Malik Ouzia
Sports writer at The London Standard | malik.ouzia@standard.co.uk
- The big one in Wroclaw.
- Parc des Princes, PSG vs Arsenal.
- Djurgarden and the dodgy pitch. Ball doesn’t really seem to bounce very much in certain areas. Not ideal for a European semi-final
- This week's @thelondonstandard.bsky.social interview is an exclusive with Alex Yee ahead of his London Marathon debut. On Crystal Palace, Kipchoge, insight into his training and helping London's kids "find their why": www.standard.co.uk/sport/athlet...
- Chelsea booed off at home after reaching a European semi-final. Quite something.
- In this week's London Standard - with @srcollings.bsky.social on last night in the Bernabeu. Online here: www.standard.co.uk/sport/footba...
- Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson start for Chelsea, despite them being 3-0 up on aggregate. Tells you how desperate Maresca is for them to find some form
- This week's @thelondonstandard.bsky.social deep dive is on the future of Stamford Bridge and Chelsea's long search for a new home. In print and online here: t.co/FUMLXozSSb
- Enzo Maresca confirms Palmer, Madueke and Jackson are all fit to face Tottenham #cfc
- Ridiculously good free-kick from Reece James has England 1-0 up at Wembley. Much-needed, too, because they've been labouring against a very deep Latvia in open play
- The Thomas Tuchel era begins. Huge numbers of Albanian fans on Wembley Way.
- Dan Burn speaking at St George's Park. Says Thomas Tuchel essentially hit him with a "You up?" text at 10pm last Thursday to offer him his first call-up. On swerving some of Newcastle's celebrations on Sunday: "I’ve waited a long time for this opportunity and I didn’t want to spoil it."
- “I said to the boss that it was great TV. Whether he enjoyed doing it at the time? I don’t think so.” Exclusive interview with Nicky Henderson and Nico De Boinville, on their partnership, criticism, Cheltenham and more: www.standard.co.uk/sport/horse-...
- Chelsea vs Leicester. No Reece James in the squad because of illness. Not sure he would have started anyway given the turnaround and caution with his workload
- Innes FitzGerald very impressive on her environmental stance ahead of her senior British debut. “We’re not affected by it in the UK but I feel the pain that they’re feeling and I feel like it’s my responsibility, in a more privileged position, to help.” www.standard.co.uk/sport/athlet...
- A long time in the post, but the Reece James midfield experiment has finally been relocated from Wigan to Chelsea www.standard.co.uk/sport/footba...
- Lively pre-match
- Chelsea players met with a chorus of “who are ya?” from an already busy home end
- Maresca: "Chalobah was not serious so he’s okay. Benoit is back, trained with us in the last week or ten days. Wes is not in the squad but also he is back. Romeo started to train with us in the last two days. Slowly, slowly we have all the players back for the final rush of the season."
- Georgia Hunter Bell after a first major international title in Apeldoorn this week. Some good insight here into how much of a difference going full-time this winter has made: www.standard.co.uk/sport/athlet...
- Parken, Copenhagen. Enzo Maresca up in a bit to preview tomorrow night’s first-leg
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- Goal, 4-0, Cucurella. Nice work from George to set him up
- Goal, 3-0, Colwill header from Neto free-kick. His first goal in almost two years
- Goal, 2-0, Neto. Sharp driven finish from an Nkunku pass
- Goal, 1-0, Nkunku. His first league goal since the reverse fixture. Comes after Palmer had missed another belting chance.
- Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo is at Stamford Bridge
- Protest moved down to the Stamford Gate
- Chants of Roman Abramovich’s name, “We want our Chelsea back” and “Fuck Vivid Seats”
- Protest against Chelsea ownership underway outside Stamford Bridge
- 0-1, Fernandez. Great bit of play from Neto on the right.
- Chelsea drilling a back-four in the warm-up: Gusto, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella. James warming up with midfielders/forwards #cfc
- Aston Villa vs Chelsea. Blue skies, for a bit.
- Maresca on fan unrest: "We have 13 games left, seven at home and I think winning seven at home can be enough to finish in the top four."
- Maresca on Sanchez's new haircut: "I said to him, if you want to play again you have to have the same hair as mine!"
- Maresca on injury latest: "The ones that are injured are the same. We don’t have any additions. Noni probably will be out until the international break. "Probably after the break we can have back most of them [the injured players], almost all of them. That for us can be a big boost." #cfc
- Been a shift in narrative around injuries - like penalty shootouts - away from luck and towards something you control. Next phase? The rise of the celebrity fitness coach: www.standard.co.uk/sport/footba...
- Maresca: "Noni unfortunately it’s a hamstring problem, he will be out for a while."
- Fabian Hurzeler asked about Maresca's pre-match comments: "No, no [there's no problem], I respect him, he’s doing a great job. He’s a great manager, it’s always good to compete with the best managers. I respect everyone and everyone’s opinion."
- Chelsea's worst night under Enzo Maresca, but hardly an aberration. Things have spiralled badly over the last two months and the manager has shown little sign of being able to turn it around so far. (What a goal Mitoma, btw). Report: www.standard.co.uk/sport/footba...
- 3-0, Minteh again, Cucurella roasted again. Chelsea imploding.
- HT 2-0. Same old story for Chelsea. Incapable of making clear chances. One shot on target in three halves of football across the two games here - Brighton have scored four of their five in that time.
- 2-0. Minteh. A couple of minutes after Chelsea had one disallowed.
- 1-0, Mitoma. Outrageous control and finish
- Madueke makes a "torn" gesture towards the bench as he comes off shaking his head with what looked like a hamstring problem. Straight down the tunnel.
- Looks like Cole Palmer furthest forward fore Chelsea
- At the Amex again, where Reece James is only on the Chelsea bench despite being rested last weekend and Maresca insisting he is fit. Nkunku leads the line again, with Madueke preferred to Sancho
- Clarifies that Lavia might not be back until after the international break
- Maresca asked a pretty routine question about Brighton’s Fabian Hurzeler: “I prefer not to say anything about their manager."
- Sounds like Filip Jorgensen is now Chelsea's No1: "The Filip solution was also to give Robert some time to recover mentally and physically. The idea is not to change game by game the keeper. Our ‘keeper in this moment is Filip." #cfc
