Claudio Ranieri enjoyed a winning start to his second spell in charge of Roma as they beat struggling Empoli 2-1 in Serie A at the Stadio Olimpico on Monday.

Claudio Ranieri was victorious in his first game back at Roma

First-half strikes by Stephan El Shaarawy and Patrik Schick, either side of a Juan Jesus own goal, moved Roma within three points of the top four, but they had Alessandro Florenzi sent off with 10 minutes left while VAR denied Empoli a late equaliser.

Ranieri joined Roma on Friday until the end of the season after Eusebio Di Francesco was sacked in the wake of a 3-0 derby defeat by Lazio and a Champions League last 16 exit to Porto.

The Rome side were therefore under pressure to deliver a result and got off to a perfect start when El Shaarawy curled a finish into the top corner after nine minutes.

Empoli were level three minutes later, though, when Jesus headed into his own net from a set piece before visiting captain Manuel Pasqual came close to turning the game on its head when his free-kick hit the angle between post and bar.

Roma restored their lead after 33 minutes when Schick rose to power home a header from Florenzis free-kick.

Empoli had a one-man advantage after Florenzi was shown a second yellow card and they thought they had levelled through Rade Krunics composed finish, only for the effort to be wiped out following a VAR review for a handball in the build-up.

The result keeps fifth-placed Roma in the hunt for the Champions League qualifying spots on 47 points behind fourth-placed Inter Milan, while Empoli remain in 17th place on 22 points, a point above the relegation zone.

Source – Sky Sports

It didn’t look likely, but the Frenchman was eventually convinced to return to his former post – and Goal outlines the reasons behind his decision.

Photo by: Getty Images

Zinedine Zidane is back.

What seemed an impossibility not so long ago has come to fruition after the work president Florentino Perez put in to convince the French legend to return.

The relationship between the pair has always been special. They admire each other, with Real Madrid their shared passion, and it is that passion that sees the three-time Champions League-winning coach once again grace the dugout in Spain‘s capital after just eights months away.

“The team needed a change in order to keep winning,” Zizou himself said at his unveiling.

What seemed like the ideal option for the club has become a reality, but the great respect and relationship that Perez and Zidane have is not the only reason the latter was convinced to take the job once again.

The main condition on which Zidane’s return hinged upon was power. Goal has learned that the iconic boss will have full power over the management of the first team – that is to say that he will have control over both arrivals and sales of personnel.

In modern football as a whole, never mind at the game’s biggest superpower, handing that kind of responsibility to a coach is unprecedented.

Unprecedented, but necessary in this case. Part of the reason Zidane left in June was that he could only make minor tweaks to the squad rather than drastic changes. If Madrid want to win again, they need to make those changes and the right man to administer them.

To command a dressing room of huge egos a coach needs not only a voice, but a voice backed by the Bernabeu’s board. Zidane has such backing this time around.

In addition, Zidane’s power will be further consolidated by becoming the highest paid coach in world football, Goal can confirm.

Given his incredible CV and legacy at the club, a Galactico wage for a Galactico manager appears no less than he deserves as he put pen to paper on a deal that stretches until 2022.

Zidane was always the first choice to replace Solari at an ailing Madrid side and, at boardroom level, his return is seen as the best news in an otherwise disastrous season.

Source – Goal.com

Mario Balotelli scored against his former club as Marseille extended their unbeaten run in Ligue 1 to six games with a 1-0 victory over Nice at Stade Velodrome.

Mario Balotelli scored the winner for Marseille on Sunday

The Italy striker netted his fifth goal in seven matches as Rudi Garcia’s side closed the gap on third-placed Lyon to three points.

Balotelli, who left Nice last January to join Marseille, headed home in the 61st minute to leave his old club lingering in ninth place.

Nicolas Pepe scored his 17th league goal of the season to earn second-placed Lille a 1-0 win at St Etienne, who ended the game with nine men.

Mathieu Debuchy and Wahbi Khazri were sent off in added time, shortly after Pepe had scored what proved to be the winner in the 87th minute.

Christophe Galtier’s side have opened up a seven-point gap over Lyon in third but they are 14 points adrift of leaders Paris St Germain, who have two games in hand.

Angers battled back from two goals down with 10 men to snatch an unlikely 2-2 draw against Montpellier.

Andy Delort and Ellyes Skhiri had put Montpellier 2-0 up inside the opening 16 minutes at Stade De La Mosson.

Angers then had Mateo Pavlovic sent off in the 73rd minute but Angelo Fulgini and Stephane Bahoken secured a remarkable point with goals in the final 10 minutes.

Yaya Sanogo scored the only goal as Toulouse won 1-0 at home to bottom side Guingamp, who had Marcus Coco sent off in the first half.

Benjamin Bourigeaud, Adrien Hunou and M’Baye Niang grabbed the goals as Rennes beat 10-man Caen 3-1.

Casimir Ninga had put Caen in front after 20 minutes but Yoel Armougom’s red card in the 35th minute was the catalyst for the defeat.

Source – Sky Sports

The former Manchester United forward insists the success he’s enjoyed throughout his career is down to his dedication and hard work.

Photo by: Getty

Crisitano Ronaldo insists there are “no secrets” behind his success and ability to maintain such a high level of performance for so many years.

The 34-year-old is currently in his first season playing for Juventus in Serie Afollowing on from his summer switch from Real Madrid.

He bagged 450 goals in 438 games for Los Blancos in a fantastic nine-year stint playing for the for the Spanish side, and he is now aiming to achieve similar success at the Turin club.

The forward already has 21 goals to his name for Juventus this season, and he insisted his love for the game enables him to keep his standard of playing to such a high level.

“I have no secrets, just my dedication and my passion for this sport,” Ronaldo told Juventus TV. 

“I love to play football more than anything else. I’ve enjoyed myself in Portugal, England and Spain and I am now doing so in Italy, for me it’s a pleasure to score goals and to help my team win, I’m happy.”

The Portuguese talisman lifted the Champions League trophy four times while he was at Real Madrid, and could be set to claim another triumph in this year’s edition with Juventus.

However, Massimiliano Allegri’s men are currently chasing two goals in their last-16 tie following their first encounter in Atletico Madrid, and will need Ronaldo to help overturn that deficit in their upcoming second leg on Tuesday night.

“The team is confident of playing a great game and I am too,” Ronaldo added. “We are ready to experience a special night, both on the field and in the stands.

“Everyone knows that they are a strong team, they defend very well, they don’t take a lot of risks and they play on the counter-attack, but we are ready, and we will do everything we can to beat them.

“The fine details will make the difference, and we want to win and qualify for the quarter-finals.

“Football is like this, we didn’t expect to lose the first leg 2-0, but anything can happen, and we want to give a great response in our home, in front of our fans.”

Following the clash against Atletico, Juventus then take on Genoa on Sunday as they look to maintain their 18-point gap cushion at the top of Serie A.

Source – Goal.com

Manchester United’s first Premier League loss under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is the “lowest” moment since he took charge, the interim manager said.

United’s run of nine straight away wins in all competitions was ended by Arsenal

Solskjaer has turned the team’s form around since taking over in December, following the sacking of Jose Mourinho.

The Norwegian has overseen a run of 10 league wins and two draws before suffering defeat at Arsenal on Sunday.

Solskjaer, 46, told BBC Sport: “The performance was good but the result was disappointing.”

The former striker has brought a feel-good factor back to United with results that mean they are in the fight for a Champions League spot at the end of the season, as well as reaching the quarter-finals in Europe and the FA Cup.

Such has been the turnaround there have been growing calls from players and supporters to give Solskjaer the job on a permanent basis.

Going into the fixture at Emirates Stadium, United were in fourth place having been 11 points adrift of the position when Mourinho was dismissedon 18 December.

But their 2-0 loss allowed Arsenal to jump above them in the league, courtesy of goals from Granit Xhaka and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Solskjaer said: “We are disappointed with the result but looking at the performance, you cannot say it was a game we deserved to lose. We created five big chances, hit the woodwork twice.

“When you see the boys work as hard as they do, the attitude they show in training – today we were lethargic in the first 10-15 minutes, did not have the zip and we did not take the chances. Hopefully we will be ready for Wolves in the FA Cup next week.

“It has been fantastic so far but today is the the lowest we have been because we lost and missed the chance to put pressure on Spurs.

“We have won games we have not deserved to win, and today we lost a game we did not deserve to lose.”

We deserved this victory – Emery

Arsenal have won their last nine home league games under Emery

Spanish boss Unai Emery took over Arsenal in the summer, replacing Arsene Wenger who had been in charge for 22 years.

The Gunners finished sixth last season, missing out on a Champions League place, but they are well set for an improved finish this campaign.

Romelu Lukaku and Fred both hit the woodwork for the visitors, while goalkeeper Bernd Leno made saves to deny Lukaku, Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford.

Emery told BBC Sport: “I am very proud of our players. They gave all they could against the best team at this moment.

“We were playing very competitive for 90 minutes and I think we deserved this victory. We can be happy today.

“We knew Manchester United could use different tactics but we wanted to impose our gameplan and I think we did that.

“Our goalkeeper is very important and sometimes the goalkeeper can save us, and today I’m very proud of his work.”

Source – BBC News

The forward is one of few players that can hold their heads high this campaign after putting in another strong effort on Sunday.

Photo by: Cesar Manso

Amid the wreckage of Real Madrid’s season, there are one or two players who can stand up tall and say they did their best.

One of the very few footballers whose reputation has been enhanced in a shocking campaign which is effectively over by March has been Karim Benzema.

Real Madrid are out of the Copa del Rey, out of the Champions League and 12 points behind Barcelona in La Liga, with nothing to be proud of, but French striker Benzema is still ticking.

The forward struck twice to help a stuttering Madrid to an eventually easy 4-1 win over Real Valladolid at the Jose Zorilla Stadium on Sunday, making a game that started off tricky, comfortable in the end.

Valladolid coach Sergio is no stranger to inflicting misery on Real Madrid, having been part of the Deportivo La Coruna team which triumphed at the Santiago Bernabeu in the 2002 Copa del Rey final.

Madrid had been founded 100 years to the day beforehand, but Sergio’s Depor earned a stunning 2-1 win over Madrid – for whom Santiago Solari was playing.

And it seemed he was going to pile on more woe for Madrid after a week in which their entire season collapsed.

Valladolid earned a penalty early on, with Alvaro Odriozola haplessly dragging down Oscar Plano in the area. However, midfielder Ruben Alcaraz punted it high over the crossbar with one of the more outrageous spot-kick misses in recent years.

Moments later and the hosts, battling relegation, had scored.

Sergi Guardiola, who was brilliant but endured an extremely frustrating night, scored but the goal was disallowed by VAR, after Keko was half a yard offside in the build-up.

The forward then saw another goal ruled out, this time offside himself by a similar distance.

Eventually, Anuar sent Valladolid ahead and this time it counted, but it also seemed to arouse Madrid from their miserable slumber.

Raphael Varane equalised to send the teams in level at the break, but in the second half, Madrid found some of the skill and quality which deep down they have, but has stayed buried too often this season.

Odriozola made amends for his first-half mistake by winning a penalty and Benzema slotted home to send Los Blancos ahead.

Real Madrid have scored every single one of the 12 penalties they have been given in all competitions this season.

Meanwhile, Valladolid have missed all five of the five they were given. A shocking statistic which will be one of the reasons they may eventually go down – sitting 16th, one point above the drop zone.

Madrid, meanwhile, may be missing Cristiano Ronaldo in many ways but at least they have not lost out when it comes to spot kicks.

Ramos, Bale and Benzema have been dispatching them and at trying times like these, even tiny victories must be cherished.

That’s why Benzema celebrated vociferously as he headed in his second goal of the night because he had a point to prove.

Luka Modric criticised the club’s forwards and strategic planning before the humiliating Champions League knock-out by Ajax, saying that Benzema, Gareth Bale, Marco Asensio and Co. were doing a bad job of covering for Ronaldo’s departure.

“Cristiano scored 50 goals and you can’t find someone today who scores that many,” said Modric.

“Some of us have to take a step forward and, while not scoring 50, what we need is two or three players who score 15, 20, or 10 goals and we don’t have that.”

However, with his brace here, Benzema took his tally to 22 goals in 44 matches, a respectable total, and more goals than he has scored since the 2014-15 season.

Only three times in his Madrid career has he scored more goals, with 32 his largest haul, in 2011-12.

Modric rattled in the fourth in the final stages, at least pulling his weight too, as Madrid moved 10 points clear of Alaves in fifth – despite Casemiro’s late red card, remarkably his first for Madrid.

Now they are looking downwards, trying to ensure they finish fourth, rather than upwards.

That is where Madrid gazes deserve to be for the most part this season, with the exception of Benzema, who can hold his head up high.

Source – Goal.com

Peter Schmeichel has spoken of pride in his son for racing towards the helicopter crash that killed Leicester owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

Kasper Schmeichel (left) was prominent throughout the mourning period following October’s tragedy

Kasper Schmeichel earned praise for his reaction on 27 October as he witnessed the tragedy at the King Power Stadium.

“You don’t run to a burning helicopter, but that is what he did,” said Schmeichel Snr.

“His instinct is what makes me most proud – and scared. It speaks volumes about his personality.”

Schmeichel says the impact it had on the club meant Leicester only dismissed manager Claude Puel on 24 February as a last resort.

He was back home in Denmark when the accident happened – and only found out about the severity of it when Kasper rang.

“As a dad, you try to help your children and guide them through as best you can with the life experiences you have,” added the former Manchester United goalkeeper.

“But there is nothing that prepares you for being a witness to that or being the dad of someone who was, or being the CEO or the director of football at a football club [in that situation].”

The crash killed all four people on board, which is why the Dane is convinced there was no desire for the additional upheaval created by Puel’s dismissal four months later.

“It’s been a very tough time for the football club,” added Schmeichel.

“That is why what happened last week was something they didn’t want to do. I’m convinced they didn’t want to do that until the summer.”

Puel’s replacement, Brendan Rodgers, takes charge at the King Power Stadium for the first time tomorrow, when relegation-threatened Fulham are the visitors.

Given Leicester have sacked three managers in less than three seasons since their momentous Premier League title success in 2016, it has been suggested one of Rodgers’ first tasks is to break up a group of experienced players who have been blamed for general unrest in the dressing room.

Kasper Schmeichel is one of the strongest characters but his dad feels the notion of ‘player power’ being peculiar to Leicester is unfair.

“We are dealing with a different world now,” he said.

“Everyone has their own little media station – they have YouTube, Facebook, Instagram. Straight away you can communicate with the world.

“If you are in that position as a footballer you become more powerful – that is not a Leicester thing, that is a completely general thing.”

Source – BBC News

Juventus teenager Moise Kean scored twice on his first Serie A start of the season in a 4-1 home win over Udinese as the runaway leaders moved 19 points clear on Friday.

Juventus’ Moise Kean celebrates after scoring a goal against Udinese in Serie A. Getty Images

Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri rested several players ahead of next week’s Champions League last 16, return leg against visiting Atletico Madrid, which his side trail 2-0, including Mario Mandzukic, Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala.

However, the Turin side had little trouble seeing off Udinese as they scored four goals for the first time this term and stretched their unbeaten league campaign to 27 matches.

Kean opened the scoring after 11 minutes when he stabbed in Alex Sandro’s cross from close range and doubled the lead five minutes before the break by prodding home at the near post.

At 19 years and eight days, the Italy international became the youngest player to score at least two goals in a Serie A game since 18-year-old Giuseppe Galderisi in February 1982.

Midway through the second half, Kean raced on to a long ball and was brought down inside the box by substitute Nicholas Opoku, and Emre Can sent the penalty into the corner.

Blaise Matuidi completed the rout in the 71st minute with a stooping header that bounced off the ground into the top corner, before Udinese substitute Kevin Lasagna got a consolation with a fine angled finish five minutes from time.

Juve have 75 points, having won 24 of their 27 matches this season and drawn the other three, while Udinese are 15th on 25 points ahead of the rest of the Serie A weekend programme.

Second-placed Napoli visit mid-table Sassuolo on Sunday.

Source – ESPN

Tottenham will play the first competitive fixture at their new stadium in the first week of April.

Tottenham’s new stadium was scheduled to open in September 2018

The Tottenham boss is among a list of candidates to replace Santiago Solari, with Zinedine Zidane and Jose Mourinho also being considered.

Photo by: Getty Images

Mauricio Pochettino is open to one day returning to Spain amid reports he is among the candidates to replacement Santiago Solari at Real Madrid.

Goal understands the Tottenham boss features on a shortlist which includes former coaches Zinedine Zidane and Jose Mourinho.

Solari’s future is deeply uncertain after back-to-back El Clasico defeats to Barcelona was followed by a stunning 4-1 defeat to Ajax in the Champions League round-of-16.

Forty-seven-year-old Pochettino began his managerial career with Espanyolbefore moving to England with Southampton.

Speaking to Spanish television network RTVE, he said: “My relationship with Spain will always be great and I would love to return one day and oversee a style of football that could win games and excite people.

“Of course I would come back to Spain, I’m always open to new experiences and projects.”

Though the Argentine remains without a major trophy he continues to earn much credit at Tottenham, where his achievements continue to outweigh his financial resources.

Spurs are on course for another top four finish in the Premier League and even briefly flirted with a title challenge prior to taking one point from the last nine available.

Pochettino, therefore, takes any attention from the 13-time European champions as a good sign and confirmation he is exceeding expectations.

“I take it (Madrid’s interest) as something positive, it means someone has noticed that we are doing something right,” he added.

Tuttomercatoweb reported this week that Madrid are willing to pay €170 million (£145m/$188m) to bring both Pochettino and top scorer Harry Kane to Santiago Bernabeu.

And though Pochettino refused to be drawn on the speculation, he did reveal that he and the England captain have a strong bond.

“If I answer that my chairman (Daniel Levy) will get very angry with me for doing this interview. Or perhaps he won’t mind,” said the boss.

“Harry is like my son, he has made his name with us, he’s one of the best strikers in the world.”

Source – Goal.com