Cristiano Ronaldo moved one strike away from his 700th career goal as Portugal edged closer to Euro 2020 with a 3-0 win against Luxembourg.

Cristiano Ronaldo has now scored 94 goals for Portugal

Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva opened the scoring before Ronaldo chipped over Anthony Moris.

Valencia’s Goncalo Guedes completed the scoring just before full-time.

Portugal remain second in Group B, five points behind Ukraine, but four points clear of Serbia in third.

Ronaldo will have the chance to become just the sixth person to score 700 goals when Portugal travel to Ukraine on Monday.

Fernando Santos’ side can qualify with a win in Kiev, if Serbia fail to win in Lithuania.

Source – BBC News

The Three Lions went down to their first defeat in 43 qualification matches but their skipper doesn’t think it’s time to worry.

Harry Kane believes England’s shock Euro 2020 qualification loss to the Czech Republic is a wake-up call but insisted there was no need to panic.

The skipper gave England the lead after five minutes from the penalty spot, converting for his 27th international goal after Raheem Sterling was fouled.

The Czechs hit back almost immediately, levelling things after less than five minutes had elapsed. Jakub Brabec scored his first goal for his country, poking home from close range after a Jakub Kankto free kick caused panic in the England back line.

Defensive errors led to the winner, which sees the Czechs pull level with the Three Lions on 12 points in Group A, when Zdenek Ondrasek capitalised on several England mistakes. It was England’s first loss in a qualification match since a 1-0 defeat to Ukraine in 2009, 43 games ago.

Kane admitted the performance was not good enough but said there were no easy matches in elite European competition.

“I think it was down to us,” Kane told ITV Sport “It was a perfect start to an away game.

“We were sloppy with the ball, we didn’t move it as quickly as we normally do.

“Every away game in Europe is difficult.

“They had the crowd behind them, sometimes the pitch is not as easy to play, but that’s no excuse.

“It’s a bit of a wake up call but we’re in a good position.”

Despite the setback England are still favourites to emerge from the group, and a win against Bulgaria on Monday would see them back on track to qualify for next summer’s tournament.

Kane, who now has 20 goals as England captain, second-most all time, saw positives in the second half performance.

He saw Monday’s match in Sofia as an opportunity to right the wrongs of Friday’s muted display.

The second half was better,” he added “we had a couple of chances to put the game to bed and we didn’t and unfortunately we gave one away at the end.

“There’s still stuff to work on for sure. We gave the ball away too cheaply and we’ll have to go away and look at it. There’s no need to panic and we’ll go again on Monday.”

Source – Goal.com

The Juventus team-mates have a special quality in common, according to the Ajax chief.

Photo by Goal/Getty Composite

Edwin van der Sar has compared Matthijs de Ligt to Cristiano Ronaldo, claiming they share a similar mentality to be among the world’s best.

De Ligt captained the youthful Ajax side that reached the Champions League semi-finals last season, turning in impressive performances before joining Ronaldo at Serie A giants Juventus.

Van der Sar played a pivotal part in developing Erik ten Hag’s team in his role as Ajax CEO, with prospects such as Frenkie de Jong and Donny van de Beek graduating through the club’s famous youth system.

De Jong also left in the summer, having agreed a deal to join reigning La Liga champions Barcelona, and De Ligt was widely expected to follow suit.

However, he turned down interest from the Blaugrana, as well as Paris Saint-Germain and others to move to Italy with the Bianconeri.

Netherlands international De Ligt has turned in some indifferent performances since moving to Turin and was at fault for Northern Ireland‘s goal against the Oranje in a Euro 2020 qualifier on Thursday, but Van der Sar has no concerns over the defender’s ability to adapt.

“He had been at Ajax all his life,” Van der Sar told ESPN. “So to step away, move with your girlfriend and the family to a different city in Italy, he must learn a new language and get to know his team-mates.

“His mentality, that of someone who always tries to improve, makes him want to be the best defender in the world. And I’ve seen that with a few players, one of them is playing for his team, Cristiano Ronaldo.

“He has the same desire and hunger as De Ligt. Matthijs is only [20 years old]. He was fantastic for us at Ajax, our rock and our captain.”

Despite De Ligt’s error, Netherlands went on to beat Northern Ireland 3-1 to move top of Group C, as a Memphis Depay brace and a goal from Luuk de Jong earned the Oranje a late win.

Their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign continues on Sunday as the Nations League runners-up travel to Belarus.

Source – Goal.com

The former Manchester United winger has revealed that the Ligue 1 champions tried to get him to Parc des Princes during Laurent Blanc’s tenure.

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Memphis Depay has revealed that Laurent Blanc tried to sign him while in charge of French champions Paris Saint-Germain.

The Lyon forward was speaking to reporters following the Netherlands‘ 3-1 victory over Northern Ireland in their Euro 2020 qualification match, with the 25-year-old scoring twice to take his tally to five in the competition.

And Depay has claimed that PSG were keen on his services in the past, with Blanc having been in charge at the Parc des Princes between 2013 and 2016.

He said, as quoted by L’Equipe: “He (Blanc) wanted to buy me during his time at PSG.”

The Dutchman began his professional career at PSV Eindhoven before moving to Manchester United in 2015, and it’s likely that the interest from PSG will have come around that time.

Blanc won the league three seasons in a row during his time with the Ligue 1 powerhouse, while he also secured a domestic treble two seasons in a row.

He would, however, leave the club at the end of the 2015-16 season, with it suggested that a failure to advance past the quarter-final stages of the Champions League ultimately cost him his job.

Blanc has remained out of management since, but is now in pole position to take over at Lyon, where he will finally get to work with Depay after seemingly trying to sign him earlier in his career.

After moving to Lyon from United in 2017, Depay has been one of the best attacking players in Europe, netting 38 goals in 96 Ligue 1 games for the club.

They have, however, made a poor start to the new season and sit 14th in the table, having won just two of their nine games so far, with Sylvinho being sacked as a result of the poor run of results.

On the Brazilian’s exit, Depay added: “I feel bad for him. The bad results were not his fault.”

Arsene Wenger’s name has also been linked to the job as Lyon look to return to the European qualification places, while the club’s president Jean-Michel Aulas has claimed Jose Mourinho has turned down the position.

Source – Goal.com

Tottenham captain Hugo Lloris will not need surgery but has been ruled out until January at the earliest with a dislocated elbow sustained in Saturday’s defeat at Brighton.

Hugo Lloris was injured in the third minute at Brighton as Neal Maupay scored the Seagulls’ opening goal

The World Cup-winning goalkeeper fell awkwardly early in the game after failing to collect a cross as Spurs suffered a 3-0 reverse.

Spurs confirmed the injury later that evening but had not put a timescale on a possible return.

However, following more tests, it was confirmed the 32-year-old is expected to miss the remainder of the calendar year.

“Hugo Lloris has undergone further assessment this morning after sustaining a dislocated elbow in our match against Brighton on Saturday,” Tottenham said in a statement on Monday afternoon.

“The findings have shown that although surgery will not be required, our club captain has suffered ligament damage and is not expected to return to training before the end of 2019.

“Hugo is currently in a brace and will now undergo a period of rest and rehabilitation under the supervision of our medical staff at Hotspur Way.”

Lloris is carried off at the Amex Stadium after suffering his injury

Speaking shortly before Tottenham’s announcement, France boss Didier Deschamps issued a similar prognosis.

Lloris, who is France captain, would have joined up with the national squad for the upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers against Iceland and Turkey but now misses out.

“He has had tests. It is difficult to say how long he will be out, I am not a medical specialist,” Deschamps told a press conference.

“As far as we [France] are concerned, he obviously will not be with us for this camp, nor the next one.

Source – Sky Sport

The centre-back has rubbished claims he is overweight and feels his performances are improving following a difficult individual start to the season.

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Juventus defender Matthijs de Ligt has laughed off rumours suggesting that he has been put on a low-carb diet by head coach Maurizio Sarri because he is overweight.

The centre-back made a big-money move from Ajax to the Serie A champions in the summer, and endured a rocky start to life in Italy.

He was originally set to take in his new surroundings from the bench, with the preferred pairing of Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci showing the youngster the ropes.

But a serious injury to the former saw the summer signing thrust into action earlier than expected.

The giving away of a penalty in Sunday’s derby clash with Inter was a low point for De Ligt, having previously scored an own goal on his first start for Juve in pre-season.

The 20-year-old is aware that lessons must be learned quickly when adapting to a new league, but he feels that he is on the path to once again playing with full confidence and ignoring outside noise along the way.

“[The article about being put on a low-carb diet and needing one-on-one sessions] really is a wild story,” De Ligt told Nu.nl.

“It doesn’t surprise me any more. Sometimes I think I had a decent game, but apparently there’s something wrong after all. But those are only opinions. It’s important to know what I do well and what went wrong – and I know that well.

“Every new player should get the time to adapt to the team. Juventus had two great defenders already with Chiellini and Bonucci. The plan was to let me enter the team slowly, but it worked out differently. Obviously it’s great that I get to play already, but you get thrown in at the deep end right away. That’s a great challenge for me.”

“The most important lesson I have learned so far at Juventus is that you need self-confidence. In the beginning, I noticed I was way too concerned about not making mistakes and that’s exactly what you shouldn’t do. I never played that way and in my first weeks I was too focused on that.

“After that game against Atletico Madrid I called myself to order, in a way. I wanted to play with confidence again. Maybe still some things will go wrong, but at least I know for sure things are better than before. Since then I have an upward trend.

“The critiques you get after the game are part of the deal. Unfortunately that’s the life of a defender. You’re balancing on such a thin line of playing good or bad. Of course I’d rather not give away a penalty kick, but in the end we won [against Inter] and that’s what matters.”

Source – Goal.com

The French tactician’s connection to his former team prevented him from getting a job in England’s top flight.

Arsene Wenger has revealed he turned down a number of offers to coach in the Premier League because of his bond with Arsenal.

The 69-year-old has stayed away from management since leaving the Gunners at the end of the 2017-18 season after 22 years in charge of the London club.

Despite being without a coaching role for the past 17 months, Wenger says he has had a number of offers to take charge of English top-flight teams, but he turned them down because of the connection to his former club.

“I don’t want to tell you [which clubs] because there are people in charge and it would unfair to them.”

Wenger, who is now working as a pundit for bEIN SPORTS, won three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups with the Gunners and also led the ‘Invincibles’ to an unbeaten season in 2003-04.

After getting Arsenal in to the top four for 20 consecutive seasons, Wenger struggled in his final two campaigns in charge – finishing fifth and sixth respectively.

The French coach was keen to back his legacy, despite the troubled end to his tenure, pointing to their sustained success and the financial growth of the club.

“I know it is normal that people always want more. We won a lot and we built the [Emirates] stadium,” Wenger said.

“It’s difficult to explain today the circumstances in which we built the stadium because the turnovers today have been multiplied by five.

“When we decided to build the stadium, we had a turnover of £90m and the stadium was £430m. Then the pressure is really there and I think to come out of that period in a very healthy situation was a little bit of a miracle.”

Wenger has been shortlisted for the chief of football development role with governing body FIFA but he hasn’t decided whether to take the role yet.

Source – Goal.com

Sunday’s dismal 1-0 defeat at relegation-threatened Newcastle means the Red Devils have now gone 11 games without a victory away from home.

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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was desperately trying to convey his message to Fred.

Manchester United had a corner but the manager was not concerned with what might be at the attacking end.

Instead, he was preoccupied with how his team might fight against any counterattack coming the other way.

He wrapped his hands around his mouth and roared towards his Brazilian midfielder, and then forlornly to Marcos Rojo. The shape wasn’t right and he knew it.

If Newcastle could clear the corner, then there would be trouble. He needed Fred back a touch to close any prospective gap. But his efforts were in vain. Fred got the message too late; United were done for.

Into the space galloped Allan Saint-Maximin, the source of most of United’s misery on what was indeed a miserable afternoon in Newcastle. The Frenchman had the awareness of mind to feed Jetro Willems outside him.

From there, the ball was nudged to Matty Longstaff and, from there, dreams came true.

In a flash, we were delivered clear evidence of how Solskjaer is failing to get his players to do what he wants.

The price they paid here was heavy; the blow, fatal.

United spent the summer chasing the signing of Newcastle midfielder Sean Longstaff and were undone by his brother, Matty, on his Premier League debut, a 19-year-old who could also have scored in the first half with a dipping strike which ultimately ended up on the crossbar.

And it’s not like Newcastle are anything to be feared. There was an argument before kick-off that Solskjaer was not even the most crisis-ridden disciple of Sir Alex Ferguson managing in the Premier League.

That dubious honour might well have belonged to Steve Bruce in the dugout opposite. Beaten 5-0 by Leicester last week, Newcastle were languishing in the nether reaches of the league table.

Moreover, in 22 previous attempts as manager, Bruce had never once beaten his former club. If ever there was a day for Solskjaer’s team to come good, it was here and now.

Again, they failed.

There was barely anything positive to be gleaned from their play. It was a mess.

Their most prominent attacking player these days is Daniel James but he struggles unless he’s got space to counter into; the kind of space United left to Saint-Maximin for Longstaff’s winning goal.

Marcus Rashford was again a non-entity. His opposite number in the Newcastle ranks, Joelinton, finished with more touches by the end of the game despite being replaced in the 55th minute.

Solskjaer has no idea of how to get players closer to Rashford and help him make combinations. The England man looks a lost soul out there.

Behind him, ostensibly, was Juan Mata. Solskjaer spent an age in the first half trying to coax the World Cup winner towards the right-hand side of the attack in order to receive the ball to feet.

Nothing worked and he was replaced by Mason Greenwood, a teenager with more than his fair share of expectation on his young shoulders already.

The manager had previously asked Axel Tuanzebe to play his passes into the midfield instead of to the left or right. Every time the defender found Harry Maguire or Diogo Dalot with one, Solskjaer would plead for the next one to go forward.

Either Tuanzebe can’t or won’t do it. And so a potential supply line was fractured before it was ever up and running.

It was like this all over the pitch; dropped connections, players misreading each other’s intentions, players standing still and beckoning team-mates closer.

The one bright spot in the second half was the space found by Andreas Pereira in the left channel but even his two best deliveries weren’t met in the centre.

Their best route to goal looked to be a set-piece but their prime opportunity came and went at the end of the first half when Maguire nodded off target when the goal yawned like a chasm in front of him.

United were cursed to lose yet again away from home.

That’s 11 games on the road in all competitions without a victory, a catastrophic run of form stretching all the way back to that famous night in Paris last March.

What’s more, they have taken only 17 points from the 18 league matches since beating Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes, the remarkable event which prompted the powers that be to offer Solskjaer the full-time job.

Today, he can point to the losses through injury of Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Luke Shaw and Victor Lindelof. Any team would suffer with that number of players out.

But the problem is that United are suffering even when everyone is fit. And it’s Liverpool next.

How much more time will Solskjaer be permitted to arrest this slide before the experiment is called off?

Source – Goal.com

The Catalans have looked strong in recent weeks, but there’s still a lack of sharpness on display for Ernesto Valverde’s new-look side.

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Winning 4-0 but not being comfortable with your performance can be classified as a good problem, and that’s what Barcelona have right now.

They thrashed Sevilla – on the scoreboard at least – to complete an excellent week after their comeback against Inter Milan in the Champions League.

Yet in another universe, not too far removed from this one, Sevilla would have been 3-0 ahead before Luis Suarez broke the deadlock.

If it had been poacher Javier Hernandez, sitting on the bench, rather than Luuk de Jong, up front, the Andalusians might have been 3-0 up.

But the Dutch centre-forward, for all his energy, hustle and bustle leading the line, was remarkably wasteful.

De Jong spurned three fine chances to score, a hat-trick of glaring misses, two from very close range, and was soon shown what happens if you look this blue-and-red chequered gift horse in the mouth.

Barcelona have played of remarkably high calibre and they came to the fore in a brutal eight-minute period, with the Catalans striking thrice, a goal for every De Jong miss.

Suarez’s was first, and best, a pin-point bicycle kick from Nelson Semedo’s cross, his third exceptional goal in the space of five days, after his Champions League brace against Inter Milan.

Arturo Vidal was next, sliding in to finish from Arthur’s tempting, well-weighted pass, after more good work from Semedo.

The Portuguese right-back has impressed out of position on the left in the last two matches, with Jordi Alba and Junior Firpo out injured.

Apart from the executioner, Vidal, Semedo played the key role in a goal, with every player in the side touching the ball during the 25-pass build-up.

Barcelona still seem incapable of consistently playing the possession football the purists desire but at times it is within their grasp.

That is a promising sign – and terrifying for their rivals – and they will only improve as Frenkie de Jong, Arthur and Sergio Busquets gel, and Lionel Messi hits his best level.

Busquets was left out at the expense of Vidal here and that suited the team on this occasion, with the chaotic Chilean scrapper playing his part and earning an ovation from the Camp Nou when he was substituted.

Antoine Griezmann was left on the bench for this clash but will also likely form part of the best side, because he offers much greater ball retention ability than Ousmane Dembele.

However, the Frenchman still convinces in fits and starts, in certain moments looking a world-beater, at others a clown – perhaps the team in a microcosm at this moment.

A brilliant jink left Sevilla defender Diego Carlos sliding into next week, before Dembele finished coolly for Barcelona’s third, and the team’s 300th goal in 129 matches under coach Ernesto Valverde. That was the sublime.

The ridiculous followed in the second half when he should have scored again but rifled an effort into the second tier of seats behind the goal, which takes some doing at a stadium as steep as this.

Sevilla’s beleaguered forward De Jong contributed some more ridiculous of his own, spurning a fourth great chance, smashing an effort against the post after his Barcelona namesake committed a rare error.

The visitors’ profligacy shows this Barcelona team is far from perfect, despite this excellent result and their win over Inter in the Champions League, in which they were also dismantled at the back.

Messi is still finding his peak but scored a superb free-kick for the fourth before the game descended into farce in the final stages, with young centre-back Ronald Araujo wrongly sent off on his debut by referee Mateu Lahoz.

Amid Barcelona players’s protests, Dembele was dismissed for saying something untoward to the official.

Gerard Pique also picked up a booking – deliberately – so he is suspended for the next match, at Eibar, after his fifth yellow card of the league campaign and seventh in total.

All three players can now not feature again domestically before the Clasico on October 26.

By that time, the Catalans will hope to have added more chemistry to their sheer individual quality.

Source – Goal.com