Football
Lucas Moura: Tottenham squad united behind Jose Mourinho
Lucas Moura has insisted that the whole Tottenham squad are united behind under-fire boss Jose Mourinho amid the club’s turbulent 2020-21 campaign. Mourinho’s position in the Spurs dugout has been called into question in the wake of a nightmare week which saw the team follow up a north London derby defeat to Arsenal by exiting the Europa League in shocking fashion at the hands of Dinamo Zagreb. Spurs were thrashed 3-0 in the second leg of that last-16 tie in Croatia, but responded by beating Aston Villa 2-0 in the Premier League on Sunday, with Moura issuing a rallying cry in his post-match interview. “It’s been a very bad week for us, the feeling was very bad,” the Spurs winger told the Evening Standard : “Last night, we showed our nature, we showed attitude. “The good thing about footbal...
Fred racially abused on social media following Man United FA Cup exit
Fred suffered racist abuse online following Manchester United’s FA Cup exit to Leicester City on Sunday. Fred was at fault for Leicester’s opening goal as he gifted the ball to Kelechi Iheanacho in front of goal, with the Leicester striker rounding goalkeeper Dean Henderson to slot the ball home. After United’s 3-1 defeat, the 28-year-old’s Instagram account became the target of abuse from online trolls, with several of the comments racial in nature. The Brazil international is one of several United players to be subjected to abuse in recent weeks. Marcus Rashford posted a statement about comments directed at him in late January, while Anthony Martial and Axel Tuanzebe were also targeted. Here’s the manager’s take on a disappointing afternoon ⬇ 🔴 #MUFC🏆 #...
Juventus chief: Cristiano Ronaldo is going nowhere
Juventus chief football officer, Fabio Paratici, has declared Cristiano Ronaldo is going nowhere and will see out the rest of his contract in Turin. Ronaldo’s future with Juve was plunged into uncertainty as the Italian giants crashed out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage earlier this month. The 36-year-old has scored at a prolific rate since his £99million arrival from Real Madrid in 2018 and has won back-to-back Serie A titles. But Ronaldo’s search for a sixth Champions League title has been fruitless with Juventus and he has been linked with a move away from the Allianz Stadium this summer, one year before his contract ends. Get more stories like this on Twitter You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It ...
Champions League: Jurgen Klopp backed by Rafa Benitez to repeat Liverpool’s ‘Miracle of Istanbul’
Jurgen Klopp has been backed by Rafa Benitez to repeat his feat from 2004-05 and win the Champions League despite a disappointing Premier League campaign. Liverpool, who sit five points outside the top four with nine games to play, face Real Madrid in the quarter-finals and could play Chelsea, their semi-final opponents in 2005, in the following round. With the final set to be played at Istanbul’s Ataturk Stadium, the venue for Benitez’s side’s miracle comeback against AC Milan, there is plenty of talk of destiny for Liverpool. Asked if Liverpool could go all the way again in Europe, Benitez told the Daily Mail: “For sure. Liverpool has the potential and the manager, it’s not a problem. “People talk about Istanbul like we were lucky. But we were not lucky to win the Champions League becaus...
WCQ: Tottenham’s Tanguy Ndombele returns to France squad
Tottenham midfielder Tanguy Ndombele has been rewarded for his upturn in form with a recall to the France squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers. The 24-year-old hasn’t featured for Les Bleus since the summer of 2019 but now has the chance to add to his six international caps in matches against Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Other notable returnees include Atletico Madrid’s Thomas Lemar, who hasn’t featured since November 2019, while Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele, a member of their 2018 World Cup-winning squad, is back for the first time in two-and-a-half years. This represents Ndombele’s first international call up since his club-record €60 million (£54m/$68m) move from Lyon to Tottenham. The Frenchman arrived in north London with a reputation as an all-action midf...
Former England skipper wants brain tested for dementia signs
Former England striker Gary Lineker says he will get extra checks on his brain for signs of dementia. Research has found that former professional footballers are three and a half times more likely to die from a brain disorder than the general population. Already, an inquiry was launched by the UK parliament this month into sport’s link to dementia. Lineker, who has previously suggested a complete ban on heading in training, joined a radio programme for a Dementia in Football documentary. He revealed he and colleagues Alan Shearer and Ian Wright fear they could end up with a brain disorder. “I’ve had conversations with Alan Shearer and Ian Wright and others about the worry that, come 10, 15 years, that it might happen to one of us,” said the 60-year-old former England captain turned broadca...
Alan Shearer includes Kelechi Iheanacho in Premier League Team of the Week
Legendary England and Newcastle striker Alan Shearer included hat-trick hero Kelechi Iheanacho in his Premier League Team of the Week. Shearer’s Team of the Week was published on the Premier League’s official website. Iheanacho netted his first ever hat-trick in Leicester City’s 5-0 win against Sheffield United at the weekend. It was his fifth goal in his last three games and has now scored six goals in 16 league appearances. Among other players who made the list alongside Iheanacho are Chelsea goalkeeper Edourd Mendy, Arsenal youngster Emile Smith Rowe, Manchester United left-back Luke Shaw and Erik Lamela of Tottenham Hotspur. And in Shearer’s Team of the Week, which is in a 3-4-3 formation, Iheanacho leads the three-man forward. And commenting on the Nigerian, the Premier League winner ...
Edinson Cavani: I almost joined Manchester United ahead of Napoli
Edinson Cavani has revealed he almost joined Manchester United 11 years ago. Cavani revealed he almost joined Manchester United in 2010. The Uruguayan was with Palermo at the time but ended up joining Napoli and then Paris Saint-Germain – before signing for United a decade later. Discussing it with Inside United, Cavani said: “Just imagine it! I can’t remember exactly what happened. “I do remember there was talk about one or two different teams, but hey, if I’d had that opportunity [to join United], I would have taken it, of course I would, without giving it a second thought. “I don’t remember definitively if that was the case. “But what I do remember is that I was due to travel to the World Cup in South Africa, and during that tournament, I had a conversation with Napoli, and well, told t...
Raheem Sterling denies rumours of a rift with Pep Guardiola
Raheem Sterling says rumours he was involved in a bust up with Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola are false. Sterling was an unused substitute against Southampton last week and was then left out of the squad entirely for City’s victory over Fulham on Saturday night. And on Sunday, a rumour emerged on Reddit claiming that the winger and team-mate Phil Foden had both fallen out with Guardiola over their lack of playing time. But writing on Twitter on Sunday night, Sterling vehemently denied the rumours. Sterling has contributed 13 goals and eight assists for City in all competitions this season. Get more stories like this on Twitter You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to m...
Cristiano Ronaldo refuses to do a post-match interview
Cristiano Ronaldo appears to hint that all isn’t well with him at Juventus after refusing to make any post-match comments. The Portuguese attacker scored a hat-trick as the Bianconeri beat Cagliari 3-1 to boost their chances of retaining their league title. His performance was one that needed him to speak after the game, considering that he would take the match ball home and has never scored in the stadium before. Calciomercato reports that after the game, he was asked for an interview and he told the communications manager of the club that he didn’t want to make any statements. By doing so, he rejected the chance to put some news about his future to bed once and for all. He has been criticized for failing to help the Bianconeri win the Champions League after dominating the competition whe...
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has no sympathy with David Moyes for Manchester United failure
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer does not sympathise with former Manchester United manager David Moyes for his short tenure at Old Trafford. Moyes was sacked just 10-months after replacing Sir Alex Ferguson, the legendary Scot who identified him as the club’s next manager. The 57-year-old is now leading West Ham in an impressive charge for the European places, after spells at Real Sociedad and Sunderland. Moyes’s West Ham side travel to Old Trafford on Sunday evening, and would go within three points of Solskjaer’s Reds with victory. Solskjaer praised Moyes for his turnaround in East London but refused to have sympathy for the manner in which he lost a ‘dream job’. “I don’t think you can feel sorry for someone who has managed Manchester United,” he said in his pre-match press conference, as quoted by ...
Chelsea owner takes legal action over ‘Putin’s People’ book
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has launched legal action for defamation over the book Putin’s People. The Blues owner’s case relates to “a number of false and defamatory claims made about our client in the book published by HarperCollins.” The book was written by author Caterine Belton and contains a number of claims about Abramovich and others close to Russia president Vladimir Putin. Abramovich’s statement, published on Chelsea’s club website, says: “Today my legal representatives have issued legal proceedings in England in relation to a book that was published in the UK. The book contains a number of false and defamatory statements about me, including about my purchase, and the activities, of Chelsea Football Club. “Today’s action was not taken lightly. It has never been my ambition to ...