MATCH! -julkaisun 12 April 2022 -irtonumeron sisällysluettelo

CHELSEA v CRYSTAL PALACE! Crystal Palace were FA Cup runners up in 2016, but they’ve never lifted the famous trophy–although gaffer Patrick Vieira won it five times as a player at Arsenal and Man. City! The Eagles are gonna need to show real character against a Chelsea side who have won the last nine head-to-heads in all competitions and were FA Cup finalists last year! LIVERPOOL v MAN. CITY It’s been almost 20 years since these two giants last met in the FA Cup! The Reds edged their 2003 clash 1-0 thanks to a penalty from current footy commentator Danny Murphy, before being knocked out by Crystal Palace. Reds supporters are still dreaming of a famous quadruple, while City want the treble, so one set of fans will be disappointed!…

HOW HE WON IT! MATCH scouts picked out the Prem’s four best players from March, and asked our fans on social media to vote for the best! The Blues attacker took the win over Spurs striker Harry Kane in yet another crazily tight contest! MEGA MOMENTS! Here’s why Havertz was chosen as MATCH’s monthly winner! GAME ONE DEADLY DOUBLE! BURNLEY 0-4 CHELSEA MARCH 5 Havertz started the month on fire! He was played as a striker in place of Romelu Lukaku and rewarded Thomas Tuchel with his second-ever Premier League brace. As well as having a shot accuracy of 100%, Kai also had more touches in the Burnley box than any of his Blues team-mates! GAME TWO CAN ARIES CRUSHED! NORWICH 1-3 CHELSEA MARCH 10 After his brilliant brace against Burnley,…

SOCCER SCRAMBLE! Can you re-arrange these letters to find five Premier League stars? TRUE or FALSE? Are these facts real or made up? Put a tick or cross in the box! 1. Jack Grealish’s dad Kevin is a lifelong Man. United supporter. Awkward! 2. Norwich’s Carrow Road stadium is the smallest in the Premier League! 3. Tottenham midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur used to work in a bakery! 4. Massive Serie A rivals Lazio and Roma share the same Stadio Olimpico! THEY SAID WHAT? Which superstar made this funny comment? “Food is very important in Italy! Two weeks ago they got mad at me for adding chicken over pesto pasta!” A. Tammy Abraham B. Felipe Anderson C. Denzel Dumfries BARMY BARNET Which genius footy gaffer has got a wacky new haircut? ACE…

BARCELONA v WOLFSBURG Reigning CL champions Barcelona had to come from behind against rivals Real Madrid in both quarter-final matches, but still ended up thrashing their rivals 8-3 on aggregate! They’re the team to beat this season but will have to watch out for lethal Wolfsburg striker Tabea Wassmuth, who’s leading this season’s race for the CL Golden Boot on nine strikes! MATCH SAYS 5-2 YOU SAY - LYON v PSG These Ligue 1 sides know each other really well from the French division! PSG ended Lyon’s run of 14 straight league titles in 2020-21 and are pushing them hard again this season. Just like the men’s side they’ve never won the Champo League, finishing as runners-up twice, while the favourites Lyon have lifted the trophy a record seven times!…

FOOTBALL IDOL! SIMONE SAYS: “My idol was always David Beckham! I used to be a right-winger back in the day and I was a Man. United fan as a kid so he was my favourite player. I always used to try to “Bend It like Beckham”, as they say. The acting was terrible in that film, by the way, but it was still amazing!” PROUDEST MOMENT! SIMONE SAYS: “I’d say probably when I signed my professional contract at Everton! Obviously I had been here for some time before that but it was never professional. Signing that first professional contract is a huge deal. When I look back, no one had ever done that before from Northern Ireland so it was such a monumental moment!” FAVOURITE GOAL! SIMONE SAYS: “I’d say…

JLAB GO AIR POP! We’ve teamed up with ace audio company JLab to give away three of their epic GO Air POP earbuds! For more information and loads of other awesome gear, visit www.jlab.com and follow @JLabAudio on social media HOW TO ENTER! WWW.MATCHFOOTBALL.CO.UK Then click ‘WIN’ in the navigation bar on the MATCH website. Full Terms & Conditions are available online. The follow-up to the GO Air buds are 15% smaller and 40% lighter, and also offer improved battery life! 3 PRIZES!…

DREAM TARGETS! On top of snapping up free agents, Barca have also drawn up a list of stars they want to splash some cash on! They’ve been looking at Bundesliga goal machines Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski, and they’ve also got their eyes on Premier League ballers Cesar Azpilicueta and Raphinha! NEW SIGNINGS! Barcelona president Joan Laporta confirmed last month that he’d already “signed two players” ahead of this summer! The rumours started circling over who the mystery men could be, but MATCH understands was talking about AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessie and Chelsea CB Andreas Christensen on free transfers! LA MASIA MARVELS! Barcelona’s world-famous La Masia academy is still churning out some of the most exciting talents on the planet! Over the last two years, the likes of Ansu…

STAYING CALM! RYAN SAYS: “You can fall behind from kick-off instantly in the first two minutes, but it doesn’t mean the game’s over. In the same way, I could score in the first two minutes–it doesn’t mean I’m going to win the game. It’s a battle of who can win throughout 90 minutes. I just have to keep persevering and think that if I’ve scored two goals in 15 minutes, why can’t my opponent do the same?” BEST FORMATION! RYAN SAYS: “The meta has shifted this year so I haven’t really used a back-five at all throughout the year. Since I came onto the scene, I’ve always been a narrow formation person – whether it’s 4-3-2-1 or a 4-1-2-1-2 diamond. They’ve been a lot more effective this year, so I’ve…

MATCH’S TOP 20! Check out our league table after Gameweek 31’s weekend games! TRANSFER IN… Here are our biggest signing tips ahead of this fortnight’s action! HARVEY BARNES MF ★ LEICESTER £6.6 MILLION DGW33 v Newcastle and Everton is then followed by Aston Villa at home in GW34, which means Barnes could haul this fortnight! ARMANDO BROJA FW ★ SO’TON £5.5 MILLION The Saints play three times this fortnight, so take advantage of their extra matches by landing Broja – if he’s fit on time! ALLAN SAINT-MAXIMIN FW ★ NEWCASTLE £6.8 MILLION If you benched him for GWs 31 and 32, it’s time to get ASM back in ahead of their DGW and then Norwich! TRANSFER OUT… You should consider dropping these heroes for this fortnight’s action! ROBERT SANCHEZ GK…

NETHERLANDS’ PRIZE TO LOSE… The Netherlands are the reigning European champs after they won the 2017 edition! It was the nation’s first-ever major international women’s trophy, beating Denmark 4-2 in the final, so it’s their prize to lose! THEY’RE GONNA WIN IT AGAIN! ✔ Vivianne Miedema is easily one of the best players on the planet, so she’s gonna be mega deadly up front! ✔ Barcelona baller Lieke Martens is another world superstar who’s in sizzling form for club and country! ✔ The core of the team is similar to the side that lifted the trophy in 2017, so they’ve developed together! THEY’RE GONNA STRUGGLE! ❌ They’re still getting used to life under new coach Mark Parsons, who only took over last autumn! ❌ They underperformed in the Tournoi de…