‘Special One’ Mourinho verbally agrees to move to Real Madrid

May 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 18 (ANI): Inter Milan manager Jose Mourinho is all set to join Spanish giant Real Madrid and has already submitted his players wish list.

According to Spanish media reports, Mourinho has reached a verbal agreement with Real Madrid to become their next manager.

The Special One’s representative, Jorge Mendes, has had talks with Real Madrid to thrash out a deal for Mourinho, where he also outlined the manager’s transfer targets, The Mirror reports.

The list includes Benfica’s in demand trio of Angel Di Maria, David Luiz, and left wingback Fabio Coentrao.

The former Chelsea boss will be in Madrid on Friday to prepare for Inter Milan’s Champions League final clash with Bayern Munich. (ANI)

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Atletico the toast of Spanish football after surviving in Anfield

April 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Madrid, April 30 (DPA) Atletico Madrid are the toast of Spanish football after they managed to reach the final of the new Europa League Thursday.

Atletico were losing 2-0 in Anfield away to Liverpool and on their way out of the competition – until an extra-time goal from Diego Forlan allowed them to go through on the away goals rule.

Atletico will face surprise package Fulham in the final, in Hamburg May 12.

Their exploits in Anfield are front-page news in practically every Spanish newspaper on Friday.

El Mundo praises the ‘character and courage’ of the Atletico players, La Vanguardia compares their performance to earlier ‘courageous displays’ away to Sporting Lisbon and Galatasaray.

Sports daily Marca comments that Atletico ‘are important again in Europe’, 24 years after reaching their last European final.

ABC, for its part, comments that Atletico’s exploits in Anfield ‘have cheered up Spain, after what happened to Barcelona Wednesday.’

Barca crashed out of the Champions Cup against ultra-defensive Inter Milan.

Friday’s newspapers are full of praise for Forlan, who has scored vital goals in practically every round, and for coach Quique Sanchez Flores.

Quique has turned out to be the revelation of the Spanish season.

He was out of contract last summer after an undistinguished spell at Benfica. He was given the difficult task of revitalizing Atletico in November, after Abel Resino had been sacked.

‘Quique has worked hard to restore morale and confidence at the club,’ said sports daily AS on Friday, ‘and has fully exploited all the talent that the team has in attack, at the same time as rebuilding a troubled defence.’

In particular, his decisions to pick teenage goalkeeper David de Gea and young defender Alvaro Dominguez have been lauded.

Quique has taken Forlan and company out of relegation trouble – they are now in comfortable 10th place – and into two cup finals.

They face Sevilla in the final of the King’s Cup in Barcelona May 19.

Around 2,000 Atletico fans accompanied their team to Liverpool. A similar number celebrated the result in Madrid’s Plaza de Neptuno, the downtown square where Atletico’s triumphs are traditionally celebrated.

More than 15,000 ‘atleticos’ are expected to make the trip to Hamburg and around double that number to Barcelona for the final of the King’s Cup.

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World Cup Group F news – Italy/Paraguay/Slovakia/NZ

April 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Latest Group F team news ahead of the World Cup in South Africa which starts on June 11:

ITALY

Italy coach Marcello Lippi aims to name his World Cup squad on May 18, ahead of the June 1 deadline, but whether he will remain in his post beyond the tournament remains a mystery.

“On May 18th I should be able to name who is in the 23 plus four stand-bys. Some time ago I said we were 70 percent there with the squad and now I’m missing four or five players, a little more patience please,” Lippi told www.gazzetta.it.

“With the federation president Giancarlo Abete we have clear ideas. He said that before the World Cup we’d know who will be the coach afterwards, but he didn’t use the word new…”

PARAGUAY

In light of the loss for the World Cup of shooting victim Salvador Cabanas, Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino will be pleased with the scoring form of Benfica’s Oscar Cardozo, who hit a hat-trick in their 5-0 rout of Olhanense.

He will also have noted the hat-trick scored by Lucas Barrios for Borussia Dortmund in a 3-2 win over Nuremberg. Barrios, born in Argentina, received Paraguayan nationality through his mother this month, making him available for Paraguay at the World Cup.

Midfielder Nestor Ortigoza, another naturalised Argentine-born player who has already made his Paraguay debut and is likely to go to South Africa, scored for Argentinos Juniors in a 3-1 win over Gimnasia-La Plata that put his side second in the Argentine Clausura championship.

NEW ZEALAND

Locally-based players will get their final chance to impress All Whites coach Ricki Herbert as he finalises his World Cup squad when 15 players from the A-League and New Zealand’s domestic league assemble for a 12-day camp starting on Thursday.

Herbert told local media he had already nailed down “18 or 19″ players for the 23-man squad he will take to South Africa, with several overseas players, such as Blackburn Rovers central defender Ryan Nelsen, almost certainly pencilled in.

The overseas-based players, including captain Nelsen, will assemble in Auckland with the rest of the squad for a final camp in late May before the team heads to Australia for their warm-up match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against Australia on May 24.

SLOVAKIA

Striker Filip Holosko scored an equaliser for his club Besiktas in their 2-2 home draw with Sivasspor, leaving them fourth in the Turkish first division nine points off the pace with three games left.

It was Holosko’s sixth league goal in 18 appearances for Besiktas and his fourth in the last eight games, but the club have only a theoretical chance of clinching the title after winning only one of their last five matches.

Midfielder Dusan Svento stayed on course to win the Austrian league title with Salzburg, after a 1-1 home draw with Rapid Vienna in their top of the table clash left the defending champions six points ahead.

(Editing by Miles Evans;

To query or comment on this story emailsportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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Torres denies putting country before club

April 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, Apr 20 (ANI): Ace striker Fernando Torres, who faces up to six weeks on the sidelines, is confident of spearheading Spain’s bid for success in South Africa. He has also ruled out reports about putting country before club.

Torres said he has not put World Cup glory with Spain before helping Liverpool end their miserable season on a high.

Torres again injured his knee, which first required surgery in January, in the opening skirmishes of the Europa League tie with Benfica at the start of the month.

And, he said the fact he played on until the closing stages scoring twice in the 4-1 win to set up Thursday’s semi-final showdown with his old club Atletico Madrid, proves his commitment to Liverpool, The Daily Express reports.

“It is not true I put country before club. We looked at all the options before coming to the last resort, which was surgery.

“The meniscus was damaged and the doctors decided we had to operate. The injury happened in the second minute of the game against Benfica at Anfield. I played 85 minutes injured,” said Torres.

“If I had been thinking only about the World Cup I would’ve asked to be taken off. I didn’t. I wanted to reach the Europa League final with my team. We have to be positive and think about the fact there’s still a World Cup to look forward to,” said Torres.

“This has been a hard year with injuries and it’s a pity not to have played more and scored more goals. Right now, the World Cup is the most important thing. You wait four years for it and, if things go well, I don’t expect to miss it,” he added. (ANI)

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Carrick says United want to make Champions League history

May 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London – Of all the statistics that surround this year’s Champions League final, there is one that stands out above all others – United can make history by becoming the first side to successfully defend the title.

While Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Nottingham Forest, Liverpool, Ajax, Benfica and Inter Milan all won the old European Cup two years in a row, no side has done it since the competition was expanded in 1992.

Repeating their triumph of 12 months ago by beating Barcelona in the final on Wednesday would make United the first to do so under the new format.

Michael Carrick, one of the English club’s most consistent players this season, said the whole United side knows what that would mean.

“It’s a strange one really because you try not to think about things too much, but at the back of your mind you know how special it could be if we could do it,” he said.

“We’re determined to repeat the feeling we had last season, it was something I’d never experienced before in my life and it really was an unbelievable feeling. To do that again would be incredible.”

Carrick said United and Barcelona deserved to be called the two best sides in Europe right now and said everyone was aware just how dangerous the Spanish champions can be.

Lionel Messi, their Argentina forward, is arguably the best player in the world, but Carrick said Andres Iniesta, who scored the goal against Chelsea that took Barcelona through to the final, was equally important to the Spanish side.

“He’s definitely a big player for them,” Carrick said. “He’s had a great season and scored a few goals, none more important than the one against Chelsea in the semi-final which put them through to the final.

“I know he’s had a bit of an injury recently, but I’m sure he’ll be fit for Rome and it’ll be a big test to play against him because he’s a really top player.”

Barcelona are renowned for playing an expansive brand of football, as are United, but Carrick said the final could be a cagey affair.

“We thought it would be very open and attacking when we played them last season and in the end there was only one goal over two legs,” he said.

“They can score and create chances at any time, but we believe we can defend well and attack them. There could be a bagful of goals or just one could be the difference – anything could happen, but that’s what makes it such an interesting game.”

Carrick has been an unsung hero for United at the heart of their midfield this season but the England player said he was disappointed his midfield partner Darren Fletcher would not be in Rome because of suspension.

“We’d love to (win it for him),” Carrick said. “We’re all still devastated for Fletch, but hopefully we can win it and go some way to making him a bit happier about the situation.”(dpa)

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Ronaldo says Manchester United is my home

January 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Jan.21 (ANI): Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo has insisted that his future is at Manchester United.

Ronaldo, 23, said: “I’m very happy at Manchester United. I am at home here.

“For all I have achieved and won, for the friendships I have made with supporters and the United family – I’ve been very well treated by everyone. I feel this is a very beautiful cycle in my career that I will always remember,” he added.
“Alex Ferguson has supported me a lot. I feel part of the furniture here and this is my home. Everything I do generates a certain interest but the only true thing is that I am happy at Manchester United. To be honest, I never imagined playing at a club like United. I dreamed of Benfica, Porto and Sporting, but never arriving at this level,” he was quoted by The Sun, as saying. (ANI)

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Ronaldo promises to join Real Madrid

January 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Jan 10 (ANI): Ace Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo has reached a verbal agreement with Florentino Perez, the former Real Madrid president, to join the Spanish club.

Ronaldo made this agreement through his agent Jorge Mendes. It is understood that Perez will use this promise when he stands for election as Real president in 2010, The Times reported.

There is a growing conviction in Madrid that the Manchester United and Portugal forward will sign for the Spanish champions at some point, a view reiterated by Pepe, the Real defender who is a Portugal teammate of Ronaldo.

“He has shown he wants to come here with the statements he has made. We’ll see if he still desires to join us this summer,” Pepe said.

Real are also monitoring the situation with Carlos Tevez, whose contract with United expires in June. This indicates, though, that uncertainty reigns supreme at the Bernabeu and a rerun of last summer’s shenanigans over Ronaldo could be on the cards.

In the short term, Real’s priority remains on the wing, with Antonio Valencia, of Wigan Athletic, and Ángel Di María, of Benfica, at the top of their list. (ANI)

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