The new Diego Costa eyes Barcelona

Diego Costa will need to leave a superior impression than on his last outing to the Camp Nou when Atletico Madrid goes to play Barcelona on Tuesday.

The striker has come back from lockdown fit as a fiddle and has been in the fine structure on the pitch, scoring three objectives in Atletico’s initial five games back.

Presently, he’s getting ready to take on a Barcelona side that looks somewhat suspect at the back.

Costa’s last appearance at the Camp Nou, on April 6, 2019, kept going only 28 minutes before he was sent off by Jesus Gil Manzano.

The new Diego Costa eyes Barcelona

The profane words he utilized towards the arbitrator that night saw him get a straight red card and a resulting eight-coordinate boycott.

That suspension shut down a season in which the Spanish worldwide had overseen only five objectives, remembering two for the UEFA Super Cup against Real Madrid.

It was September before the previous Chelsea forward came back to activity in LaLiga Santander and he just got twice in his next 15 games.

A hernia injury kept him out for a few months over Christmas before he made his rebound against Liverpool in the Champions League.

After the three-month rest in the season, Costa refocused as far as scoring objectives at San Mames in Atletico’s first game back.

He lined that up with a liberal help for Joao Felix at Osasuna and another arrangement for Vitolo to score against Real Valladolid.

Costa jumped on the scoresheet in every one of Atletico’s next two trips, netting once against Levante and once against Alaves.

That gives him a record of three objectives and two aids 265 minutes since LaLiga Santander’s arrival – one objective at regular intervals and one objective commitment like clockwork.

The new Diego Costa eyes Barcelona

Costa’s down gone past objectives and helps, however, while considering the difficulty he can cause restriction resistances just by being on the pitch.

Barcelona is next up for this new and hungry Costa, who is yet to confront the Blaugrana this season in either LaLiga Santander or the Supercopa de Espana.

The striker did be that as it may locate the net against the Catalans at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano in the principal half of the last battle.

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UEFA Super Cup 2020 match ball designed by children

Children’s drawings from ten UEFA Foundation for Children projects will feature in the design of the 2020 UEFA Super Cup match ball. Today, UEFA begins telling the stories of the youngsters whose creativity made this unique initiative happen on its Instagram platforms.

UEFA Super Cup 2020 match ball designed by children

This season’s UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League winners will play the annual UEFA Super Cup match in Porto on 12 August with a special match ball featuring a series of children’s drawings integrated into the ball’s design.

The drawings are the work of 18 children with different backgrounds from ten European organizations who work together with the UEFA Foundation for Children, who were selected by the chairman of the foundation’s board, UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin.

Children from across the continent were encouraged to submit drawings showing what football meant to them in a contest organized by the foundation together with its ten partner organizations. Mr. Čeferin chose the 18 drawings from a portfolio of more than 200 contributions.

Unique moment

“I’m sure that the children will be thrilled to see their drawings on the Super Cup match ball, and to know that stars of our game will be scoring goals with it,” said the UEFA President.

“These young people know the work of the UEFA Foundation, and I am proud that they want to be part of one of UEFA’s showpiece events.

“It was inspiring to see all these excellent drawings and hear the stories of the children. I hope that the joy they feel because their artwork is on the ball for such an important match will motivate them not only to play football but also to follow their dreams.”

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Euro 2020 play-off dates set, Irish League and Super Cup

UEFA has revealed several significant decisions from their Executive Committee meeting, with ramifications for the Irish League and the Northern Ireland national team.

Dates set for Northern Ireland’s Euro play-offs

Northern Ireland’s Euro Cup 2020 play-off semi-final against Bosnia & Herzegovinia has been confirmed for October

The continental governing body confirmed that the match, along with other playoff semis, will take place on Thursday 8 October, with Northern Ireland’s potential final against either Republic of Ireland or Slovakia at Windsor Park set to take place on Thursday 12 November.

Both of those games are due to be played as the first matches in triple-header international windows along with Nations League fixtures.

Dates set for Northern Ireland’s Euro play-offs

Northern Ireland will host Austria on October 11 and travel to Norway on November 14 in the Nations League. They will then welcome the Austrians to Windsor on November 15 and host Romania on November 18.

Confirmation on how Nations League games are to be moved has yet to be provided, however, the play-off semi-final is now set to be the new Northern Ireland manager’s third game in charge, after Nations League games against Romania and Norway in September.

Should Northern Ireland make it through to the Euro 2020 finals, they will still face two matches, as originally scheduled, against Poland (June 14) and Sweden (June 18) at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium before taking on Spain in Bilbao (June 23) in Group E.

The finals will be played between June 11 and July 11 in 2021.

UEFA Super Cup 2021 remains in Belfast

The 2021 UEFA Super Cup is still due to be played at Belfast’s Windsor Park.

The National Stadium had won the right to host the one-off tie between next season’s Champions League and Europa League winners although it was thought it could be postponed one season, as has been the case for Champions League and Europa League final hosts. However, the match will continue as planned in Belfast.

UEFA reiterate August 3 deadline for nomination of European qualifiers

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UEFA Super Cup 2021 remains in Belfast

UEFA, as expected, has reiterated its August 3 deadline for each nation to nominate teams for European competition.

The qualifying rounds will now be played on a single-leg basis in August.

The Champions League’s four-team preliminary round, featuring the Irish League’s top European nominee, will be played as semi-finals and a final on August 8 and 11. A venue has yet to be confirmed.

The first qualifying rounds of the Champions League and Europa League will be played on the week commencing August 17 with the second qualifying rounds a week later.

The August 3 deadline presents pressure for the Irish League to have its season concluded.

The clubs are now expected to meet tomorrow to ratify a solution to finishing the 19/20 campaign.

While the Irish FA remains intent on playing the Irish Cup semi-finals and finals before August 3, it would seem that playing the outstanding seven rounds of Premiership fixtures in time is now impossible.

Clubs must now decide how to square that particular circle.

Options would seem to be: concluding the campaign immediately before using a mathematical equation to decide final positions, playing two more rounds of fixtures so all teams have played each other three times or to conclude the season at a later date with an agreement on how to nominate European qualifiers before the finish.

That final option could be scuppered by the Irish FA declaring the season finished to open a transfer window before the Champions League and Europa League qualifiers.

That would, ironically, leave the two suggestions made by the NIFL Steering Group that caused such consternation amongst clubs.

Whatever happens, it is hoped a decision can be reached by the end of the week.

UEFA Euro Under-19 Championships

UEFA Super Cup 2021 remains in Belfast

The UEFA Euro Under-19 Championship is coming to Northern Ireland later this year. The tournament had been postponed by the coronavirus crisis but will be played across October and November.

Northern Ireland’s Under 19 team will be joined by the seven qualifiers.

The group stage will be played in two groups of four from October 8-14 with the semi-finals and semi-finals and finals to be played between November 9-18.

There will also be a fifth-placed play-off in November to decide the fifth team qualified for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup.