Battling Leicester looked organised but a little goal shy as Jose Mourinho’s new-look Manchester United edged an even encounter. The Foxes recovered well from a sluggish start only to be undone by Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s late header, which appeared to be marginally offside. Positives Leicester looked hungry and ready for a grueling, exciting season ahead. Jamie Vardy appears close to being match fit following wrist surgery and there’s clearly depth available from the bench. Negatives The Foxes are shipping goals and have conceded 12 in their last three games. Claudio Ranieri is also perhaps undecided on his best XI which, given…
Author: David Folami
Brazil and Neymar suffered another frustrating 90 minutes of Olympic football in Group A after being held by Iraq to a goalless draw on Sunday. Despite having 77 percent of possession in the game and 20 shots at goal, the Selecao trio of Neymar, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Barbosa failed to find the back of the net. Brazil now sit in second place behind Denmark with two points, ahead of Iraq and South Africa with one game to go. Arsenal forward Takuma Asano showed why he is so highly rated after helping Japan to a 2-2 comeback in their Olympic…
Renato Sanches has been forced to wait to make his competitive debut for Bayern Munich after the midfielder was ruled out for three to four weeks with a thigh injury sustained in Portugal’s Euro 2016 final victory last month. Sanches, who joined the German champions in a €35 million summer move from Benfica, missed Sunday’s training session at Bayern’s Sabener Strasse training complex as he continues to recover from the injury picked up during the extra-time win over hosts France on July 10. The 18-year-old was substituted on 79 minutes and was replaced by Eder, who scored the only goal…
Jurgen Klopp’s return to Mainz — a team he played for and managed — was not a happy one as his much-changed Liverpool side suffered a 4-0 loss in their final preseason friendly of the summer. After Saturday’s 4-0 win over Barcelona, the Reds’ performance against the Bundesliga outfit in Germany was abject, with goals from Daniel Brosinski, Jhon Cordoba, Yunus Malli and Yoshinori Muto condemning them to a deserved defeat. There are further injury worries for the Liverpool boss after midfielder Marko Grujic landed awkwardly on his ankle and had to come off in the 40th minute at the…
Theo Walcott boosted his confidence by scoring the decisive goal for Arsenal in a 3-2 victory over Manchester City on Sunday in their final preseason warmup ahead of the new season. Walcott made a perfect run into the box to meet Alexis Sanchez’s pass and chipped a delicate finish over the onrushing Joe Hart to make it 2-1 in the 73rd minute as the Gunners came from a goal down in the second half. Substitute Chuba Akpom then made sure of the Gunners’ fourth straight preseason win in the 85th minute before Kelechi Iheanacho pulled one back for City.
Chelsea recorded a 4-2 friendly win over Werder Bremen in Gothenburg, Sweden. Eden Hazard opened the scoring on seven minutes, firing home following a short corner, and the Belgian was involved in the build-up when Oscar added a second two minutes later. Bremen’s veteran striker Claudio Pizarro scored against his former club from the penalty spot on 33 minutes after Nemanja Matic had fouled Zlatko Junuzovic. Diego Costa made it 3-1 just before the half-time break after superb work from Hazard, but the Bundesliga side again reduced the deficit through substitute Lennart Thy’s low drive in the second half. Pedro…
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho says his team still needs to adapt to get the best out of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Ibrahimovic, 34, scored United’s late winner against Leicester City as the Red Devils beat the Premier League champions 2-1 in the Community Shield at Wembley. Mourinho believes there is still a lot of improvement in his side ahead of their opening league fixture at Bournemouth on Sunday. “The first half performance was much better than the second. The team isn’t fit enough yet,” Mourinho told BT Sport. “When Leicester increased the pace, they had three quick players and changed the…
Jose Mourinho said that it is “amazing” that Paul Pogba is set to return to Manchester United, but added that the midfielder needs to work hard to come into the team. The France midfielder’s current club Juventus confirmed on Sunday that Pogba had been given permission to have a medical at United and the Premier League club then confirmed that news two hours later. United were preparing to face Leicester City, who they went on to defeat 2-1 at Wembley and lift the Community Shield. When asked about the Pogba move being finally done after the Leicester game, Mourinho told…
Ex-Germany coach Rudi Voeller has backed Bastian Schweinsteiger to play at least two more years of top-level football, despite having been frozen out at Manchester United by manager Jose Mourinho. “Regardless of where his future lies, Bastian will keep playing at the highest level for at least two more years,” Voeller, sporting director at Bayer Leverkusen, told German daily Bild on Sunday. Just a year after joining United, Schweinsteiger, 32, has fallen from favour and was banished to United’s reserves by new manager Mourinho, who has made it clear the German has no future at Old Trafford. The Red Devils…
Mats Hummels expects to run a gauntlet of boos and whistles next Sunday on his first game back in the Bayern Munich shirt – away to his ex-club Borussia Dortmund. The 27-year-old Germany defender, a product of the Bayern academy, signed for Dortmund in 2008, but has rejoined the Munich giants after eight years at their Bundesliga rivals. Now his first competitive appearance back in the Bayern shirt will be at Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park stadium on August 14 for the German Super Cup. Having made his Germany debut, won the 2014 World Cup and back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 2011…
United confirmed the news with a short statement on their club website saying the medical would enable Pogba to “finalise his transfer from Juventus to Manchester United”. Pogba, who was part of the France side that lost to Portugal in the Euro 2016 final last month, tweeted enigmatically: “When too many people talk nobody understands – talk very soon.” Early signs that a deal was imminent came when Pogba did not travel with the Juventus squad to London for their 3-2 friendly win over West Ham United on Sunday. Media reports said he had already arrived in Manchester. Pogba, who…
Paul Pogba can fulfil his dream of becoming the world’s best player by returning to his former club Manchester United, his manager-in-waiting Jose Mourinho declared on Sunday. Pogba, 23, is close to returning to Old Trafford for a reported world-record fee of £89 million after United and Juventus confirmed he was due to undergo a medical. The France midfielder makes no secret of his desire to usurp Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the world’s foremost player and Mourinho believes he will achieve that ambition at United. “I think United is the perfect club to bring him to the level…
Paul Pogba may be playful off the field but when it comes to the ruthless world of professional football, the France star is as shrewd as they come. And business is usually a family affair. “His mother is the only person Paul listens to all the time,” a close family friend told AFP during an interview with Pogba’s mother, Yeo Moriba, prior to Euro 2016. Only 23 years old, Pogba’s return to Manchester United after four successful seasons with Juventus is set to make him the most expensive player in history at £89 million. The contracts will be signed by…
Arsenal’s Brazilian central defender Gabriel was carried off on a stretcher after damaging ankle ligaments during their 3-2 pre-season win over Manchester City in Gothenburg on Sunday. “He’s in pain. Let’s hope the pain isn’t a sign of bad news,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told a news conference. “It’s an ankle sprain.” Arsenal have already lost Per Mertesacker for several months with a knee problem leaving Calum Chambers and Laurent Koscielny as their only experienced centre backs with a tough opening Premier League match looming at home to Liverpool next Sunday. Wenger did not rule out bringing in another defender…
It may be the costliest round trip in football history — on Paul Pogba, Manchester United are set to spend a reported world-record fee of £89 million ($116.4 million, 105 million euros). That is for a player who left Old Trafford for just £1.5 million four years ago. The story of how the France international slipped from United’s grasp so cheaply is one of the less glorious chapters of Alex Ferguson’s final years as the club’s manager. Ferguson got it right far more often than he got it wrong in his 26-and-a-half years at Old Trafford, winning 38 trophies while…
Mourinho deployed his new-look strike partnership of Wayne Rooney and Ibrahimovic and both players made their presence felt in Leicester’s penalty area early on. Rooney headed straight at Kasper Schmeichel from Luke Shaw’s cross and the Leicester goalkeeper was also obliged to field a hooked Fellaini shot after Ibrahimovic had leapt to win a high ball. Leicester attacked the game with the intensity that characterised last season’s title triumph and procured several chances of their own. Vardy drew last-ditch tackles from Daley Blind and impressive United new boy Eric Bailly with trademark darting runs, while Shinji Okazaki glanced a header…
Zlatan Ibrahimovic announced his arrival in English football with an 83rd-minute winner as Manchester United edged Leicester City 2-1 at Wembley on Sunday to win the Community Shield. The former Paris Saint-Germain striker had a quiet game, but he outjumped Wes Morgan to head home Antonio Valencia’s cross and earn Jose Mourinho his first piece of silverware as United manager. Leicester talisman Jamie Vardy had earlier punished an error by Marouane Fellaini to cancel out FA Cup match-winner Jesse Lingard’s first-half solo goal for United, who claimed a record-extending 21st Community Shield. “It’s an important victory, but we have lots…
Patoranking delayed the release of his debut album because he was unsure of himself and his level of penetration in Nigeria. In a press parley conducted by his PR team, Patoranking spoke about the new album, the circumstances surrounding the release of the project, and the various backstories which led to the creation of the album. The singer had on August 1, 2016, dropped his debut album “God Over Everything”, two years after he broke through with his single ‘Alubarika’. He talked of the concept guiding the album creation, tying it into his origin and more. On his delay, Patoranking…
A failure to sign Paul Pogba could lead to an unhappy dressing room at Manchester United, Rio Ferdinand has warned. Jose Mourinho’s side are reportedly willing to pay Juventus €120 million to lure the France international back to Old Trafford, but the Serie A club have dug their heels in over the deal’s value. United were thought to be keen on striking a deal before Sunday’s Community Shield against Leicester City, but they are yet to make a breakthrough. And Ferdinand is concerned that United players who have been expecting to line up alongside Pogba could become disillusioned if the…
Former Liverpool star Luis Suarez is confident Jurgen Klopp can lead the Anfield side back into the Champions League in the upcoming Premier League season. Liverpool last featured in European club football’s elite competition in 2014-15, when they failed to qualify for the knockout stages from a group with Real Madrid, Basel and Ludogorets. They had to settle for eighth place in the table last term as they missed out on European football altogether, but Suarez feels his former team will soon be back at the highest level. “The last few months, everybody saw a really good performance from Liverpool,”…