Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes believes Yaya Toure’s performances lie at the heart of Manchester City s struggles in Europe – branding the Ivory Coast star a liability .
Toure has helped to inspire City to two Premier League titles since moving from Barcelona in 2010, also scoring in FA Cup and League Cup final triumphs.
The 32-year-old, who won the Champions League playing as an emergency centre-back in the Barcelona team that beat Scholes United 2-0 in Rome in 2009, has largely failed to scale similar heights in European competitions while at the Etihad Stadium.
City beat Bayern Munich and Roma in consecutive games to salvage their group-stage campaign last season as Toure sat out following a red-card received in a 2-1 home loss to CS…
Stefano Pioli was left wishing Milan capitalised further against 10-man Napoli but insisted no first-leg result would ensure progression to the Champions League semi-final.
Ismael Bennacer s first goal in UEFA s top club competition proved the difference on Wednesday at San Siro as Milan secured a 1-0 lead to defend in Naples in eight days time.
The Rossoneri perhaps could have compounded Napoli s misery, though, as Milan played the last 15 minutes with a one-man advantage following Frank Anguissa s dismissal for two quickfire bookable offences.
Milan have progressed from seven of their previous nine two-legged ties in the Champions League knockout stages after winning the first clash, though Pioli suggested Napoli could overturn any given deficit.
The Mi…
Atletico Madrid s Diego Godin has passed a medical ahead of the proposed move to Inter Milan, Sky claim via their sources in Italy. The experienced centre-back is now set to join the Serie A side as a free agent when his contract expired this summer.
Godin has spent the last nine seasons in the Spanish capital, and has made over 350 appearances for Atletico in all competitions in that time, scoring a total of 24 goals. He won the 2013/14 La Liga title and Copa del Rey the previous season, as well as the 2017/18 Europa League. Apart from that, he s played in two Champions League finals, 2014 and 2016.
It seems, however, the Uruguay international, who will turn 33 next month, is keen on a change of scenery in the closing stages of his illustrious career, and Inter have st…
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has called for an end to the questioning of officials’ decisions in order to prevent their authority being undermined.
Spurs had two players sent off in the 4-1 defeat – their first loss of the Premier League season – at home to Chelsea but refused to criticise referee Michael Oliver.
However, after a first half which had 12 minutes added on due to several VAR checks, the Australian felt a number of incidents have led to an overuse of technology.
And then there was none…
Ange Postecoglou suffers his first defeat in the Premier League
— Premier League (@premierleague)
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta called Newcastle’s winning goal against his team after three VAR checks a “disgrace” on Saturday…
Jurgen Klopp’s poor disciplinary record and his failure to heed previous conduct warnings were aggravating factors which led to the Liverpool manager receiving a two-match touchline ban for implying bias by referee Paul Tierney.
Klopp was fined £75,000 and will not be in the technical area for their final Premier League home game of the campaign against Aston Villa on Saturday but the second match of his punishment has been suspended until the end of next season.
The German admitted a charge of improper conduct in that his comments about Tierney implied bias, questioned the integrity of the referee and brought the game into disrepute.
Klopp, who was booked for celebrating in the face of fourth official John Brooks after Diogo Jota’s added-time goal in the 4-…
Rafael Leao was likened to Thierry Henry by Milan head coach Stefano Pioli after firing his side to a slender victory against Sampdoria.
The Portugal international scored the only goal of the game eight minutes into Sunday s clash at San Siro to send Milan top of Serie A.
Leao controlled a pass from Mike Maignan – the first Milan keeper to assist a league goal since Dida in 2006 – powered past Bartosz Bereszynski and coolly converted.
He now has 10 goals for the season in all competitions, making him the Rossoneri s joint-leading goalscorer alongside Olivier Giroud.
That is already three goals more than Leao managed in 39 appearances last season, and four more than in his first season at San Siro in 2019-20.
Of those 10 goals this season, seve…
New Spain head coach Julen Lopetegui says it is critical they stop living in the past if they are to regain their place at the top of world football.
After establishing an era of dominance at international level, in which they won the World Cup in 2010 and back-to-back European Championships in 2008 and 2012, Spain have endured a decline in recent years.
A humbling group-stage exit at the World Cup in Brazil two years ago was followed by a last-16 defeat at Euro 2012 at the hands of Italy, after which head coach Vicente del Bosque stepped down from his role.
Lopetegui, who coached Spain s Under-19 and Under-21 teams to European Championship glory in 2012 and 2013 respectively, believes now is the time to focus on introducing younger stars into the senior side as…
Mikel Arteta has hinted at Arsenal s transfer plans as he aims to upgrade the squad ahead of the next Premier League season.
The Gunners finished as runners-up behind Manchester City in the previous two seasons, missing out on the final day last year as they finished just two points shy of the champions.
While they were closer to the Citizens last term – they won the same number of games as City and matched their goal difference of 62 – Arteta acknowledged they needed to bring in new additions to help mount another title challenge.
We have to [improve], said Arteta. When you are so close you want to grab it.
Perfection in this league requires different standards when you relate that word to winning the Premier League and that is what we have to do.<…
Arsenal are set to hold talks with William Saliba over his future, according to .
The young centre-back signed for the Gunners in the summer of 2019 for a reported fee of €30 million, and almost three years later, he s still to make a single competitive appearance for the club. Instead, he s played for former club Saint-Etienne, OGC Nice and now Olympique Marseille on loan.
His performances for Marseille have obviously been impressive enough for France boss Didier Deschamps to give him his first-ever senior international call-up, and at the age of just 20, his future seems bright.
In the last couple of months, Saliba has been linked with Real Madrid, AC Milan and Inter Milan, but his contract with Arsenal will have two more years left to run when his loan with…
West Ham forward Jarrod Bowen has joined Kieran Trippier in withdrawing from the England squad ahead of their Euro 2024 qualifier in North Macedonia.
Bowen suffered a knee injury in training and remained in England when the rest of the squad flew to Macedonia on Sunday.
England boss Gareth Southgate told a press conference: “Unfortunately Jarrod picked up an injury, I think he felt it a little bit yesterday and again at the end of training today.
“We didn’t really have enough time to assess it fully and make a really accurate decision before the game so we felt better to leave him in England so that he can get it properly assessed.
Touchdown for the !
— England (@England)
“I don’t think it’s going to be anything serious but…