SPORT TODAY
Good Morning and Welcome to Thursday’s Edition of Sport Talk…
Cristiano Ronaldo: “I’m back to Manchester United because I love this club not because of money.”
Max Allegri admits Juventus losing the Supercoppa Italiana to Inter five seconds from the final whistle makes him feel ‘football was invented by the Devil.’
Casemiro on El Clásico win. “Our plan in the 2nd half was to give them the ball and hurt them with the counter-attack.”
Mo Salah on Jurgen Klopp: “He’s cool but I don’t think we go out for dinner or something. I think he has a good relationship with everybody in the team. I think everybody knows his cool yeah, he’s the boss!”
Benzema: “If Real Madrid is the best team in Europe? I don’t know, but I can tell you Real Madrid is the greatest club in the world.”
Thomas Tuchel becomes the first Chelsea manager in history to take the club to each of the League Cup, FA Cup and Champions League finals but he was unhappy with his side’s display in north London.
Juventus staff were urging their players to give away a free kick so Leonardo Bonucci could come on for the penalty shoot-out, but were caught out by Inter’s Alexis Sanchez winner in the Supercoppa Italiana.
Cristiano Ronaldo: “I believe we have huge potential to win stuff. We have to find the best way to achieve these results. We have a few things to change and have to accept when you’re not in your best shape. We have a long way to improve but I believe.”
Alexis Sanchez came off the bench to win the Supercoppa Italiana for Inter against Juventus and got some things off his chest. ‘The more champions play, the better they feel! I am like a caged lion!’
Mo Salah is currently on an incentivised deal worth about £200,000 a week. His next contract will likely be one of the most lucrative in Liverpool’s history.
“We had possession of the ball and we were better.” Ronal Araujo on El Clásico.
Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri on Paulo Dybala’s future: “I’m happy with Paulo. His contract situation is managed by the club, not bu me”.Dybala’s current contract with Juvenrud expires in June 2022.
Simone Inzaghi had praise for Juventus after the Supercoppa Italiana went to 120 minutes, but felt Inter ‘deserved’ to lift the trophy for the first time since 2010. ‘Beating them is never easy.’
David Neres set to join Shakhtar Donetsk on a permanent move, done deal confirmed. Paperworks to be prepared now after agreement reached between Ajax and Shakhtar for €16-17m.
Ajax will push on Steven Bergwijn as new winger. Spurs want more than €15m.
Barcelona chief Mateu Alemany says he wants the Ousmane Dembélé situation sorted quickly.
“The situation hasn’t changed with Dembélé,”
“He knows very well what the club thinks. He has out offer on the table and he knows that we should resolve this situation quickly.“We hope that it can be for the good and he stays with us because he is an important player and there will be updates soon.”
Diego Godin has officially terminated his contract with Cagliari by mutual consent and is now set to join Atletico Mineiro.
Arsenal are reportedly interested in signing Leicester City midfielder Youri Tielemans during the summer transfer window.
Manchester United will prioritise a new contract for England striker Marcus Rashford. The 24-year-old’s current deal runs out in June 2023.
Georginio Wijnaldum is reported to have become “isolated” at Paris Saint-Germain because of speculation surrounding his future.
Juventus ultras at San Siro unveiled a shocking banner against their President Andrea Agnelli wishing his death.
Curtis Jones. “I had an injury, it was a bad one – I had a tear in the back of my eye. But it was mad because, to me, I felt fine, I felt I could run, I felt I could train, I could play. But the doctors were saying no, so I had to go with that.”
West Ham United manager David Moyes feels that winger Jarrod Bowen is now “knocking on the door” for an England call-up.
Arsenal are pushing for Arthur Melo on loan from Juventus. He’s one of the main names in the list. Player understood to be open to join in case club will find an agreement.
Juventus have not accepted yet – they’d need a replacement to let Arthur leave.
Ancelotti: “I told Pique they should have stopped the game (when Vinicius was down) like we did in the first half but he told me they never do that. Good to know (laughs).”
Manchester United interim head coach Ralf Rangnick is reportedly pushing for Ajax boss Erik ten Hag to become the English club’s next long-term manager.
Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel has suggested that he had been left frustrated by Chelsea’s performance during the 1-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur in the EFL Cup semi-finals.
Udinese are set to sign Pablo Marí on loan from Arsenal, deal almost done. Final details to be agreed then Pablo will arrive in Italy.
Carlo Ancelotti thinks Real Madrid could have defended better during victory over Barcelona.
“We looked for passes between the lines, looking for the counter, “We didn’t press as high going forward, favouring control. Based on the first half we deserved to win. We’re performing well, and we played according to our plan. We defended well and attacked better, especially in the final third. But we could have defended better.”
Rashford went to Solskjaer to tell him he was unsure what was being asked of him. He said he felt his performances had plateaued – he was being asked to play in so many different roles. Rashford was told to stop moaning.
Cristiano Ronaldo: “I don’t want to be here at the club to fight for sixth place or seventh place or fifth place. I’m here to try to win, to compete.”
For the first time in history, Manchester City’s revenue exceeded arch rivals Manchester United, as revealed in their annual report which reflects a highly successful campaign for Pep Guardiola’s side.
Xavi says Barcelona have freed themselves of an inferiority complex despite defeat to Real Madrid.“I’m sad,” “Watching the first 20 minutes I think we played with a complex – thinking about recent times and recent results – but once we freed ourselves of that complex I think we were better and in the end we had the game. If you toss a coin and it came up heads in favour of Barcelona, nobody says anything. But it came up tails. I think we’re on the right track, we’ve recovered some important people today. We said goodbye to a title but also freed ourselves of certain complexes.”
Celta Vigo are in advanced talks to extend Fran Beltrán contract. Negotiations progressing in order to complete the agreement in the coming days, club now confident.
