Monday 26 June 2017
Friday 23 June 2017
Cristiano Ronaldo has far superior Champions League knockout record to Lionel Messi
Tuesday 13 Jun 2017 10:03 am |
| Who do you think is the best? (Pictures: Getty) |
The Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi
debate is likely to go on and on for long after they’ve both retired,
but some interesting Champions League stats suggest we may finally have
an answer.
The Portugal forward started last summer by helping his national team to a surprise victory in Euro 2016, landing him the international honour that had long eluded him and that continues to elude Messi.
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| Cristiano Ronaldo has now scored four Champions League final goals (Picture: Getty) |
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| Ronaldo ended the season in unstoppable form (Picture: Getty) |
As well as that, the 32-year-old had another prolific season to give Real Madrid a first title win for five years, though his finest form surely came as he almost single-handedly dragged the club to another Champions League win.
Ronaldo came to life in the latter stages of the competition, scoring hat-tricks in the quarter-final and semi-final wins over Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid before netting a superb brace in the 4-1 final triumph over Juventus.
His numbers this season have given him a big boost in terms of his overall Champions League knockout record, putting him some distance ahead of Messi in terms of impact at this stage of what is surely the most competitive level of world football.
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| Ronaldo has done it in the biggest games (Picture: AS) |
Reports: Five Players Want CR7 To Leave Real
Reports: Five Players Want Cristiano Ronaldo To Leave Real Madrid
It has been reported that these five players would be pleased if superstar Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid this off-season.
Ronaldo recently threatened to leave Los Blancos, according to Spanish media, as it was speculated he is unhappy with the treatment he receives in Spain.
The Portuguese's goalscoring instinct helped Real win the La Liga and UEFA Champions League titles last season, but the mood in Ronaldo's camp has changed dramatically.
The 32-year-old has been heavily linked with a return to Manchester United, while Paris Saint-Germain are also believed to have offered the player a huge contract.
Ronaldo was accused of tax evasion by Spanish authorities recently, which is also said to have added to his unhappiness at Real.
According to Don Balon, several players at Real would welcome a Ronaldo exit: Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Alvaro Morata, Marco Asensio and Luka Modric.
The report claimed that Ronaldo leaving Real could benefit a few of these players, but none more so than Bale, who is believed to want a greater role under Zinedine Zidane.
Thursday 22 June 2017
Liverpool must keep spending in order to continue their upward progress
Once the signing of Mohamed Salah is complete, Liverpool Football Club can finally bury an albatross. The Egypt international's expected £39 million fee surpasses the club's previous record payout, the £35m paid out to Newcastle United in January 2011 for Andy Carroll.
Carroll, sold at a £20m loss to West Ham just 30 months later, became symbolic of the transfer-dealing naivety of owners FSG, who'd been in charge of the club for just a few weeks when doing that deal. They eventually made a £50m profit on Luis Suarez, whom they signed the same week as Carroll, and sold Raheem Sterling to Manchester City for £49m in the summer of 2015, among other deals, but the transfer market has been a cruel mistress throughout FSG's stewardsh
Salah's signing will take FSG's outlay beyond £500m at a club still bearing the scars of the "transfer committee" era, when expensive deals for the likes of Mario Balotelli, Christian Benteke and Lazar Markovic went sour during Brendan Rodgers' reign.
Last summer, with Jurgen Klopp given a far greater say than his predecessor, Liverpool largely got it right: Southampton's Sadio Mane (his fee £1m short of that Carroll fee) was the biggest hit of a haul that also included Joel Matip on a free from Schalke and Georginio Wijnaldum, a £25m signing from Newcastle who scored the crucial first goal in the 3-0 final-day defeat of Middlesbrough that qualified the club for the
Champions League.
A year on, and even though the window is not yet technically open, the market is proving rather more difficult. Before the lengthy process of landing Salah came the Virgil van Dijk affair, where Liverpool's apology to Southampton over an inappropriate approach to the Dutch defender betrayed fears of serious censure from the authorities. The club is already seeing out an academy transfer ban imposed in April after an illegal approach to a 12-year-old Stoke City player.
Peter Moore, the former Electronic Arts exec who became Liverpool's CEO on Jun. 1, has found it tough going so far at least in transfer terms. After last season's objective of returning to the Champions League for the first time since 2014 was completed, this summer's dealings need to be as good as those in the summer of 2016 in order to keep fans happy and continue the upward trajectory.
"The talks we've had so far are very positive," said Klopp in April of prospective summer targets. "That doesn't mean it will all work out, but they are really positive and they all see the progress. That's good."
The fruits of those preliminary discussions so far are Salah and the opportunistic addition of Chelsea contract rebel Dominic Solanke, still just 19. There have been links with Monaco's Kylian Mbappe and Borussia Dortmund's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang since the end of the season but both players are beyond Liverpool's reach, while the talk has gone dead on a move for Barcelona midfielder Rafinha.
It's clear that some squad refreshment and reinforcement is required given that Klopp's team almost crawled over the line. The dynamism before 2016 turned to 2017 became a memory as Liverpool withdrew from competing for the title towards protecting their top-four place. Mane, first when playing at the African Cup of Nations for Senegal in January and then after a knee injury in April, was sorely missed whenever absent, to help explains the eagerness to pay that high price for Salah.
The winger's speed off the flanks can add another dimension to an attack that laboured, especially at Anfield, where opponents eventually learned to sit sat deep, frustrating and preventing the counterattacks that are usually the prime weapon of a Klopp-led team.
Depth is badly required in other departments, too, judging by the substitutes' bench in the closing weeks of the season. Ben Woodburn, Marko Grujic and Trent Alexander-Arnold are promising talents who may well be stars of the future but should Klopp's squad negotiate a tricky playoff round in August, they'll be fighting on the dual-priority fronts of Premier League and Champions League.
Greater experience is required. Their move for Van Dijk betrayed Klopp's desire to land a centre-back of poise and top-level capability, but the rarity of such players means they often go to auction to the highest bidder. A willingness to paying heavy prices would take Liverpool into fresh territory, since FSG have previously proved reluctant to compete with the heavy spending of the two Manchester clubs, Chelsea and Arsenal, who now habitually breach the £35m-and-over bracket that Liverpool had not broken post-Carroll. Salah's price appears high for a player who previously struggled in English football during an 18-month spell at Chelsea, but is now the going rate for Premier League elite clubs buying talent from the continent.
As transfer prices increase, there become fewer shortcuts. To follow last year's smart, successful dealings, Liverpool's owners must now dig deep.
Oscar given eight-match ban for inciting Chinese Super League brawl
Former Chelsea midfielder Oscar has been given an eight-match ban and a fine by Chinese football authorities after he was judged to have instigated a mass brawl in Shanghai SIPG's draw with Guangzhou R&F on Sunday.
Oscar, 25, has also been fined 40,000 RMB (£4,623.50) in a move that will deprive Andre Villas-Boas of the services of the player until mid-August as the Chinese Football Association seeks to protect the reputation of the country's premier domestic competition.
"According to the referee's report, video evidence and a written explanation from the parties involved, when the game reached the 45+2 minute SIPG player Oscar offended opposing players in an immoral manner, leading to a massive brawl which has had a very bad influence on the Chinese Super League's reputation," an official statement said.
The incident involving Oscar started after referee Zhou Gang had allowed Hulk's equaliser to stand despite protests from the Guangzhou players that he was offside when he received Oscar's pass.
Soon after the restart, Oscar twice kicked the ball into R&F players, sparking a melee that ended with Guangzhou's Li Tixiang and Fu Huan of Shanghai being sent off.
Oscar joined SIPG from Chelsea in January as the club broke the Asian transfer record to sign the Brazil international for €60m, breaking the record they had set the previous June to purchase Hulk from Zenit St Petersburg.
Oscar's ban is the second time this season the Chinese Football Association has punished a player who has made international headlines for indiscipline.
Shanghai Shenhua's Qin Sheng was banned for six months in March for stamping on the foot of Tianjin Quanjian's Belgium international Axel Witsel in a game broadcast internationally.
Wednesday 21 June 2017
Cheick Tiote laid to rest in Ivory Coast funeral
Last Updated: 19/06/17 6:18am
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| Pallbearers carry the coffin of football star Cheick Tiote during his funeral |
Cheick Tiote was laid to rest in the Ivory Coast on Sunday following his sudden death in China earlier this month.
Former Newcastle midfielder Tiote moved to China in February
to play for second division side Beijing Enterprises and was training
with his club when he collapsed and passed away after emergency
treatment at the age of 30.Tiote, a 52-time capped Ivory Coast international who featured at the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, was honoured with a military funeral at the Williamsville cemetery in Abidjan where hundreds of people gathered to mourn.
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| Ivory coast forward Wilfried Bony attends the arrival of the casket |
Full military honours were bestowed on Tiote at the funeral service, which was attended by prime minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly as well as several members of the government, Ivorian football federation officials and players.
Tiote's coffin was draped in the country's orange, white and green national flag before being taken to a mosque in the upmarket district of Riviera Golf where prayers were held.
"It's a huge loss for Ivorian and African football," said former national team goalkeeper Boubacar Barry, who played with Tiote in the victorious 2015 Africa Cup of Nations side.
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| Tiote was honoured with a military funeral |
"It's a big loss because he was such a warrior on the pitch. On behalf of all the footballers here, I present my condolences to his family and his friends. Thank you Tiote, thank you."
Tiote began his European club career with Belgian outfit Anderlecht and had a loan spell at Roda JC Kerkrade before moving to FC Twente in 2008.
He signed for Newcastle in 2010 and made 156 appearances for the club, becoming a firm favourite with fans over his six years in England.
Cheick Tiote's family will battle for share of tragic footballer's £10million fortune
The
former Newcastle United star is not believed to have left a will and
leaves behind two wives, a mistress and around 50 siblings
The former Newcastle United star had two wives, a mistress and around 50 brothers and sisters .
It is believed the popular star, who died aged 30 after a suspected heart attack while training in China, did not leave a will.
His heartbroken first wife Madah Tiote is believed to be expecting their third child.
He wed second wife Laeticia Doukrou in a traditional ceremony in his native Ivory Coast in 2014. His father was also a polygamist, and had eight wives. Tiote was one of nine full brothers and sisters born to the same mum. Cheick also had dozens of half brothers and sisters.
The former £60,000-a-week midfielder also had a three-year-old child with Zimbabwean Nkosiphile Mpofu, 33, also known as Nikki.
Now, his fortune and assets may have to shared between his surviving relatives by his legal representatives.
A source close to the player, who earned around £14million during his time in English football before his lucrative move to China in February, said: “Cheick died so young. I would be shocked if he had a will at 30. He was one of nine children, and he had about 50 half brothers and sisters.
“He was very generous during his lifetime, and he would send a lot of money back home for his family.
“But it is hard to know how his assets will be sorted between his surviving wives, children and other relatives.”
Tiote’s body was flown back to the Ivory Coast for his funeral after current and former team-mates gathered for an emotional memorial service in China.
Ex-Newcastle Utd team-mate Papiss Cisse wept at the ceremony in Beijing, before Tiote’s body was taken back to Ivory Coast ahead of a private funeral.
“I lived some extraordinary moments with this man and now he is gone,” said Senegal striker Cisse, who spent four years at Newcastle with Tiote.
“He was like a brother. We shared a lot in life. His family was my family.”
Relatives of the Beijing Enterprises star, and his agent Emanuele Palladino, flew out to China following the shock announcement of his collapse on June 4.
His death sent shock-waves around the football world and prompted a tide of tributes, notably from managers Steve McClaren and Alan Pardew.
Mr Palladino said: “There is increasing speculation regarding the circumstances and reasons behind Cheick Tiote’s death, with many inaccuracies being printed on this subject. This has been upsetting for Cheick’s family and all parties involved at what is already a difficult time.
“We appreciate Cheick was a much-loved personality. His club Beijing Enterprises are being co-operative at this time, and when we have official information surrounding his death we will give a statement on behalf of his family.
“Until then we cannot comment further, however we thank you for all
your continued support and well wishes.”
He declined to comment on whether Tiote left a will, saying it was a ‘private’ matter.
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