Bournemouth will make approach for Jermain Defoe if Sunderland are relegated

Jermain Defoe could still be a Premier League player next season even if Sunderland are relegated as former club Bournemouth are ready to offer him a lifeline.
The striker has done his best to keep the Black Cats in English football’s top division this season, scoring an impressive 14 goals in 31 league games.
His injury time equaliser from the penalty spot against Stoke City last week could prove to be his most important one yet. The draw wasn’t enough to get Sunderland out of the bottom three.
But they are just a point from safety and have a game in hand over fierce rivals Newcastle United.

Jermain Defoe made 29 appearances and scored 18 goals for Bournemouth during his loan spell in the 2000/1 season. 

According to the Mirror, the 33-year-old has done enough throughout the campaign to attract interest from the Cherries and a potential summer transfer would see him return to the club whom he had a successful loan spell at in the early 2000s.
Manager Eddie Howe played alongside Defoe during that loan spell and will hope for a reunion given he has reportedly been handed a healthy summer transfer budget by owner Maxim Demin.

Atletico Madrid’s second final in three years confirms their place amongst Europe’s elite.

Posted by: Michael Soloman May 4, 2016 in Champions League, Slider Articles 0 Comments

Atletico Madrid reached the final of the UEFA Champions League for the second time in three seasons, as Antoine Griezmann’s away goal at the Allianz Arena was enough to see them progress following a 2-2 aggregate score over two legs.
Griezmann’s goal, his 31^st of the season in all competitions, cancelled out Xabi Alonso’s earlier deflected free-kick goal to make the score 1-1, which proved enough despite Robert Lewandowski’s goal which meant that Bayern won 2-1 on the night but went out on away goals.
Atletico appeared to have lady luck on their side, with Thomas Muller missing a penalty which would have put Bayern 2-0 ahead on the night, and despite having 30% ball possession for the fourth Champions League game in a row (both legs of their quarter-final and semi-final matches against Barcelona and Bayern), they were able to withstand the pressure of their more illustrious opposition once more to advance to the final.
Reaching the final, only the third European Cup final in the club’s history, remains a remarkable achievement for Diego Simeone’s irrepressibly overachieving Atletico side, yet the Argentinian miracle-working boss and his Atleti will be desperate to go one better than in 2014, when his team were denied by Sergio Ramos’s stoppage time header, as local rivals Real Madrid went on to win the Champions League 4-1 in extra time.
Redemption will be on the minds of everyone at Atletico, and it would provide the perfect narrative were they to meet Real again in this year’s final, should Zinedine Zidane’s side manage to defeat Manchester City and join Atleti as Champions League finalists for the second time in three years.
Real’s place is by no means guaranteed, of course, but the prospect of squaring off against their more famous city rivals in the final would prove to be a desirable and apropos way for Simeone and Atletico to gain retribution for their defeat of two years ago, where they were seconds away from an unprecedented Champions League and La Liga double.
Back in 2014, Atletico’s run to the final of the Champions League was something of a surprise, as despite entering the final as La Liga Champions, their credentials were lesser known to much of Europe; the gate-crashers of European Football’s status quo, riding a wave of underdog momentum in reaching the final.
This time around, having navigated a route to the final stage of Europe’s premier club competition for the second time in a three year span, Atletico can no longer be considered a surprise presence in the latter stages of the Champions League. Alas, Atleti are almost inarguably one of the three or four best teams in Europe at the moment, most probably along with Bayern Munich and Barcelona (the two teams vanquished by Los Rojiblancos on route to this year’s final) and Real Madrid.
Much of Atletico’s strength has come from their underdog status, and Simeone and his troops will relish being classed as such, as teams underestimating Atleti has played into the hands of his immaculately well-organised side frequently on their upward trajectory, and has probably helped in fostering the collective spirit at the Vicente Calderon.
Simeone’s team is now a more refined one than its 2014 model, and while it remains as well drilled, if not even more so, (they have only conceded 16 goals in 36 La Liga matches this season) with the likes of Saul, Yannick Ferreira Carrasco, Angel Correa and especially Antoine Griezmann providing a hitherto attacking flair to complement the customary Simeone steel in defence.
Frenchman Griezmann, has been outstanding this campaign for Atletico, and his development into a world-class forward has been instrumental to Atletico’s European success this season, and 7 of his 31 goals in all competitions have come during his side’s remarkable run to the Champions League final, including the decisive goals against both Bayern and Barcelona.
Indeed, should Griezmann fire Atleti to European Cup glory, then he could well be in with an outside shout of the 2016 Ballon D’Or. It is unlikely of course, that he would usurp the established Ballon D’Or duopoly of the more well-known and fashionable Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. However, neither of those legendary figures can boast of exerting the same singular influence to their teams’ season, with both Messi and Ronaldo ably supported by Neymar and Luis Suarez, and Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema respectively, whilst Griezmann has fired Atletico to their lofty perch almost singlehandedly.
The season’s football headlines may well have been dominated by Leicester City’s improbable Premier League title win, but were Atletico Madrid to win the Champions League, this would be no underdog story of the same ilk. This is a genuinely excellent team, arguably the finest in Europe, and under Diego Simeone, their place in the latter stages of the Champions League is set to become a regular fixture in the years to come.

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