El Profesor

Rafael Santos Borré is going to play for Grêmio, according to TyC Sports. Lazio had some interest but Grêmio´s offer was just too good. Grêmio is trying to build a stronger to compete with Palmeiras and Flamengo. They also want to bring back Douglas Costa.

Uruguay and Argentina are ill-equipped to host a World Cup. It´s a bad idea, especially for the citizens of both countries who would have to foot the massive bill to adequate their stadiums and infrastructure to the standards required by FIFA and its partners.

Palmeiras. Better team, plays at home and has an advantage.

Sampaoli is a capable coach, but he´s a difficult person. It will be interesting to see if he will be patient enough to lead a rebuild.

Amazing last round. Flamengo wins their 2nd title in a row.

I really feel bad for Alisson. The whole story is very sad. Being part of the funeral is important to the grieving process. But with his wife pregnant and with the new variant of the coronavirus hitting hard southern Brazil staying in England is the best course of action.

His body has been found. Unfortunately, Alisson´s father is dead. Awful. Even worse is the fact that Alisson won´t even get to see his dad for one last time since flights between Brazil and UK are suspended at the moment.

Wasn´t Klopp´s stint at Borussia Dortmund kinda similar? If I recall correctly, after BVB won the Bundesliga twice and reached the Champions League, they really hit a wall. Could it be that Klopp´s style of football is too demanding from a physical standpoint? Maybe it´s fatigue.

Yup. Sad to see such a traditional club at this state.

I agree. It will be interesting to see what will happen when Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. They´ve dominated the sport for so long. I don´t think there´s anyone capable of filling the gap both will leave.

Great post, Chris. I agree with most, except for Serie A. Give It a chance. The football played there at the moment is probably the most interesting in continental Europe. Italian coaching has dramatically improved. The likes of De Zerbi, Inzaghi, Gasperini all make their teams play a football that really is pleasant to watch. Also, the level of scouting is great, lots of otherwise unknown players come to Italy and develop into really good players. It's not the league it was in the 90s, but it's really entertaining.

I agree. This is what Serie A clubs did. Sure, Serie A is not the powerhouse it was in the 90s, but the overall quality of the league has really improved a lot compared to where it was 10 years ago. And on a much more sustainable model, which is good. Covid is an issue, but in my opinion it has only accelerated a process that would happen anyway. The structural conditions for long-term financial domination were never there. Barcelona and Real Madrid can´t compete with Premier League clubs financially in the long run. La Liga is just way behind PL in worldwide viewership, sponsorship and TV contracts. Both clubs will need to operate more like Bayern, getting the most promissing players in their domestic football at an earlier age and developing them into world-class players, instead of attracting the very best players in the world and paying huge sums for them.

Definitely. If they had cash, Haaland would be a target. Like Jovic was. There's something wrong with Real's finances and their different behavior in the transfer market is a reflect of this crisis. Also, some years ago, Hazard would already have been shipped off to another club. Instead, he will be getting every chance to prove himself there because Real can't really afford anymore players of his talent.

The La Liga era is over. Barcelona and Real Madrid will have to learn to operate in a different way. It always felt inevitable. Spain's economy isn't developed enough to support the best football teams in the world and La Liga was too slow to build a worldwide viewership in comparison to Premier League. Barça and Real Madrid will need better coaching and scouting to compete on a continental level, after all the money won't come up so easy.

I just have no words for it. Thousands of brazilian are losing their Lives because of our irresponsible and criminal president. In Manaus, patients are dying suffocated due to a lack of oxygen in the city hospitals. It's devastating. So far, a grand total of 0 people have been vaccinated in Brazil.

The stage of capitalism where we´re at, with mass production giving consumers an unending possibility of product choices created a generation of people who has a hard time coping with the denial of their wishes. Since politics is a zero-sum game, this reflects in a tendency of using of political violence when your side is defeated. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

This is the best article I´ve read about the coronavirus. Lawrence Wright is a brilliant writer. It´s really long, but there´s also an audio version for those prefer it (it´s more than 3 hours long, btw). Probably the best pice of writting of 2020. Just amazing. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/01/04/the-plague-year

Yes, they're going the Cruzeiro route. It's even worse for Botafogo though, since at least Cruzeiro has a massive fanbase. This is not the case for Botafogo, their fanbase is relatively small.

Yes. They're terrible. Botafogo is definitely being relegated this year. And worst, I think the existence of the club is at stake. Botafogo has huge debts. I don't see a way around it, specially with relegation. A shame, such a traditional club. Lecaros looked good in their last match against Corinthians.

Neymar has organized a huge party to celebrate the new year. It will last 5 days, from the 26th to the 31st December, and 500 people were invited. According to rumours, the guests have their cellphones confiscated at the entrance. That party is the hottest topic in brazilian social medias at the moment. In fairness to Neymar, most people in Brazil really don't care about the pandemic anymore. It's a bad look for sure, but he's far from being the only one. This must be said. It could affect european football as a whole though. It wouldn't be a surprise if we see big COVID outbreaks in most european leagues when the brazilian players return from the break.

I don't think so. With Rabiot and Ramsey finally settled and producing, and also with the arrivals of McKennie and Arthur, Juventus has depth at the midfield position. Pogba would improve Juventus but not at the cost of Ronaldo. Dybala should be the one included in a deal. Juventus is still very dependent on Ronaldo. Despite Morata having improved their attack, the likes of Dybala, Kulusevski, Chiesa and Bernardeschi are not giving Juventus enough at the moment. I think the team that needs Pogba the most though is PSG. They need an addition to their midfield in the winter If they are to make another deep run on Campions League.

Yes. Bolsonaro put all his coins on Trump and now we brazilians are going to get screwed big time. Some people on the potential Biden administration have already indicated that they're not going to deal with Brazil. In some sense though, I think considering the profile of our economy it was always a matter of when not if that we would end up more aligned to China than to the US.

That's the highest xG score I've ever seen.

He's still a great CB and Pepe has been much more disciplined since the end of Mourinho era at Real Madrid. A guy like him would be a decent addition for Liverpool considering the circumstances. It's harder to get a long-term fix like Koundé or Upamecano in January because Sevilla and Leipzig have ambitious goals for this season and I kinda suspect Liverpool might be saving its bullets to move for Mbappé next summer. But I guess van Dijk's injury could change FSG's plans.

Saw on Twitter an analyst mentioning that Liverpool should bring Pepe, from Porto, in January. It doesn't need necessarily to be Pepe, but I think that bringing a cheap veteran CB in January as a stop-gap to the decisive moments of the season makes a lot of sense for Liverpool.