Friday 30 June 2017
Thursday 29 June 2017
Asensio going for his fifth title of the season
He can add the Euro Under-21s title to his Champions League, LaLiga, Club World Cup and the European Super Cup.Marco Asensio is in with a chance of winning his fifth title of the season. The madridista is in the Spanish Under-21 squad that have made it to the final of the European Cup against Germany (Friday, 8:45pm CEST). The man from Mallorca has been the tournament's standout player, scoring three goals so far.
Asensio has enjoyed a fantastic first season with the Whites and has lifted four trophies with the group this campaign: The Champions League, LaLiga, the Club World Cup and the European Super Cup. From an individual point of view, he's shown a phenomenal level of performance, scoring 10 goals across all competitions. He has also scored in the finals of the European Super Cup and the Champions League, netting Real Madrid's first and last goal this campaign.
By Real Madrid
New kits in new Megastore this Saturday
Our brand-new Megastore will open on Saturday to tie in with the release of our brand-new home and away kits.
Our flagship Stamford Bridge store has been undergoing a summer of renovation but will open its doors from 9am on Saturday morning with a day of celebration.
As we prepare to unveil our new 2017/18 kits, we will also offer a ‘selfie’ photo opportunity with the Premier League trophy, lifted aloft by the champions at our match against Sunderland in May.
A Megastore first will offer fans the chance to purchase boots like the players wear, in our newly introduced Boot Room area.
There will be a lottery running from 9am for those supporters who purchase the new jerseys, offering incredible prizes which include:
First-team signed shirt
Two tickets to a match of your choice (subject to availability)
Two hospitality packages for a match of your choice at Stamford Bridge (subject to availability)
All-expenses-paid trip for two to Singapore to watch our pre-season match against Inter Milan
A DJ will be on hand to play tracks throughout the day and Chelsea TV will also be a part of the action, with roving reporter Jason Cundy speaking with fans to get reaction to the shirts and look ahead to our forthcoming pre-season tour and the new campaign.
The new Megastore will be open from 9am-6pm Saturday, Sunday 11am-5pm, and Monday to Friday 9am-6pm.
By chelsea fc.com
Park singles out Rashford for praise
Ji-Sung Park took time out from his preparations for Manchester United's Legends clash in Barcelona on Friday to discuss his faith in the potential of Marcus Rashford.
The 19-year-old striker made more appearances than any of his team-mates last term and was hugely influential in helping win the Europa League, scoring vital goals against Anderlecht and Celta Vigo in the quarter-final and semi-final respectively.
When asked which young player at his former club had impressed him most, the South Korean star told MUTV: "Actually, yes [there is somebody]. Marcus Rashford has done really well. He had a great first season and then people had really high expectations but he showed his quality on the pitch in the second season.
"He’s improving with that pressure on him and that is quite impressive for me. If he can keep doing things like he is now, and progressing, he can be one of the best players."
Park himself is delighted he is still held in such high regard by the United fans, who fully appreciated his efforts for the Reds between 2005 and 2012, and had a message for the Old Trafford faithful.
"I really appreciate that they still sing my song," he said of the supporters. "I’m really happy to hear that song. I am still an ambassador for the club and really enjoy seeing the fans across the world. I know we have had a little bit of a struggle for a period of time after Sir Alex but we are getting back to our level and I’m really looking forward to the future.
"We won the European trophy and the League Cup last season and hopefully we’ll keep on doing well. Now the expectation is high to bring back the league title for next season so I say just keep supporting Manchester United and enjoy our moments to be back to our normal level."
The Nou Camp match kicks off at 19:00 CET (18:00 BST) on Friday and is live on MUTV in the UK and on the new MUTV app for elsewhere in the world. Tickets for the Legends game at Old Trafford on 2 September are on sale at manutd.com/legendsareback. Prices start from £20 for adults and £5 for under-16s, with hospitality packages available from £125. All proceeds will go to Manchester United Foundation’s work across Greater Manchester
Report by Adam Marshall .
United's sympathy for Jose Mourinho
Everyone at Manchester United is extending sincere condolences to Jose Mourinho and his family, following confirmation that the manager's father, Felix, has passed away. He was 79.
Felix was a former professional goalkeeper for Vitoria Setubal and Belenenses, and he represented his country, Portugal, on one proud occasion before embarking on a coaching career.
The Portuguese clubs he managed included the two he had played for, as well as Rio Ave and União de Leiria, where his son Jose would later take charge in 2001/02.
Our thoughts are with Jose and his family at this sad and difficult time.
Report by Communications Dept
Phil Neville: Mourinho's on a mission
Former Manchester United player and coach Phil Neville is intrigued to see which new faces the club brings in this summer and is convinced Jose Mourinho will build a squad capable of challenging for the Premier League title.
Neville, speaking to MUTV at the official launch of Cafe Football at the National Football Museum in Manchester, believes Mourinho is on a mission to follow up last term's three trophies with top-flight glory, after previously winning three championships with Chelsea.
"I’m looking forward to it," said the ex-England international, when asked about the upcoming campaign. "I think it was a brilliant season last year and it finished well with the Europa League.
"Now we’re looking to see who Jose signs because, if you look at the top six clubs, I think they will all strengthen. United have to strengthen and it’ll be interesting to see which team strengthens the most.
"Now, every time I pick up a paper, another player is linked with United but I’m sure Jose will bring success, like he did last season, and ultimately, hopefully, bring the title back to Manchester.
"If you look at the drawn games at Old Trafford last season and convert maybe 90 per cent of those into wins, then United would have been challenging for the title. If they can do that this year, then I think the title will come back to Manchester.
"I’m optimistic," Neville continued. "United are heading in the right direction and the confidence the manager and his squad got from winning the EFL Cup and Europa League can be taken into the Champions League and the league next year.
"It’s going to be a difficult season, as everyone else is spending money and improving. United are going to have to improve as well because they didn’t finish in the top four last season. Even that is a big ask, but I think Jose will want to win the Premier League. That’s the big one. He won’t settle for anything less."
Report by Adam Marshall
catalan get together Barcelona legends Xavi and Carles Puyol pictured with current stars ahead of Lionel Messi’s wedding
Catalan legends Xavi and Carles Puyol flew in to Rosario with Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba as well as former Barca team-mate Cesc Fabregas.
Former Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o was also pictured on the runway ahead of the wedding.
Messi met Roccuzzo when they were just 13 years old and the pair have two children together, named Thiago and Mateo.
The pair have known each other since Roccuzzo was five years old, as her cousin, Lucas Scaglia, was a childhood friend of Messi.
Messi’s wedding will take place on June 30, in his hometown of Rosario, with the ceremony taking place at the City Centre Hotel and Casino.
The Argentinian superstar’s big occasion will be beamed to adoring fans in Messi’s hometown on a big screen outside the venue, according to AS.
Messi has invited 21 members of Barcelona’s first team squad, meaning strike partners Neymar and Luis Suarez will make an appearance.
One of his team-mates, Andres Iniesta has said he will not be able to attend the wedding, while it is unknown whether or not Gerard Pique and partner Shakira will be there.
Messi chose not to invite former boss Luis Enrique and his assistant Juan Carlos Unzue.
Also no members of the Barca board were invited due to a long-running feud between former president Joan Laporta and current president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Argentina team-mate Sergio Aguero’s girlfriend, Karina Tejeda, is believed to have been invited to sing at the ceremony.
By George Boulton
Tuesday 27 June 2017
Semenya shows her class at Olso Bislett Games
South Africa's superstar Caster Semenya continued her good form ahead of the IAAF World Championships when she dominated the field to win the women's 800m at the Oslo Bislett Games on Thursday night.
The 26-year-old Olympic champion beat a strong Diamond League field, holding off the challenges of Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi and Kenya's Margaret Wambui.
Semenya ran a patient race, and only made her move after Niyonsaba tried to sprint away from the field in the second lap. The South African, renowned for her finishing kick, caught the Burundian athlete with about 200m to go and then sprinted clear to finish in 1:57.59.
Niyonsaba ran a season's best time of 1:58.18, while Wambui clocked 1:59.17.
Africans also dominated the women's 3000m-steeplechase race. Kenya's Norah Jeruto won the event in 9:17.27, ahead of Ethiopia's Sophia Assefa, while Fabienne Schlumph of Switzerland was third.
Ivory Coast sprinter Murielle Ahouré ran a season's best to finish second in the women's 200m. The Netherlands' Dafne Schippers (22.31) won the race, but the Ivorian ran a wonderful race to finish in 22.47 ahead of Jamaican athlete Simone Facey.
In other women's results, Nigeria's Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor finished sixth in the women's long jump.
Britain's Jake Wightman scored the biggest upset of the night when he produced a personal-best performance to win the men's 1500m.
Wightman ran a time of 3:34.17 to beat Kenya's Elijah Manangoi, the 2015 world silver medallist. Marcin Lewandowski of Poland was third and Norway's Filip Ingebrigsten was fourth. Kenya's Silas Kiplagat could only manage a seventh place.
Botswana's Baboloki Thebe continued his impressive showing in the Diamond League when he won the 400m race in 44.95. South African Pieter Conradie was sixth in 46.16.
Ivory Coast's Ben Youssef Meite finish third in the men's 100m in 10.03. Canadian ace Andre de Grasse took maximum points on the night with a win in 10.01, while Britian's Chijindu Ujah, who has Nigerian anchestors, was second.
KweséESPN Staff
Bak at the bridge Tiemoue Bakayoko ‘arrives for Chelsea medical in coming hours ahead of £35million move’ from Monaco
TIEMOUE BAKAYOKO has reportedly arrived in London ahead of £35million Chelsea move.
The Monaco and France ace is set for a medical in the coming hours ahead of being unveiled as Antonio Conte‘s first major summer signing.Tiemoue Bakayoko is believed to be in London ahaead of sealing a move to Chelsea
RTL claim that Bakayoko has been in London since yesterday, with his arrival paving the way for Manchester United to clinch a deal for Nemanja Matic.
Bakayoko is set to form a new-look midfield partnership with N’Golo Kante worth touching £70m.
Despite winning the Prem title in his first season in charge, Conte wants to add more dynamism to his side.
And having identified Bakayoko as the man to do it, he is prepared to let Matic, 28, be reunited with former Blues boss Jose Mourinho in order to accommodate a player six years younger.
FIFA chief Massimo Busacca 'certain' VAR can reduce refereeing errors
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- Refereeing at the Confederations Cup in Russia may have been chaotic at times, but Video Assistant Referees have prevented major mistakes from being made, football's governing body says.
FIFA's head of refereeing Massimo Busacca says video reviews have not always looked good in tests at the tournament and admitted "many aspects should be improved" including faster, clearer communication after slow reviews have confused players, coaches and fans.
"We are certain that this can reduce refereeing errors," Busacca told a news conference. His choice of words suggests eliminating errors completely at the World Cup is too tough a goal.
"We are convinced if used correct[ly], it can reduce many mistakes. But not eliminate. We are here only to reduce," he said.
The former international referee said that communications between referees and the video assistants sitting in a darkened room outside the stadium needed serious improvement.
Match officials have complained of video assistants shouting loudly and at the same time into the referee's ear piece during games, a verbal assault that does not help clear decision making.
The former World Cup referee says he is positive about the new system being approved for use at next year's tournament in Russia.
Busacca insists the most important point at the two-week rehearsal tournament is that technology helped referees avoid major errors in 12 games so far.
FIFA research cites video replays helping referees overturn six "game-changing decisions." Referees' judgment in a further 29 "major incidents" was confirmed correct on review.
Busacca says FIFA must convince more member federations to help by using video reviews in their national competitions.
"We need our team, our referees, in member associations to do it every day."
He expressed irritation that referees in Russia were being criticised when they had only had five days to prepare and member federations were hesitating to use the technology.
He said it was crucial that referees had deep exposure to working with VARs before next year's World Cup in Russia, where the technology is expected to be used.
The change in refereeing, he said, was fundamental, with science replacing emotion. "Up until now decision are made in the heat of the moment. This is a new way to decide, without emotion."
Busacca rejected charges that weaker referees were being used at the Confederations Cup and that they were less able to deal with more senior Video Assistants.
He said he was appalled by the behaviour of Mexican and New Zealand players who became involved in a mass confrontation toward the end of their game.
The referee could have sent several players off. "Don't blame the referee. Blame the players. That is terrible behaviour," he said. Players were already learning how to abuse the video referee system by surrounding referees and putting pressure on them to consult the VAR.
"For now, it's not good looking. But at the end the honesty is good."
FIFA corruption report into 2018, 2022 World Cup bids leaked - Bild
The report looking into alleged corruption in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contests has been leaked to Bild, the German tabloid claims.
The newspaper is set to publish extracts from the 430-page dossier, authored by former FIFA independent ethics investigator Michael Garcia, over the next few days.
Bild said the Garcia Report includes details of a two million Swiss franc ($2m) payment into the account of the 10-year-old daughter of a FIFA official.
The tabloid also said it will explain the role that the leadership of the Qatari Aspire Academy played in manipulating FIFA officials with voting rights. It said three FIFA executive committee members travelled to Rio in a private Qatari FA plane in late 2010, just days prior to the vote that saw Qatar awarded the 2022 World Cup.
Peter Rossberg, the Bild journalist who claims to have obtained a copy of the report, said on Facebook on Monday night that the document did not provide proof that the World Cups in Russia and Qatar had been bought.
He said it would "be naive to believe that people like Garcia or [then deputy chairman of the investigatory chamber of FIFA ethics committee Cornel] Borbely could have been able to find definite proof."
However, he added that "especially with Qatar there are many strong indicators which basically don't allow for another conclusion. It's a genre picture about greed, corruption and cover-ups."
Rossberg has published some sections of the report on his Twitter account.
American lawyer Garcia led the investigation into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process but resigned from the FIFA ethics committee in December 2014 in protest over the handling of his findings.
Garcia had been unhappy with the 42-page summary of his findings that was released by German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert. The lawyer said he lost confidence in the independence of the ethics committee and that the summary, reduced from his 430-page dossier, had misrepresented his work.
The former U.S. attorney was appointed in July 2012 with the primary task of probing the controversial 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contests.
Bild said that the 430-page dossier was the basis for the arrests of FIFA officials in Zurich in May 2015, adding that the Garcia report led to several bans for high-ranking officials at the governing body.
Friday 23 June 2017
Dani Alves to Manchester City: 65 percent
The Brazilian right back has been on his way out at Juventus for the past few weeks. Even before the Champions League final, Dani Alves' entourage offered him to Chelsea and now Pep Guardiola is pushing for a reunion with the right-back at Manchester City. Juventus has agreed to rescind Dani Alves' contract which still had one year left on the deal that they had signed him to last summer on a free transfer.
Lionel Messi will retire at Barcelona or in U.S., China - Man City's Soriano
Lionel Messi will either finish his career at Barcelona or in the United States or China -- but not at Manchester City -- according to the Premier League club's chief executive Ferran Soriano.
Messi's Barca contract expires in 2018 and he is currently in talks over a new deal to extend his stay at the Camp Nou.
An agreement is expected to be finalised in the coming weeks despite speculation in Spain that the 29-year-old had turned down an offer worth between €30 million and €35m per season.
Former Barca vice-president Soriano has previously said that he would "open the doors" to Messi at City if he ever decided to leave the Camp Nou, though he now expects an extension to be agreed in Catalonia.
"No, I don't think so," Soriano was quoted as saying in Marca after being asked if Messi could still end up at City one day.
"I know Messi very well. Our families are really good friends. He's really happy in Barcelona and he has his whole life there.
"I think he will end his career there. If he doesn't, afterwards maybe he could play in the U.S. or China."
Meanwhile, Soriano has said that City's biggest target is to win the Champions League.
The club have already brought in Bernardo Silva and Ederson Moraes for a reported £77.7m this summer as they look to challenge in Europe as well as the Premier League next season.
"We have to look where the club was and where it is now, among the five best in the world," he said. "If we want to be among the very best, we have to win the Champions League and that's what we're working towards."
ESPN FC's Barcelona correspondent Sam Marsden contributed to this report.
