FC Basel coach Paulo Sousa promised that his team will take risks and show the same courage and ambition which helped them eliminate Liverpool in the group stage when they face Porto in the Champions League on Wednesday. . Sousa insisted that his side, attempting to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 1973/74 would not be overawed against the twice former champions, who are unbeaten in eight Champions League games this season. . “For us, it’s an extraordinary challenge and I like these challenges,” the Portuguese told reporters as he prepared to face his countrymen in Wednesday’s last-16…
Author: David F.
Real Madrid are turning the corner after a stuttering start to the year and Wednesday’s Champions League Round of 16 first leg at Schalke 04 will prove it, coach Carlo Ancelotti said. . The title holders, aiming to become the first team to retain the Champions League crown, will have defender Pepe fit for the game, the Italian said. . Real, chasing their 11th European Cup, have struggled this year, having been knocked out of the King’s Cup by Atletico Madrid while a 4-0 drubbing at their city rivals in La Liga this month cut their lead over second-placed Barcelona…
The Black Stars are set to play the Super Eagles in an international friendly on March 29 in London. . The announcement was made by the Nigerian Football Federation on Friday, after stating the Eagles will also play against Bolivia at the Akwa Ibom Stadium three days before this tie. . Ghana last locked horns with the Super Eagles four years ago in a 0-0 encounter. The NFF says this much-awaited game will be part of preps for the 2017 Afcon qualifiers which start in mid-year. . Nigeria are looking for a continental resurgence after a loud absence from the…
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is considering opening talks to convince Liverpool winger, Jordon Ibe, to play for the country’s national team, supersport.com can report. . Ibe has already represented England at Under-18, 19 and 20 levels since 2012, but the Nigerian FA has in the past weeks discussed the matter of approaching the 19-year-old of possibly featuring for the Super Eagles. . A member of the NFF Technical and Development Committee, Victor Ikepba, this week, revealed the football federation is mulling over offering Ibe a full international career. . Ikpeba, a former Nigerian international, explained why he believes that…
Paris Saint-Germain coach Laurent Blanc took a gamble on Tuesday by selecting David Luiz in midfield for the Champions League last 16, first leg against Chelsea at the Parc des Princes. . The Brazilian, who scored an own-goal as a Chelsea player in a 3-1 win for PSG when the clubs met in the French capital in the first leg of the quarterfinals last season, steps forward from his usual position in central defence. . He will play in the holding role with both Thiago Motta and Yohan Cabaye missing due to injury, with Blanc gambling on the fitness of…
Struggling Mainz 05 parted ways with coach Kasper Hjulmand on Tuesday after the Dane managed just four wins in 21 league games this season, the club said. . One point above the relegation spot, Mainz, in 14th place on 22 after losing 4-2 to Borussia Dortmund on Friday, appointed youth coach Martin Schmidt as his successor. . “This relegation struggle now changes the criteria which have led to a change in coach,” Mainz manager Christian Heidel said in a statement. . Swiss Schmidt had steered their youth team to promotion into the third division last season. . The 42-year-old Hjulmand,…
Tim Sherwood on Monday said his decision to take the job as manager of struggling English Premier League side Aston Villa was a “no-brainer”. . The 46-year-old was unveiled at Villa Park on Monday after signing a deal until 2018 to replace the sacked Paul Lambert. . He takes over a side who languish in the relegation zone in the league, although his halftime team-talk helped inspire Villa to a 2-1 win against Leicester City on Sunday that took them into the quarterfinals of the FA Cup. . When asked what he said to his new players at the interval…
Louis van Gaal says he is relishing the chance to battle Arsenal at Old Trafford after Manchester United earned a showdown with the holders in the FA Cup quarterfinals. . Goals from Ander Herrera, Marouane Fellaini and Wayne Rooney booked United’s place in the last eight with a 3-1 win at Preston North End in the fifth round on Monday. . The third tier team took the lead early in the second half through Scott Laird but van Gaal’s side ultimately proved too strong. . Their reward is a potentially classic home tie against Arsenal on the weekend of March…
Barcelona has everything in place in agreement to sell the rights to screen their La Liga matches next season to a unit of Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica, ending a long-standing collaboration with broadcaster Mediapro. . The deal was rubber-stamped at a Barca board meeting on Monday and Telefonica will also take over the running of Barca’s in-house television channel, the club said on their website (www.fcbarcelona.es). . Barca did not say how much Telefonica had agreed to pay but local media reported it was around 140 million euros ($159 million), roughly in line with what Mediapro, who own the TV…
Manchester United are in the market for a new midfielder this summer, says manager Louis van Gaal. . The Old Trafford boss has been criticised for playing striker Wayne Rooney in a deeper position and when asked if his priority was to sign a new midfielder he said: “Of course.” . Van Gaal was speaking ahead of Monday’s FA Cup fifth-round tie against Preston North End at Deepdale (19:45 GMT). . “I am looking for balance and I need balance in midfield,” he added. . “When I play with [Adnan] Januzaj and [Angel] Di Maria in the midfield positions, then…
Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu reiterated at a court appearance on Friday that neither he nor the club intentionally committed tax fraud in the signing of Brazil forward Neymar. . Bartomeu was a vice president under former president Sandro Rosell when Neymar was signed in 2013 and he the club have been accused of defrauding the tax office of €2.8 million in 2014. . Rosell, who has also denied wrongdoing, resigned over allegations the club did not pay several millions more in taxes it owed for 2011, 2012 and 2013, saying he wanted to protect the club’s image. . “In the…
After they sold top scorer Diego Costa and fullback Felipe Luis to Chelsea, some predicted Atletico Madrid would struggle to repeat their achievements in 2013-14 when they won La Liga and reached the Champions League final. . The high-profile departures also included goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who returned to parent club Chelsea after a loan deal, but defender Juanfran believes the arrival of the likes of Mario Mandzukic, Antoine Griezmann and, most recently, Fernando Torres means the current squad is even better. . Results on the pitch suggest he may be right. . Atletico are third in La Liga, three points…
Type the name of West Ham United striker Andy Carroll into any internet search engine and you will be greeted with page after page chronicling various failing parts of his body. . You will also find a few more describing those all too rare days when he was fit enough to terrorise defences for club and country. A torn knee ligament, and surgery on Tuesday, means there will be no more of those this season for the man who cost West Ham a club record of around £16 million to sign from Liverpool in 2013. . Past history suggests Carroll’s…
Defender Jason McCarthy confirmed Friday he has penned a new two-and-a-half-year deal with Premier League side Southampton. . The 19-year-old made his professional debut in Saints’ 3-1 win at Crystal Palace last December and has been involved in the first-team squad on a number of occasions. . Captain of the club’s Under-21s side, McCarthy’s new deal runs until 2017. . “It’s great to put pen to paper,” he told Southampton’s official YouTube channel. . “Obviously at the start of the year I knew I was out of contract at the end of the season. . “I was pleased with my…
West Ham United goalkeeper Adrian has had a one match ban overturned and will be available for the Premier League side’s FA Cup fifth round tie at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday. . However, West Ham were charged with failing to ensure players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion after the Spanish goalkeeper was shown the red card against Southampton in a 0-0 draw on Wednesday. . “His one-match suspension has been withdrawn with immediate effect,” the English Football Association said in a statement after a wrongful dismissal appeal on Friday. . Adrian was sent off for handling the ball…
As David Luiz geared up to play against former club Chelsea in next week’s Champions League last 16 first-leg tie, the Paris St Germain player said the Premier League leaders had improved as a team since he left eight months ago. . The centre half, who was sold to PSG for a fee that media reports put at £50 million, believes close-season signing Cesc Fabregas has made the runaway Premier League leaders a more formidable unit. . “Chelsea are better this season,” Luiz told the Evening Standard newspaper. “Above all they are better balanced following the arrival of Fabregas. .…
The Nigeria Football Federation has announced that the Super Eagles will face Bolivia in an international friendly at the Akwa Ibom Stadium on March 26. . This is coming on the heels of the cancellation of the international friendly with the Selecao of Brazil on the same date after the Confederation of Brasil Football (CBF) opted to continue with their World Tour programme in Europe. . “We have had to work at a pace to seal agreement for this match, after the Brazilian Football Federation opted out at the last hour,” Pinnick said via a statement released on Friday. .…
Borussia Dortmund experienced a rollercoaster of emotions before winning 4-2 against Mainz 05 on Friday, a first home victory of the year that moved them out of the Bundesliga relegation zone. . Last season’s runners-up needed the skills of Marco Reus, who this week extended his contract with the club until 2019, as the German international scored one goal and set up another to lift them into 14th spot with 22 points. . The visitors shocked Dortmund in the first minute when keeper Roman Weidenfeller failed to clear after a mistake and Elkin Soto lobbed the ball into an empty…
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang admits Borussia Dortmund’s 4-2 win over Mainz, to climb out of the relegation places, was almost as good as hearing Marco Reus had extended his contract earlier in the week. . “That was the best news of the week,” admitted Gabon goal-scorer Aubameyang after Friday’s win at Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion. . On Tuesday, Germany winger Reus ended weeks of speculation that he was set to quit at the end of the season by announcing he had signed a new contract until 2019. . The Mainz victory capped a red-letter week for Borussia, who had climbed off the bottom of…