After a third successive Champions League title, Cristiano Ronaldo s departure for Juventus was meant to signal the end for a team that had scaled the heights of European football.
The annus horribilis of the 2018-19 season seemed to reaffirm such sentiment, but with Real Madrid now claiming a second LaLiga title and sitting another hair s breadth from the Champions League final since that departure, it seems even more irrational in hindsight.
How have Madrid been able to sustain their level among the best in European football and keep fighting for silverware on multiple fronts despite such a seemingly transformative absence? How have they won this season s LaLiga title with such ease?
Despite a severely weakened Barcelona and a supposed closing of the gap to th…
Edinson Cavani looks set to remain sidelined for Manchester United s trip to Bramall Lane on Thursday due to a muscle injury.
The Uruguayan striker had to be withdrawn at half-time in United s 3-1 win at West Ham earlier this month due to the issue and has not played since.
He missed the games against RB Leipzig and Manchester City, but did return to training last week.
An update on the 33-year-old on United s official website earlier on Wednesday said Cavani s recovery appears to have progressed well .
Yet Solskjaer seems doubtful that he will be able to feature on Thursday.
He told reporters: We have to be mindful of little strains and niggles and decisions have to be made from kick-off of Sheffield United to kick-off at Aston Villa, so it s goi…
The Premier League and the Professional Footballers’ Association have signed off on a new five-year partnership agreement starting next season which is understood to be worth around £125million.
The bodies agreed a one-year deal last summer for the 2022-23 campaign which was worth £24.94m, an increase of £1.9m on the annual value of the previous three-year deal which ran from 2019 to 2022.
The new deal is understood to be broadly similar to the one-year agreement covering the current Premier League season.
The and have today announced a new five-year partnership
The agreement will see an uplift in funding and will help support the wide range of services the players’ union provides to its members
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— Premier League Communitie…
According to a recent report from Sport, Bernardo Silva has informed his agent that he wants to leave Manchester City for Barcelona.
Dating all the way back to 2017, Bernardo Silva has been a crucial part of the furniture for Manchester City Football Club. He’s been able to get Pep Guardiola out of numerous sticky situations and while he’s only 27, it does appear as if he’s interested in moving away from the Premier League in his next career move.
Barcelona is a club constantly changing and evolving and even though they’re not the top dogs in Spain right now, they’re definitely building something with real intrigue when it comes to Xavi.
Guardiola won t want to let Silva go without a bit of a fight, or without getting something back in return, which is…
Santiago Garcia, a striker for Godoy Cruz, has died aged 30, the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) has confirmed.
The former Uruguay Under-20 attacker, nicknamed El Morro , was reportedly found dead in his apartment in Mendoza, Argentina on Saturday.
We regret with deep sadness and shock the death of Uruguayan player Santiago Damiano Garcia. Our condolences to his family and friends, a statement from the AUF read.
Godoy Cruz posted on Twitter: You were a hero, you were a goalscorer, you were a friend and a member of the family, you were everything a person wants to be when he gets a ball, today you have to be eternal and infinite for all of us.
So, thank you very much Morro, thank you for all the joy you gave the Tombino people. Rest in peace.
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Erling Haaland s Manchester City progress will be down to Pep Guardiola s ego, says Zlatan Ibrahimovic, while the striker also thinks Kylian Mbappe made a mistake staying with Paris Saint-Germain.
Norway international Haaland arrived at the Etihad Stadium during the last transfer window from Borussia Dortmund and has thus far lived up to the hype that surrounded his signing.
With 22 goals in a combined 15 games between the Premier League and Champions League already, the sky appears to be the limit for the forward this season.
But veteran Milan attacker Ibrahimovic, while a fan of the Leeds-born striker, fears his progress could be stymied by Guardiola, a coach whom he famously failed to connect with at Barcelona.
Can Guardiola make Haaland even stronger…
James Tavernier s first Europa League run appeared likely to be his last.
The right-back finally got his chance at Newcastle United in 2012-13 as Alan Pardew s first-team squad was stretched to breaking point.
However, Tavernier s chance equated to just eight appearances and five starts in all competitions, utilised right across the defence. He played 301 minutes in Europe (including qualifiers) but looked a little out of his depth.
By the time Newcastle reached the quarter-finals of the competition, Tavernier had played his last game for the club.
The following season brought the fifth and sixth loan moves of his career – all to League One or below. A permanent transfer to Wigan Athletic followed, but Tavernier was soon back out on loan again – to Le…
Bayern Munich CEO Oliver Kahn remains steadfast in his support of Julian Nagelsmann despite the club s poor sequence of form.
While Bayern have enjoyed a perfect start to their Champions League campaign, beating Inter and Barcelona, the defending Bundesliga champions have now gone four league matches without a win.
Defeat to Augsburg on Saturday has increased the perceived pressure upon Nagelsmann, though Kahn has made it clear the responsibility falls upon the players and not their head coach.
We are totally convinced of Julian, he told Sport1, speaking at Oktoberfest in Munich.
The coach gives the players enough solutions. I think that s quite normal: it s the team, the team is on the pitch. It s also about turning the chances we create into goals.
Luke Williams heaped praise on his Notts County defenders as their importance was highlighted during their 3-2 win over Crawley in the FA Cup.
Danilo Orsi scored twice for the visitors but goals from Dan Crowley, David McGoldrick and substitute Macaulay Langstaff saw the Magpies progress to the second round for the first time since 2019.
“I thought Crawley were absolutely brilliant, they also deserved to be in the hat for the next round because both teams created enough chances to win the game,” said Williams.
“They made it very difficult for us but I was disappointed with the overall performance because I thought we lacked bite, and I don’t think we were convincing enough.
“We were sloppy at times with trying to smooth the game when the ball is…
The Republic of Ireland are looking for a new manager after Stephen Kenny’s ill-fated reign drew to a close on Wednesday.
Here, the PA news agency takes a look at some of the men who could come under consideration for the vacant post.
Lee Carsley
Former Derby and Everton midfielder Carsley has enjoyed significant success as England Under-21s boss, guiding his side to European Championship glory last summer. Birmingham-born, he won 40 senior caps for Ireland and, at 49, has a wealth of coaching experience with Coventry, Sheffield United, Brentford, Manchester City, Birmingham and England Under-20s.
Roy Keane
The former Republic skipper remains a divisive figure in his native country after his bust-up with McCarthy in Saipan ahead of the…