PAOK inch closer to Boakye-Yiadom.deal

PAOK Thessaloniki are keen on a late transfer window deal for young Ghana forward Richmond Boakye-Yiadom.

The 22-year-old became fully owned by Italian side Atalanta this summer after initially sharing his rights with champions Juventus but events over the period has seen limited chances of regular starts in the first team.

Rumours of interests from lower tier side Pescara and Dutch club Roja JC Kerkrade have constantly linked his future at least for the coming season away from the Bergamo and now the Greek giants look to have jumped to the front to land his signature, three days to the end of the European transfer window.

According to reports from Greece, PAOK Technical Director Frank Anresen is set to arrive in Italy on Friday for talks over a possible move for the Ghana international.

”There’s an appointment tomorrow (Friday) in Bergamo between Arnesen, the player and the officials of Atalanta but I do not want to get into details of the agreement. Whether it is a year loan or a permanent contract, tomorrow we will be able to say more,” his agent Oliver Arthur is quoted as telling Greek radio station Metropolis FM.

€600 000 is reportedly involved in PAOK’s loan offer for Boakye who scored thrice in 21 appearances for Atalanta last season.

Boakye, who has featured on loan at Sassuolo and Elche, has received a call to join the Ghana national team camp for next weekend’s 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier away to Rwanda

Lionel Messi wins 2014/15 UEFA Best Player Award

The UEFA Champions League Draw gala ended in a perfect way for Barcelona; not only did the club get honored by the European Federation in the Group Stage selection for their fifth Champions League win, the Blaugrana got an individual prize as well.

Lionel Messi is your 2014/15 UEFA Best Player Award winner after leading the Catalan giants to a Treble last season. Joint top goalscorer of the Champions League, he got the most votes in the 30-second instant voting done by 54 journalists present at the venue in Monaco. Messi saw off Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo, and his own Barça teammate, Luis Suárez.

It's the second time that the Argentine superstar wins the ugliest award on the planet, as Leo was also named UEFA's Best Player in 2011.

"This award belongs to my teammates. We had an amazing year, the squad was very united, and luckily we could reach our objectives", said the world's greates footballer.

Congratulations, Messi!!!

Jedinak, Kruse, Juric out of Roos qualifiers

                                                       Nathan Burns

SOCCEROOS skipper Mile Jedinak will miss Australia’s FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Bangladesh and Tajikistan

Jedinak suffered a hamstring injury in the Capital One Cup for Crystal Palace during the week, and won’t be fit to travel to Perth in time for Tuesday night’s fixture, while Ange Postecoglou has also ruled out attacking players Tomi Juric and Robbie Kruse.

Lazio’s Chris Ikonomidis, FC Heidenheim’s Ben Halloran and Brisbane Roar midfielder Luke Brattan will replace the trio.

Juric and Kruse have not suffered fresh injuries, but given they are making strides having just returned from injury struggles, it’s been decided to let them continue to build their fitness at their clubs.

“Mile picked up a hamstring injury that will keep him out for a short period of time so he won’t be making the trip for the games against Bangladesh and Tajikistan,” Postecoglou said. “Tomi (Juric) and Robbie (Kruse) have had recent injuries and after speaking to our medical staff we believe they are better served staying with their clubs to regain match fitness and not undertake the travel so they are available for matches in the next window.

“It gives Chris, Ben and Luke Brattan a great opportunity to come into the group and impress.

“The Players will start arriving into Perth on Sunday night as we prepare for two important matches during this stage of World Cup Qualification.”

   GOALKEEPERS

Alex Cisak (Leyton Orient FC, England), Adam Federici (Bournemouth, England), Mat Ryan (Valencia CF, Spain)

DEFENDERS

Aziz Behich (Bursaspor, Turkey), Jason Davidson (Huddersfield Town AFC, England), Tarek Elrich (Adelaide United FC), Ryan McGowan (Dundee United, Scotland), Matthew Spiranovic (Hangzhou Greentown FC, China), Alex Wilkinson (Jeonbuk Hyundai FC, Korea Republic), Bailey Wright (Preston North End FC, England)

MIDFIELD

Jackson Irvine (Ross County, Scotland), Massimo Luongo (Queens Park Rangers FC, England), Matt McKay (Brisbane Roar), Mark Milligan (Baniyas SC, UAE), Aaron Mooy (Melbourne City FC), Tom Rogic (Celtic FC, Scotland), Luke Brattan (Brisbane Roar)

FORWARDS

Nathan Burns (FC Tokyo, Japan), Tim Cahill (Shanghai Greenland Shenhua F.C., China), Mathew Leckie (FC Ingolstadt 04, Germany), Tommy Oar (unattached), Ben Halloran (FC Heidenheim, Germany), Chris Ikonomidis (Lazio, Italy)

Seven-goal Dortmund, Gutor saves Dinamo Minsk

Keeper Aleksandr Gutor was the tie winner for Dinamo Minsk while Marco Reus scored a hat-trick for Dortmund as the 22 play-off ties concluded, confirming the lineup for Friday's draw.

Borussia Dortmund ran out emphatic winners against Odd, Dinamo Minsk prevailed in the only second-leg shoot-out and Ajax rode their luck on a night of UEFA Europa League play-off success for Azerbaijan, who will have two representatives in Friday's group stage draw.


Play-off winners: Bordeaux (FRA), Rubin Kazan (RUS), Qarabağ (AZE), Ajax (NED), Lech Poznań (POL), Krasnodar (RUS), St-Étienne (FRA), Sparta Praha (CZE), PAOK (GRE), Qäbälä (AZE), AZ Alkmaar (NED), Liberec (CZE), Fenerbahçe (TUR), Rosenberg (NOR), Plzeň (CZE), Dortmund (GER), Molde (NOR), Dinamo Minsk (BLR), Athletic Club (ESP), Midtjylland (DEN), Legia Warszawa (POL), Belenenses (POR)

Automatic qualifiers: Schalke 04 (GER), Napoli (ITA), Tottenham Hotspur (ESP), Villarreal (ESP), Olympique de Marseille (FRA), Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (UKR), Braga (POR), Fiorentina (ITA), Anderlecht (BEL), Liverpool (ENG), Beşiktaş (TUR), Lokomotiv Moskva (RUS), Augsburg (GER), Asteras Tripolis (GRE), Groningen (NED), Sion (SUI)

Transfer from UEFA Champions League play-offs: FC Basel (SUI), Sporting CP (POR), Lazio (ITA), Club Brugge (BEL), Celtic (SCO), APOEL (CYP), AS Monaco (FRA), Rapid Wien (AUT), Partizan (SRB), Skënderbeu (ALB)


Qarabağ 3-0 Young Boys (agg 4-0)
Azerbaijani outfit Qarabağ, involved for the first time last season, will return for another stab at the UEFA Europa League group stage after this convincing victory. Brazilians Richard Almeida and Reynaldo were on target in the first half – the former from the spot – increasing the hosts' overall advantage to 3-0. Afran Ismayilov rounded things off just after the hour.

Panathinaikos 2-2 Qäbälä (agg 2-2, Qäbälä win on away goals)
Qäbälä, who began their campaign in the first qualifying round, can look forward to their group stage debut. Qarabağ's domestic rivals made it a night to remember for Azerbaijan with a famous away-goals triumph in Athens, even if they twice surrendered the lead given to them on both occasions by their captain Dodô.

AZ 2-0 Astra Giurgiu (agg 4-3)
AZ were heading out until a late rally accounted for their Romanian visitors, victors over West Ham in the previous round. Centre-back Jop van der Linden gave them the advantage on away goals when he broke the deadlock ten minutes from time, with Robert Mühren adding a second for good measure.

Borussia Dortmund 7-2 Odd (agg 11-5)
Thomas Tuchel's men made it seven wins in as many matches this term with a thumping victory. Marco Reus was the standout performer, registering his third hat-trick in a Dortmund shirt, while Shinji Kagawa struck twice. The Schwarzgelben have scored at least four goals in a game on five occasions this season.
Prolific UEFA Europa League marksman Jonathan Soriano levelled the tie on aggregate just before the hour and then converted in the shoot-out as the first three spot kicks were converted. However, Aleksandr Gutor then took centre stage by saving Salzburg's next three penalties, booking the Belarusian team – who claimed a famous matchday six triumph over Fiorentina last year – a place in Friday's draw.

Jablonec 0-0 Ajax (agg 0-1)
Goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen was the hero for Ajax with a 58th-minute penalty save from Ján Greguš. The Eredivisie champions' task became stiffer when Riechedly Bazoer was dismissed 60 seconds later, but Frank de Boer's men held on.

Seven-goal Dortmund, Gutor saves Dinamo Minsk

Keeper Aleksandr Gutor was the tie winner for Dinamo Minsk while Marco Reus scored a hat-trick for Dortmund as the 22 play-off ties concluded, confirming the lineup for Friday's draw.

Borussia Dortmund ran out emphatic winners against Odd, Dinamo Minsk prevailed in the only second-leg shoot-out and Ajax rode their luck on a night of UEFA Europa League play-off success for Azerbaijan, who will have two representatives in Friday's group stage draw.


Play-off winners: Bordeaux (FRA), Rubin Kazan (RUS), Qarabağ (AZE), Ajax (NED), Lech Poznań (POL), Krasnodar (RUS), St-Étienne (FRA), Sparta Praha (CZE), PAOK (GRE), Qäbälä (AZE), AZ Alkmaar (NED), Liberec (CZE), Fenerbahçe (TUR), Rosenberg (NOR), Plzeň (CZE), Dortmund (GER), Molde (NOR), Dinamo Minsk (BLR), Athletic Club (ESP), Midtjylland (DEN), Legia Warszawa (POL), Belenenses (POR)

Automatic qualifiers: Schalke 04 (GER), Napoli (ITA), Tottenham Hotspur (ESP), Villarreal (ESP), Olympique de Marseille (FRA), Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (UKR), Braga (POR), Fiorentina (ITA), Anderlecht (BEL), Liverpool (ENG), Beşiktaş (TUR), Lokomotiv Moskva (RUS), Augsburg (GER), Asteras Tripolis (GRE), Groningen (NED), Sion (SUI)

Transfer from UEFA Champions League play-offs: FC Basel (SUI), Sporting CP (POR), Lazio (ITA), Club Brugge (BEL), Celtic (SCO), APOEL (CYP), AS Monaco (FRA), Rapid Wien (AUT), Partizan (SRB), Skënderbeu (ALB)


Qarabağ 3-0 Young Boys (agg 4-0)
Azerbaijani outfit Qarabağ, involved for the first time last season, will return for another stab at the UEFA Europa League group stage after this convincing victory. Brazilians Richard Almeida and Reynaldo were on target in the first half – the former from the spot – increasing the hosts' overall advantage to 3-0. Afran Ismayilov rounded things off just after the hour.

Panathinaikos 2-2 Qäbälä (agg 2-2, Qäbälä win on away goals)
Qäbälä, who began their campaign in the first qualifying round, can look forward to their group stage debut. Qarabağ's domestic rivals made it a night to remember for Azerbaijan with a famous away-goals triumph in Athens, even if they twice surrendered the lead given to them on both occasions by their captain Dodô.

AZ 2-0 Astra Giurgiu (agg 4-3)
AZ were heading out until a late rally accounted for their Romanian visitors, victors over West Ham in the previous round. Centre-back Jop van der Linden gave them the advantage on away goals when he broke the deadlock ten minutes from time, with Robert Mühren adding a second for good measure.

Borussia Dortmund 7-2 Odd (agg 11-5)
Thomas Tuchel's men made it seven wins in as many matches this term with a thumping victory. Marco Reus was the standout performer, registering his third hat-trick in a Dortmund shirt, while Shinji Kagawa struck twice. The Schwarzgelben have scored at least four goals in a game on five occasions this season.
Prolific UEFA Europa League marksman Jonathan Soriano levelled the tie on aggregate just before the hour and then converted in the shoot-out as the first three spot kicks were converted. However, Aleksandr Gutor then took centre stage by saving Salzburg's next three penalties, booking the Belarusian team – who claimed a famous matchday six triumph over Fiorentina last year – a place in Friday's draw.

Jablonec 0-0 Ajax (agg 0-1)
Goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen was the hero for Ajax with a 58th-minute penalty save from Ján Greguš. The Eredivisie champions' task became stiffer when Riechedly Bazoer was dismissed 60 seconds later, but Frank de Boer's men held on.

Champions League draw smiles on Barca, Man United

This is the Champions League draw. As you can see, there are some pretty tough groups and some rather easy groups. We’re here to dissect each group from most to least difficult.

MOST DIFFICULT:

Group D: Juventus, Manchester City, Sevilla and Borussia Monchengladbach

It’s late August, so that means another year in which Manchester City is drawn into the “Group of Death.” It’s so common, it’s become a yearly tradition. Heck, we even tried topredict which “Group of Death” Manchester City would be in. While Manchester City doesn’t get the pleasure of facing Bayern Munich and CSKA Moscow like the last two years, but they get the Serie A champions and Europa League champions to take their place.

Group A: PSG, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk and Malmo

Let’s face it, because of the new rules that say only champions can be in Pot 1, anyone who was getting Real Madrid was going to be put in a tough group. Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk were top teams in their respective pots due to UEFA coefficient and it’s going to be tough to win in Ukraine and Sweden. It’ll definitely be a grind to get points, even for Real Madrid.

Group F: Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Olympiacos and Dinamo Zagreb

While it may appear as if Bayern Munich and Arsenal should be able to coast their way through, Olympiacos proved last season that they can get wins against better competition and prove to be a possible spoiler. Olympiacos beat Atletico Madrid and Juventus last year, they can do it again against Bayern Munich and Arsenal.

Group C: Benfica, Atletico Madrid, Galatasaray and Astana

Astana is the key for the difficulty of this group. I didn’t track who has to travel the farthest in the Group Stage but I’m confident to say it’s probably Benfica and Astana, which is an 11 hour flight and a little under 7,400 mile, 77 hour straight drive. That is a freaking long trip and sure to add to the difficulty of playing in Kazakhstan.

Group E: Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, Roma and BATE Borisov

Now we’re getting into some of the more easier groups. In Group E, Barcelona is sure to advance rather easily but it’ll be an entertaining fight for the runner up spot between Bayer Leverkusen and Roma.

Group G: Chelsea, Porto, Dinamo Kyiv and Maccabi Tel Aviv

Maccabi Tel Aviv is going to be a long trip, similar to Astana, but it shouldn’t affect Chelsea and Porto to easily advance to the Round of 16.

Group B: PSV, Manchester United, CSKA Moscow and Wolfsburg

Although Manchester United was in Pot 2, they got rewarded with arguably the weakest Pot 1 team. Manchester United should be able to coast through the group but PSV, Moscow and Wolfsburg will be able to make a run for 2nd.

Group H: Zenit, Valencia, Lyon and Gent

I put this group as least difficult because I would have to imagine any top team would have killed to be in this group. Having said that, while this group is least difficult, this group is bound to be entertaining because any of these teams can advance to the Knockout Round. And given that neither of these teams really get into the Knockout Rounds all that often, we’re going to see a couple new faces in the Round of 16.

Champions League draw smiles on Barca, Man United

This is the Champions League draw. As you can see, there are some pretty tough groups and some rather easy groups. We’re here to dissect each group from most to least difficult.

MOST DIFFICULT:

Group D: Juventus, Manchester City, Sevilla and Borussia Monchengladbach

It’s late August, so that means another year in which Manchester City is drawn into the “Group of Death.” It’s so common, it’s become a yearly tradition. Heck, we even tried topredict which “Group of Death” Manchester City would be in. While Manchester City doesn’t get the pleasure of facing Bayern Munich and CSKA Moscow like the last two years, but they get the Serie A champions and Europa League champions to take their place.

Group A: PSG, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk and Malmo

Let’s face it, because of the new rules that say only champions can be in Pot 1, anyone who was getting Real Madrid was going to be put in a tough group. Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk were top teams in their respective pots due to UEFA coefficient and it’s going to be tough to win in Ukraine and Sweden. It’ll definitely be a grind to get points, even for Real Madrid.

Group F: Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Olympiacos and Dinamo Zagreb

While it may appear as if Bayern Munich and Arsenal should be able to coast their way through, Olympiacos proved last season that they can get wins against better competition and prove to be a possible spoiler. Olympiacos beat Atletico Madrid and Juventus last year, they can do it again against Bayern Munich and Arsenal.

Group C: Benfica, Atletico Madrid, Galatasaray and Astana

Astana is the key for the difficulty of this group. I didn’t track who has to travel the farthest in the Group Stage but I’m confident to say it’s probably Benfica and Astana, which is an 11 hour flight and a little under 7,400 mile, 77 hour straight drive. That is a freaking long trip and sure to add to the difficulty of playing in Kazakhstan.

Group E: Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, Roma and BATE Borisov

Now we’re getting into some of the more easier groups. In Group E, Barcelona is sure to advance rather easily but it’ll be an entertaining fight for the runner up spot between Bayer Leverkusen and Roma.

Group G: Chelsea, Porto, Dinamo Kyiv and Maccabi Tel Aviv

Maccabi Tel Aviv is going to be a long trip, similar to Astana, but it shouldn’t affect Chelsea and Porto to easily advance to the Round of 16.

Group B: PSV, Manchester United, CSKA Moscow and Wolfsburg

Although Manchester United was in Pot 2, they got rewarded with arguably the weakest Pot 1 team. Manchester United should be able to coast through the group but PSV, Moscow and Wolfsburg will be able to make a run for 2nd.

Group H: Zenit, Valencia, Lyon and Gent

I put this group as least difficult because I would have to imagine any top team would have killed to be in this group. Having said that, while this group is least difficult, this group is bound to be entertaining because any of these teams can advance to the Knockout Round. And given that neither of these teams really get into the Knockout Rounds all that often, we’re going to see a couple new faces in the Round of 16.