VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach playmaker Thorgan Hazard says his brother Eden has praised him for his recent form in the Bundesliga and Champions League.

Thorgan claims his older brother is convinced that he can earn a place in the Belgium national squad if he continues if he can keep it up.

The 21-year-old has scored seven goals in his last eight games, including one in their 2-1 loss to Barcelona on Wednesday.

“He [Eden] is happy for me. He tells me I’m in hot form, but also that I have to keep going like that,” he told France Football. “We hope we’ll meet up with the national team so that we can play together.

“He doesn’t give me any advice in particular. He has his own career to deal with. We’re two different players at two different clubs. He doesn’t bother me by saying, Do this, do that.”

Chelsea have a £13m buy-back option for Hazard that will expire at the end of 2016

Source Foxsports

Liverpool owner John Henry says the club will have to reassess their plans for any further development at Anfield as a result of fan protests over increased ticket prices.

The main part of the protest came in the form of 10,000 fans walking out during a Premier League game against Sunderland last season, leading the club to apologise to supporters and reverse the decision.

Liverpool’s main stand has already been redeveloped but the next phase of the expansion, that includes the expansion of the Anfield Road stand, might have to be reconsidered.

“I don’t know if there is a next step because ticket prices are an issue in England,” Henry said. “That may foreclose further expansion. We’ll have to see.”

Liverpool CEO Ian Ayre added in FC Business magazine: “The way we managed the Main Stand expansion was great and we will continue in a similar vein to be cautious and not promise anything until we are ready to deliver.

“We will come along with planning if and when we have the right design and economic model.

“Once we have these parts in place, we will let people know.”

Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny has praised his sides quality after their impressive 2-0 win over Basel on Wednesday.

The Gunners win over the Swiss side was their sixth win in their past seven games in all competitions and the France international feels they still have toom for further improvement.

“When we have good movement, with the quality and speed of our passing and when it is on a high level, we can be a danger in every situation,” he told Arsenal Player.

“We have been better for the past two or three weeks and we need to keep this and not to think that because we played well [previously], the results will come.

“We need to fight on the pitch and defend together, to be better in the transition from offence to defence and from defence to attack,” the former Lorient man added.

“It is very important to keep our feet on the floor, to work and then the results will come.”

Zlatan Ibrahimovic headed in a 69th-minute winner as Manchester United got their Europa League campaign off the ground with a laboured 1-0 home win over Zorya Luhansk on Thursday (Sep 29).

Beaten 1-0 at Feyenoord in their Group A opener, Jose Mourinho’s side struggled to break down their unadventurous Ukrainian opponents until the introduction from the bench of Wayne Rooney.

The England captain’s mishit shot was headed in by Ibrahimovic to leave United a point behind group leaders Fenerbahce, who visit Old Trafford on October 20.

“It was difficult,” said Mourinho. “We had our chances in the first half. We could have scored and it would have been a different match. But we didn’t.

“They kept organised and had plenty of players behind the ball, but with players ready to do something on the counter-attack. It was difficult and we needed to win.

“One week, three defeats. One week, three victories. But I was not depressed by the defeats and I am not over the moon with three wins.”

It was a far from fluent United performance, but it maintained their upturn in form following the recent run of three straight defeats that had destroyed their early-season momentum.

Zorya, UEFA group-phase debutants, became United’s 100th continental opponents and they threatened to create a sensation when Zeljko Ljubenovic ballooned over from Ivan Petriak’s cut-back.

In the main, though, they sat back, packing men behind the ball in a 4-5-1 formation, and United struggled to play through them.

Ibrahimovic had a shot deflected wide by Dmytro Grechyshkin, but as in last Saturday’s 4-1 win over league champions Leicester City, the hosts looked most threatening from corners in the first half.

With Daley Blind rested, Juan Mata took over set-piece duties.

From one of the Spaniard’s deliveries, Paul Pogba flicked on and Marcus Rashford rattled a shot against the bar, the ball bouncing down a foot short of the line.

PAULINHO CHANCES

From another, Marouane Fellaini headed into the ground and over. In between, Mata headed off-target from a Pogba cross and Jesse Lingard saw a header blocked by Rafael Forster.

Just as he had in the first half, Ljubenovic set United’s hearts fluttering early in the second when he narrowly failed to make contact with a cross from Olexandr Karavaev.

Indeed, it was the visitors who registered the match’s first shot on target, substitute Paulinho obliging United goalkeeper Sergio Romero to leap to his left and palm the ball behind.

Mourinho turned to Rooney, who had started on the bench for the second game running, and within two minutes the United captain had played a part – albeit an unintentional one – in the decisive goal.

Released by Mata, Timothy-Fosu Mensah cut the ball back from the byline on the right towards Rooney.

The United number 10 miscued his volley, directing the ball into the ground and away from goal, but Ibrahimovic rose at the back post to nod a close-range header over the line. It was the Swede’s sixth goal in 10 United appearances.

Rooney teed up Fellaini to volley wide from a corner and Ibrahimovic called visiting goalkeeper Oleksii Shevchenko into action with a late free-kick.

But the outcome would have been quite different had Paulinho not missed his kick from Mykyta Kamenyuka’s cross at the other end.

“I was very happy with my guys’ performance,” said beaten manager Yuriy Vernydub, whose side are currently second in the Ukrainian Premier League.

“We played at the same level as Manchester United. In my eyes the game was a draw, because the goal was a bit of a silly one.”

Europa League results:

At Istanbul, Turkey
Fenerbahce (TUR) 1 Feyenoord (NED) 0

At Manchester, England
Manchester United (ENG) 1 Zorya Luhansk (UKR) 0

At Astana
Astana (KAZ) 0 Young Boys (SUI) 0

At Piraeus, Greece
Olympiakos (GRE) 0 APOEL (CYP) 1

At Baku
Qabala (AZE) 2 Mainz (GER) 3

At Saint-Etienne, France
Saint-Etienne (FRA) 1 Anderlecht (BEL) 1

At St Petersburg, Russia
Zenit St Petersburg (RUS) 5 AZ Alkmaar (NED) 0

At Dublin
Dundalk (IRL) 1 Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) 0

At Vienna
Austria Vienna (AUT) 0 Viktoria Plzen (CZE) 0

At Rome
AS Roma (ITA) 4 Astra Giurgiu (ROM) 0

At Bilbao, Spain
Athletic Bilbao (ESP) 1 Rapid Vienna (AUT) 0
At Genk, Belgium
Genk (BEL) 3 Sassuolo (ITA) 1

At Amsterdam
Ajax (NED) 1 Standard Liege (BEL) 0

At Vigo, Spain
Celta Vigo (ESP) 2 Panathinaikos (GRE) 0

At Ghent, Belgium
Ghent (BEL) 2 Konyaspor (TUR) 0

At Lviv, Ukraine
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) 2 Braga (POR) 0

At Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Schalke 04 (GER) 3 FC Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) 1

At Krasnodar
Krasnodar (RUS) 5 Nice (FRA) 2
At Florence, Italy
Fiorentina (ITA) 5 Qarabag (AZE) 1

At Liberec, Czech Republic
Liberec (CZE) 1 PAOK Salonika (GRE) 2

At Beersheba, Israel
Hapoel Beer-Sheva (ISR) 0 Southampton (ENG) 0

At Prague
Sparta Prague (CZE) 3 Inter Milan (ITA) 1

At Zurich, Switzerland
FC Zurich (SUI) 2 Osmanlispor (TUR) 1

At Bucharest
Steaua Bucharest (ROM) 1 Villarreal (ESP) 1

Source AFP

FC Bayern München manager Carlo Ancelotti says he is a big fan of Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone.

The two will square up to each other in a Champions League encounter at the Vicente Calderon on Wednesday night, Atletico having knocked out Bayern on the away goals rule in last season’s semi-final.

Speaking ahead of the match in Spain, Ancelotti, formerly in charge at Real Madrid, was full of praise for the Argentine.

“I like Simeone’s style. He gets more tired now than when he was a player and he’s a very good coach, one of the best in football right now,” he said.

“Atletico’s style is very clear and everyone knows it – they are very well organised and difficult to play against.
“Though we don’t have any clear advantage over them, Bayern Munich are in good form and ready to put on a good performance,” added the 57-year-old Italian.

Source Foxsports

Former Manchester United skipper Rio Ferdinand has accused Chelsea of lacking personality and leaders, and believes new boss Antonio Conte is beginning to realise the enormity of the task facing him at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea made a bright start to life under the Italian manager, but an injury to John Terry exposed a lack of depth defensively as well as a dearth of leaders in the squad.

The Blues have taken just one point from their last three Premier League games, losing to rivals Liverpool and Arsenal in their previous two outings.

Ferdinand believes it may have dawned on Conte that for all Chelsea’s buying power there are serious issues in West London.

“I think it has dawned on Antonio Conte what a big task he has ahead of him,” Ferdinand said.

“They lack personality and leaders. We saw him change his formation. No matter what formation he plays, he wants them to play out from the back.

“Juventus and Italy have been comfortable playing it out from the back. I don’t think they [Chelsea] have anyone who can do that.”

Next up for Chelsea are newly promoted Hull City who have shipped 9 goals in their last two league outings. Conte’s men cannot afford to drop points against strugglers and will be looking to put the Tigers away convincingly.Source Foxsports