Ahotor Sports Daily Update Monday Edition – 20TH SEPTEMBER 2021

                                       HEADLINES

‘Kante makes a huge difference’ – Tuchel 
Pulisic return ‘doubtful’ for Chelsea’s Carabao Cup clash with Villa – Tuchel
Guardiola turns to young players as Man City are hit by injury crisis
Pochettino defends controversial Messi substitution against Lyon
Mane makes Premier League history after scoring 100th Liverpool goal
Nuno: A lot of things went wrong for Tottenham against Chelsea
Liverpool star Mane ‘deserves the accolades he gets’ – Milner
Messi €30m per year contract report branded ‘unacceptable’ by Leonardo
Tottenham and England legend Jimmy Greaves dies aged 81
Konate learned ‘harsh lessons’ on Liverpool debut, says Klopp
Varane says Pogba helping him settle at Manchester United
De Gea and Lingard the heroes in chaotic finish against West Ham
Thiago Silva next to Drogba in Chelsea’s Premier League ranks

                              SPANISH PAPERS

Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti praised the resilience of his side in their late 2-1 win at Valencia. An important victory, a difficult one, against a team that fought well. In the end they were worn out by the enormous effort they put in in the first part, with a lot of pressing, when they didn’t let us play more dynamic football.”
Benzema: “This was an important match for us, a final. Against Valencia who is very strong at home. Every single player was involved in the match and motivated. Those who came on did well and in the end we won because of them.”
Vinícius Jr: “Hello from Mestalla! I’m very happy with the win, with the goal and the assist for Karim. We have to continue like this! Until the end! Hala Madrid!”
Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone was left furious at full time in their 0-0 La Liga draw at Athletic Bilbao.
Ronaldo Koeman is set to start Sergino Dest for his side’s clash with Granada tonight after the defender recovered from injury.
Sergi Roberto is going through a tough time. Ahead of Barcelona vs Granada on Monday night, Ronald Koeman is considering leaving him out of the starting line-up to protect him.
Ronald Koeman is staying calm over his Barcelona future amid increasing pressure on the back of Tuesday night’s defeat to Bayern.
Koeman’s contract has a clause that says that if he does not renew for a third season, he will be owed 6M euros. It would be the compensation for leaving the Dutch national team. 
Ronald Koeman is hoping to get Ansu Fati back within the next 10 days as the youngster continues to work his way back from injury.

FRENCH PAPERS

Mauricio Pochettino says managers are there to make tough decisions after the PSG boss raised eyebrows when he chose to substitute Lionel Messi during his side’s clash with Lyon on Sunday.
Jean-Michel Aulas reacts to the penalty won by Neymar, leading to PSG’s equaliser: “It’s an aberration. VAR should have intervened.”
Raphaël Varane on Paul Pogba: “Has obviously helped me integrate, in his own particular way with his good humour, he’s always teasing. It’s cool, things are going well.”

                            GERMAN PAPERS

Robert Lewandowski will receive the European Golden Shoe for the 2020/21 season on Tuesday around 14:00 CEST. 
Marco Reus reacts to Borussia Dortmund’s 4-2 win over Union Berlin: “We made it unnecessarily difficult for ourselves today.”

                              ITALIAN PAPERS

AC Milan fans mocked Juventus at the end of their meeting at the Allianz Stadium: ‘You will go back to Serie B.’ 
Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri has stated that he is angry after the club’s 1-1 draw against Milan in Serie A. but also bitterly criticised his Juventus stars. ‘You need to be tough, determined, keep focused and bring home the result.’ 
Juventus have failed to win any of their first four Serie A games for only the fourth time, the most recent example being 1961-62. 
Stefano Pioli assures AC Milan ‘came here to win the game’ even with injuries and after falling behind to an early Juventus goal. ‘We continued seeking victory throughout the match.’ 
Jose Mourinho admits he will ‘need a few hours to work out what just happened’ after Roma fell to a shock 3-2 defeat at Hellas Verona. 
Alessio Romagnoli was glad Milan ‘reacted’ to a bad start against Juventus and brought home a point. ‘We need to remain concentrated, there’s a long way to go.’ 
AC Milan sporting director Paolo Maldini has confirmed that the club has been talking with Franck Kessie’s agents for an year and a half.
According to Tuttosport, Paulo Dybala is close to reaching an agreement with Juventus over a new five-year deal. 
Former AC Milan and Tottenham striker Jimmy Greaves has died at the age of 81, having a brief but memorable spell in the Rossoneri jersey .

      BRITISH  EXPRESS

                              LONDON FOOTBALL

Thomas Tuchel admits he was ‘absolutely not happy’ with Chelsea’s first-half despite win over Spurs – as Blues boss says his team ‘wanted to impress by skills’ rather than aggression. 
Tottenham boss Nuno Espirito Santo said “a lot of things went wrong” in his side’s second-half meltdown against Chelsea on Sunday.
Christian Pulisic is unlikely to feature for Chelsea in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday as he continues to rehab an ankle injury, says manager Thomas Tuchel.
Roy Keane has urged Harry Kane to be more aggressive after Tottenham’s powderpuff 3-0 loss vs Chelsea. 

                            MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer refused to get drawn into talk about Manchester United’s title chances and joked that he was ‘losing my job yesterday’ after their shock Champions League defeat midweek.
Solskjaer: “We are very happy with the win and we deserved the win. We played some very good football, created good chances, we pressed them into making loads of mistakes. Luckily, David [de Gea] saves that penalty at the end.” 
Pep Guardiola is facing a mounting injury crisis with the fitness of Ilkay Gündogan, Rodri, Aymeric Laporte, John Stones and Oleksandr Zinchenko all in the balance as Manchester City enter a crucial run of games. 
Bruno Fernandes showed his support for Manchester United team-mate Jesse Lingard by publicly congratulating him for his late winner against West Ham.

                          LONDON EVENING STANDARD

Cesar Azpilicueta has revealed that an ‘unhappy’ Thomas Tuchel gave his squad a frank assessment of their performance at half-time to inspire them to victory against Tottenham.
                                *BRITISH MIRROR*Manchester United are in contact with England midfielder Jesse Lingard over a new contract. Bruno Fernandes and Luke Shaw are also on the club’s ‘contract list’. 
Brazilian striker Givanildo Vieira de Sousa has revealed his ex-wife’s niece is pregnant with his fourth child. The football star dubbed Hulk for his upper-body strength, announced the news via an Instagram post. 

                              BRITISH MAIL

​Pogba’s Manchester United contract set to expire next summer, the club are prepared to offer a £400,000-a-week deal to make him the highest paid Premier League player of all time. 
​Barcelona are preparing to bid for Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Braut Haaland and Spain playmaker Dani Olmo.
​Liverpool, Tottenham and Juventus are set to battle it out for Bayern Munich and France winger Kingsley Coman.
Chelsea are also interested in Coman after Bayern Munich’s ex-sporting director tipped him to leave the club. 
PSG sporting director Leonardo has rubbished suggestions that Argentina star Lionel Messi will earn more than £30m per season during his three-year contract.