Barcelona s on- and off-field woes cannot be seen as a positive for bitter rivals Real Madrid, according to the Spanish champions former president Ramon Calderon.
The Catalan club are dealing with the fallout from a trophyless 2019-20 campaign that culminated in a humiliating 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Quique Setien has already been replaced as head coach by Ronald Koeman, and Ramon Planes was promoted to take over from Eric Abidal as first-team technical secretary.
Barca were then rocked on Tuesday after all-time leading scorer and club icon Lionel Messi informed them of his intention to leave, with a number of others also expected to move on.
However, Calderon insists the turmoil at Camp Nou could negatively impa…
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Fiorentina and Torino will face each other in Serie A this weekend. The match between I Viola and I Granata will take place at Stadio Artemio Franchi and is scheduled to kick off at 7:45pm UK time on Saturday.
Fiorentina
Fiorentina are one of the biggest clubs in Serie A who always tend to finish in the top 10 and compete for the European places in the table. The Florence-based outfit ended up as high as seventh in the Serie A table last season following 13th and 10th-placed finished in the table in 2020-21 and 2019-20 respectively.
Vincenzo Italiano s side are 10th in the Serie A table at the moment with 23 points from 18 matches. Fiorentina are as many as 14 points behind former Italia…
Daniele Bonera felt Milan showed their team spirit is strong even without Zlatan Ibrahimovic after their Europa League draw with Lille on Thursday.
The Rossoneri took the lead in France through Samu Castillejo but were pegged back through a goal from Jonathan Bamba 19 minutes later.
The Serie A leaders, beaten 3-0 by Lille in the previous Group H game, restricted the hosts to just 42 per cent of the ball only to concede from their only shot on target of the second half.
Similarly, Milan found the net with their one effort on goal in the 90 minutes, as the absence of the injured Ibrahimovic appeared to take its toll.
The 39-year-old, who sustained a hamstring injury after scoring a double in the 3-1 win at Napoli, has scored 12 goals in as many games in a…
Arne Slot is confident Mohamed Salah will always score goals if he is in the Liverpool team, after the Egyptian s star turn against Bologna.
Having teed up Alexis Mac Allister s opener at Anfield, Salah scored Liverpool s second to seal a 2-0 win in the Champions League on Wednesday.
In the process, Salah became the first Liverpool player to score in five consecutive home games in the European Cup/Champions League.
He is only the third player to score in five consecutive Champions League home games for a Premier League side, after Thierry Henry with Arsenal (seven) and Ruud van Nistelrooy with Manchester United (six).
Before [last week s EFL Cup win over West Ham], Mo played three games without scoring a goal, said Slot.
So it is in football, it…
What the papers say
Manchester United have ended their interest in signing Harry Kane from Tottenham, The Guardian reports. The Spurs’ asking price for the 29-year-old was unrealistic, the Red Devils felt, despite Erik ten Hag making the England striker his primary summer target.
Also in the Guardian is talk that Arsenal have emerged as strong contenders to sign Kai Havertz from Chelsea. The 24-year-old has also been identified as a target for Real Madrid. The forward’s contract expires in 2025 but he has told the club of his desire to leave this summer.
Newcastle United are pushing hard to complete a deal to sign Inter Milan’s midfielder Nicolo Barella in a deal thought to be worth around £50 million, the Daily Telegraph says. The 26-year-old and Leicester City�…
Newcastle United are interested in signing Lewis Hall from Premier League rivals Chelsea in the summer transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that Newcastle are trying to get a deal done with Chelsea for the 18-year-old left-back.
The Magpies have been trying to sign Hall all summer and have seen a number of approaches for the left-back turned down. However, Newcastle remain keen on the 18-year-old. Chelsea would prefer to send the teenager out on loan this summer, but they will want as much as £35 million in transfer fees for the England Under-21 international.
Hall has been on the books of Chelsea since 2012. The teenager has made nine appearances in the Premier League so far in his career. According to The Athletic, Hall grew up a Newcastle fan. Ben …
Gareth Southgate understands why Wilfried Zaha chose to switch his international allegiance to Ivory Coast, with the England manager unsure of what the winger s role might have been with the Three Lions.
Zaha made two friendly appearances for England back in 2012 and 2013, but he was not picked by Southgate when he took over in 2016, despite impressing after his return to Crystal Palace.
The forward eventually elected to play for Ivory Coast, the country of his birth, ahead of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
Zaha has gone on to play in 11 of Ivory Coast s 12 matches across the past three Africa Cup of Nations, scoring twice in the 2019 edition, although he has only turned out twice in World Cup qualifiers. Ivory Coast failed to advance to Qatar 2022.
The…
Premier League clubs have held private talks with the promoter of the European Super League since a landmark court ruling in December, the promoter’s chief executive has said.
English football’s co-called ‘big six’ – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham – were founder members of the original Super League project in April 2021 but quickly withdrew amid fan protests and pressure from the football authorities and the British Government.
All six publicly distanced themselves from efforts to launch a new competition in the wake of a ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on December 21, but Bernd Reichart, the chief executive of A22 which promotes the Super League concept, insists English clubs have been involved i…
Manchester United are interested in signing Donyell Malen from Borussia Dortmund in the summer transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that the former Premier League and UEFA Champions League winners are willing to offload Jadon Sancho for good and do a swap deal involving Malen.
Dortmund signed English winger Jadon Sancho from United on a loan deal in the January transfer window. The 23-year-old is supposed to be on loan at the German club until the end of the season and then move back to Old Trafford. He has made six starts and two substitute appearances in the Bundesliga during his loan spell so far, scoring one goal and providing one assist in those games.
Malen has been on the books of Dortmund since the summer of 2021. The Netherlands international …
The first weekend in February saw two of the three most serious Premier League title contenders, Arsenal and Liverpool, do battle at the Emirates Stadium, and despite Liverpool still being at the top of the table, Arsenal s triumph in North London wasn t too much of a surprise. These two teams met at the same venue in the third round of the FA Cup, and though Liverpool won that day, Arsenal dominated a great portion of the game, and their inability to convert their chances coupled with Liverpool s to take everything they could wasn t likely to repeat itself.
The stadium exploded with joy when Bukayo Saka broke the deadlock in the 14th minute, and for a long time it seemed the visitors would be very lucky to go to the break one goal down. But in bizarre twist of events, Gabriel …