Gareth Bale said he had shown character to battle through hard times to become a success at Real Madrid, after signing a contract extension which runs up to June 2022. Bale, 27, joined from from Tottenham in 2013 for €10.7 million and has won two Champions League trophies and the Copa del Rey, while scoring 62 goals and providing 34 assists in 135 official games for Los Blancos. It has not all been plain sailing however for the Wales international at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu though, with Real fans whistling him during a difficult second season in Spain, and cracks…
Author: David Folami
Nice striker Mario Balotelli has scored six goals in five Ligue 1 games, with only Zlatan Ibrahimovic making a more prolific start to his Ligue 1 career. Ibrahimovic, 35, scored seven goals in his opening five Ligue 1 matches after joining Paris Saint-Germain from AC Milan in 2012. Balotelli, 26, found the net in his team’s 4-1 win over Nantes on Sunday to move onto six for the season, meaning his has scored in all but one of his appearances since his summer transfer from Liverpool. Radamel Falcao scored four in his first five league games after he joined Monaco…
Manchester United’s attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan “does not know what Jose Mourinho is thinking,” according to the Armenian football federation’s president. Mkhitaryan suffered a thigh injury while on international duty with Armenia but was rushed back into United’s team for the derby match against Manchester City on Sept. 10. The Armenian was substituted at half-time of the 2-1 defeat, with Mourinho later publicly complaining that some players had not given him what he wanted — and the 27-year-old has not played again since then. Ruben Hayrapetyan, president of the Football Federation of Armenia, was quoted by Armenpress as saying: “I…
Manchester United released pictures showing Bastian Schweinsteiger and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in first-team training on Monday. Schweinsteiger, signed by Louis van Gaal in 2015, had not been training with the first team following Jose Mourinho’s arrival in the summer and the Daily Mail’s website published a story on Sunday evening saying Mkhitaryan had “worked out alone.” However, United published a picture on Monday showing the pair in training alongside midfielder Marouane Fellaini and assistant manager Rui Faria. Luke Shaw said he was delighted to have Schweinsteiger back on the training pitch. “It’s great to see him back,” the United left-back said.…
Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has tipped Cristiano Ronaldo to win the 2016 Ballon d’Or, telling Marca his achievements over the last year are “unbeatable.” Real Madrid star Ronaldo was firm favourite for a fourth career Ballon d’Or award after 51 goals in 2015-16 as his club won last season’s Champions League, and the Portugal captain then lifted the Euro 2016 trophy in June after scoring three times in the competition. While other candidates including Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi are thought to still be in the running, Ferguson said: “I cannot think of anyone better to take…
Manchester United have had some headaches with injuries to their defensive players — with four men currently on the treatment table, having all missed Saturday’s 0-0 home draw against struggling Burnley. Their absences meant that, against Burnley, Marcos Rojo and Matteo Darmian both started in the Premier League for the first time this season. Here is a look at the players who are currently suffering. ANTONIO VALENCIA The Ecuadorian was diagnosed with a fractured right arm, having played 90 minutes during the 1-0 win over Manchester City in the EFL Cup on Wednesday. Although a timeframe has not been placed…
As the fans drifted away from Old Trafford wondering how they’d not seen their team win on Saturday, Manchester United’s dressing room was close to silence after the 0-0 draw against Burnley. The players felt that they’d given it their all and with 37 shots in an entertaining match, they had. At no time since 2003 have United had more attempts on goal — the problem was that none of them went in. Jose Mourinho, who’d been sent off, said a few words and then went to congratulate each of the Burnley players. They’d defended well, with two former United…
Manchester United released pictures showing Bastian Schweinsteiger and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in first-team training on Monday. Schweinsteiger, signed by Louis van Gaal in 2015, had not been training with the first team following Jose Mourinho’s arrival in the summer and the Daily Mail’s website published a story on Sunday evening saying Mkhitaryan had “worked out alone.” However, United published a picture on Monday showing the pair in training alongside midfielder Marouane Fellaini and assistant manager Rui Faria. Luke Shaw said he was delighted to have Schweinsteiger back on the training pitch. “It’s great to see him back,” the United left-back said.…
Antonio Conte has hinted Chelsea captain John Terry could be sent back to the bench for Sunday’s Premier League trip to Southampton. Terry’s return to action in Chelsea’s midweek League Cup defeat at West Ham didn’t go according to plan as the centre-back struggled in his first appearance following six weeks on the sidelines with an ankle injury. After three successive league wins without conceding a goal, Chelsea lost 2-1 to the Hammers and Terry’s error-strewn performance in Conte’s favoured three-man defence is unlikely to have persuaded the Italian to keep him in the starting line-up this weekend. The back…
Manchester United’s Antonio Valencia will undergo surgery on Saturday after fracturing his arm, the English Premier League giants announced. Ecuador defender Valencia, 31, has made 11 appearances in all competitions for United so far this season. But he was missing from Jose Mourinho’s squad for Saturday’s league match at home to Burnley, with United confirming his injury via a Twitter feed statement that said: “Antonio Valencia has a fracture in his arm and will have surgery today.” Valencia, who made his name as a winger before featuring as a right back under successive United managers, has been replaced in the…
Robert Lewandowski revealed Saturday he is close to signing a new deal with Bayern Munich, which could reportedly make the Poland hot-shot the club’s highest earner. Lewandowski netted his seventh goal in nine league games so far this season when he scored twice in their 3-1 win at Augsburg to leave Carlo Ancelotti’s Bayern two points clear in the German league. The 28-year-old’s contract expires in June 2019, but Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is said to be eager to secure the services of Lewandowski, the Bundesliga’s top scorer last season with 30 goals in 32 games, on a bumper contract.…
Manchester United assistant manager Rui Faria suggested sarcastically that referee Mark Clattenburg did “fantastic work” by sending off Ander Herrera during their 0-0 draw with Burnley. United midfielder Herrera was dismissed for two bookable offences, the second of which came midway through the second half for a foul on Dean Marney. The Spaniard appeared to slip as he made the challenge, but Clattenburg ruled it worthy of a booking and issued a red card. Herrera wasn’t the only one to see red at Old Trafford as Faria conducted post-match media duties, with manager Jose Mourinho absent after being sent to…
Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon called for improvements despite a 2-1 win over title rivals Napoli that left the Serie A champions four points clear of an increasingly ambitious chasing pack. A second-half winner from ex-Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain sent Juve four points clear of Roma, with Napoli now seven points off the pace after AC Milan and Lazio won on Sunday to move into third and fourth places respectively. Although Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri paid tribute to his squad for “interpreting the game well”, Buffon said it’s not enough. One of the world’s most decorated goalkeepers, former World Cup winner…
Pep Guardiola is the world’s top manager but needs more time to make Manchester City great, and will have to hope for some luck to beat his former club Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday, says the Spanish club’s ex-forward David Villa. “Guardiola is the best manager in the world but I think it is too early to compare his Barcelona side with Manchester City. We have to give him time because I am sure he will make City a great team,” Villa told Reuters in a telephone interview. City won their opening six matches in the Premier League…
Barcelona top the group at the halfway point with three victories from their three matches, while City have four points after a draw against Celtic and victory over Borussia Moenchengladbach. Guardiola said the group standings meant Tuesday’s match was of greater significance for City than Barcelona. “It is not a final for them. It is a final for us,” the 45-year-old explained. “There are just three games left. We dropped two points in Glasgow against Celtic and we need to recover those points. “Every manager, every trainer has his plans. We know them, they know us. But football is unpredictable.…
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has admitted his players must keep their discipline and produce the “perfect” performance to beat Barcelona in the Champions League at Eastlands on Tuesday. Guardiola’s side lost 4-0 in their Group C encounter against the Spanish giants at the Nou Camp on October 19 –- their fifth defeat in as many meetings with the Catalan club. City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was sent off in that match and Guardiola acknowledged the importance of keeping 11 players on the pitch against a side of Barcelona’s class. “We know we need to play almost perfectly,” Guardiola, who guided…
Barcelona members passed a bumper contract extension with American kit manufactures Nike that will see the Catalans make at least €150 million a season from 2018. The initial deal, which smashes Manchester United’s previous record deal with Adidas, will run until 2023 when Barca’s members will have the chance to vote in favour of a further five-year extension. “It is a figure which puts us number one in the world for sponsorship in the sports industry,” Barca vice-president Manuel Arroyo told the club’s annual general meeting on Saturday. “The fixed rare of the contract increases 48 percent and the royalties…
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique insisted his side will need an improved display when faced with the very different challenge of former Barca boss Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City after labouring to a 1-0 win over Granada. Barca travel to Manchester on Tuesday having thrashed Guardiola’s men 4-0 less than two weeks ago to take a commanding lead of Champions League Group C thanks to a Lionel Messi hat-trick. However, Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar endured a rare off night in front of goal as midfielder Rafinha bagged the only goal against an ultra defensive-minded Granada. “Now we will go to Manchester…
Gareth Bale tied his long term future to Real Madrid on Sunday by extending his contract with the Spanish giants to 2022, the club confirmed. “Real Madrid C. F. and Gareth Bale have agreed an extension to the player’s contract, keeping him at the club until the 30th of June 2022,” Madrid said in a statement. Bale, 27, joined Real for a then world record fee from Tottenham Hotspur in 2013 on a six-year deal and has won the Champions League twice in his three full seasons in the Spanish capital. The Welshman is just the latest of a series…
Super Eagles goalkeeper, Ikechukwu Ezenwa has said Algeria’s choice of former manager, Georges Leekens will count for nothing in the World Cup qualifying clash. Eagles will host the Algerian opposite, Desert Foxes in the group’s 2018 Fifa World Cup matchday 2 clash on November 12 at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo. The Belgian was handed a second spell at the North African side on Thursday to replace the ousted Serbia’s Milovan Rajevan. Ezenwa said the present crop of Eagles want to pick the World Cup ticket with a game to spare in the qualifying campaign. “Georges Leekens’ appointment…