Month: October 2019

Chelsea banned four supporters following alleged abuse of the England star and the Belgian has offered support

Eden Hazard has offered public support to Raheem Sterling after the Manchester City forward was allegedly racially abused at Chelsea during a Premier League game.

Sterling was berated by a section of the Stamford Bridge crowd during Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat of the Premier League champions, with the club subsequently suspending four people from attending matches pending further investigations.

The Metropolitan Police also launched an investigation into whether Sterling was racially abused by spectators and Hazard has backed the England international.

“The only thing I can say is I support the player. Sterling is a fantastic player,” Hazard told Sky Sports.

“There is an investigation, so we don’t know what will happen.

“Proper Chelsea fans just sing for Chelsea and enjoy the game.

“I am fully supportive of Raheem and this sort of racism cannot be in the stadium anymore.”

Former England coach Gary Neville also revealed Sterling approached him asking for advice on how to cope with criticism during Euro 2016, where the Three Lions exited to Iceland in the last 16 and what were perceived to be his poor performances were highlighted in the media.

Sterling spoke out against the incident at Chelsea in an Instagram post where he highlighted the differing way reports on City youngsters Phil Foden and Tosin Adarabioyo buying property for their parents were produced.

Manchester City are set to face Hoffenheim in the Champions League on Wednesday. 

The centre-back made his return to action for the Gunners against Qarabag in the Europa League on Thursday following a six month absence

Arsenal’s club captain Laurent Koscielny claims he is “a better person” and mentally stronger after coming back from a six-month injury lay-off.

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The defender ruptured his Achilles tendon during last season’s Europa League semi-final against Atletico Madrid in May, causing him to miss France’s 2018 Wolrd Cup win in Russia. 

Koscielny admitted he struggled to come to terms with missing out on the tournament, and even rooted against France at times.

The 33-year-old finally returned to the pitch on Thursday, starting Arsenal’s Europa League win over Qarabag at centre-back, and said his “season starts now”  when speaking to reporters after the game.

When asked about his spell on the sidelines, Koscielny told the Gunners’ official website: “It makes you a better person, a better man.

“I talked to a lot of people who had been injured like me, or in their knees, so it’s like six months [out], and they told me that you miss football a lot and when you come back you are so hungry. You want to eat everything and grow on the pitch and just enjoy and be happy with what you can do on the pitch. 

“These are real things that I have in me. I’m hungry to play football again and to play with my team-mates, so I don’t think people will say ‘you have been injured and will be less stronger than before’. I think you are mentally stronger than any people who didn’t have an injury like you’ve had.”

Koscielny is expected to feature against Southampton in the Premier League on Sunday as Arsenal are without Sokratis and Shkrodan Mustafi through suspension, while Rob Holding is injured.

A return to league action will mean a lot to the Frenchman, who admitted he missed spending time with his team-mates while absent.

“When you are fit, you have a lot of friends and a lot of people who love you and everything, and when you are injured all these people forget you,” he continued. “But it’s nice because for me I don’t forget and I can realise which people are with me and love me, so it’s important for my life to know about this.

“You miss everything. You miss the love you can have with your team-mates, you miss the pitch, you miss all the conversations with your team-mates during treatment or gym sessions.”

The Gunners will be looking to keep pace with Tottenham, and bring the gap between themselves and their London rivals back down to two points. 

Santiago Solari’s young side were overpowered by a Russian outfit still chasing a spot in the Europa League on Wednesday

CSKA Moscow’s 3-0 win over Real Madrid in the Champions League is the biggest home defeat the Spanish side have ever suffered in European competition.

While reigning title holders Madrid were already sure of their first place finish in Group G heading into Wednesday’s match at the Santiago Bernabeu, their Russian opponents still had their eye on beating Viktoria Plzen to third place.

Through goals from Fedor Chalov and Georgi Shchennikov, the visitors had a two-goal lead by half-time and Santiago Solari’s team had no luck in finding a way back in to the game.

Arnor Sigurdsson had it wrapped up with 15 minutes left, as CSKA became the first team to come away from a trip to Los Blancos with such a scoreline in any continental tournament. 

It is the first time Madrid have lost a group stage match at home since October 2009, when AC Milan beat them 3-2 – that was 28 games ago.

 

Although CSKA crashed out of Europe altogether as Viktoria Plzen beat them to the Europa League place with a 2-1 win over Roma, the Russian side can take solace in the fact they are the first team to have beaten Madrid both home and away in the group stages of the competition since Juventus did it in 2008-09. 

Madrid will not be too disheartened by their performance, given Solari made big changes to his starting XI for the game. With an average age of 24 years and 100 days, Solari’s team was the third youngest Madrid have ever fielded in the Champions League. 

Meanwhile, Madrid’s highly-rated winger Vinicius Junior made his first Champions League start for the club at just 18 years and 152 days old – Iker Casillas and Raul are the only Madrid players to have started a game in the competition at a younger age.

The French defender is set for a first Gunners appearance since May, having been out with a serious injury

Laurent Koscielny will make his first senior Arsenal appearance of the season on Thursday against Qarabag in the Europa League following an Achilles injury, Unai Emery has confirmed.

French defender Koscielny ruptured his Achilles tendon during Arsenal’s Europa League semi-final second-leg defeat to Atletico Madrid in May.

The injury subsequently robbed him of a place in France’s World Cup-winning campaign, while he has yet to feature for Arsenal’s first-team since Emery took over from Arsene Wenger.

Now 33, Koscielny has been nursed back to fitness in recent weeks thanks to appearances for Arsenal’s second team, and Emery confirmed he will feature against Qarabag, with the Gunners already assured of top spot in Group E.

“Our first mind in this competition is to be first in the group – which we have done,” Emery told reporters on Wednesday.

“But we respect this competition and Qarabag. [On Thursday] our objective is to win, we will give a players chance to take responsibility and confidence.

“We are going to use the match with some different players, with some coming from Under-23s. We also start to play with Laurent Koscielny.”

Emery is unsure about whether Koscielny will also be involved against Southampton in the Premier League on Sunday, waiting to see how he copes with the visit of Qarabag.

“We have some players with injuries and unavailable at centre-back,” he said. “We are going to decide after Thursday [if Koscielny plays at the weekend], because it will be the first time Koscielny can play.

“We can use other players in this position, like sometimes [Nacho] Monreal and [Stephan] Lichtsteiner, so we will decide, but first we think about the Qarabag game.”

Mesut Ozil is also in contention after four games out with a back injury, though Emery gave little away about whether he will start or be on the bench.

“He is in the group, we will decide if we play at the beginning or during the match,” Emery said.

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After having to cope with injury issues during a busy 2018, the Paris Saint-Germain forward insists he is now fully fit again

Neymar has confirmed he is “back to 100 per cent” after an injury-hit 2018 – and is already looking forward to Paris Saint-Germain taking on Manchester United in the Champions League next year.

The Brazil international suffered a fractured foot in a game against Marseille in February and while he returned in time for the World Cup, he could not inspire his country to progress beyond the quarter-finals.

Neymar, the world’s most expensive player, has suffered further setbacks this term too, with a groin issue sustained on an international friendly hindering him of late.

But, having helped PSG top their Champions League group to progress to the knockout stages, he now believes he is firing on all cylinders following a “tough” start to the season.

“Coming back and getting to play alongside and be with your team-mates is always great,” Neymar told PSG’s official website.

“It was a pretty sad situation, with my injury and then our defeat at the World Cup, but you need to draw inspiration from such episodes and come back to focus on new objectives.

“I think it was a tough start to the season, but it was very important and the work we did was excellent. Now I feel back to 100 per cent.

“It was tough to adapt to my return to competition and playing matches after my injury and the operation. But now I feel really good.”

Neymar’s relationship with Edinson Cavani has appeared strained in the past, but the forward says the pair, along with Kylian Mbappe, are dovetailing well.

“We’re very happy that our link-up play is getting better and better in each match; we’re getting to know each other better as time goes by,” Neymar said.

“And that’s our objective: that everyone be happy to provide assists for the others to score, so that everyone ends the match happy – even though the most important thing is, of course, to win the match.”

And Neymar is relishing a last-16 European meeting with United, who have appointed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for the remainder of 2018-19 following the departure of Jose Mourinho.

The first leg takes place at Old Trafford on February 12 before they meet in the return fixture on French soil on March 6.

“I was happy [with the draw]; they will be two great matches between two great sides,” he said. “We know the quality that Manchester United have and we know that their players have a winning mentality.

“The coach has changed and it will be a different playing style – they’re in the process of changing things up – but we know the quality they have.

“I love the big matches and it’s always a pleasure to play in them. I’m very happy to be taking on Manchester United.”

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The Red Devils missed the chance to land a potentially easier clash in the last 16 after slipping to a disappointing 2-1 defeat away at Valencia

Juan Mata admits Manchester United are “disappointed” at having squandered the chance to top their Champions League group and avoid a potentially tricky clash in the last 16.

The Red Devils headed to Valencia on Wednesday already assured of progression to the knockout stage.

Juventus were expected to make short work of Young Boys in the other Group H fixture of the evening, but Cristiano and Co surprisingly came unstuck in Switzerland.

Defeat for the Bianconeri meant that United could snatch first place with a win at the Mestalla, but they also slipped to a 2-1 reversal and now face the threat of being paired with the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain.

“We are disappointed because obviously it’s more painful knowing that Juventus lost and if we’d have won we would have finished first in the group,” former Valencia midfielder Mata told reporters after a return to familiar surroundings.

“It’s a disappointing night. It was special for me personally coming back to Valencia and feel the love of the club and the supporters, so I am grateful for that.

“But I’m disappointed overall. I think we reacted a bit too late, so we had some chances at the end that we could have scored.

“But overall we qualified and that was the most important thing and we knew that, but obviously we would have loved to have been first in the group.”

Having failed to emerge victorious on midweek European duty, United are now stumbling towards a crunch Premier League clash with leaders Liverpool on Sunday.

Mata concedes that things are not getting any easier for Jose Mourinho’s side, telling MUTV: “It’s a very busy month and we have very important games coming, especially on Sunday.

“But I don’t think it’s an excuse because as a football player, you focus on the game that you are playing and try to give your best in every single game.

“Today we were already qualified but it was still a Champions League game against a good team.

“Obviously, they wanted to show that they can beat a club like Manchester United and they are not in a very good position in the league either.

“But they pushed, and they wanted to show they are a very competitive side.

“I know it’s difficult, but we have to keep going and especially with what we have coming on Sunday, we need to be ready for that.”

The 18-year-old has caught the eye of several European teams with his displays for the Xeneizes

Barcelona and Valencia are in talks with Boca Juniors over a move for Agustin Almendra, Goal understands.

The 18-year-old central midfielder is one of South America’s brightest prospects, and is currently the captain of Argentina’s U-21 side. 

Almendra has broken through with Boca in 2018, making his senior debut earlier this year and quickly becoming a key part of the first team. 

Several European clubs have been tracking Almendra of late, including Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Villarreal, Juventus and Napoli. 

But it is Valencia and Barca who have taken the first concrete steps toward signing Almendra, having begun talks with Boca over a potential move. 

The two Liga clubs are working towards signing the promising teenager in the January window, though Almendra would not necessarily join either side next month. 

Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde says that he doesn’t expect the club to do any business during the January window, though, adding that he would gladly see out the month without any arrivals or departures.

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Should Barca or Los Che secure Almendra’s signature, they could immediately loan him back to Boca so he can continue his development. 

Almendra has started nine of Boca’s 14 games in the current season, though he only managed one appearance in the knockout phase of the Copa Libertadores. 

Boca fell to arch-rivals River Plate in the final, which concluded earlier this month after being delayed several times after fan unrest in Buenos Aires. 

The Liverpool defender damaged his collarbone during a collision in the Champions League tie with Napoli, meaning he will miss some important matches

Liverpool will be without Joel Matip for up to six weeks as the defender is set for an operation on a fractured collarbone.

The centre-back was taken to hospital after suffering the injury in the late stages of Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Napoli in the Champions League.

And Liverpool have now confirmed Matip, 27, will need surgery to fix the bone and will be out of action for several weeks.

“Matip was taken to hospital following the fixture and further assessment deemed an operation is required,” a statement on the club’s website read.

“Early indications suggest the centre-back is facing a spell of up to six weeks out of action, though that is dependent on how Matip responses to his treatment and rehabilitation programmes.”

As well as missing Sunday’s Premier League encounter with Manchester United, the Cameroon international will be forced to sit out of his side’s meetings with Arsenal and Manchester City.

Matip has been used sparingly by Jurgen Klopp this season, but the crucial clash at Anfield was his third start in a row for the Reds, who progressed to the knockout rounds of the Champions League with the victory over Napoli.

Klopp’s men also suffered injuries to Trent Alexander-Arnold, who needed to be replaced by Dejan Lovren in the 90th minute, while James Milner also had to go off five minutes from time.

“Trent got a knock on his foot, we are not sure about what exactly it is. It is painful,” Klopp told reporters after the game. “[Milner] had cramps. I hope it was only cramp. That was it, I don’t know anything else.”

The news of another defensive injury comes shortly after Joe Gomez was found to have fractured a bone in his leg during his side’s 3-1 win over Burnley and ruled out for the rest of 2018.

Klopp’s team are thin on centre-backs heading into the busy Christmas and New Year period, with Lovren and Virgil van Dijk the only fit options left.

They are top of the Premier League and unbeaten after 16 matches, holding a one-point lead over reigning champions Manchester City.

The Norwegian has made the perfect start to life in charge at Old Trafford and feels his side are hitting form at just the right time

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says Manchester United have momentum as they look to close the gap on the Premier League top four.

Solskjaer became the first Man Utd manager to win his first five matches in charge with victory over Reading in the FA Cup on Saturday.

Four successive victories in the Premier League have helped the Red Devils narrow the gap on the top four to six points having been 11 points off the pace when Solskjaer succeeded Jose Mourinho last month.

Yet, when asked about what the team could achieve this season Solskjaer was wary of setting targets, though the Norwegian does feel his players are hitting top form just at the right time.

“I think the players are getting confidence and the feeling is that we have momentum,” he told reporters. “It’s about keeping it up and let’s see where it takes. We’re always good towards the end of the season anyway.

“I’m not going to say top-four is our target because my target is the next game, but my target is also a certain way of playing. That certain way of playing will get us to where we belong in the end. I can’t say ‘if we get top-four it’s a success, if we don’t it’s not a success’. It depends on the performances. You can never ever control the result as a footballer.”

Solskjaer has taken his players to a warm weather training camp in Dubai ahead of their next Premier League game against third-placed Tottenham at Wembley next Sunday.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side convincingly beat United 3-0 at Old Trafford in August but Solskjaer has played down talk of revenge.

“You never like to lose games but I don’t think you look at it as revenge,” Solskjaer added. “You never do. You’re playing against one of the top teams. Tottenham have performed fantastically this season, they’ve got a great way of playing.

“But we’re at Wembley, we’re playing against one of the top teams, it doesn’t need motivation. It’s not about what’s happened before. It’s this game and these 90 minutes.

“They’ve performed really well over a few years now and they’ve been towards the top of the league. There will be loads of things we need to look at both as individuals – you’ve got [Harry] Kane, one of the best strikers in the world, [Christian] Eriksen one of the best playmakers, you’ve got [Heung-Min] Son, [Dele] Alli – and we have to look at the team unit and how we play against them.

“But, as I said, we don’t go to Dubai and just prepare for Tottenham. We have to prepare for the rest of the season and it’s how we fare against Paris Saint-Germain, how we fare against Liverpool, because they are the top teams of Europe now.”

Solskjaer was also keen to play down his personal achievement of making the best start by any Manchester United manager in the club’s history.

The Norwegian can also emulate the achievement of Sir Matt Busby by winning his first five league matches in charge next weekend, but the former Cardiff boss isn’t concerned.

“I don’t care,” he said. “Not now. I might sit down in 20 years’ time and look at whatever records I have. I never look back. Never ever. When I’m in a position, never look back on what I’m doing that way.

“Yeah, you reflect and you try to improve but you never get complacent and think ‘I’ve done this or that, I’ve done well’.

The U.S. Under-20 defender has joined the Bundesliga champions after impressing with the club’s U-19 team

Bayern Munich has signed FC Dallas and U.S. Under-20 defender Chris Richards in a $1.5 million deal that could rise to $2m, multiple sources confirmed to Goal on Saturday.

The transfer, which Goal reported in December was in the process of being finalized, also includes a 40 percent sell-on clause, which will ensure FC Dallas receives additional compensation if Bayern goes on to sell Richards.

The two clubs reached an agreement on a transfer after lengthy negotiations to improve the clause in Richards’ original loan deal, which gave Bayern an option to buy the 18-year-old.

Richards joined Bayern’s U-19 team on loan last summer but played for Bayern’s first team in the International Champions Cup.

Richards impressed then, earning playing time against the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus in friendlies. He eventually joined Bayern’s U-19s and established himself as a regular starter, making a strong impression with his ability to win aerial duels and his slick passing. 

A former member of the Houston Texans youth academy, Richards joined FC Dallas’ academy a year ago, and earned a first-team contract in the spring.

He established himself on the U.S. Under-20 national team and started in the semifinals and finals of the team’s recent Concacaf Championship title triumph, including a starring role in the USA’s 2-0 victory against Mexico in the final. 

A native of Alabama, Richards is the second player with MLS ties to sign with Bayern in 2018, with the club having completed the transfer of Canadian star and former Vancouver Whitecaps winger Alphonso Davies in July.

“When they told me there was an option to buy I was like, ‘Wow, I hope I can play well enough for them to even consider buying me,’” Richards told Goal in November. “Now it’s becoming a reality that they have a good chance of being able to buy me.” 

Richards is the latest American teenager to make the move to Germany, joining U.S. Under-20 teammates Sebastian Soto and Chris Gloster (Hannover 96), Alex Mendez (SC Freiburg) and Brady Scott (FC Cologne), as well as USMNT midfielder Tyler Adams, who recently completed his transfer to RB Leipzig, and Josh Sargent, who has broken through with Werder Bremen’s first team.

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