The Portuguese coach is out of work but has backed his French counterpart to turn things around in the Spanish capital.

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Jose Mourinho has dismissed rumours suggesting he could replace Zinedine Zidane as Real Madrid manager.

Los Blancos have endured a disappointing start to the season despite investing heavily in the transfer market this summer, being held to draws by Real Valladolid and Villarreal in La Liga and suffering a 3-0 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.

Former Madrid boss Mourinho does not believe the situation is as bad as it seems, however, particularly in the league, with Los Blancos sitting third, just two points off early leaders Sevilla.

“They’re third or fourth, no? Close to being first,” Mourinho told Deportes Cuatro.

“It’s not bad. If you look at it pragmatically, if you focus on the table, they’re right there. Now, they play Sevilla and if they win, they go ahead of them. Barcelona are behind them and Atletico are a point ahead.”

The Portuguese has rubbished reports he is being lined up to replace Zidane as head coach, insisting he hopes the Frenchman can go on to have a successful season in the Spanish capital.

“There are two types of rumours. One, when one speaks about Zidane, who is one of ours and it hurts us when our teams aren’t going well. You have to live with it,” he said.

“Zidane is in football all his life and he knows it. The other type of rumour is to put my name in there, and I don’t like that. There are problems in many places, but another thing is respect.

“I wouldn’t like to return because they have a manager and I can’t coach a team who have a manager. You can speak with respect about the club but also about the manager who isn’t just anyone. I am out of it. I’m not just blowing smoke. I would like that things turn out well and everything gets fixed.

“Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico, Manchester United and Chelsea – when you have massive expectations, it’s difficult and tough. And for this, they say there are good players and managers who aren’t giving everything, because it takes more than just talent, you also have to have a certain special personality.”

Mourinho was calm about his potential return to management, revealing he was taking German lessons in case an opportunity arose which required him to speak the language.

“It will be when it is. On Sunday, I’ll go to my job on Sky with Chelsea on. I do it once a month, I don’t want to do it every day. I enjoy it because I can offer a different perspective having been on the bench,” he said.

Now, I am in German classes in case one day I end up there or so I can speak one day in this language for a Champions League game. It will be my sixth language.”

Source – Goal.com

The Brazilian never reached the heights of his early promise and hangs up his boots after a spell in Turkey.

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Turkish club Adana Demirspor have revealed that former Manchester United midfielder Anderson has retired from playing football.

The Brazilian moved to Turkey in 2018 but has apparently decided against playing on this season at the age of just 31.

According to Adana Demirspor’s chairman Murat Sancak, Anderson will remain with the club in an off-field position and has taken a significant pay cut in the process.

“Anderson spent the camp period very well, but was not involved in squad planning. Anderson got a job, he went to work and decided to quit football,” Sancak told Radyospor.

“Anderson reduced his contract which was €600,000 for this season to €200,000. Anderson will continue to work at our club. I think it will be especially effective in our foreign relations.”

Adana are planning to hold a testimonial match for Anderson on October 12 against Turkish giants Besiktas as football bids farewell to a player that fell well short of his potential.

After breaking out in Brazil with Gremio, Anderson secured a move to Porto before the age of 18 in 2006 and despite breaking his leg later that year, did enough to attract the Red Devils’ attention.

Signing for Manchester United in 2007 for a reported fee of €30 million, the Brazilian midfielder showed signs of real promise and converted a clutch penalty in the 2008 Champions League final.

That same year, Anderson was also given the prestigious Golden Boy award, which was previously handed out to the likes of Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas and Sergio Aguero.

Injury and poor form, however, meant he failed to become a consistent performer at Manchester United, with the two ultimately parting ways in early 2015 as Anderson returned to Brazil with Internacional.

Even back in his homeland, Anderson struggled to find form at the time and was sent off twice in his first year at the club.

In the summer of 2018, the Brazilian’s ultimately final club move saw him land in Turkey with second-tier side Adana, where he made 11 league appearances last season.

Though he played 45 minutes in August as Adana kicked off their new campaign, Anderson has subsequently been withdrawn from their match-day squads and appears to have played his final competitive minutes in football.

Source – Goal.com

Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani will both miss Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League clash with Real Madrid due to injury.

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Mbappe was forced off against Toulouse last month with a hamstring problem and has not featured since, while Cavani is out of action with a hip problem he suffered 15 minutes into the same game.

The two strikers are expected to resume training by the end of the week but the visit of Real Madrid to the Parc des Princes on Wednesday will come too soon for both players.

Thomas Tuchel‘s side will also be without Neymar, with the Brazilian forward serving a three-match Champions League ban for insulting match officials following PSG’s defeat by Manchester United in the round of 16 last season.

The Brazilian’s summer has been blighted by links with a move back to Spain with both Real Madrid and Barcelona said to be interested in his services.

PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi even got as far as meeting with his Barca counterpart Josep Maria Bartomeu but no deal ever transpired and Neymar will remain in Paris until January at least.

Along with the other two members of PSG’s star-studded forward line, the three men accounted for 11 of PSG’s 20 goals in their Champions League campaign last season.

If the French champions are to mount a credible challenge for top European honours, they will need all three fit and firing in a tricky group that also includes Galatasaray and Club Brugge.

Should they navigate their way through the group stage, the real work starts for Tuchel after Christmas: the Qatari owners at PSG have long coveted the Champions League but have seen the side crash out in the last 16 three years in a row and the club have never made it past the quarter-finals.

Source – eurosport.com

The manager was left confused by the game’s defining decision, but he also believes his players could have been much better on the day.

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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was left frustrated by what he saw as a “clear and obvious” mistake on a penalty call against the Reds, although the German coach also admitted his side was not at the level needed to win against Napoli.

The Reds fell to a 2-0 defeat in Naples as they failed to take revenge for the defeat they sufffered in Italy the same side last season on their way to their Champions League triumph.

On Tuesday, the defining moment came from the spot as Andrew Robertson was penalised for a foul in the box on Jose Callejon in the game’s waning moments.

Dries Mertens buried the ensuing spot-kick, although may viewed the penalty call as soft.

Napoli were then able to seal the victory late through Fernando Llorente, who intercepted a backpass from Virgil van Dijk to double Napoli’s advantage and lock up three points.

After the loss, Klopp was upset with the referee’s decision, although he also expected more from his players on the day.

“What can I say? For me, it’s clear and obvious not a penalty because Callejon jumps before there’s any contact. But we can’t change that. We have to be critical with ourselves. We could have done better,” Klopp told BT Sport.

“They did well in a lot of moments, we played a lot of good football that we didn’t finish off. We had our chances. There were moments when we wanted a free-kick. I don’t understand why there was no free-kick when Sadio [Mane] goes down up and down, up and down. You think ‘what’s happening here?’

“It kept the intensity of the game, but what I said, we controlled moments but didn’t have a lot of chances at the end. You saw a lot of respect from both sides where we both defended well, but each ball we lost or they lost was immediately a threat.

“In these situations, you have to finish it off. I think one situation, Sadio was running, if he makes two more steps and shot, but from the beginning he wanted to pass the ball, in the end you’re like make another step and you can do it yourself.

“We made these decisions that were not right tonight and we have to accept the result.”

In particular, Klopp was left disappointed by his side’s lack of sharpness on the ball, as Liverpool wasted several counterattacks while proving ineffective in possession.

As a result, Liverpool were left with their first loss of the season, having won the first five Premier League matches of the new campaign.

“It should hurt because there were opportunities to win the game. This was a much better game than the last time we played them and they won 1-0 in the last minute. It was an open game.

“There were moments when we controlled the game, we had a lot of counter-attacks but didn’t finish them off. That’s a problem.

“In the second half, we had this wild game. We were running, they were running and that killed everyone on the pitch.

“Then we started controlling it again but conceded a penalty. That doesn’t help. I don’t think it’s a penalty. I’ve really no idea. It’s difficult.”

Source – Goal.com

Cristiano Ronaldo, who is still facing a civil rape case in Las Vegas, said in an interview this week that he felt “embarrassed” by the allegations against him.

Cristiano Ronaldo says it has been difficult for him and his family to cope with rape allegations aimed at him. Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images

The pending civil case by Kathryn Mayorga alleges conspiracy, defamation, breach of contract, coercion and fraud. Her complaint seeks unspecified monetary damages greater than $50,000.

Police in Las Vegas reopened a criminal investigation last October at the request of Mayorga, who accused Ronaldo of sexual assault in 2009. But police confirmed in June that he won’t face criminal charges. Las Vegas police matched a DNA sample from Ronaldo to evidence from the alleged 2009 rape at a Las Vegas hotel, but detectives said they struggled with uncooperative attorneys for Mayorga before prosecutors declined to pursue a criminal charge, according to correspondence obtained by this past August by ESPN’s Outside the Lines.

“They play with your dignity,” Ronaldo told ‘Good Morning Britain‘ in an interview with Piers Morgan that will air on Tuesday in Great Britain. “It’s hard. You have a girlfriend, you have a family, you have kids. When they play with your honesty, it’s bad, it’s hard.

“I remember one day I was at home in the living room with my girlfriend watching the television to see the news and they speak about ‘Cristiano Ronaldo this and that.’

“I listened to my kids coming down the stairs and I changed the channel because I was embarrassed.

“I just changed the channel for Cristiano Jr. not to see that they speak bad about his father about a very bad case.”

According to court documents, Mayorga signed a 2010 confidentiality agreement with Ronaldo in exchange for a $375,000 hush-money payment. Ronaldo’s lawyers have said Ronaldo and Mayorga had consensual sex in his suite at a Las Vegas casino hotel but deny it was rape.

Prosecutors say the initial police investigation in 2009 was closed after police were stymied by lost evidence and lack of cooperation from Mayorga.

Mayorga, 35, asked police to reopen the case in August 2018. Police also were unable to authenticate leaked documents about the case that have been published in the European media. Police also struggled to get cooperation from British police related to a 2005 rape allegation against Ronaldo, according to the correspondence.

During the interview, the Portugal international also broke down into tears when remembering his father, Jose Dinis Aveiro, who died of cirrhosis in 2005 at the age of 52.

“He doesn’t see me receive awards,” Ronaldo said. “My family see, my mum, my brothers — even my son. But my father, he didn’t see anything.

“But I really don’t know my father 100 percent. He was a drunk person. I never spoke with him, like a normal conversation. It was hard.”

Source – ESPN

The former England international believes the Red Devils need to recruit a trio of top-class players to improve the spine of the team.

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Gary Neville believes Manchester United need to sign three players to create a better “spine” at the club, naming Raphael Varane, N’Golo Kante and Kylian Mbappe as the ideal trio.

Parts of the puzzle are already in place at Old Trafford, with David de Gea having signed a new contract and Harry Maguire snapped up over the summer for £80 million ($100m).

United also boast the likes of Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford within their ranks, but Neville believes more proven performers are required.

He told Sky Sports : “Manchester United, somehow, have got to find a spine.

“Look at Liverpool. Fabinho, Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Roberto Firmino, unbelievable players, same with Manchester City‘s spine.

“My thing at the moment is how do Manchester United recruit, in the next 12 to 18 months, a spine that will help United’s younger players?

“Years ago, United’s spine were players like Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister, Peter Schmeichel, Roy Keane, Andy Cole, Eric Cantona.

“The spine of that team is immense. The problem with United’s team now, is not the younger players on the pitch.

“The spine of the team is Victor Lindelof, Nemanja Matic, Juan Mata, Ashley Young and David de Gea.

“Who knows what the likes of Andreas Pereira, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James will become, they need a spine.

“If Manchester United get the right three players in amongst that squad, they won’t be far off. It can be done.”

After making those comments, Neville would later take to Twitter and suggest that World Cup winners Raphael Varane, N’Golo Kante and Kylian Mbappe would be his dream picks to fill the three spots he alluded to.

Acquiring such talent will not be easy, or cheap, with the trio mentioned by Neville currently on the books at Real Madrid, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain.

United are working hard to tick the boxes that will deliver future success, with Neville pleased to see De Gea commit to fresh terms through to 2023 and remove the distractions which have impacted his game of late.

He said of the Spanish goalkeeper: “I’ve got to believe it’s good news.

“He’s had a difficult time in the Premier League. When players are distracted it doesn’t help.

“He’s lost his place in the national team and made more mistakes for Manchester United than ever before.

“But now he’s signed you hope that settles him down and he starts performing.

“Manchester United need a spine. They haven’t got a strong, dominant spine. De Gea can be the start of that. But his performances have dipped recently.”

Source – Goal.com

Edin Dzeko has paid tribute to his new Roma team-mate Henikh Mkhitaryan after his Roma debut, demanding that he stays at the club beyond his loan deal.

Mkhitaryan and Dzeko both scored in Roma’s 4-2 win over Sassuolo

The Armenian made his first appearance for his new club on Sunday evening, scoring in their 4-2 win over Sassuolo.

Dzeko, who also scored in the victory, has heaped praise on the on-loan Arsenal winger after the game in Rome.

He said: “I expect it from him. I know him as a great player, and he is a very good addition to our attacking team who wants to play football.

“I am one hundred percent sure he is going to be a big help for us. I was definitely happy to see this transfer happen.

Mkhitaryan scored two goals for Armenia against Dzeko’s Bosnia in a 4-2 win

“After we played for our national teams and he scored two goals against us I told him ‘my friend, next games you have to score for Roma as well!’

“He’s a great pro. I remember him also from Borussia Dortmund times and he will be a big player for us. Hopefully, he can stay a long time here.”

“Hopefully he will [stay]. He will see that we are playing football here and immediately he scored a goal so hopefully, he can have more goals and a lot of assists for us.

Mkhitaryan signed for Roma on a season-long loan deal from the Gunners on Deadline Day, along with his former Manchester United colleague Chris Smalling and Chelsea’s Davide Zappacosta.

The Italian side currently sit eighth in Serie A and get their Europa League campaign underway on Thursday when they face Istanbul Basaksehir.

Despite its recent introduction to the Premier League, VAR has been used in Italy since 2017, but Dzeko says that there is still work to do before it’s perfected.

“We’ve already had it for the second year. It’s nothing new for us. It can improve definitely but it definitely helps as well,” he said.

“So, hopefully in the future, it can help the referees also because their job is not easy. We know that. Also, with VAR, they have to improve even more.

Source – Sky Sports