By Alessandro Schiavone Igor Thiago's dream to be called up for Brazil's World Cup squad has just become a bit harder to realize. And not only because the uncapped Samba star drew two consecutive blanks against the likes of Chelsea and Nottingham Forest. Sixteen goals in 23 Premier League are still the stuff dreams are made of for someone who was still playing in Bulgaria's top-flight a couple of years ago. But Endrick might have just stolen a march on the Brentford striker a

Exclusive by Alessandro Schiavone at San Siro An Italian legend praised Cristhian Mosquera and William Saliba for making life hard for Lautaro Martinez. Giuseppe Bergomi, who won the 1982 World Cup with Italy and is now a famous co-commentator for Sky Italia, leapt to the Argentine's defence. He exclusively told Capital Football: "Lautaro did well for what was possible. "He was up against two very strong Arsenal central defenders. "But he and Thuram worked well and enabled Su

By Alessandro Schiavone in Prague Slavia Praha 2-4 Barcelona Ferociously convinced he could hold his own at Barcelona, Fermin Lopez snubbed Chelsea in the summer. And how that wise decision is proving prophetic as Lopez spearheaded Hansi Flick's Barcelona machine to a 4-2 win over Slavia Prague yesterday night. Operating as a modern no.10 just off Robert Lewandowski in the Catalans' 4-2-3-1 system, Lopez was a really thorn in the Czech giants' side. The kind of thorn Cole Pa

By Alessandro Schiavone in Brussels Canadian striker Promise David was quizzed on reports he turned down West Ham due to an apparent unwillingness to be involved in a relegation scrap. The Hammers turned to Lazio's Argentine striker Taty Castellanos when it filtered out the Union Saint-Gilloise hitman wanted to see out the season in Brussels. But David, who has bagged 14 goals across all competitions this term including two in the Champions League, was desperate to set the re

Exclusive by Capital Football Reporter Ahead of the trip across west London to face Chelsea today, Capital Football have caught up exclusively with Michael Kayode. Here is what he said. Michael, after your convincing win over Sunderland last week, Brentford are fifth against all expectations in the Premier League standings. Can you stay there until the end of the season? “We hope we can stay up there. There’s still a big chunk of the season to be played but we’re doing well i

By Alessandro Schiavone at BayArena Bundesliga Matchday 16 Bayer Leverkusen 1-4 VFB Stuttgart Goals: Leweling 2x, Mittelstädt penalty, Undav (VFB), Grimaldo penalty (BL) In a horror first-half at BayArena on Saturday evening, Mark Flekken and his Bayer Leverkusen side found themselves four goals to the bad with the second-half having not even started. Nick Woltemadde's former side VFB Stuttgart ran riot in a pretty much one-sided first 45 minutes to pull level with the 2024

By Capital Football Reporter at Gtech Community Stadium Premier League Matchday 21 Brentford 3-0 Sunderland Goals : Thiago 30', Thiago 65', Yarmolyuk 73' (B) "Ronaldo or Romario? No, Cristiano Ronaldo is my idol!", grinning two-goal hero Igor Thiago proudly told Capital Football after Brentford trashed Sunderland. And while his statement did not bat an eyelid among the present reporters in the mixed zone after the game given the Portuguese superstar's standing in England, it

By Capital Football Reporter at London Stadium West Ham 1-2 Nottingham Forest Goals : OG Murillo 13' (WH), Dominguez 55' & Gibbs-White penalty 89' (NF) A win would hardly have shifted the dial on West Ham's survival chances in most people's eyes. But the bitter 2-1 defeat in the relegation six-pointer with closest rivals Nottingham Forest has now cut the Hammers seven points adrift. In footballing terms tonight's defeat is an unspeakable tragedy of perhaps unquantifiable spor

By Alessandro Schiavone in Cologne 1.FC Köln 0-1 Union Berlin Goal : Schafer 91' Lukas Podolski in his prime leading the line would have suited Cologne to the ground on Saturday afternoon in their 1-0 home defeat to Union Berlin at RheinEnergie Stadion. Jakub Kaminski put in an energetic first-half display for his lukewarm side and twice came close to an opening goal. Yet his first attempt was comfortably parried by Frederik Ronnow while the volley flashed just off target. Mo

By Alessandro Schiavone at Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund Signal Iduna Park Bundesliga MD 15 Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Borussia Moenchengladbach Goals: Brandt 10' , Beier 97' Former Chelsea starlet Carney Chukwuemeka's Borussia Dortmund bagged the last three points of the calendar year thanks to a 2-0 Bundesliga win over Borussia Moenchengladbach on Friday night. Introduced in the 71st minute to replace goalscorer Julian Brandt, the man who quit Stamford Bridge for Signal Iduna Park