Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first person to hit 500 million followers across social media.
Messi has given the boots he wore when he scored his world record 644th goal for Barcelona to the national Catalan museum of art bricks.They will be auctioned to raise money for charity next month.
Liverpool star Sadio Mane wants to invest in a French lower division club in France called Bourges Foot, currently owned by Cheikh Sylla, the second Senegalese president of a national French club after Pape Diouf at Marseille between 2005-2009.
Klopp on Rodgers: “I got a message from him this week but it wasn’t about the game of course. I couldn’t respect his work more than I do. Everyone can see it again with the situation in the table and the job he’s doing there.”
Premier League Player of the Month, Ilkay Gundogan. Premier League Manager of the Month: Pep Guardiola. ManCity on fire right now
James Madison speaks ahead of tomorrow’s match against Liverpool, “It’s a nice easy one at the weekend!” “I’ve heard people say it’s probably a good time to play Liverpool. “They’ve got a fantastic team still. I know they were beaten by Man City 4-1, but they’ve still got a top team and they’ve still got a fit squad, apart from the centre-halves. They’ve got a full attacking line, midfielders and the ‘keeper.
Thomas Tuchel confirms Christensen didn’t suffer any sort of concussion last night, just a headache. Werner should be ‘absolutely okay’ to come back, but the game will be too soon for Thiago Silva and probably Havertz, too.
Arsenal’s Europa League round-of-32 second leg against Benfica will take place at Stadio Georgios Karaiskakis in Athens due to coronavirus travel restrictions.
Klopp on Keita: “It was a hamstring. He’s in the final stages of his rehab. Not team training yet.”
Tuchel says he will focus on the details from last night’s game and won’t be too critical of his players. His job is to help them understand what they can do better ahead of what he expects to be a tough challenge from Newcastle.
Thiago Alcantara needs to be deployed correctly for Jurgen Klopp to get the best out of him reckons a former Liverpool player, Glen Johnson
Raphinha’s performances for Leeds United this season have reportedly left Liverpool scouts “blown away”, prompting him to be linked with a move to Anfield, but Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has been left feeling rather different, according to a report.
James Maddison is eager to make things “all about me”, with the Leicester midfielder eyeing up a recall to the England squad ahead of this summer’s European Championship.
Klopp on Jota: “Diogo is close but not as close as Naby.” Says it will be “2 to 3 weeks maybe” before he’s available.
Sevilla director of football Monchi says out-of-favour Real Madrid midfielder Isco wants to leave the Liga giants – but his club have no interest in signing the Spain international. “The conversation lasted approximately 15 or 20 seconds. It is news that has come out, he asked me and I said no, that was all the interest in Isco.
Mark Lawrenson believes Liverpool should play Ozan Kabak and Nat Phillips against Leicester City on Sunday.
Mauricio Pochettino has rejected suggestions that he has a Real Madrid release clause in his contract at Paris Saint-Germain. “In my contract there is no clause for if Real Madrid call me,” “I’m happy at PSG and I hope I can stay for many years.”
On the busy schedule, Chelsea boss Tuchel recognises it would have been beneficial to have more time to work with his players on the training pitch, but he has ‘got to know his team better’ from matches and witnessed the spirit and mentality of his squad during tricky times.
Jack Grealish has been branded “Lionel Messi with a right foot” by Emi Martinez, with the Aston Villa goalkeeper claiming the talented midfielder is the best player he has worked with.
Mohamed Salah’s second goal against West Ham has been named Premier League Goal of the Month for January.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has called for the Europa League knockout rounds to be played over one leg after Manchester United’s away game at Real Sociedad was moved to Turin.
Super agent Mino Raiola has hailed the victory over salary caps as “justice being served.”The Professional Footballers’ Association won a legal case to scrap EFL salary caps in League One and Two which has also stopped them being implemented in the future in the Championship.
The president of the Spanish FA, Luis Rubiales, has called for mass reform of La Liga by claiming that there should be fewer rounds of fixtures but to increase the number of El Clasico matches between Barcelona and Real Madrid.
LIverpool are to be impacted by Chelsea’s fixture pile-up, according to a report.Thomas Tuchel’s side progressed to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup last night with a 1-0 win at Barnsley, which means their scheduled Premier League trip to Anfield on March 20 must now be moved.
A poll of Barcelona fans has shown that the overwhelming majority believe the club should move to sign winger Bryan Gil, owned by Sevilla.
Dimitar Berbatov has warned Manchester United they may face “major difficulties” when coming up against Real Sociedad. “I don’t believe that will give either team an advantage. “They are coming up against Real Sociedad and I think it’s pretty clear that United will be the favourites in that game, but they need to be careful because in the past they have had major difficulties coming up against Spanish sides who are very technical and control the ball.”
Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman has lamented his side’s failure to make any reinforcements to their first-team squad in the January transfer window.
Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson believes Jurgen Klopp might be finding it difficult to get messages through to his squad, due to how long the players have been with him at Anfield.
Nicolò Barella is set to become the next Inter captain after Samir Handanovic, according to reports in Italy
Carlo Ancelotti: “I think next week Lucas Digne will sign a new contract, it will be officially announced”. He’s staying at Everton despite interest from Spanish clubs.
Juventus loanee Douglas Costa admits he enjoyed the clash between Antonio Conte and Andrea Agnelli and reveals which Milan player he admires. “Nobody [from Milan] has called me,” the 30-year-old said in a Clubhouse chat room, “But I really like [Ismael] Bennacer, he is really strong.” “It was nice, I don’t like to get involved in these situations, but these stories are nice when you see them from outside.”
Wilfried Zaha wasn’t the only player to ask to swap rooms with Nicolas Pepe while on international duty, according to the Crystal Palace forward.Zaha claims that Pepe’s snoring was so loud that even former Chelsea star Salomon Kalou swapped to a quieter room while away with the Ivory Coast squad.
Stefano Pioli confirms Hakan Calhanoglu will start against Spezia tomorrow and gives his verdict on Gigio Donnarumma’s contract extension. “We are prepared and determined, Spezia created trouble for us in the reverse fixture and beat Roma and Napoli.” “It was a good week, everyone is available apart from Diaz and Maldini. We are only focused on tomorrow’s game. “Calhanoglu will start, either Rebic or Leao will play on the left,”
Jurgen Klopp has confirmed Fabinho will miss Liverpool’s game against Leicester due to a muscle injury.
Andrea Pirlo claims Juventus don’t look at Napoli, but aim to reach the clubs ahead of them in the Serie A table and provides injury updates.“We’ve already faced them in the Super Cup and tomorrow’s game is more important than the reverse fixture that was not played, these situations can be annoying and we are only focusing on ourselves,”
Arsenal, the Gunners will play the second-leg of their tie against Benfica at the home of the club who knocked them out of last season’s Europa League.
Former Inter President Massimo Moratti comments on the clash between Andrea Agnelli and Antonio Conte saying he ‘never told a Juventus coach to f…off.’“It was not nice, but I reckon it can happen,”“Without crowd it’s easier to notice it, by the way personally I never told a Juventus coach to f…off.”
Brendan Rodgers on Leicester Vs Liverpool,”They’ve set such a level over the last couple of years that if there’s any drop off, people focus on it. They’ve still got quality players and will be up there challenging.”
Milan will reportedly provide Zlatan Ibrahimovic with a training facility when the Swede participates in all five nights of the prestigious Sanremo music festival.
Tuchel says players like Hudson-Odoi can offer a threat from different parts of the pitch, giving us the possibility to react and be flexible. He adds the Academy is the backbone of any club and it was good to see three youngsters combine for the goal last night.
Juventus and Milan are reportedly following Andrea Belotti’s situation at Torino, as the Italy international’s contract expires in June 2022.
Former Liverpool defender Jose Enrique has quipped that captain Jordan Henderson is the new Virgil van Dijk.”Jordan is the new [Virgil] Van Dijk in the team! “I saw [James] Milner say the other day, he’s doing so well as a centre-back he needs to be careful otherwise he’ll stay.
Former Juventus hero Dino Zoff said Milan can win the Scudetto. ‘Over time, they have found continuity and improved the squad in January’.“They have not only Gigio and Ibrahimovic, but an excellent balance in the team. Pioli has managed to create an environment full of enthusiasm.“Over time, they have found continuity and in January they improved the squad again.“They can go all the way.”
Gareth Bale’s situation at Tottenham “cannot be resolved” claims former team-mate Dimitar Berbatov who has not seen enough to suggest a solution can be found.
Inter forward Alexis Sanchez said he trusts his ‘instincts and abilities’, spoke about his experiences with Arturo Vidal and revealed Romelu Lukaku is ‘always positive and loves to learn’.
IIkay Kundogan on Twitter after winning player of month, “An honour to be premier league Player of the Month. Thanks to everyone who has voted for me. A big thank you to all my teammates – it would have not been possible without your amazing support.
Thomas Tuchel says he has trained himself to ignore anything said or written about him as a defence mechanism against the abuse circling around football
Klopp on Alisson: “Of course we had a little talk. He wasn’t happy it happened. It’s rare that a keeper of the calibre of Alisson Becker makes a mistake. There was absolutely no real criticism from our side because everyone knows how good he is.”
Dietmar Hamann has warned Liverpool that Ozan Kabak can be a little “rash” ahead of his Liverpool debut.
Chelsea are reportedly open to putting together a swap deal involving Jorginho and Inter Milan midfielder Christian Eriksen.
Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has reportedly been promised that he will have money to improve the squad during this summer’s transfer window.
Leicester City’s James Maddison believes his side have made plenty of progress since that previous corresponding fixture, “We’ll be trying to put right the result we had against them at King Power Stadium last year. That was a tough one to take. “It really showed a difference in class and they went on to become champions. “We’ve come a long way since then and hopefully we can put in a good account of ourselves.”
Mustapha Hadji
