The defender claimed that he protested against the weak game of partners, but did not convince the leadership and the police.
The player of the Brazilian team at the end of the match helped the opponent to bring the matter to defeat. The ridiculous own goal did not surprise the teammates at all, but at the same time could make impressionable fans believe in the existence of voodoo magic. Law enforcement agencies did not write off the episode as mysticism and began an investigation.
Protest or clumsy drain of the result?
Ridiculous own goal
The match of the championship of the state of Amazonas in Brazil, in which Atlético Amazonense hosted the Sul America club, ended in the defeat of the hosts with a score of 1:4. However, not indifferent fans of the local team could be outraged not so much by the loss itself, but by the scandalous episode that happened at the end of the meeting.
Sul America players scored the first goal before the break, then developed their success at the beginning of the second half. The local team won back one goal, but the guests again returned the two-goal lead in the 84th minute. The position of Atletico Amazonense was extremely unsightly, but not hopeless. The history of football knows cases when two goals were won back in a few minutes. In the 90th minute, the defender of the hosts Julio Campos really managed to hit the gate, but the fans of his team hardly liked the goal.
The Atletico player received the ball from a partner, being close to his own penalty area. The Sul America players did not refuse any pressure on him, they were not even close. Unless someone in the stands was wielding a voodoo doll – this is the only way to explain the actions of an athlete, if you do not convict him of malicious intent. Be that as it may, Campos turned to the gates of his team and, throwing the ball over the goalkeeper, scored a ridiculous own goal.
It is curious, but the strange actions of the player, it seems, did not surprise anyone on the field. The defender calmly walked towards the center of the field, the partners went in the same direction without much emotion. Did not take any decisive action and the chief referee, simply counting a goal. Unless the stands grumbled a little, and even then more for order. Is this state of affairs the norm for the state of Amazonas?
The act of Campos in the first place suggests that there is something not entirely clean in the field of betting. By the way, the bookmakers called Atlético Amazonense the favorite of the match – it was possible to bet on the victory of the hosts with an unattractive odds of 1.31. The bet on the victory of “Sul America” promised to increase the winnings by 7.5 times.
It is easy to guess that a bet on the victory of the guests with a devastating score promised risk lovers a decent amount. The Spanish-language version of the Yahoo portal, by the way, noted that Brazilian law enforcement officers became interested in the incident.
Whether Campos faces any kind of punishment from the police is not yet clear. However, the player will no longer have to play in Atlético Amazonense – the club broke off relations with the defender and goalkeeper. The episode’s anti-hero’s attempt to justify his actions by protesting the weak play of his own team probably didn’t convince the club bosses.
Thomas Astudillo is a sports journalist and author who writes for Sportish. He has a deep love and knowledge of sports, and is known for his engaging and informative writing on the latest sports news and events.
Moscow football club Spartak will not terminate the loan of the defender Nikita Chernov from Samara “Wings of the Soviets”. The sporting director told journalists Francesco Caigao.
Chernov is on loan at Krylya Sovetov until the end of the season.
“Nikita Chernov is not included in our plans, we have no intention of returning him from loan now. We have four central defenders. Srdjan Babic is recovering and will return in April,” Cahigao said.
Cahigao also spoke about the growth of the youth players: “It is important to understand that the club is not only focused on the main team, but also on the growth of its students. Tomorrow we leave for Dubai, they will go too.”
“We have a fast track, this is a gathering of young footballers. They use the entire infrastructure of the main team, it is very important to reduce the distance between the main team and the youth team. They should also take every opportunity that comes their way,” Cahigao added.
I’m a sports enthusiast and journalist who has worked in the news industry for over 8 years. I currently work as an author at Sportish and my work focuses mainly on sports news.
International Football Federation (FIFA) imposed a transfer ban on the Russian football club Rostov. This was reported by the press service FIFA.
The ban came into effect on January 13. The reasons for the sanctions are not specified.
Rostov is in 11th place in the Russian Premier League table (RPL), scoring 21 points in 18 games. The total transfer value of the club’s players, according to the Transfermarkt portal, is 38 million euros.
I’m a sports enthusiast and journalist who has worked in the news industry for over 8 years. I currently work as an author at Sportish and my work focuses mainly on sports news.
It has been almost 15 years since Josep Guardiola left Barcelona. Many believe that this specialist, who worked with the Blaugranas for four seasons, brought back to the team the playing principles that had previously worked and brought results under the great Johan Cruyff. Barcelona once again emphasized complete ball control, and Guardiola’s style even received a special name in the press: “tiki-taka”.
It is believed that in recent years “tiki-taka” has become increasingly obsolete in the tactical plans of mentors of most European clubs. Nowadays, it is fashionable in football to rely not on ball control but on quick transitions from defense to attack; This ends with the mandatory aggravation of the opponent’s goal (shots, crosses, earned fouls or corners).
But even now there are many teams whose tactical outlook is still associated with high levels of possession. Some have turned it into a sort of cult, while others just play their football this way without seeing other possibilities.
Now we will talk about the five teams that dominate the ball in the Champions League…
5. Borussia Dortmund – 56.4%
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Surprisingly, Germany’s best team in this component of play in the 2025/26 Champions League is Borussia Dortmund, not Bayern, who lead the ball in their home Bundesliga. Even more strangely, the yellow-blacks, who ranked only sixth in the same rankings in the home championship with a rate of 52.4%, lost against Freiburg (53%), Eintracht (53.5%), Stuttgart (57.1%), Bayer (58.8%) and Bayern (66.6%).
However, Bayern, which completely dominates Germany in the Champions League, is worse than Dortmund with an average match control rate of 55.6%. At the same time, the best German team in the Champions League in terms of points collected is Munich; Borussia Dortmund with 11 points against 15. The “yellow-blacks” are currently actively fighting for the top 8, but in the last two matches of the general stage they will have to play with Tottenham and Inter, where it will be extremely difficult to get maximum points. This is where we can mention the two points lost (2:2) in the home match against Bude-Glimt at the finish line. The Norwegians then gave the ball completely to the opponent (38% vs. 62%), losing the score twice (0:1, 1:2), but still managed to draw the draw (2:2).
4. Real Madrid – 56.5%
Possession of the ball has rarely been a cult at Real Madrid historically, but in order to operate from a position of strength the Blancos are often forced to play this way. This sometimes feels like a cruel joke on Madrid; such as the defeats against English Liverpool (0:1) and Manchester City (1:2) in the current Champions League. On both occasions it was Madrid who had more possession (62% against the Reds and 53% against the Citizens), but this did not do Xabi Alonso’s men any favors.
In the home championship, where Real is fighting Barcelona for the title, Madrid is not focused on taking control of the ball. But it may frankly surprise some to learn that the Blancos are losing out on possession average in La Liga not only to Barcelona, which is generally predictable, but also to Elche, the middle team of this season’s Spanish elite league. Barcelona has 67.3 percent, Elche has 59 percent and Real Madrid has 58.3 percent. These numbers certainly cannot bring titles, but Blancos fans may be annoyed to some extent that their players are inferior not only to their main rivals in Catalonia, but also to the brave “green stripes”. But as Real’s statistics in the Champions League show (Madrid are currently only seventh in the overall standings), today’s football is really such that possession can also be a problem, especially if your opponent is very skilled in counter-attacks.
3. Manchester City – 59.8%
Josep Guardiola’s current team, Manchester City, only finished third. City, who are the undisputed leaders of the last two Champions League draws at this point, do not show the same focus on ball control this year. Moreover, the coach of the English giants has repeatedly made it clear in press conferences, both in his native English Premier League and in the Champions League, that he is ready to change, and if modern football forces him to act more pragmatically or differently tactically, then Guardiola can emulate this.
Currently, Manchester City are among the top three teams in the 2025/26 Champions League. Having received 13 points in the ranking, the “citizens” lag behind PSG only in additional indicators. It is true that Guardiola’s side have had a complete advantage over their opponents in possession in just three of six Champions League matches. Coincidentally, these were City’s first three games this season; Napoli (2:0), Monaco (2:2) and Villarreal (2:0). In each of these matches, Manchester City had 65-70% of the ball. But in the duel with Borussia Dortmund, Guardiola surprised his opponent by the fact that both teams controlled the ball equally, but the British were much more effective in their attack – 4:1. In fact, the “townspeople” repeated something similar later in the match with Real (2:1), which surprised not only the opponent and the fans, but also many experts. Guardiola is trying to prove that he is much more tactically diverse and flexible than anyone thought…
2. Barcelona – 62.8%
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In the second line of the rating is Guardiola’s former team, which still defines itself precisely by a type of football that dictates the tempo, conditions and other aspects of the game to the opponent. However, in the current Champions League, neither Josep’s current nor his former teams are leading, but we will talk about this later…
Barcelona have little confidence in the 2025/26 Champions League. Flick’s team currently sits only 15th in the standings with 10 points from 6 matches. In four matches, the Blaugranas had a complete advantage over their opponents in terms of possession: 64% against Newcastle, 70% against Olympiacos, 74% against Brugge and 74% against Eintracht. Chelsea (44%) – Flick’s team looked like a fish thrown out of water onto the shore. It is not surprising that Barcelona lost in these matches by 1:2 to the Parisians and 0:3 to the Londoners. Before the end of the general stage, the Catalans will have to play two more matches against Slavia and Copenhagen, and in these matches the Blaugranas will be able to play their usual football, and therefore should not be. Although there are no special problems with getting maximum points, it is not a fact that even this will be enough for the top 8.
1. Paris Saint-Germain – 66.7%
The leader of the current Champions League in terms of average match dominance is the current winner of the tournament, Paris Saint-Germain. But this is predictable to some extent, because the coach of the Parisians is now the Spaniard Luis Enrique, who was inspired by how the work of Josep Guardiola developed at the beginning of his coaching career. For several years, both of these experts have worked in the interests of Barcelona – Enrique is the coach of the second team of the club, and Guardiola is the coach of the main team.
PSG had 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat in 6 matches in the current Champions League. Now 13 points are enough for the Parisians to be comfortably among the top three teams of the season; behind only Arsenal (18 points) and Bayern Munich (15 points). Moreover, PSG had more ball possession than their opponents in all six matches. Therefore, in this case, we can easily say that the current cup holder has stuck to his line without making changes to suit his rival. And so far it has brought him results. And what will happen next; The course of events will show…
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.
