Two Manchester United transfer choices revealed by merciless Nottingham Forest after baffling £90m decisions

By Damerex -
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Manchester United’s decision to sell Anthony Elanga for £15m while rating Alejandro Garnacho at £70m illustrates the kind of errors that define their transfer missteps.  Manchester United are terrible at signings. That is no surprise. Their terrible history of post-Ferguson acquisitions is painfully familiar. However, they are arguably inferior in every facet of player sales, and insufficient emphasis is placed on how that disastrous failure has been more persistently harmful than subpar recruitment to their prospects for a significant rebuild.  They have never earned over £100m in a single season from player sales (four Premier League teams achieved this in just one season). They are the sole Premier League club whose highest sale happened prior to 2011. They still consider David Beckham's transfer to Real Madrid in 2003 as their fourth-biggest sale ever, and two players ahead of him – Angel Di Maria and Romelu Lukaku – were sold at a loss compared to their initial signing fe...
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Champions League 2024/25 knockout phase draw: Man City, Real Madrid, and PSG discover their rivals.

By Damerex -

Paris Saint-Germain will meet French rivals Brest in this season's Champions League quarterfinal play-offs, while Manchester City will play reigning champions Real Madrid.

The enlarged 36-team table was ultimately finished Wednesday night after the Champions League's inaugural league phase concluded with 18 concurrent matches. The 16 clubs between ninth and twenty-fourth place will face off over two legs in February, as the teams that placed in the top eight automatically advanced to the round of sixteen and were not involved in Friday's draw.

 Thiago Alcantara was there at UEFA's House of Football in Switzerland to interpret the specific ties, even though each club was already aware that it could only play one of two opponents in these play-offs depending on their final league phase table position.

Complete draw for the 2024/25 Champions League knockout stage play-offs 

[Second on the list are seeded teams]

• Juventus vs PSV

• Feyenoord vs Milan

• Brest vs PSG

• Monaco vs Benfica

• Man City vs Real Madrid

• Celtic vs Bayern Munich

• Club Brugge vs Atalanta

• Sporting CP vs Borussia Dortmund

When are the knockout stages of the Champions League?

Either Tuesday, February 11, or Wednesday, February 12, are the dates set for the first legs of these first playoffs. One week later, on February 18–19, the reversal fixtures will take place. 

There will be a draw for the round of 16 quarterfinals and semi-finals on Friday, February 21, the same week that these matches are finished. 

The eight teams that automatically advanced to the round of 16—including Liverpool, Barcelona, and Arsenal—will finally face off against each other in this particular game of ball juggling.

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