..::Football III::..

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Barcelona still hopeful of keeping Dani Alves - Bartomeu

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu says contract talks with Dani Alves are ongoing and insists the defender could still stay at Camp Nou.

The right-back's agent has criticised the club for offering the Brazilian an unsatisfactory deal and suggested negotiations were over as the player had better offers to move elsewhere.

Bartomeu, though, maintains nothing is certain yet and believes Alves, whose current contract expires in June this year, could still be at Barca next season.
"Barcelona are constantly negotiating to bring in players or offer them new deals, but we do so discretely," he said.

"In Alves's case, the matter is not closed. If Alves accepts the deal we have offered him, then he will stay at Barca."Everyone has their own strategy. Ours is discretion and a final statement announcing a deal."

The 31-year-old joined Barcelona from Sevilla in 2008 and has played 34 games in all competitions this season.

 

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Ancelotti: We want Casillas to stay

Carlo Ancelotti has insisted Iker Casillas wants to stay at Real Madrid and stressed that the feeling is mutual.

The goalkeeper has come under significant criticism for his performances over the last two years but put in a solid display during his side's 2-0 win over Rayo Vallecano last time out.

Ancelotti, though, will not field the 33-year-old in Saturday's clash with Eibar, giving Keylor Navas just his fourth run out in La Liga since signing from Levante.
The coach insisted his decision to leave out Casillas is not to protect him from the wrath of the Madrid fans, adding that everyone hopes he will stay in the Spanish capital next season.

"Iker was very clear, he wants to stay. We want him to. I want him to," Ancelotti told reporters.

"He doesn't need protection. Iker has broad shoulders and is a great professional.
"It is just different for goalkeepers because - unless there is an injury to the other keeper - they are not able to enter the game. There are other players who can come on for 15 minutes or 30 seconds and make a difference in a match."

Casillas has been at Madrid since 1990 and has won three Champions League titles and five Liga crowns with the club, plus a World Cup and two European Championships with Spain.

 

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Kuyt can score 20 goals a season - De Wolf

Former Feyenoord player John de Wolf has hailed Dirk Kuyt as an excellent signing for the Rotterdam side and expects him to score between 15 and 20 goals next season.

The forward confirmed on Thursday that he would leave Fenerbahce this summer and return to De Kuip, where he spent three years and scored 71 goals before joining Liverpool in 2006.

Kuyt, who turns 35 in July, had made no secret of his desire to end his career in Rotterdam and has signed a one-year deal with the club, although he is ultimately keen to spend five more years in the Feyenoord jersey.Despite his age, De Wolf praised the forward for sticking by his promise to return and believes he will add a lot to the team next season.

"There are many players who say they will return, but then they never do," De Wolf told Goal."Kuyt fulfilled his promise, which I think is great, although obviously the expectations are high.

"Those 71 goals in his first period at Feyenoord are hard to beat and hopefully the fans realise that, but Dirk is a real figurehead and I completely understand the euphoria among the fans.

"Feyenoord are not only bringing in someone with a wealth of experience, but also someone who can score goals. This season Feyenoord have been dominant in games, but they are not effective. Kuyt knows how to take chances.

"I think he is going to get between 15 to 20 goals per season. Then you are very valuable. Not only that, he can also bring his experience to the young players."Commercially Kuyt is also interesting. There will be a run of shirts with his name being sold, just watch."

Feyenoord currently sit third in the Eredivisie, behind Ajax and leaders PSV - who are expected to secure the league title within the next two games. De Wolf believes they can make a push a for the title next term.

He continued: "It depends on what is going to happen in the summer. Will the main players leave or will they keep the team together? "Jordy Clasie has been by far the best player at Feyenoord this season, along with Karim El Ahmadi.

"I really hope Clasie stays for at least another year. You are truly a legend if you leave with a big price and then you will be straight in at your new club."If the team remains intact and there are still some more signings, then Feyenoord can challenge for the title."

 

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Mourinho: Remy is a great professional

Jose Mourinho is backing Loic Remy to be Chelsea's match-winner once again as the Frenchman prepares to return to Loftus Road to take on former club QPR.

The injury absence of top scorer Diego Costa has opened the door for Remy, who has responded by netting decisive strikes against Hull City and Stoke City.

Remy has had to be patient this season and Mourinho praised the 28-year-old for seizing his chance when coming off the bench lately.

"Even week after week when he was on the bench and Diego was starting matches, he pushed himself always to the limits to be in condition to answer when the right moment arrived," the Portuguese said in quotes reported by Chelsea's official website.

"Some players when they are not playing, the level of focus and commitment and training goes down, so after that when the team needs them they are not there for the team.

"Remy is a professional with a great profile, every time working very hard and when he was playing, whether scoring or not scoring, he was always there for the team. Now he has scored two goals in two matches and he makes some important points.

"I like him because he can score goals and that is important for a striker, but at the same time, his movement is always good and when the team is not in possession, he knows it is better when the team defends with 10 players and he has that contribution.

"Also when you build the squad, if a player can play in more than one position that is a plus and he can play also wide on the right or wide on the left."

Chelsea sit top of the Premier League and were 2-1 winners when QPR visited Stamford Bridge in November.

 

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Van Gaal: Players key to Manchester United revival

Louis van Gaal has praised Manchester United's players for revitalising their season and bringing them back into contention for a top-four place.

United – who face fierce rivals Manchester City on Sunday – stuttered in the early months under the Dutchman with just three wins in their opening 10 matches.

However, with only two Premier League defeats since November they have charged up the table and find themselves locked in a battle for second with Arsenal and City.

"The key is the players, who are developing themselves in the process of what we have done with each other," Van Gaal told MUTV.

"I believe because it is not only the last five matches. I think in more than 20 games we've only lost two times, so it's a long row of matches that we win or at least don't lose.

"You have very good performances and you also have bad performances, but at the end the result is good and the key is always the players.

"The players have to do it at the right moment, at the right time against resistance. We have one more point than City now, and we're one point behind the second position in the table [Arsenal], so that speaks for itself, I think."

United have lost the last four derby matches, with Sergio Aguero's strike condemning them to a 1-0 defeat at the Etihad Stadium in November following Chris Smalling's first-half dismissal.

 

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Tottenham have bid €18m for Zaza, claim Sassuolo

Tottenham have made an €18 million bid for Sassuolo forward Simone Zaza, according to the Serie A outfit's director general.

The 23-year-old, who has eight goals and one assist to his name in Serie A this season, is earning a growing reputation in Italy and made his senior international breakthrough this term.

Juventus sold Zaza to Sassuolo last summer but are able to re-sign the left-footed striker for €15m in the close season, but Giovanni Carnevali insists the club are under no obligation to sell.

"Tottenham offered €18m for Zaza, more than the figure Juventus will have to pay to sign him," Carnevali told Gazzetta TV.

"Other clubs are interested on him. He will make the final decision about his future. We are not obligated to sell him.

"We have an excellent rapport with Juventus, but must also understand the real intentions of the Bianconeri and the player himself."

 

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Klopp: Dortmund have two games to save disastrous season

Jurgen Klopp has demanded Borussia Dortmund win their next two home games if they are to salvage anything from a shocking season.

Dortmund are 10th in the Bundesliga after losing 3-1 at third-placed Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday, with goals from Oscar Wendt, Raffael and Havard Nordtveit sealing victory for Lucien Favre's side.

Klopp stressed that Dortmund's next two fixtures at Signal Iduna Park to Paderborn and Eintracht Frankfurt will prove crucial if they are to retain any hope of finishing in a Europa League spot.

"The season has been, and remains, difficult," the Dortmund coach told reporters. "Now there are two enormously important games for us because we should score points when we are at home.

"If we do not win, our chances of Europe are gone. A mixture of spirit and preparation from Monchengladbach - and lack of consistency from us - are the reasons we lost today.

"Every goal we conceded was so easy, the opposition made the most of our errors. We keep getting into duels up the pitch and then the opponents win the ball and turn towards goal to score. It happens time and time again.

"Our performance was not a relapse to how we played earlier in the season, it was still obviously not good enough."

 

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Juventus lose for first time in over five months

Juventus suffered their first league loss in over five months and conceded after 431 minutes of Serie A football as they fell to a shock 1-0 defeat against bottom-of-the-table Parma.

The Bianconeri had conceded only 14 goals in the league all season going into the game and were on an incredible run of six games in all competitions without conceding.

However, Jose Mauri's second-half winner for Parma at the Ennio Tardini saw this trend come to an end.

It was a huge shock as Parma were declared bankrupt last month and are almost certain to be relegated at the end of the season as they are still 10 points from safety.

However, Roberto Donadoni's men are not going down without a fight and have now won two matches in the space of a week, having defeated Udinese 1-0 on Wednesday.

Juventus also saw another record tumble on Saturday as they lost their first Serie A game since October 29 and only their second of the entire campaign. It was the best run of form of a club in a major league this season.

The Bianconeri will be hoping this defeat won't have an impact on their Champions League chances as they host Monaco in the quarter final first leg in Turin on Tuesday.

 

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Guardiola proud of injury-ravaged Bayern Munich

Pep Guardiola has revealed his pride at his injury-ravaged Bayern Munich side's performance in Saturday's 3-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt.

Eight regulars, including Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery, Bastian Schweinsteiger, David Alaba, Medhi Benatia and Javi Martinez, were all missing as the reigning German champions took another step towards retaining their Bundesliga crown.
Robert Lewandoswski struck twice before Thomas Muller rounded off a 3-0 victory at the Allianz Arena to secure Bayern's 22nd victory in 28 league outings this season."I'm very, very proud," said Guardiola.

"Three days after the match against Leverkusen [in the DFB-Pokal] we play against the third-best offensive team in the Bundesliga."We dominated. We enjoyed the game and played very well."

On Wednesday, Bayern take their depleted squad to Portugal for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final clash with Porto, and Guardiola is hoping to avoid any further injury problems as his side close in on a possible treble."We now need three wins to successfully defend our title," he said.

"And now we need to recuperate and focus on a very special competition. I hope that we can compete in Porto with these players and that nobody else gets hurt."
Benatia suffered a muscle injury in Bayern's penalty-shootout victory over Leverkusen on Wednesday and expects to miss both matches against Porto.

There was some good news for Guardiola this week, however, as Franck Ribery returned to training after missing a month with an ankle injury while Thiago Alcantara was back in action last week after almost a year out with a knee injury.
Bayern meet Dortmund in the DFB-Pokal semi-final on April 28 and sit 10 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga table with eight matches remaining.

 

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Allegri slams Juventus after shock Parma defeat

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri has conceded his side deserved their shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of bottom-placed Parma on Saturday.

The reigning Italian champions had gone 20 Serie A matches unbeaten before Jose Mauri struck the only goal of the game after an hour at the Ennio Tardini – ending Juve's run of 431 minutes without conceding in the league.

Allegri praised cash-strapped Parma for their performance but slammed his own side's performance as the Old Lady fell to just their second league defeat of the season."We didn't do anything in the second half and deserved the defeat," Allegri told Sky Sport Italia.

"I hope this can give us a shake-up, but we shouldn't really need that. We had the chance to stay 14 points clear of Roma and Lazio, but we weren't up to it today.
"Parma played very well. We were too slow and risked conceding on three or four of their counterattacks. We didn't control the game. Even in the first half Parma posed a danger."

Juventus remain 14 points clear of second-placed Roma and 15 of third-placed Lazio ahead of Sunday's fixtures and remain on course to claim their fourth consecutive league title.

 

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Whole Barcelona team to blame - Busquets

Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets sought to share the blame across the whole team after they were held to a 2-2 draw by Sevilla on Saturday.

The Catalans had won nine consecutive games heading into the clash with Unai Emery's men and went 2-0 up in the first half thanks to strikes from Lionel Messi and Neymar.

But Sevilla completed a rousing comeback on home soil, with efforts from Ever Banega and Kevin Gameiro causing Luis Enrique's men to drop two points, and Busquets credited the hosts for preventing them from instilling their usual dominance on proceedings.

"At the end it was not possible to win," the 26-year-old told Canal Plus. "Controlling games is our philosophy, but Sevilla pushed back against our attempts.

"The whole Barca team was at fault for the first goal they scored, it was a team mistake. We were just not able to get three more points.

"There's still a hard calendar ahead of us. We are two points ahead of Real Madrid still, it's only one match over them essentially, so we need to keep adding points."

Barca are back in action on Wednesday when they travel to Paris Saint-Germain for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

The duo have clashed already at Parc des Princes this season, with PSG having come out on top in France prior to Barca's win back at at Camp Nou in the reverse fixture.

Laurent Blanc's side claimed their second piece of silverware of the season on Saturday as they won the Coupe de la Ligue final 4-0 against Bastia.

 

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Luis Enrique incensed by questions over 'nonsense' Neymar gesture

Barcelona boss Luis Enrique is furious people are discussing Neymar's "nonsense" gesture at being substituted and says he is not interested in whether his forward is happy at being taken off.

The Brazilian, who scored the Catalans' second goal in their 2-2 draw with Sevilla on Saturday, was visibly annoyed at being replaced in the second half with Barca still ahead.

Ten minutes later, Kevin Gameiro fired in the equaliser for Unai Emery's men and Luis Enrique was put on the spot about his decision to take off Neymar following Barca's stumble in their pursuit of Liga glory.

"I am not interested in talking about this kind of nonsense," he told reporters when asked about Neymar's angry gesture after he was replaced by Xavi.

"It is becoming fashionable to do this and it's nonsense. I am interested in the team winning and this sort of thing is simply uninteresting.

"I did the swap to seek more control on the game in midfield, I thought it was necessary."

The Camp Nou coach was equally blunt when asked about how the result might affect the Liga title race, with Real Madrid's win over Eibar earlier on Saturday meaning the gap is now down to two points.

"I've no idea," Luis Enrique snapped. "I'm bad at maths. Until the end of matchday 38, I do not know how it will end. As of matchday 31, we are the leaders.

"In the first half we were clearly superior, with great football and we were in control. It's too bad that we let them pull a goal back, though. The second half was more balance and we paid for our errors."

Barca take a break from Liga action when they face Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, against a team they faced twice in the group stage earlier in 2014-15.

 

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Simeone: Crazy second half cost Atletico

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone was left to rue a "crazy second half" as his side were held to a 2-2 draw at Malaga on Saturday.

The reigning Liga champions went ahead thanks to a first-half Antoine Griezmann strike before the hosts turned the game on its head thanks to a Fernando Torres own goal and a neat Samu finish.

Griezmann smashed home a 78th-minute equaliser to rescue a point for Simeone's side with his 18th league goal of the season, and the Argentine coach admits it could have been worse.

"The second half was so crazy, it wasn't good for us," Simeone said.

"It's an important result for our league campaign. We drew and we were not that bad. This year we have changed a lot but we can still compete. This is an important point that allows us to carry on."

The draw leaves third-placed Atleti four points clear of fourth-placed Valencia, who host Levante on Monday.

"We wanted to win and get the three points, but it was not possible," said Griezmann, who has scored 10 goals in his last 11 games for the club.

"It was a tough, intense game. Now we must think about the Champions League and then again come back to the league. We have to try to win every game."

On Tuesday, Atleti host city rivals Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final clash.

 

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Barclays Premier League 2015.04.12 Fixtures

Barclays Premier League 2015.04.12 Fixtures

QPR Vs Chelsea

Manchester United Vs Manchester City

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Ada Manchester Derby 1ke hoda fight 1kak yaiPlayersla okkoma 100% elatama play kaloth Manchester United meh match 1ka win karaganna puluwan

Good Luck Manchester United​

 

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LA Liga 2015.04.12 Fixtures

LA Liga 2015.04.12 Fixtures

Getafe Vs Villareal

Espanyol Vs Athletic Bilbao

Real Sociedad Vs Deportivo

Cordoba Vs Elche​

 

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Serie A 2015.04.12 Fixtures

Serie A 2015.04.12 Fixtures

Cesena Vs Chievo

Atalanata Vs Sassuolo

Lazio Vs Empoli

Napoli Vs Fiorentina

Torino Vs Roma

Udiniese Vs Palermo

AC Milan Vs Sampdoria​

 

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Burnley 0 - 1 Arsenal: Ramsey on target as Wenger's men march on

 

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Finally............Finally............Finally............

We are back!

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