..::Football III::..

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Allegri: Pirlo to return against Dortmund

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri is hopeful Andrea Pirlo will be match-fit in time for their Champions League last-16 second leg at Borussia Dortmund .
The experienced midfielder picked up a knock in the first leg of the encounter and consequently missed the Serie A draw with Roma.


He will also miss Thursday's Coppa Italia semi-final first leg with Fiorentina and is expected to watch from the sidelines for upcoming league matches against Sassuolo and Palermo.


Nevertheless, Allegri thinks Pirlo will be raring to go again on March 18 when Juventus defend a 2-1 lead at Signal Iduna Park.


"I hope to have Pirlo back for the game against Borussia Dortmund," Allegri said at a press conference. "We want to get through to the next round in the Champions League."


Allegri then went on to reflect on his team's 1-1 draw with Roma and stressed that Juve still have room for improvement, adding they must do better against lesser opposition."We played well in Rome for 70 minutes, showing compactness and maturity," he added. "Then we switched off."We must keep improving. Those final minutes in Rome will help us better deal with similar games in the future.


"We've dropped many points against the so-called 'smaller' Serie A sides. We must do a lot better."A fourth Scudetto would be an extraordinary feat for the lads. But it's not a given, we can't lose sight of our target."


Juventus remain at the top of Serie A, holding a nine-point lead over second-placed Roma.

 

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James Rodriguez not rushing recovery, says Bacca

Colombia international Carlos Bacca claims Real Madrid midfielder James Rodriguez is not taking any risks in his recovery process.The 23-year-old suffered a fractured metatarsal in the 2-1 Liga win over Bacca's Sevilla back in February and has been out of action since.


Irrespective of his time on the sidelines, however, James is not rushing his recovery as he does not want to endure a setback ahead of the upcoming Copa America."James is fine, he is in good spirits and he is in no rush to speed up his recovery process," Bacca - who enjoys a close relationship with his compatriot - told WIN Sports.


"He says that these kinds of injuries take their time to heal and can be difficult because you can be tricked into thinking you are progressing quicker than you are - you gain a week in the recovery time then suddenly, you’re four weeks behind schedule.


"We need him to be 100 per cent fully recovered for the Copa America."
James has scored eight goals in 20 Liga appearances for Madrid since joining the club from Monaco ahead of the 2014-15 campaign.

 

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Benatia: I am not a machine

Bayern Munich defender Medhi Benatia says he is "not a machine" and feels he has been treated unfairly in his first six months at the Bundesliga champions.


The Morocco international joined Bayern from Roma for an initial fee of €26 million, potentially rising to €30m, but has so far been struggling to really live up to the high expectations.


Benatia admitted he has found it hard to comprehend the criticism aimed his way and conceded he struggled to cope with being sent off in the Champions League group stage.


"I am not a machine," the centre-back told Sport Bild. "Right from the start, the only thing people were talking about was how much I cost."People were already criticising me before I had even played my first game. This is absurd.


"I was very surprised when Franz Beckenbauer criticised me after my red card against Manchester City. I never met him in person or spoke to him."It was very hard for me to deal with that as it was the first red card of my career. Sporting director Matthias Sammer assured me again, though."


Benatia, who is currently recovering from a calf injury, has made 16 appearances in all competitions for the Bavarians so far this term, scoring once in the process.


The 27-year-old has a contract with the Bundesliga champions until June 2019

 

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'It's going down to the last day' - Van Gaal on Man Utd's top-four bid

Louis van Gaal expects Manchester United to be in a race for Champions League qualification until the last week of the season.

The Dutchman has attracted criticism for the club's tactics this season but United currently lie fourth with 11 games left to play, while Arsenal's form has seen them overcome a worst ever start to a Premier League season to sit third.

Sixth-placed Liverpool are the form team in the top flight, having taken 26 points from a possible 30 over their last 10 games while Southampton's win over Crystal Palace sees them a point adrift of United in fifth.
Tottenham, meanwhile, are seventh and lie six points behind United, though Mauricio Pochettino's men have a game in hand.

Arsene Wenger previously predicted that it would take 72 points to guarantee a top-four finish this term, which Van Gaal is unsure of, but he is not expecting anything to be confirmed until May.

When questioned on Wenger's comments, Van Gaal told reporters: "I don't think of how many points. But he is more experienced in the Premier League so I want to believe him.

"It is going to the last week, I know that."

 

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Wenger: I was going to let Coquelin leave for free

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed he was prepared to let Francis Coquelin leave the club for free before his resurgence in form.

The midfielder spent time on loan at Charlton Athletic early in the campaign but has become a key member of Wenger's squad since his return in December.

The 23-year-old was rewarded with a new contract in February, but Wenger admits that he was willing to allow Coquelin to leave upon the expiration of his previous deal, which ran until the end of the season.

"It is a surprise to everybody," the manager told the club's official website. "The only thing I do is that I never say never to anybody. In my job you have to be open-minded like that. You have to make decisions at times. But never close the door completely for anybody.

"He was not in my plans at the start of the season. I told him to give absolutely everything until Christmas, then we would see together where he was. If you respect that you have done a big part of your job.

"To myself, I thought if he doesn't play at Christmas at all, and there's only six months of his contract to go, I would let him go somewhere else.

"He wasn't happy when I called him back from Charlton. He played there and he thought I just called him back as cover. He expected in fact to play against QPR and was not playing and was surprised when I played him against West Ham.

"He knows it's an opportunity for him now. Sometimes when you wait for such a long time to get your chance and you get it... the human being is a strange animal - the more you have suffered before, the more you enjoy it.

"On that front I think he has gone through a lot of doubt, questioning himself, certainly at many times being discouraged that he didn’t get a chance. Now that he has a chance he doesn't want to let it slip away. But he is a winner and he wants to win - that's why he is so committed."

Wenger says Coquelin has thrived since being deployed as a defensive midfielder after some initial uncertainty over his best position.

"I think he analysed well what he is good at: defending in midfield," he said. "He was in between the playmaking position and being a box-to-box player, but he is not that - he's a sitting player who can win the ball.

"He restricted his game to that and you make success in life with what you're good at. You don't have all the qualities but you have to express what you're good at and he's good at that."

 

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Van Gaal warns Man Utd fans: We can't always 'attack, attack, attack'!

Louis van Gaal has urged Manchester United fans to understand that his side cannot always play attacking football.

The club's supporters voiced their frustrations during United's victory over Sunderland on Saturday, chanting "attack, attack, attack" at one point after Jonny Evans passed the ball back to goalkeeper David De Gea following an attacking corner.

But while Van Gaal understands the fans' concerns, he has also defended his players for their decision making and insists that playing backwards may, at times, be the only option.

He told reporters: "That, at that moment, was the solution for the player. Sometimes, in spite of there being another solution, the player has not seen that solution.

"You have to give benefit of your doubt to your player and you have to support him. When you make a mistake in defence it is more or less always a goal against us. You have to see that also, the fans have to see that.

"But I agree with the fans that we don’t have to use so much the goalkeeper because I have seen also moments where we can play a higher tempo without interfering with the goalkeeper. But the goalkeeper is also the 11th player for us.

"He can accelerate our game also and sometimes the solution is, via De Gea, to play forward. Of course it is more the English style of playing a match [to attack], but I think the fans have also enjoyed Manchester playing a position game, so it is always a mix of both."

United face Newcastle on Wednesday looking to build momentum as they aim to finish in the top four and Van Gaal wants to see his side cut out any individual errors.

"What I think we can improve still is our unnecessary ball losses," he added. “When we can avoid too much ball losses unnecessarily then we make a big step. Every player is at a different height of pressure and every player has to manage that pressure.

"You cannot generally say that it is a nervous team because maybe six or seven players are always playing arrogant and they need to be arrogant to play good and maybe another player has to be tense to play good.

"So you cannot say in general that the team is nervous. You can say about individual players that they are nervous, but then we have to talk about individual players and I don’t talk about individual players."

 

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Van Gaal warns Man Utd fans: We can't always 'attack, attack, attack'!

Attack...Attack...Attack thamai apita ona karalath thiyennenathuwa Defend....Defend....Dedend newei............
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Dani Alves in advanced talks with other club, says agent

Dani Alves' agent Dinorah Santana has revealed that the Barcelona defender is in advanced talks with another club over a summer move.The Brazil international, 31, has an expiring deal at Camp Nou and is yet to receive a contract extension offer from his current club.


Alves is consequently considering his options, according to his representative, and is now edging ever closer to a move away from the Catalans."We are close to signing for another club. We are in advanced talks," his agent told Rac1.


"Dani is still available for Barcelona to keep hold of this summer, but he will not wait for them for much longer."People are trying to make Dani look like the bad guy in this situation and that's wrong. This situation is quite tiresome."


Alves joined Barcelona from Sevilla in the summer of 2008 and has since developed into a key figure at the Camp Nou side, winning La Liga four times, Champions League, Club World Cup, Copa del Rey and Uefa Super Cup twice as well as bagging the Supercopa de Espana four times.He has made well over 300 official appearances for Barcelona so far.

 

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Dani Alves Barcelona walin yai wage
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Dost: Becoming Bundesliga top scorer almost impossible

Wolfsburg striker Bas Dost believes it will be "nearly impossible" to win the Bundesliga top scorer title this campaign.


The Dutchman currently sits third in the goalscoring charts with 13 goals, chasing Bayern Munich winger Arjen Robben and Eintracht Frankfurt forward Alexander Meier by four and three goals respectively.


Nevertheless, the in-form attacker - who has netted 11 goals in his last six Bundesliga outings - fears he lost too much ground before the winter break.
"Everybody wants to win the Bundesliga top scorer title," Dost was quoted as saying by Sport Bild ."But it is nearly impossible to do so when you score only twice in the first half of the season."Maybe the situation will be different in six weeks, though.


"I scored in our first game after the winter break against Bayern and that was a big confidence boost. I told myself to keep going after that and I have been able to keep it up so far."This is very satisfying, but I want to keep showing that I am Wolfsburg's first-choice striker. There was a lot of talk about a new striker in the past, but that is no longer an issue."


The 25-year-old's lethal finishing has kept Wolfsburg nestled comfortably in second place in the Bundesliga table, eight points behind leaders Bayern and 10 points ahead of next side Borussia Monchengladbach.

 

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Manchester United have made most back passes in Premier League

On Saturday, against Sunderland, there were boos from the Old Trafford crowd and chants of ‘attack, attack, attack’ when Jonny Evans sent the ball back to De Gea from the halfway line after a United corner-kick.Reflecting on the game, Louis van Gaal sympathised with the United supporters and accepted his team should not always look for a pass back to the Spanish shot-stopper.

“I agree with the fans that we don’t have to use so much the goalkeeper,” he said.“I have seen also moments that we can play in a higher tempo without interfering with the goalkeeper.”

Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville said earlier this season that United’s players must look to take more risks – but the stats indicate just how heavily they rely on De Gea as a passing option.

United's outfield players have passed the ball to their goalkeeper 442 times this season, more than any other team in the top flight – and 44 more times than Everton, who are second in this measurement.Premier League leaders Chelsea, in contrast, have passed to their ‘keeper just 277 times.

While it was Evans’ pass which drew a negative response from the United supporters against Sunderland, Marcos Rojo has in fact looked for De Gea on more occasions than any other United player. The Argentine has made 63 passes to his ‘keeper this season.

However, Phil Jones (57), Evans (51) and Smalling (50) each regularly use De Gea as well, demonstrating how frequently United’s defence turn to their ‘keeper rather than aiming a pass forwards.

On Monday Night Football in January, Neville blamed United’s “safe” approach on the mentality of the team. Whether Van Gaal can alter that approach – and appease the club’s attack-minded supporters – remains to be seen…

Passes received by goalkeepers
Man Utd - 442
Everton - 398
Sunderland - 393
Southampton - 367
Newcastle - 358
Swansea - 351
Leicester - 327
Liverpool - 325
West Brom - 325
Tottenham - 323
Stoke - 312
Chelsea - 277
Burnley - 274
West Ham - 274
Hull - 269
Aston Villa - 265
Arsenal - 261
Man City - 248
QPR - 240
Crystal Palace - 197

Passes to De Gea this season
Marcos Rojo - 63
Phil Jones - 57
Jonny Evans - 51
Chris Smalling - 50
Patrick McNair - 41
Michael Carrick - 32
Antonio Valencia - 29
Daley Blind - 27
Tyler Blackett - 24
Ashley Young - 16
Wayne Rooney - 14
Luke Shaw - 9
Ander Herrera - 7
Rafael - 6
Juan Mata - 5
Darren Fletcher - 4
Marouane Fellaini - 3
Angel Di María - 3
Robin van Persie - 1

 

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Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal urging his players to look forward

Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal has ordered his players to cut down the number of back-passes they play to goalkeeper David de Gea.

Van Gaal is facing increasing pressure over his side’s unadventurous performances despite them being bang in contention for a return to the Champions League.Supporters booed the team, as well as chanting “attack, attack - attack, attack, attack” during the 2-0 win over Sunderland last weekend, the loudest reaction coming when a United corner ended up being played all the way back to De Gea.

And Van Gaal conceded he has been frustrated at the amount of times the Spanish ‘keeper has been used as a springboard for United’s attacking play.
“I agree with the fans that we don't have to use the goalkeeper so much," he said. "I have seen moments when we could play with a higher tempo without interfering with the goalkeeper.“Sometimes the players may not see another solution. But I have to support them. Also, a fan has to see that.

“Of course, to attack is more or less the English style of playing a match. But I think the supporters have also enjoyed Manchester United playing in a possession game so it is always a mix of playing both. I think we can still improve in not losing the ball unnecessarily.”Van Gaal further denied that his players are suffering nerves as they look to seal a place in the top four.

“You can always say that, but every player is at a different height of pressure,” he added. “And every player has to manage that pressure.“You cannot, in general, say it is a nervous team because maybe six or seven players are always playing arrogantly and they need to play arrogantly to be good.

“And the other players need to be tense to play good. You can say about individual players that they are nervous."Then, okay, we have to talk about individual players, but I don’t want to talk about individual players.”

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal has ordered his players to cut down the number of back-passes they play to goalkeeper David de Gea.

Mekanam godak hoda deyakmokada godak matches wala oya wade wenawaGodakma thiyenne back passesSunderland match 1keth J.Evans ge half way line backpass 1ka dakkhama epa wenawaattaking intent 1ka sampurnayenma yanawa meh waden

meh stats dakkhamath hithaganna puluwan neh wela thiyana wade

So LVG kiwwath wage ada match 1ke idalawath godak back passes dena 1ka adu unoth thamai hoda​

 

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Newcastle United Vs Manchester United

Newcastle United Starting Line-up

Tim Krul
Fabricio Coloccini
Ryan Taylor
Michael Williamson
Daryl Janmaat
Moussa Sissoko
Gabriel Obertan
Sammy Ameobi
Mehdi Abeid
Papiss Demba Cisse
Emmanuel Riviere

&

Manchester United Starting Line-up

David De Gea
Marcos Rojo
Jonathan Evans
Chris Smalling
Antonio Valencia
Ángel Di María
Daley Blind
Ashley Young
Ander Herrera
Marouane Fellaini
Wayne Rooney
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Falcao benched.4-2-3-1 adaRooney alone striker

Champions League hopes walata ada win 1kath godak wadagathGood Luck Manchester United!Kohomahari win karamu

 

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Half Time

Newcastle United 0 Vs 0 Manchester United

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Di Maria ge performance madi
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Full Time

Newcastle United 0 Vs 1 Manchester United

Manchester United Goal(s)

A.Young 89'
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Congratulations Manchester United!Young ge goal finish 1ka patta

&

De Gea is the Hero!adath pattama saves kale90th minute save 1ka nisa thamai match 1ka dinaganna labune

De Gea

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Espanyol 0-2 Athletic Bilbao (agg 1-3): Basques set up Barcelona showdown

Athletic Bilbao advanced to their third Copa del Rey final in seven seasons with a 3-1 aggregate triumph over Espanyol, prevailing 2-0 in Wednesday's second leg.
Ernesto Valverde's side struck twice in the first half to seal victory at Cornella-El Prat - sending them into the final against Barcelona on May 29.

Aritz Aduriz continued his hot run of form with a fine finish in the 13th minute, before defender Xabier Etxeita converted from an Athletic corner on the stroke of half-time.

There was no way back for Espanyol in a disappointing showing, while Athletic will now hope to gain some revenge on Barca, who have beaten them in their last two Copa finals.

Bilbao needed a goal after conceding on home soil in the first leg and set about their task with positive intent, Andoni Iraola missing an early chance when he side-footed a volley across the face of goal.

A promising start was capped with a goal when a poor clearance fell to Aduriz on the edge of the box, and he took a touch before firing low into the left corner past a diving Pau Lopez.The goal - Aduriz's seventh in his past eight starts in all competitions - put the onus on Espanyol to attack, but it was Valverde's men who continued to impress.

Aduriz threatened again in the 24th minute when he latched on to a throughball from Iker Muniain before Lopez came out to meet him, prompting penalty claims that were waved away.

The home side finally stirred into life before the interval, with Christian Stuani capitalising on some lax Bilbao defending, but he shot straight at Iago when through one-on-one.

And a tame Espanyol outfit were made to pay for their lack of attacking vigour when Athletic doubled their lead on the night, Etxeita's well-placed glancing header from Iraola's corner beating Lopez at his far post.

Aduriz and Inaki Williams both had chances to further increase Athletic's advantage early in the second half, but Espanyol were unlucky not to pull a goal back when substitute Felipe Caicedo hit the woodwork prior to the hour mark - and the rebound fell kindly for Iago.

Stuani then put a header well over the crossbar as Espanyol tried to create chances, but clear-cut ones were not forthcoming as Athletic's defence held up.
Iago had to be replaced after injuring himself playing a pass out of the back, with Gorka Iraizoz coming on in the 66th minute.The substitute was called into action soon after his introduction, saving a Victor Sanchez strike, but it was the only time he was pressed.

Williams was one-on-one with Lopez in the 77th minute, but could not add to Athletic's lead - and should have squared a pass for Muniain who had the goal at his mercy.

But it mattered little as Bilbao took another step towards ending their 21-year wait for a Copa crown.