France’s UEFA index gets expensive
Black Thursday in Europe for French clubs. OL suffered their first defeat in the Europa League at Betis Sevilla 0-2 despite initial domination and a squad largely overhauled by Paulo Fonseca. This setback confirms the fragility of the team and the difficulty in compensating for the fatigue and lack of depth of the group, three days before the reception of PSG in Ligue 1. The Team title elsewhere: “quickly Endrick,» in reference to the Brazilian from Real Madrid, a player with whom Lyon is negotiating for a move in January. For its part, Lille suffered a second consecutive defeat in the Europa League, this time against Red Star Belgrade 1-0, after having already lost against PAOK. The decisive goal came from a penalty converted by Arnautovic in the 84th, following an error by Berke Özer. Deprived of several executives and despite dominating with 60% possession and 11 shots, Lille was unable to capitalize on its opportunities. Weighed down by two errors from Melvin Bard, OGC Nice suffered their fourth consecutive defeat in the Europa League against Friborg and continues. A catastrophic series which places them in 35th place in the European rankings. With only 4 shots on target out of 17 shots attempted, Nice was never able to turn the situation around and went 16 games without a win in Europe.
Rayan Cherki is already all the rage
The Manchester Evening News talks this Friday morning about Rayan Cherki’s positive impact on his teammates, both on and off the pitch. Rayan Cherki is already exploding at Manchester City despite only 389 minutes played since his transfer from Lyon. With four goals and four assists in just four starts, he left his mark on the team and won over his teammates, Haaland and Stones in the lead. His creativity, technique and flair pose a real headache for Guardiola, who must decide how to integrate him with Foden and Savinho. Cherki influences the game in every appearance, whether on the bench or on the pitch, and his ability to see and create chances is already reminiscent of Kevin De Bruyne.
The Spalletti effect at Juventus
Juve is better, according to Corriere Dello Sport. Barely arrived, Luciano Spalletti is already changing Juventus. In just two matches, he imposes his authority and his charisma and restores confidence to the players. Juve, who previously struggled in the middle and remained fragile defensively, suddenly seem more coherent and organized, as if the team had regained its automatisms. Even Dusan Vlahovic, brought forward, took advantage of this dynamic to once again become the central point of the attack. In a few days, Spalletti established his influence and awakened a club which seemed lost. It remains to be seen whether the former coach will manage to put Juventus back at the top of Italian football.
