Politics and The Game, Part Ten

1- Gheorge Popescu and spying 1986-1989

Romanian star from the 80s-90s, Gheorge Popescu, admitted in July 2009 that he had spied on his teamamtes for the Romanian Secret police (the Securitate) for three years starting 1986. He did say that even when he spied he only wrote good things about the players.

Photo From: Panini Holland 1991/92

(Gheorge Popescu)

2- Spanish Teams changing names during Franco’s Regime

After the take-over of General Franco in Spain after the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, some teams were forced to change their names. In March 1940, Barcelona changed its name to the more Spanish ‘Club de Futbol Barcelona’ since their original name ‘Futbol Club Barcelona’ was too anglicized. They reverted back to their original name in 1973.

Similarly, Athletic Bilbao were forced to change their name to the more Spanish Atletico Bilbao in 1941. They revered back to their original name after Franco’s death.

3- Sampdoria players and Jacques Chirac’s Nuclear tests, 1995

In 1995, France President Jacques Chirac started conducting Atomic Bomb tests in the Pacific Ocean. Sampdoria players protested against the decision and released this photo.

Photo From: World Soccer, November 1995

(Sampdoria players)

4- Celtic Glasgow and Chernobyl disaster, 1986

In the Fall of 1986, Celtic Glasgow were to meet Dinamo Kiev in the Champions Cup, at Kiev just months after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. It was said as a precaution, Celtic traveled with their own food as they did not want to take any risks with the food there.

5- Sylvain Kastendeusch and politics

Former long-serving Metz player Sylvain Kastendeusch started working in the Metz mayoral office after his playing days. He worked with the division of youth and sports. He is currently the co-president of the French players union (UNFP).

Photo From: Onze-Mondial, Issue 60, January 199

(Sylvain Kastendeusch)

The Week that was (in Football (Soccer)): Review of the top Leagues in Europe-part 36 (Week of December 11-December 17, 2018)-part 2

I. UEFA Champions League:

UEFA Champions League-Group A:

Tuesday, December 11, 2018:

Club Brugge 0 -Atletico Madrid 0 (-)

Monaco 0 -Dortmund 2 (Rapahel Guerreiro 15, 88)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Dortmund	6	4	1	1	10	2	8	13
2	Atletico Madrid	6	4	1	1	9	6	3	13
3	Club Brugge	6	1	3	2	6	5	1	6
4	Monaco	6	0	1	5	2	14	-12	1

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: Dortmund and Atletico Madrid advanced to the knock-out round, Club Brugge goes to the Europa League.

UEFA Champions League-Group B:

Tuesday, December 11, 2018:

Barcelona 0- Tottenham 1 (Ousmane Dembele 7 / Lucas Moura 85)

Inter 1- PSV Eindhoven 1 (Mauro Icardi 73 / Hirving Lozano 13)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Barcelona	6	4	2	0	14	5	9	14
2	Tottenham	6	2	2	2	9	10	-1	8
3	Inter	6	2	2	2	6	7	-1	8
4	PSV Eindhoven	6	0	2	4	6	13	-7	2

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: Barcelona and Tottenham advanced to the knock-out round, Inter goes to the Europa League.

UEFA Champions League-Group C:

Tuesday, December 11, 2018:

Red Star Belgrade 1-PSG 4 (Marko Gobeljic 56 / Edinson Cavani 10, Neymar 40, Marquinhos 74, Kuylian Mbappe 90)

Liverpool 1-Napoli 0 (Mohamed Salah 34)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	PSG	6	3	2	1	17	9	8	11
2	Liverpool	6	3	0	3	9	7	2	9
3	Napoli	6	2	3	1	7	5	2	9
4	Red Star Belgrade	6	1	1	4	5	17	-12	4

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: PSG and Liverpool advanced to the knock-out round, Napoli goes to the Europa League.

Photo From: L'Equipe, December 12, 2018

(Mohamed Salah, December 11, 2018, UCL, Liverpool 1-Napoli 0)

UEFA Champions League-Group D:

Tuesday, December 11, 2018:

Galatasaray 2- Porto 3 (Sofiane Feghouli 45 pen, Eren Derdiyok 65 / Felipe 17, Moussa Marega 42 pen, Sergio Oliveira 57)

Schalke 1- Lokomotiv Moscow 0  (Alesssandro Schoepf 90)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Porto	6	5	1	0	15	6	9	16
2	Schalke	6	3	2	1	6	4	2	11
4	Galatasaray	6	1	1	4	5	8	-3	4
4	Lokomotiv Moscow	6	1	0	5	4	12	-8	3

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: Porto and Schalke advanced to the knock-out round, Galatasaray goes to the Europa League.

UEFA Champions League-Group E:

Wednesday, December 12, 2018:

Ajax 3- Bayern Munich 3 (DusanTadic61, 82 pen, Nicolas Tagliafico 90+ / Robert Lewandowski 13, 87 pen, Kingsley Coman 90)

Benfica 1- AEK Athens 0 (Alex Grimaldo 88)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Bayern Munich	6	4	2	0	15	5	10	14
1	Ajax	6	3	3	0	11	5	6	12
3	Benfica	6	1	1	3	6	11	-5	7
4	AEK Athens	6	0	0	6	2	13	-11	0

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: Bayern Munich and Ajax advanced to the knock-out round, Benfica goes to the Europa League.

UEFA Champions League-Group F:

Wednesday, December 12, 2018:

Manchester City 2-Hoffenheim 1 (Leroy Sane 45, 61 / Andrej Karmaric 16 pen)

Shakhtar Donestk 1-Lyon 1 (Junior Moraes 22 / Nabil Fekir 65)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Manchester City	6	4	1	1	16	6	10	13
2	Lyon	6	1	5	0	12	11	1	8
3	Shakhtar Donetsk	6	1	3	2	8	16	-8	6
4	Hoffenheim	6	0	3	3	11	14	-3	3

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: Manchester City and Lyon advanced to the knock-out round, Shakhtar Donetsk goes to the Europa League.

Wednesday, December 12, 2018:

Real Madrid 0-CSKA Moscow 3 (Fedor Chalov 37, Georgi Shchennikov 43, Arnor Sigurdsson 73)

Viktoria Plzen 2-Roma 1 (Jan Kovarik 62, Tomas Chory 72 / Cengiz Under 68)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Real Madrid	6	4	0	2	12	5	7	12
2	Roma	6	3	0	3	11	8	3	9
3	Viktoria Plzen	6	2	1	3	7	16	-9	7
4	CSKA Moscow	6	2	1	3	8	9	-1	7

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: Real Madrid and Roma advanced to the knock-out round, Viktoria Plzen goes to the Europa League.

UEFA Champions League-Group H:

Wednesday, December 12, 2018:

Valencia 2- Manchester United 1 (Carlos Soler 17, Phil Jones (own goal) 47 / Marcus Rashford 87)

Young Boys 2- Juventus 1 (Guillaume Hoarau 30 pen, 68 / Paul Dybala 80)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Juventus	6	4	0	2	9	4	5	12
2	Manchester United	6	3	1	2	7	4	3	10
3	Valencia	6	2	2	2	6	6	0	8
4	Young Boys	6	1	1	4	4	12	-8	4

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: Juventus and Manchetser United advanced to the knock-out round, Valencia goes to the Europa League.

II. Europa League:

Europa League-Group A:

Thursday, December 13, 2018:

AEK Larnaca 1-Leverkusen 5 (David Catala 26 / Dominik Kohr 28, 68, Lucas Alario 41 pen, 86, Paulinho 78)

Ludogorets 1-FC Zurich 1 (Jakub Swierczok 45 / Stephen Odey 21)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Leverkusen	6	4	1	1	16	9	7	13
2	FC Zurich	6	3	1	2	7	6	1	10
3	AEK Larnaca	6	1	2	3	6	12	-6	5
4	Ludogorets	6	0	4	2	5	7	-2	4

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: Leverkusen and FC Zurich advanced to the next stage.

Europa League-Group B:

Thursday, December 13, 2018:

Celtic 1- Salzburg 2 (Olivier Ntcham 90 / Munas Dabbur 67, Fredrik Gulbrandsen 77)

RB Leipzig 1- Rosenborg 1  (Matheus Cunha 47 / Tore Reginiussen 86)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Salzburg	6	6	0	0	17	6	11	18
2	Celtic	6	3	0	3	6	8	-2	9
3	RB Leipzig	6	2	1	3	9	8	1	7
4	Rosenborg	6	0	1	5	4	14	-10	1

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: Salzburg and Celtic advanced to the next stage.

Europa League-Group C:

Thursday, December 13, 2018:

FC Copenhagen 0-Bordeaux 1  (Jimmy Briand 74)

Slavia Prague 2 -Zenit St Petersburg 0  (Jaromir Zmrhal 32, Miroslav Stoch 41)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Zenit St Petersburg	6	3	2	1	6	5	1	11
2	Slavia Prague	6	3	1	2	3	4	-1	10
3	Bordeaux	6	2	1	3	6	6	0	7
4	FC Copenhagen	6	1	2	3	4	4	0	5

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: Zenit St Petersburg and Slavia Prague advanced to the next stage.

Europa League-Group D:

Thursday, December 13, 2018:

Dinamo Zagreb 0-Anderlecht 0 (-)

Spartak Trnava 1-Fenerbahce 0 (Kubilay Yilmaz 41)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Dinamo Zagreb	6	4	2	0	11	3	8	14
2	Fenerbahce	6	2	2	2	7	7	0	8
3	Spartak Trnava	6	2	1	3	4	7	-3	7
4	Anderlecht	6	0	3	3	2	7	-5	3

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: Dinamo Zagreb and Fenerbahce advanced to the next stage.

Europa League-Group E:

Thursday, December 13, 2018:

Arsenal 1- Qarabag 0 (Alexandre Lacazette 16)

Sporting CP 3- Vorskla 0 (Fredy Montero 17, Miguel Luis 35, Ardin Dallku (owm goal) 44)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal	6	5	1	0	12	2	10	16
2	Sporting CP	6	4	1	1	13	3	10	13
3	Vorskla	6	1	0	5	4	13	-9	3
4	Qarabag	6	1	0	5	2	13	-11	3

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: Arsenal and Sporting CP advanced to the next stage.

Europa League-Group F:

Thursday, December 13, 2018:

Dudelange 0- Betis 0 (-)

Olympiakos 3- AC Milan 1 (Pape Abou Cisse 60, Cristian Zapata (own goal) 70, K.Fortounis 81 pen / Cristian Zapata 72)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Betis	6	3	3	0	8	3	4	12
2	Olympiakos	6	3	1	2	11	7	4	10
3	AC Milan	6	3	1	2	12	9	3	10
4	Dudelange	6	0	1	5	3	16	-13	1

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: Betis and Olympiakos advanced to the next stage.

Europa League-Group G:

Thursday, December 13, 2018:

Rapid Vienna 1- Rangers 0 (Dejan Ljubicic 84)

Villareal 2- Spartak 0  (Samuel Chukwueze 11, Karl Toko Ekambi 48)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Villareal	6	2	4	0	12	5	7	10
2	Rapid Vienna	6	3	1	2	6	9	-3	10
3	Rangers	6	1	3	2	8	8	0	6
4	Spartak	6	1	2	3	8	12	-4	5

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: Villareal and Rapid Vienna advanced to the next stage.

Europa League-Group H:

Thursday, December 13, 2018:

Lazio 1- Frankfurt 2 (Joaquin Correa 56 / Mijat Gacinovic 65, Sebastien Haller 71)

Marseille 1- Apollon Limassol 3 (Florian Thauvin 11 / Anton Maglica 8 pen, 30, Marios Stylianou 56)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Frankfurt	6	6	0	0	17	5	12	18
2	Lazio	6	3	0	3	9	11	-2	9
3	Apollon Limassol	6	2	1	3	10	10	0	7
4	Marseille	6	0	1	5	6	16	-10	1

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: Frankfurt and Lazio advanced to the next stage.

Europa League-Group I:

Thursday, December 13, 2018:

Besiktas 0- Malmo 1 (Marcus Antonsson 51)

Genk 4-Sarpsborg 0 (Zinho Gano 3, Joseph Paintsil 5, Sander Berge 64, Joseph Aidoo 67)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Genk	6	3	2	1	14	8	6	11
2	Malmo	6	2	3	1	7	6	1	9
3	Besiktas	6	2	1	3	9	11	-2	7
4	Sarpsborg	6	1	2	3	8	13	-5	5

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: Genk and Malmo advanced to the next stage.

Europa League-Group J:

Thursday, December 13, 2018:

Akhisarspor 0- Standard Liege 0 (-)

Sevilla 3- Krasnodar 0 (Wissam Ben Ydder 5, 10, Ever Banega 49 pen)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Sevilla	6	4	0	2	18	6	12	12
2	Krasnodar	6	4	0	2	7	7	0	12
3	Standard Liege	6	3	1	2	7	9	-2	10
4	Akhisarspor	6	0	1	5	4	14	-10	1

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: Sevilla and Krasnodar advanced to the next stage.

Europa League-Group K:

Thursday, December 13, 2018:

Dynamo Kiev 0- Jablonec 1 (Martin Dolezal 10)

Rennes 2- Astana 0 (Ismaila Sarr 68, 73)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Dynamo Kiev	6	3	2	1	10	7	3	11
2	Rennes	6	3	0	3	7	8	-1	9
3	Astana	6	2	2	2	7	7	0	8
4	Jablonec	6	1	2	3	6	8	-2	5

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: Dynamo Kiev and Rennes advanced to the next stage.

Europa League-Group L:

Thursday, December 13, 2018:

PAOK 1 -BATE Borisov 3 (Aleksandar Prijovic 59 / Maksim Skavysh 18, Nikolay Signevich 41 pen, 45)

Vidi 2-Chelsea 2 (Ethan Ampadu (own goal) 32, Loic Nego 56 / Willian 30, Olivier Giroud 75)

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Chelsea	6	5	1	0	12	3	9	16
2	BATE Borisov	6	3	0	3	9	9	0	9
3	Vidi	6	2	1	3	5	7	-2	7
4	PAOK	6	1	0	5	5	12	-7	3

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Note: Chelsea and BATE Borisov advanced to the next stage.

III. FIFA Club World Cup:

FIFA Club World Cup:

Saturday, December 15, 2018:

Kashima Antlers 3-CD Guadalajara 2 (Ryota Nagaki 49, Serginho 70 pen, Hiroaki Abe 84 / Angel Zaldivar 3, Leo Silva (own goal) 90)

Esperance 0-Al Ain 3 (Mohamed Ahmad 3, Hussein El Shahat 18, Bandar Mohammed 60)