Thai newspapers are excited when their team meets the Vietnamese team in the final of the AFF Cup 2022; Coach Zidane says something surprising about Ronaldo

Man City lost to bottom team in Premier League

Early morning of January 12 (Hanoi time), Southampton, the club currently at the bottom of the Premier League, unexpectedly defeated Man City 2-0 in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals at Saint Mary's Stadium.

Man City were outplayed and paid dearly for a mistake by right-back Sergio Gomez. Number 21 made a bad pass at home, giving Southampton a chance to counterattack. Sekou Mara broke through and coolly finished, opening the scoring in the 23rd minute.

Just five minutes later, the defending Premier League champions continued to make mistakes, allowing Moussa Djenepo to break through the middle. After noticing goalkeeper Stefan Ortega moving up, the number 19 took a skillful shot, sending the ball into the net in a beautiful trajectory.

For the first time in 7 years, Southampton enjoyed the joy of victory over Man City. This result brought "The Saints" into the Carabao Cup semi-finals with Nottingham Forest, Newcastle and Manchester United.

After a completely deadlocked first half, coach Pep Guardiola had to bring Kevin De Bruyne on at the start of the second half. The Belgian star soon left his mark with a through ball for Julian Alvarez to run down and face the goalkeeper in the 47th minute. However, the Argentine striker's shot went just wide of the post.

Erling Haaland entered the field in the 56th minute but did not make a difference on a day when Man City's midfield could not hold the ball.

Man City went 90 minutes without a single shot on target and officially said goodbye to the Carabao Cup from the quarter-finals. Before that, the "Cityzens" eliminated Liverpool and Chelsea but lost to the opponent ranked last in the Premier League.

Chelsea announces 4th new recruit

On the evening of January 11 (Hanoi time), Chelsea confirmed the successful signing of Joao Felix from Atletico Madrid on a 6-month loan contract.

"Welcome to Chelsea, Joao Felix! A skilful and talented attacker, Felix is ​​most effective when moving freely up front and getting involved in the build-up play," Chelsea's website said.

The Portuguese international shared: "Chelsea is one of the great teams in the world. I hope to help the team achieve its goals. I am very happy to come here and excited to play at Stamford Bridge."

Chelsea website announcement on the signing of Felix.

According to Athletic, Chelsea reached an agreement with Atletico Madrid to loan Felix for more than 11 million euros. "The Blues" must pay an additional 6 million euros for the 6-month salary of the player born in 1999. The total value of this deal costs Chelsea about 18 million euros.

Transfer expert David Ornstein revealed that the price is €3 million lower than the La Liga team's initial demand. Man Utd and Arsenal are also interested in Felix's services but are not willing to pay such a large sum for a six-month loan deal.

Felix is ​​Chelsea's fourth new signing in the January 2023 transfer window. Previously, the Blues of London completed three deals with Benoit Badiashile, David Fofana and Andrey Santos. With four new signings, "The Blues" spent nearly 80 million euros. They are the most active team in the 2022/23 mid-season transfer window.

Thai newspapers are excited when their team meets the Vietnamese team in the final of the AFF Cup 2022

Thai media has many articles about the "dream" confrontation between two great rivals of Southeast Asian football - Thailand and Vietnam in the final.AFF Cup 2022.

Sports site SiamSport has many articles about the upcoming final match, notably the article: "Dream final: Thailand faces Vietnam to compete for the Southeast Asian title after 14 years", reviewing the history of the tournament with 10 times reaching the final match and 6 times winning the championship of Thai football.

The article believes that the upcoming final is the journey to defend the title of the reigning champion of the AFF Cup 2020, and also an opportunity for Thai football to reclaim the "debt" after 14 years since the AFF Cup 2008 final. At that time, Vietnam defeated Thailand 3-2 in 2 matches to win the AFF Cup championship for the first time in history. The article emphasizes that the competition for the AFF Cup 2022 championship between Vietnam and Thailand is a "dream final", determining which team is number one in Southeast Asia.

Thairath newspaper has an article reviewing comments from Vietnamese fans before the final match.

Thairath newspaper also has many notable articles about the final match between the two "fated" and "dirty" opponents of Southeast Asian football; believing that the upcoming match will be very attractive and thrilling when the level of the two football teams of Vietnam and Thailand is relatively equal. This newspaper also has an article titled "Let's see the comments of Vietnamese fans after knowing that they will meet Thailand in the final match of AFF Cup 2022", enthusiastically listing the comments of Vietnamese fans before the upcoming key match.

Thairath also provided statistics showing that under Coach Park Hang-seo, Vietnamese and Thai football at the National Team and U23 levels have met 9 times, of which Vietnamese football has won 4, drawn 4 and lost 1. The only loss of the coach and his teamCoach Park Hang-seowas a 0-2 defeat in the first leg of the AFF Cup 2020 semi-finals.

Other newspapers such as Bangkokpost, Nation, Matichon, Khaosod… also have articles heating up the atmosphere before the upcoming final match, emphasizing that the match between Thailand and Vietnam this year is considered a “dream match”. The two teams are the most elite representatives of Southeast Asian football at the moment. Thailand, the team with the strongest attack in the tournament, will face Vietnam, the team with the most solid defense in the tournament.

The first leg of the final between Vietnam and Thailand will take place on January 13 at My Dinh National Stadium, Vietnam while the second leg will be on January 16 in Thailand./.

Barca and Atletico players punished for brawl

Stefan Savic and Ferran Torres received punishments after leaving ugly images in Barcelona's 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid in round 16 of La Liga on January 9.

On the evening of January 11 (Hanoi time), the La Liga Disciplinary Committee announced the decision to suspend Stefan Savic and Ferran Torres for two matches for violent behavior. The incident occurred in the 90+1 minute, Savic was closely marking Torres, making the Barca striker uncomfortable. Torres grabbed Savic's hair while the Atletico midfielder also grabbed his neck and wrestled his opponent to the ground.

The two openly retaliated on the field, forcing referee Jose Montero to stop the match. Afterwards, Torres and Savic were both shown red cards for inappropriate behavior and left the field. On the way down the tunnel, Savic also got into an argument with the referee and had to be intervened by Atletico's coaching staff.

Savic and Torres were found guilty of inappropriate behaviour in Barca's 1-0 win over Atletico.

Notably, Torres will not be suspended when Barcelona face Real Betis in the Spanish Super Cup semi-final on January 13. The reason is that the ban only applies to La Liga. Instead, the former Man City star will miss the two matches against Getafe and Girona.

Losing Torres, the Catalan club's attack is even thinner. Robert Lewandowski is also serving a 3-match suspension. Coach Xavi Hernandez still has 4 players: Ansu Fati, Raphinha, Ousmane Dembele and Memphis Depay. Of these, only Dembele and Fati are trusted. Depay and Raphinha have lost their places in the starting lineup.

In the last 4 matches, Barca had 3 players sent off. In addition to Torres, Robert Lewandowski was sent off in the match against Osasuna on November 9, 2022, and Jordi Alba also received a red card in the match against Espanyol on December 31, 2022.

Similarly, Savic cannot join Atletico Madrid to face Almeria and Real Valladolid respectively in La Liga.

After 16 rounds of the Spanish National Championship, Barca is leading with 41 points after 16 matches. They are 3 points ahead of the chasing team Real Madrid. As for Atletico, coach Diego Simeone and his team have been a big disappointment and are currently ranked 5th.

Coach Zidane said something surprising about Ronaldo

Coach Zinedine Zidane believes Cristiano Ronaldo is better than himself and Lionel Messi.

C. Ronaldo joined Saudi Arabia's Al Nassr after the 2022 World Cup, while Messi just successfully won the World Cup with Argentina in Qatar.

Zinedine Zidane is also one of the greatest football players of all time. According to him, Ronaldo is still better than Messi even though he has never won a World Cup.

Former French player Zidane, who once coached Real Madrid and worked with Ronaldo for a while, witnessed CR7's talent.

Zidane analyzed: "Cristiano Ronaldo is the best. Messi is his rival and that is the competition that everyone wants to see. Everyone sees Ronaldo as a strange phenomenon. There are no words to describe him. Ronaldo is much better than me, even though I had a great career. He is the greatest player of all time."

Zidane spent 4 years at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium and coached Ronaldo during that time. CR7 played 114 games and scored 112 goals under Coach Zidane.

Coach Zidane thinks Ronaldo is better than Messi and himself.

Another opinion came from veteran coach Ancelotti who dismissed claims that Messi is greater than Ronaldo. The Real Madrid boss refused to acknowledge Messi as the best player of all time, despite the Argentina captain seemingly ending the debate after he led his national team to World Cup glory in Qatar.

Meanwhile, Vincent Aboubakar - the striker who was just fired by Al Nassr - frankly criticized Ronaldo for being inferior in skill compared to Messi.

On NTV Spor, Aboubakar said: "I always thought Messi was better than Ronaldo. And after training with him, I knew I was right." This statement has caused controversy and certainly also partly "drilled" Ronaldo's pain after witnessing Messi step up to the top of glory at the 2022 World Cup.

But it must be admitted that as the person who lost his place to Ronaldo, Aboubakar's opinion is more emotional. This 30-year-old striker has just had his contract terminated by Al Nassr to make room for Ronaldo to register for the season when the Saudi Arabian club has run out of foreign player registration quotas.

Aboubakar has been compensated but certainly leaving in this rejected position is not what he wanted. Currently, Aboubakar is looking for a new stop and it is likely that MU, in an effort to urgently add a striker for the second leg, will recruit him on a short-term basis./.