..::Football III::..

[Wolverine GTR]

Mancini confirms Kovacic sale to Real Madrid due to FFP

Roberto Mancini has confirmed Inter have been forced to sell Mateo Kovacic to Real Madrid because of Financial Fair Play regulations.

Goal understands that the Serie A club have accepted a €35m offer for the 21-year-old midfielder, who will sign a five-year contract worth €4m per season with Madrid.

With Inter having splashed out €40m on Geoffrey Kondogbia this summer and with Stevan Jovetic and Martin Montoya among those joining the wage bill, Mancini admits selling Kovacic and Xherdan Shaqiri to Stoke City is essential if the club want to comply with Uefa legislation.

"What can you do? There are rules to respect. There is FFP and I don't think any of us wanted this but unfortunately we have to follow Uefa's impositions," he said to Mediaset Premium after Inter's friendly draw with AEK.

"This doesn't mean we're not trying to make a team that can fight without him.

"We're all disappointed, from the president, to me, the directors and his team-mates.

"Both he and Shaqiri left for the same reason. But we'll do other things. We hope to take in players that suit us.

"We'll see what happens."

Mancini was also upbeat despite surrounding his side's Serie A hopes this season despite another disappointing pre-season friendly.

"There were some difficulties, but that's normal," added the former Manchester City boss. "There were good things in the first half, we did better in defence, the defenders have improved by playing together."

 

[Wolverine GTR]

PSG can challenge on all fronts this season - Blanc

Laurent Blanc is confident that Paris Saint-Germain will be an even stronger force in Europe this season after they eased to a 2-0 victory over newly promoted Gazelec Ajaccio.

First-half goals from Blasie Matuidi and captain Thiago Silva sealed the win over the Ligue 1 debutants at the Parc de Princes on Sunday, and Blanc expressed his delight at his side's efficient display.

"I think the big difference this year is that we are renewing the squad, and we have done so in time for the season, which was not the case last season," said Blanc, who has added Benjamin Stambouli, Kevin Trapp and Angel Di Maria to his squad since last term."We will focus the work on this all season because it is mainly on these details that we will be able to have the determination to win big games.

"We can compete on all levels, especially in the Champions League, if we remain at 100 per cent and we have the full workforce."It was a dynamic win [against Gazelec], but what pleased me most was the defensive concentration of our players, which we have shown throughout pre-season."

Only goalkeeper Trapp started against Gazelec, with Stambouli coming off the bench and Di Maria left out of the matchday squad.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Augsburg 'announce' signing of Gerard Pique

Augsburg have moved to thank Gerard Pique for his backing for the 2015-16 season - by offering the Barcelona man a place in their team.

The Spain international named Augsburg as the likely surprise package in the Bundesliga when making some pre-season predictions last week, and the Bavarian side are determined to hold him to his word.

Sporting director Stefen Reuter appeared on Twitter on Sunday holding a shirt adorned with Pique's name and number, with the club posting along with the image "Looking forward to you playing with us!"
Markus Weinzierl's side were beaten 1-0 at home by Hertha in their opening league game of the campaign on Saturday.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Mourinho: I knew Chelsea were in trouble after 10 seconds

Jose Mourinho insists he knew Chelsea were in trouble just 10 seconds into their 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Premier League title rivals Manchester City.

Goals from Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and Fernandinho saw off the Blues as Manuel Pellegrini's men made a powerful early-season statement in their bid to claim a third league title in five years.

But Chelsea might have been dead and buried by half-time; Aguero missed several clear chances in the first 45 minutes including one in the opening moments when he raced onto a David Silva pass and fired a low shot against the shin of an onrushing Asmir Begovic.

Mourinho afterwards revealed this was the point at which he feared for his side and voiced his frustration at their uncharacteristically slack defending.

"When the game started and 10 seconds later you have Aguero behind the defensive line and facing Begovic, immediately you get the notion that the start wasn’t good," the Chelsea boss told reporters. "After that he made two or three saves because of that fragility.

"I was the first one to be disappointed. All week you are speaking about movements, directions of the game, mechanisms, Aguero’s runs and Aguero’s positions, the wingers coming inside, and after 10 seconds Aguero is in the face of Begovic. We were defensively poor in the first half."

Mourinho also elaborated on his surprising decision to substitute captain John Terry for tactical reasons at half-time as Chelsea pushed for an equaliser.

"The point was not to take John out it was to bring [Kurt] Zouma in – I wanted my fastest player on the pitch, not on the bench,’ he added. "It was clear for me that Zouma has to play. I had to bring one out and I brought out my captain. He was on the bench and still my captain because the armband is just the armband.

"I can tell you that he was not dancing in the dressing-room, and I can tell you also that he was not having a bad reaction. He did what everybody does. The manager says 'this guy comes in and that guy goes out', and they all do the same. They wait for the team to go out, they shower and change and go back to the bench.

"My decision was proven right because we controlled the depth of the game and the counter-attack totally. But John is a player with my entire confidence for sure. With me, he was never substituted but with other managers he was not even selected. He was not playing or people thought his career at Chelsea was over.

"I don’t know if you ask many questions to [Rafa] Benitez, [Andre] Villas-Boas, [Roberto] Di Matteo, the ones who never played him. I’m the one you shouldn’t ask because I’m the one who played him every game, made him captain and recovered him from a difficult situation with other managers.

"I’m the one who has the right to look at the game and to say I want Zouma on."

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Barclays Premier League 2015.08.17 Fixture

Barclays Premier League 2015.08.17 Fixture

Liverpool Vs Bournemouth

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[Wolverine GTR]

Spanish Super Cup 2015.08.17

Spanish Super Cup 2015.08.17

2nd Leg

AGG

(0-4)

Barcelona Vs Athletic Bilbao

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[tery123]

Spanish Super Cup 2015.08.17

2nd Leg

AGG

(0-4)

Barcelona Vs Athletic Bilbao

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කීයටද බන් තියෙන්නේ???බලන්න ලින්ක් එකක් නැද්ද????

 

[Wolverine GTR]

කීයටද බන් තියෙන්නේ???බලන්න ලින්ක් එකක් නැද්ද????

Tomorrow(18) SL time 1.30AM thiyenne bro

have bro

http://ifirstrow.eu/
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[rcccc]

Manchester City closing in on £25m deal for Otamendi

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Aparade bro Otamendi wath miss wenna yanneLVG mona karanawada manda
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[rcccc]

Aparade bro Otamendi wath miss wenna yanneLVG mona karanawada manda
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John Stones ganida danne nae ne

 

[Wolverine GTR]

John Stones ganida danne nae ne

John Stones hodai ath eyawa aran hari yanne naha bro.Experience CB kenek one bro Otamendi wage

Darmian,Smalling,Jones,Shaw
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[rcccc]

John Stones hodai ath eyawa aran hari yanne naha bro.Experience CB kenek one bro Otamendi wage

Darmian,Smalling,Jones,Shaw
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1ka thamai M United la last season eke edan ne CB kenek search karanne(hummel/benatia/otamendi....). eth ethin wena Experience CB la na dan.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

1ka thamai M United la last season eke edan ne CB kenek search karanne(hummel/benatia/otamendi....). eth ethin wena Experience CB la na dan.

Anemanda bro mona karaganna hadanawada kiyalaHoda CB kenek nathuwa baha backline 1kata

Try karana okkoma kattiya miss wenawaOtamendi miss unoth 1kata sampoornayenma wagakiyanna one LVG thamaiRamos gana bala bala inne nathuwa quick action 1kak gatthanam meh wenakota Otamendi Manchester United player kenek.Copa America 2015 patan gannath issara wela idala Otamendi wa track karala thibbe
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[rcccc]

Anemanda bro mona karaganna hadanawada kiyalaHoda CB kenek nathuwa baha backline 1kata

Try karana okkoma kattiya miss wenawaOtamendi miss unoth 1kata sampoornayenma wagakiyanna one LVG thamaiRamos gana bala bala inne nathuwa quick action 1kak gatthanam meh wenakota Otamendi Manchester United player kenek.Copa America 2015 patan gannath issara wela idala Otamendi wa track karala thibbe
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Copa America walath Otamendi hodatama play kala ne.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Copa America walath Otamendi hodatama play kala ne.

Ow bro Copa Ameria 2015 All Stars squad 1keth Otamendi innawa.Aparade miss karaganna 1kamona karannada bro
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[Wolverine GTR]

Otamendi ge CITY deal 1ka doubt 1kak wela wage.

Eliaquim Mangala + Money offered karala thibila thiyenne but dan kiyana widiyata Eliaquim Mangala wa Otamendi ge deal 1kata gawa ganne nathilu.
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[Wolverine GTR]

Mourinho risking Chelsea civil war with Terry axe

The most significant outcome of Chelsea's wholly deserved 3-0 defeat by Manchester City was that Jose Mourinho declared, in public, that John Terry was not up to the job of marking Sergio Aguero.

Mourinho reasoned that the Argentine sharpshooter was too canny for Terry during a first half in which he scored one goal and could have had at least two more. A younger, faster player would have to be fielded instead.

Never mind that it was Gary Cahill around whom Aguero was running rings for the most part, having cleverly pulled onto the right-sided centre-back whenever he could.

"I have to decide who is the fastest player in our defensive line so, when you are going to play with a high block, the fastest player has to be on the pitch," Mourinho told reporters.

Never before had Mourinho substituted Terry. He has been up against most of the world's best forwards and few could be said to have given him a genuine run-around.

"The point was not to take John out but to put [Kurt] Zouma in," the Blues boss continued. "I want to have my fastest player on the pitch and not on the bench. I know they are going to play counterattack and long balls to Aguero."

Why Terry and not Cahill?

"That is a good question."

Why not start Zouma in the first place?

In any case, Chelsea conceded twice more with Zouma on the field; Mourinho reckons that they were the better side in the second half. There are not many who would agree with him. He argues that his decision to replace Terry was vindicated in that the Blues had most of the play after the break. Warped logic.

Mourinho, though, had found himself another scapegoat.

"He was not dancing in the dressing room and he was not having a bad reaction," he said of Terry at half-time when he took delivery of the news that he was to be subbed. "He did what everybody does. The manager says this guy comes in and that guy goes out and they all understand."

Terry - 'captain, leader, legend', as the sign reads - now just like "everybody" else. Just like Petr Cech, just like Juan Mata. Just like those players whose usefulness to Chelsea and Mourinho expired. He has ushered out of the door a good number of Chelsea legends in the three summers since he returned to the club, with Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard among them too. Terry endured. He is still, comfortably, the best centre-back in the league and maybe the world. To pick on him for a collectively disastrous first-half display was, for Mourinho, pointed.

A 2-2 draw with Swansea City was, perhaps, even more than they deserved on matchday one. After this 3-0 hammering, it is the worst shape in which Chelsea have ever been after two games under Mourinho. Usually, they win both their first games. Before this season, only in 2006-07 - when losing to Middlesbrough on Teeside - had they failed to take six points out of the first six on offer in the Premier League, so something is amiss.

They are five points behind City - perhaps fatally so, even at this early stage. Five points is five points, no matter what the stage of the season.

Before the game, eager to gloss over what had been a fractious engagement with the press on Friday due to the Eva Carniero affair, Mourinho conceded to the press that his Chelsea team were, at this stage of the season, a little underdone. He gave his team a month off over the summer and played only three matches before the season's competitive football began. They have been well off the pace set by Manchester City and were brutally exposed here.
He has been picking what is, on paper, his strongest XI. Mourinho is one of those coaches whose substitutes' bench actually looks like a substitutes' bench. There are his 11 favourites and then the rest. It does not appear that he is capable of freshening up what is already on the books.

Branislav Ivanovic and Gary Cahill were two players whose form dipped more than most at the end of last season. Those tailspins have continued into this. Cesc Fabregas, at the ripe old age of 28, looks about ready for the Middle East or MLS given the manner in which he is dragging himself around elite football pitches.

Mourinho has not, yet, been able to bring in the players he wants but the signing of Abdul Baba Rahman could yet spell trouble for either Cahill or Ivanovic.

"He is a left-back; he can compete with Azpilicueta," said Mourinho before adding: "At the same time, Azpilicueta can compete with Ivanovic for the right-back poitison so he replaces Filipe Luis in the balance of the squad."

He is still courting John Stones, whom he sees as eventually replacing Terry. The day when Terry needs to be replaced, in Mourinho's eyes, could come around sooner than many had expected.

"I don't know if you ask many questions to [Rafa] Benitez, Andre Villas-Boas, [Roberto] Di Matteo, to the ones that never played him," he said. "I am the one you shouldn't ask because I am the one who played John every game, made him captain, recovered him from a difficult situation with other managers and I had the right to say I want Zouma on the pitch."

To be enduring such a poor start is alien for Mourinho; in his career he has never been at a club whose output was so shambolic. He has a job on his hands turning this lot around any time soon.

To endure such a start and fall out with his medical staff and then drop his captain at half-time of a crucial league game is abnormal. The pattern of Mourinho's career is well woven. He is known for his itchy feet three years into any project. A new contract extension took a lot of people by surprise despite Mourinho's constant claims that he is with Chelsea this time for the long term.

If that is indeed the case then he would do well not to take on Terry. No player is bigger than any club but Terry does more than most to challenge that thinking.

He was asked at the end of the press conference whether these players could win him the Premier League again and maybe the Champions League. "Yes," he said quickly and walked away. He could not think of any convincing words to back it up.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Douglas Costa is Bayern Munich's special weapon, says Robben

Bayern Munich star Arjen Robben has heaped praise on Douglas Costa in the wake of their 5-0 Bundesliga win over Hamburg on Friday.

The Brazil international impressed on his league debut for the reigning champions as he scored once as well as setting up Thomas Muller's strike.

Robben was impressed with the 24-year-old's performance and has little doubt he will prove to be a fine addition for Bayern.

"He's a talent," the Dutchman told the official FCB website when asked about Douglas Costa's Bundesliga debut.

"He can sidestep his opponents and is a special weapon for us."

The former Shakhtar man himself was equally pleased with his display versus HSV, but he is not getting carried away.

"I really liked it. It was a successful start and I'm very happy that I played my part in the victory," the winger added.

"It doesn't matter where I play. The main thing for us is to win as many games as possible. That's what makes a good team.

"Everything's fantastic, my team-mates made it pretty easy for me so far. And the city is beautiful, too."

 

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'People keep sending it to me!' - San Jose still revelling in Supercopa wonderstrike against Barcelona

Athletic Bilbao defensive midfielder Mikel San Jose has admitted he has watched his stunning long-range goal against Barcelona more than once in the lead-up to Monday's second leg of the Supercopa de Espana.

San Jose kick-started Athletic's 4-0 win in the first leg of the tie on Friday, collecting a clearing header from Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen near the halfway line and then half-volleying into the net from inside the centre circle.The 26-year-old's goal quickly became an internet sensation and San Jose has revealed he has enjoyed a replay or two since.

"I have watched it again a few times. People keep sending it to me," he said at a press conference."Every time someone sends me a link to the video, I'll watch it."

Asked to explain the goal, San Jose said: "As soon as the ball landed at my feet, my first thought was to shoot.

"I was just concentrating on controlling the ball so I can strike it well towards goal. I knew that the 'keeper was off his line and I had to hit the ball cleanly."San Jose's goal was followed by a second-half hat-trick from Bilbao striker Aritz Aduriz, putting the Basque club in pole position to lift the Supercopa.

Bilbao have not won a trophy since they claimed the Supercopa in 1984 and San Jose argued silverware could have a long-lasting impact on Enrique Valverde's men."The trophy is within reach and we have to give everything we've got to make sure it goes home with us," he said.

"We have to play at the same level as we did the other day. Bringing the trophy back would give us an extra boost ahead of our Europa League playoff against Zilina and then for the start of La Liga.

"Losing it might affect us but the team is confident that won't happen."