a goal from inevitable Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who beat the offside trap to reach Paul Pogba through ball and without any hesitance put the ball onto the back of the net in one on one situation.

Manchester United fans enjoyed the game from the stands as they traveled 1500 miles to watch their team.

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

India keeps hold on England despite debutante Keaton Jennings heroics

It was England's day until a 30 minute period which balanced the game at the end of the day.

England won the toss and made a solid start with skipper Alastair Cook partnering with debutante Keaton Jennings. They both paced the innings beautifully, played shots all around the ground and survived any early scare. Jennings with the help of six fours reached 50 on his debut. The partnership fell just short of a century stand as captain Cook(46) was first to depart. Once again Jadeja picked up Cook's wicket in the series as he continues his hunt of the English skipper. Cook was stumped by Parthiv Patel.

Jennings was dropped on 0 by Karun Nair off Umesh Yadav's delivery

England lost only one wicket in the first session and ended it on 117/1. Jennings and Root continued the innings in 2nd session, but Root(21) gave away his wicket as skipper Kohli and the no. 1 bowler in test cricket, R. Ashwin combined to dismiss him. Keaton Jennings took full advantage of the early lifeline as he scored a century in his first ever test with 12 fours. It was a memorable moment for the debutante. After Root's wicket, England added 60 more runs in the session without losing any more wicket and went for tea at 196/2.

Umpire PR Reiffel was replaced by M Erasmus as the on-field umpire. Reiffel got hit on the head by the ball, as the throw came in from the deep.

Jennings and Moeen Ali continued the innings with full control and not gave away too much to the Indian bowlers. Ali reached his 9th test fifty. It looked like England will own the day, but in came R. Ashwin to pull the game into balance. 

The master of spin rolled his fingers to pick up two wickets in a single over. First to go was Moeen Ali(50), whose attempted sweep shot saw the top edge of the bat to land in hands of Karun Nair. Then after 1 ball, Jennings(112) get caught brilliantly by Pujara in the slips. 

With Moeen Ali's wicket, Ashwin crossed Javagal Srinath's 236 wickets to become 7th highest wicket taker for India.

With both set batsmen gone, India sensed the opportunity to pull themselves back into the game. Ben Stokes had to face the peril of Ashwin's spin but he somehow survived and got away. But this didn't stop India from getting one more. Ashwin got his 4th of the day after he dismissed Jonny Bairstow. 

Jos Butler and Ben Stokes survived the day with England putting 288 runs on board at the end of the day's play.


©sportskafun.blogspot.com

Faf du Plessis' appeal to be heard by ICC on December 19

This means that he could miss the first test against Sri Lanka.

It's been reported that the International Cricket Council(ICC) will hear his appeal on December 19.

The ICC will hear his appeal at their headquarters in Dubai and Michael Beloff will be present as the Judicial Commissioner.

The hearing will take place in ICC's headquarters here. Legal counsel for both the ICC and Cricket South Africa will attend the hearing. Du Plessis will join the hearing via a telephone link, an ICC statement said.

"The ICC will publish the result of the hearing through its usual channels and will not be making any further comment until that time," the ICC said.

du Plessis was found guilty of breaching the ICC's code of conduct for "applying an artificial substance on the ball" in November.

In the second test of the 3 match Test series against Australia, Du Plessis was caught on camera putting saliva on the ball's surface while sucking on a sweet.

Although an appeal was made against him, he was cleared to play the third test match. In wake of the incident he was fined his entire match fees from the second test, but he avoided the ban.

South Africa won the series 2-1. 

Will Manchester United play Zorya tonight? Find out here

Dip in temperature in Ukraine's Odessa raised a cloud of doubts whether the Europa league clash between Zorya Luhansk and Manchester United will go ahead or not.

It was feared that United's trip to Ukraine may turn out to nothing as the pitch would froze because of the chilly weather.

Several measures had been taken to combat the hard conditions. Hot air balloon has been blown under the pitch covers overnight to save the pitch for match.

Jose Mourinho showed his unhappiness over the match being conducted in Ukraine in the month of December, when the weather is not helpful.

Despite all the adversities, UEFA is hopeful that the match will go underway as scheduled on the Thursday night.

The ground staff at the Chornomorets Stadium has been doing all the hard-work to prevent the pitch from frost.

UEFA delegates held a pitch inspection at 8am GMT on Thursday morning and one official said, " The pitch is at it's coldest now. The temperature is only going to rise during the day."

Following the inspection, a Zorya official said, "Everything depends on the weather and the pitch isn't brilliant at the moment, but we expect temperatures of two or three degrees and everything should be okay."

Daley Blind was heard to tell team-mates that the pitch was 'like rock' when United trained at the stadium on Wednesday night, and Mourinho expressed his concerns over the playing surface at his pre-match press conference.

"The pitch is hard and very icy,’ said the United boss. ‘I think UEFA know the conditions of the pitch and everybody knows that in mid-December the conditions in Ukraine and Eastern Europe are more difficult.

"If UEFA are worried about it they should change the fixtures and not allow them to be played in mid-December. If the fifth fixture is here it’s the end of November and not mid-December and that’s the problem.

"Hotel good, stadium good, pitch bad. But it’s very cold. I know it’s difficult to have a better pitch. The stadium is beautiful and new. The pitch is the same. They are trying. They are putting some warmth on it, but it’s very difficult and people cannot make miracles. Let’s hope everything goes okay."

Manchester United just need a point to secure their place in the next round of UEFA Europa League. 

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

UEFA Champions League round up

As this season's UEFA Champions League group stages came to an end, take a look at all the results from Matchday 6.

Juventus 2-0 Dinamo Zagreb

Juventus secured first place in Group H with relative ease, cruising past Dinamo Zagreb to stay unbeaten in the season's competition thanks to second half strikes from Gonzalo Higuain and Daniele Rugani. 

Lyon 0-0 Sevilla

In France, Lyon and Sevilla played out the night's only goalless draw as the Spanish side secured qualification for the last 16, meaning that their three-year streak of winning the Europa League will finally come to an end. 

Porto 5-0 Leicester City

Leicester City had already qualified for the knockout stages as the group leaders, so Claudio Ranieri named a completely 'out of the box' squad, which included players who were playing their first match in two years.

As expected, Porto thrashed the English Champions.

Andre Silva's goal in the sixth minute set the tone for a miserable night for the Foxes, with Jesús Corona smashing home a stunning volley to double the damage not long after as Ben Hamer looked on hopelessly. 

Hamer's presence was indicative of just how much Claudio Ranieri was willing to rotate his side in the match - the goalkeeper making his first appearance for the reigning Premier League champions for almost two years. 

Yacine Brahimi made it three with a slick backheel on the verge of half-time, with Silva's second goal from the penalty spot meaning that Leicester conceded four goals for the first time in a single European game. It was 5-0 shortly afterwards. It didn't matter. 

Porto's win meant that they will go into Monday's draw in Group G's second place behind Leicester.

Club Brugge 0-2 FC Kobenhaven

Copenhagen fell just short of the knockout round despite a 2-0 win over Club Brugge. 

Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 Monaco

Both the teams had their place secured in the knockouts, but it was a moral boosting win for Bayer Leverkusen.

Monaco, on the other hand, will be disappointed with the performance although they finish the group at the top.

Goals from Vladlen Yurchenko and Julian Brandt gave the German side a 2-0 lead before a late own goal put the result beyond doubt.

Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 CSKA Moscow

The North London club secured a place in Europa league as they had their first win in European competitions at their new stadium, Wembley.

Spurs failed to qualify for the champions league last 16 after losing too much of points at home, but will play in Europa league thanks to a 3-1 win over Russian outfits CSKA Moscow.

Spurs were 1-0 down at the middle of first half when Andre Dzagoev gave the visitors the lead.

But, Dele Alli and Harry Kane both struck from inside the box before the break to swing the game back in favour of the north London side, who welcomed back Toby Alderweireld into first team action midway through the second half as they rounded out a 3-1 win. 

Real Madrid 2-2 Borussia Dortmund

Los Blancos extend their unbeaten streak to 34 games, but failed to top the group as they blew away a 2 goal advantage in the second half.

A brace from Karim Benzema put Real Madrid 2-0 up but strikes from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Marco Reus gave Dortmund the draw and a point to secure top spot.

The holders finish the Group as runner-up.

Legia Warsaw 1-0 Sporting CP

In the fight for the group's Europa League spot, Legia Warsaw triumphed over Sporting to leapfrog the Portuguese side thanks to a first-half strike from Guilherme.

The draws for last 16 will be declared on December 12. 

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

Real Madrid let two goal lead slip away, as they finish second in the group

It was a frustrating night for Los Blancos at the Santiago Bernabeu as Dortmund sealed the first place in the dying moments of the Match.

Karim Benzema scored a goal in either halves to give Real Madrid a two goal lead. He also reached 50 goal mark in the club continental competition and could have scored a hat-trick but his header was cleared off the line by Marco Reus.

Real Madrid spurned a few chances to put the game beyond reach of the German outfits. Cristiano Ronaldo was denied by the post but everyone in the stadium felt he should have done better.

Dortmund punished Real Madrid for there missed chances as they hit back, courtesy of the goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Marco Reus. 

Reus scored in the 88th minute to to complete a brilliant comeback and seal the top spot in the group.

Zidane echoed his frustration after the Match but remained positive as his side's unbeaten run reached to 34 match.

"When you see how the second half went you get a bit angry," Zidane told reporters after the match.

"We had the game in our hands but this is football. You need to carry on right to the end. 

"We had chances to score a third, but that's in the past now. We couldn't do any more. I'll analyse the game and we will see when things have calmed down a bit what we can take away.

"I have mixed emotions. Things happen. We missed a few chances to seal the game but we drew and came second in the group. 

"We gave our all to come first, but didn't do it. I'm very proud of the players, their hard work, the things they did.

"Now we need to rest. The second half saw us lose a bit of intensity but we had chances to score a third."

Zidane congratulated Dortmund on finishing first and felt they deserved it across the six matches.

He said: "They are a strong side who make life difficult and at the end of the day we needed to be a bit more on it, but it is in the past now. 

"The group is probably fair with us second and them first.

"There were a lot of chances to score the third goal. Instead, we got Dortmund back into the game. Dortmund deserved first place and they demonstrated how strong they are.

"We gave our all to come first. We didn't achieve it. We wanted to do it but couldn't. 

"We won't go over it again. We came second and we'll now see who we get in the draw."

Real Madrid could face table toppers like Juventus or Arsenal in the last 16, which will take place in February next year.

The draws will be out on 12 December as some mouth watering fixtures are surely on the cards.

©sportskafun.blogspot.com