Cristiano Ronaldo s mother believes an unspecified football mafia could prevent the Juventus forward from winning a sixth Ballon d Or because of his nationality.
Speaking at an event in Portugal, Dolores Aveiro claimed conspiratorial forces are the reason her highly decorated son has not further embellished his long list of achievements.
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid star earned global fame and adulation for his performances in the Premier League and LaLiga but slipped to second in the 2018 Ballon d Or rankings while midway through his first Serie A campaign.
In September, he finished third in the voting for the title of The Best FIFA Men s Player, behind Lionel Messi and Virgil van Dijk.
Fellow five-time Ballon d Or winner Messi is the o…
Pep Guardiola inspired Manchester City to success last season, but victory at Anfield continued to elude him against old foe Jurgen Klopp.
Klopp has a fantastic record against Guardiola stemming back to their time as Bundesliga rivals in charge of Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich respectively.
The German led Liverpool to Premier League and Champions League wins at home to City in 2018, despite Guardiola s side demolishing records in a stunning domestic campaign.
The teams are locked together on 19 points ahead of this weekend s blockbuster clash, with Liverpool and City both yet to taste defeat in the Premier League season.
Something has to give on Sunday, though, and the history books suggest the Premier League champions are facing a tough test.
…
Saturday’s Scottish Cup final ironed out the European qualifiers and plans for next season.
Celtic’s win over Inverness denied Caley Thistle a place in Europe and ensured Hibernian qualified through their fifth-placed finish in the cinch Premiership.
The result guaranteed group-stage football for Aberdeen and also gave Hearts a later start.
Here the PA new agency looks at Scotland’s five European qualifiers.
Celtic
Entry: Champions League group stageDraw date: August 31First game: September 19-20
Possible opponents: Celtic will be in pot four, meaning they cannot draw Newcastle for example. Although the seeds have not been finalised, a worst-case draw could see the Hoops facing Manchester City, Real Madrid and Milan. A kinder draw could see…
Liverpool are interested in signing Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain in the January transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that France international forward Mbappe , and that Premier League club Liverpool are among the clubs keen on securing the services of the 23-year-old forward.
Mbappe is one of the best forwards in the world and has been brilliant for PSG over the years. The youngster signed a new deal with the defending Ligue 1 champions only in the summer of 2022 after intense speculation linking him with a move to last season’s La Liga and UEFA Champions League winners Real Madrid.
The forward has made eight starts and one substitute appearances in Ligue 1 for PSG so far this season, scoring eight goals in the process. Mbappe has scored fo…
Barcelona boss Tata Martino must have been happy with his team s 2-0 win at Manchester City in the Champions League
Last night Spanish giants Barcelona showed that they still have what it takes to compete with the best in Europe, as they defeated 10-man Manchester City 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium in the first leg of the last 16 of the Champions League.
Brave
Manchester City played for much of the second half with ten men, after Argentinian defender Martin Demichelis was shown a red card for bringing down compatriot Lionel Messi when he was through on-goal.
Inevitably the little superstar scored from the disputed spot-kick and Barcelona had a platform for a win.
In truth the ten men of Manchester City faired pretty well against the Spanish visitors …
Inter midfielder Esteban Cambiasso remains eager to continue his career, whether that be with the Serie A club or not.
The Argentina international is out of contract at the end of the current campaign, having featured 24 times in all competitions for Walter Mazzarri this season.
Mazzarri has already stated his intention to use this campaign to decide who will feature in his squad next term with Cambiasso currently set to leave San Siro.
However, the 33-year-old is not ready to call time on his career, whether he is offered a new deal with Inter or not.
One thing I do know is that I m 33 and I still want to play football, I don t know where, but I do know I want to play, he told Sport Mediaset.
Would I sign any contract Inter offered me? We need to look a…
La Liga has struck an exclusive deal with the sports marketing company chaired by IAAF president Sebastian Coe.
CSM has announced an agreement with Spain s top flight to represent their commercial and sponsorship rights globally on an exclusive basis, as well as support La Liga s global strategic marketing activities .
La Liga president Javier Tebas said in a statement released by the company: These are very exciting times for us at La Liga and we are thrilled to be working alongside the CSM team.
As the best league in the world, with the best teams and players, we strive to attract and work with truly world-class partners. We believe that CSM will be an extremely valuable partner in helping us achieve this vision.
CSM chief executive officer Zak Bro…
A bullish Zinedine Zidane has warned Wolfsburg that his Real Madrid team can achieve anything ahead of Tuesday s Champions League quarter-final second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Wolfsburg stunned Madrid in last week s first meeting, running out 2-0 winners thanks to Ricardo Rodriguez s penalty and Maximilian Arnold s well-taken finish in the first half.
Zidane cited fatigue as a reason for his side s below-par display at Volkswagen Arena, with Madrid s trip to Germany coming just four days after their energy-sapping Clasico victory over Barcelona.
However, the Frenchman who made eight changes to his starting XI for Saturday s 4-0 La Liga rout of Eibar insists Madrid are ready to launch an assault on Wolfsburg s lead as they bid to reach the Champions League se…
According to a recent report from Corriere dello Sport, Gianluigi Donnarumma is set to undergo a medical for a move to Paris Saint-Germain whilst at Euro 2020.
Donnarumma, who is set to feature heavily for Italy during the European Championship this summer, is currently the main man for AC Milan over in Serie A. However, it now seems inevitable that he’ll be leaving in the next few months in favour of new horizons.
There are bound to be plenty of interesting moves throughout the summer transfer window all across the continent, but Donnarumma may be the most fascinating case of them all.
He s still young, he s already very experienced, and PSG understand that they could be buying someone that has the potential to be their number one for a least the next decade.…
As Luis Suarez seemingly nears a Barcelona exit, the LaLiga giants could be getting close to two additions.
Barca were given a huge boost on Friday as star Lionel Messi announced he would stay at the club for another season.
But there are still set to be moves at Camp Nou.
TOP STORY – BARCELONA CLOSE TO DEPAY, WIJNALDUM DEALS
Barcelona are close to deals for Lyon star Memphis Depay and Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum, according to AD.
Depay and Wijnaldum have been reported to be targets for Barca, who are rebuilding under Ronald Koeman after a tumultuous 2019-20 season.
Goal reports Barcelona are confident of landing Wijnaldum, who is out of contract next year.
ROUND-UP
The Barcelona rebu…