Are we even surprised?

Happy Friday Footyfam,

It’s been another fantastic week, and we hope you’re feeling it too.

There’s a lot of buzz in Manchester this week.

Some good and some bad.

Let’s get into it.

Match of the week:

Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid | Sunday, Dec. 3 | 11:30am EST

This match is not looking to disappoint anyone.

Both teams are coming off wins in the Champions League to put them through to the knockout stages. Although, Madrid's performance was a little louder with a 6-nil win over Celtic.

Going into the weekend, they’re level on points sitting in 3rd and 4th place. The result is going to be crucial in keeping up with Real Madrid and Girona who are both 4 points ahead.

Frenkie de Jong is back for Barça after being out for a few months with an ankle injury. He’ll be needed to keep up with Atletico’s pesky attack.

Keep an eye out for how Joao Felix plays with the pressure of taking on his former club for the first time since getting loaned out.

Erling Haaland breaks another record

It seems like we talk about City a lot in this newsletter, but we can’t help that they’re putting up record breaking numbers. 

And here Haaland is, continuing to break records. 

40 goals in just 35 games to become the youngest player in Champions League history to reach 40 goals.

The man is simply on another level.

The Blue’s Court Date

First Everton, next Chelsea, now Manchester City.

They have a trial date set up with the FA to go over a few things.

Since the 2009-10 season, they’ve been accused of 115 violations–most of which have to do with finances.

Shocker.

Even though the court date is set and they’re most likely looking at some pretty hefty, those won’t come into play until the 2025 season as the trial won’t take place until the fall of next year.

Guess they’re off the hook for this year.

Manchester United’s Champions League Struggles

The boys on the other side of town are having some Champions League troubles.

They’re sitting at the bottom of their group.

But they only have themselves to blame.

After being in winning positions, they’ve let Copenhagen and Galatasaray (twice) take points from them.

That means they’ve dropped 8 points.

Yikes.

They would have qualified for the knockouts by now if they could’ve finished out their matches.

More interesting reads

Ronaldo wins a penalty, then uncharacteristically tells the ref it wasn’t a pen?

The Bundesliga 2 has a higher match attendance than France’s Ligue 1

For when you’re ready to improve:

Improve your stamina in 6 weeks

The best hydration drink (code: footytutor10 for 10% off)

Our favorite mouth tape (code: footytutor for 10% off)

The best game to improve your first touch

We’ll be back next Monday with some more heat to make you better.

Until then,

Footytutor