..::Football III::..

[Wolverine GTR]

Sunderland 3-1 Aston Villa: Defoe gives Black Cats relegation boost

Jermaine Defoe scored two late goals as Sunderland beat Aston Villa 2-1 to boost their hopes of beating the drop and ensure the visitors remain rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table.

Villa were the better side for long periods at the Stadium of Light, frustrating the home team and fans alike.

But Garde lacked the cutting edge provided by former England striker Defoe, who scored in the 72nd minute and then again in stoppage time as Sunderland ended a run of five successive defeats. Defeat for Villa, for whom Carles Gil cancelled out Patrick van Aanholt's deflected opener, leaves them 11 points from safety and without a league win in 19 games.

Sunderland are now just four points adrift of 17th-placed Swansea and will now have renewed hope of pulling off another great relegation escape for a third season running.

The hosts started brightly as Duncan Watmore lashed a third-minute effort over the bar. Villa gradually took control though, with Leandro Bacuna firing wide of goal twice in quick succession.

Bacuna was causing Van Aanholt plenty of problems down the Villa right and he almost created the opening goal with a positive burst down the wing before crossing for Jordan Veretout, whose low shot was saved superbly by Vito Mannone.Villa remained the better side with the hosts' tactic of aiming long balls towards 5ft 7in Defoe proving unsurprisingly unproductive.

But just as the home crowd were starting to show their displeasure, the Black Cats took the lead.Van Aanholt strode forward from the back and his 25-yard shot took a wicked deflection off Micah Richards to wrongfoot Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan.

Former Chelsea full-back Van Aanholt almost added a second on the stroke of half-time with a 20-yard free-kick which whistled inches wide of Guzan's left-hand upright. He remained Sunderland's most effective attacking outlet after the break as he flashed another curling effort wide.By then, Villa had introduced Adama Traore and the former Barcelona winger's pace and direct approach produced dividends after 63 minutes.

Traore claimed possession deep inside his own half after Fabio Borini was caught on the ball and surged forward with Sunderland players opting not to bring him down and risk a caution. His cross from the right still gave Gil plenty to do, but the Spaniard adjusted his body superbly to hook the ball past Mannone on the volley.
Sunderland appeared to be on the ropes and it required a moment of magic from Defoe to dig them out.

Johnson tossed a hopeful ball forward which Defoe took neatly before moving into the area and firing a low drive past Guzan at his near post left-footed.Villa rarely threatened a second equaliser with Rudy Gestede coming closest with a low shot which Mannone had covered at his near post.

And Defoe made sure of the points deep into stoppage time. He fired substitute Ola Toivonen's cross past Guzan before hitting the net for a third time shortly after, only to be denied a hat-trick by a questionable offside call.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

John Terry was RIGHT! Cech heroics doing as much as Ozil to keep Arsenal in title picture

efore Petr Cech had even signed for Arsenal last summer, his former captain John Terry claimed the goalkeeper would be worth up to 15 points a season in north London.

While most of the headlines have belonged to Mesut Ozil so far this season, Arsenal owe their title challenge just as much to their world class goalkeeper.

“We are top of the league,” sang the joyous Gunners supporters after Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Newcastle that moved them two points clear of Leicester - but that would not be the case if it wasn’t for Cech.

Newcastle could have been out of sight had they not found themselves up against Cech in inspired form as he made several top quality saves.

The 33-year-old kept Arsenal in the game, particularly with his brilliant second-half stop to deny Georginio Wijaldum when the Newcastle midfielder raced through on goal.

On the back of setting the Premier League clean sheet record against Bournemouth, Cech kept his 171st shutout in the league to provide the platform for this victory.

On a day when the Gunners were largely off colour, Cech set a platform that meant Arsenal only needed to score once to win, with Laurent Koscielny stabbing in the winner from close range in the 72nd minute.

It was the kind of match that champions win when not at their best and Arsenal have certainly benefitted from Cech’s presence this season.

The Czech is a serial winner after 11 trophy-laden years at Chelsea and, in a position where you cannot afford to make mistakes, is astonishingly consistent. It looks like that has rubbed off on a squad that seems mentally tougher than in recent campaigns.

Cech's mere presence provides assurance to the back four and so often this season he has made vital saves when Arsenal have needed him.

On Saturday, he came out on top in a personal battle with Wijnaldum, three times keeping out efforts from the Dutchman.

Each save was better than the last. In the first-half, Cech scrambled across his goal to claw away Wijnaldum’s header from 12 yards before superbly smothering at the Newcastle man’s feet just before the break.

The best of the lot came early in the second-half, with Cech saving with his legs when Wijnaldum looked almost certain to score.

A lesser goalkeeper like David Ospina or Wojciech Szczesny would surely have conceded one of those chances, but Cech is remarkable for his consistency as much as anything else.

"There is obviously talk of Arsenal signing Petr and if they do get Pete, that will strengthen them for sure. He will save them 12 to 15 points a season," said Terry last summer.

He has been proved entirely right and those points could be just as important to Arsenal’s title hopes as Ozil’s sublime skill.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Schweinsteiger: Manchester United showed character to beat Swansea

Bastian Schweinsteiger hailed the character of the Manchester United squad after battling to a 2-1 victory over Swansea City on Saturday.

Anthony Martial sent United in front shortly after half-time, before Gylfi Sigurdsson headed a leveller for Swansea, who were looking to claim a fourth consecutive victory over the Old Trafford club.However, Wayne Rooney responded with his first Premier League goal since October to earn United a first win in nine matches in all competitions.

"It was very important, but also the last game against Chelsea we could have won the match," he told reporters. "After the equaliser it was not so easy but we believed in ourselves.

"It's a shame we lost against Bournemouth, Norwich and Stoke because otherwise the scoreboard would be different.

"The team has character and you can see that we try to press and we try to control the game and to score goals, but I think in every match we have chances to score goals.

"Today it was very important that we scored two goals."The win lifts United to fifth in the Premier League.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Watford 1-2 Manchester City: Toure & Aguero strike late to deny Hornets

Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero both netted late goals as Manchester City came from behind to beat Watford 2-1 at Vicarage Road on Saturday.

City, who last won on the road in the league at Crystal Palace in September, looked set to slip six points behind leaders Arsenal in a tumultuous title race when Aleksandar Kolarov headed into his own goal after 55 minutes.

Serbia defender Kolarov atoned for his error, however, by delivering the corner that Toure met with an emphatic left-foot volley eight minutes from time.

Aguero, who appeared painfully short of match sharpness for much of the contest, then rose unchallenged three minutes later to guide Bacary Sagna's excellent right-wing cross home.

City remain third in the table, a point shy of second-placed Leicester, while Watford manager Quique Sanchez Flores will reflect on a desperately unlucky run of one point from impressive festive displays against Chelsea, Tottenham and Pellegrini's men.

Jose Holebas came into the home line-up for the suspended Nathan Ake and full-back Allan Nyom replaced Ikechi Anya, while City were unchanged.

Watford looked to start on the front foot and Almen Abdi fired over from the right-hand edge of the penalty area.

City centre-back Nicolas Otamendi then needed to produce an inch-perfect tackle to stop Odion Ighalo in his tracks after 10 minutes.

The in-form Ighalo then manufactured space and forced Joe Hart to save with his legs before Sagna scrambled clear to spare a creaking City backline.

At the other end, Heurelho Gomes pushed an awkwardly-bouncing Kevin De Bruyne strike narrowly over the head of the on-rushing Aguero.

The former Tottenham goalkeeper came out to deny Fernandinho who was looking to latch on to David Silva's 29th-minute pass and Raheem Sterling blazed over amid the ensuing scramble.

Nyom was rightly booked for an awful dive in the City box but there was more to admire about Watford's attacking play early in the second half, as Hart plunged low to his right to tip a Ben Watson drive around the post.

Fernandinho leapt unchallenged to head over from Silva's 54th-minute corner before Kolarov absent-mindedly glanced Watson's set piece into his own net a minute later.

Toure, so often the man City turn to in times of need, broke up a 68th-minute Watford attack but could not find the finish from De Bruyne's return pass.

But, after Gomes again denied De Bruyne and Watford midfielder Etienne Capoue wasted a chance to make it 2-0, Toure made his mark by lashing Kolarov's corner into the top corner.

There was worse to come for Flores' team as, having contained an off-colour Aguero with relative ease, they watched the Argentina star spark delirious celebrations in the away end.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Rooney makes history by overtaking Law & Andy Cole

Wayne Rooney has become the second-highest goalscorer in both Manchester United and Premier League history by scoring in the Red Devils's victory over Swansea City on Saturday.

Rooney netted a 77th-minute winner on Saturday to overtake Denis Law with his 238rd goal for the club, which was also his 188th in the English top flight.

That puts him ahead of Andy Cole in the Premier League rankings and behind only Alan Shearer, who remains some way ahead with 260 goals.

Sir Bobby Charlton is United's all-time top scorer but leads Rooney by just 11 goals on 249, and played 758 games to amass that total to Rooney's 499.

In September, Rooney scored against Switzerland in the European Qualifiers to overtake Charlton and become England's all-time top goalscorer with 50 goals.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Congratulations Rooney!​

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Klopp: Liverpool must start getting dirty defending

Jurgen Klopp was critical of Liverpool's slack defending after they slumped to a 2-0 defeat at West Ham on Saturday, demanding his players take responsibility at the back and get "dirty".

Klopp had seen his side claim 1-0 wins over Leicester City and Sunderland in their previous two games but the Merseyside club's upturn in form was brought to an end with a poor showing in east London.

Michail Antonio opened the scoring by heading past Simon Mignolet from Enner Valencia's cross in the 10th minute, and the Reds' misery was doubled in the 55th minute when Andy Carroll rose to power home West Ham's second.

Liverpool were left protesting that Alberto Moreno had been fouled at the other end prior to the opener but Klopp insisted that that could not be an excuse for defeat, imploring his players to work harder when out of possession.

"All of the TV stations have told me the situation with Alberto [Moreno] was a foul and it could have changed the situation around the first goal a little bit," the manager told reporters after the match.

"But we didn't react right to it because there was no whistle. We had to avoid the cross. There are crosses in the game, that's normal. It's football, defending is a part of football.

"I was a defender, I enjoyed it. It's a nice part of the game, you get dirty after, it's not a problem, you don't have to wash your clothes yourself. It's our responsibility [to defend]."At 0-0, you play football and then you will have your chances. We didn't and that's our fault. I know how football works, we have to avoid the cross."

"We came back a little bit in the game in the first half and everybody saw when we start playing with a clear direction then we had our moments and made chances, but we didn't score"In the second half, we started OK but out of nothing it was 2-0. Of course, West Ham had chances in the first half after set-plays, throw-ins, bad defending – we showed it [to the players] at half-time on TV.

"In each situation when we started playing fighting football, we had better moments but we scored no goals in this game."

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Henry: Man City title hopes rest on Aguero's shoulders

Thierry Henry has heaped praise on Sergio Aguero after Manchester City's last-gasp 2-1 win at Watford, saying the striker is crucial to their hopes of winning the title.

The Argentina international has suffered from injury so far in the 2015-16 season, but pounced in the dying minutes to secure three points for his club on Saturday. And Henry believes that if El Kun stays in shape, he could make the difference for Manuel Pellegrini's men and their Premier League aspirations.

"He is the key [if City are going to win the title]," Heny affirmed on Sky Sports.
"Those goals that they've been missing away from home is because he was injured and at times when he wasn't performing."

Yaya Toure had levelled against Watford before Aguero, who had not shown his best form at times, settled the clash in City's favour six minutes from time.

And Henry was certain the striker could be satisfied with his performance by full-time, continuing: "He wasn't great at times [against Watford] and lost some balls that he doesn't usually lose. "But he came big at the right time."The ex-Atletico Madrid forward has hit eight times in 13 Premier League appearances, and leads the club's scoring charts despite missing seven games in the first half of the season.

Henry added that Saturday's victory was the show of character City needed to establish themselves as title challengers. "They needed to find a way to win the game and they did. Two great goals from two amazing players," he said. "Joe Hart said it himself, they are playing against the big sides of this league at home.

"They are waiting for that. If they manage to be better away from home, be careful!

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Van Gaal: Rooney's goalscoring record is 'amazing'

Louis van Gaal praised Wayne Rooney's "amazing" goalscoring record after the England captain became the second-highest scorer in the history of both Manchester United and the Premier League.

Rooney's winner in the 2-1 victory over Swansea City on Saturday leaves him trailing just Sir Bobby Charlton and Alan Shearer respectively in the club and divisional record books.

The England captain has now scored 238 goals for United - one more than Denis Law - and 188 in the Premier League since his debut for Everton in 2002, moving ahead of ex-Red Devils forward Andy Cole."It's amazing," Van Gaal said of Rooney's position in the United goal charts. "And that at the age of 30.

"You have to say that now we are playing much more matches I think, but still it is a fantastic achievement. But for me it's more important that he scores now and he scored today."I hope that is a fantastic starting point for the team but also for him."

Rooney was recently dropped from Van Gaal's starting XI having not scored since October, but the Dutchman does not believe that omission can take any credit for Rooney's return to form after his goal gave United a first win in nine matches.

Rooney also impressed against Chelsea having been dropped for the visit to Stoke City two days before, but Van Gaal does not believe his benching has anything to do with his improved form.

"I said to him it is your second match in a row where you are playing very good and you score a goal," Van Gaal added. "That has nothing to do with leaving him out."It is also that he has played every game and sometimes he needs rest."

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Van Gaal: Manchester United strikers don't make life comfortable for me

Louis van Gaal says his strikers do not make like comfortable for him after watching Manchester United end an eight-match winless run with a 2-1 victory over Swansea at Old Trafford.

Manchester United recorded their first win in nine games in all competitions thanks to goals from Anthony Martial and Wayne Rooney, but the Red Devils had to surive a late scare when Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski was inches away from scoring what would have been a memorable equaliser.

Asked if this victory would lift the tension, Van Gaal said: "You cannot predict that. Only it shall raise the confidence and lower the pressure. The players have a lot of pressure also against opponents who make it very difficult to score with 10 players behind the middle line.

"That's why I'm very happy we scored the 2 beautiful goals but we have to score from our first chances so we are sitting on the bench more comfortable with a lead."

United looked as though they would squander the lead given to them by Martial's header early in the second half when Gylfi Sigurdsson restored parity, but Rooney's instinctive strike ensured an end to the winless run and Van Gaal hopes the win is the start of better things to come.

He added: "That's for me not amazing. Amazing for me is that we can play a game plan like in the first half with a risky style under this pressure. Also against Chelsea last week we played very risky, we pressed, and everyone has to function because the space behind us is bigger.

"Yet still we are the most dominant team, both against Chelsea and today against Swansea. I have good hope that this is a starting point for much more."

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Koeman refuses to deny Man Utd approach for Mane

Ronald Koeman remained coy when asked about Manchester United 's reported interest in Sadio Mane after Southampton fell to a 1-0 defeat to Norwich on Saturday.Alex Tettey's goal 14 minutes from time settled the encounter at Carrow Road, marking Southampton's fourth defeat in five games.

Victor Wanyama had been sent off three minutes earlier, receiving a second yellow card when he needlessly fouled Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe on a day marred by disciplinary issues.

Mane, meanwhile, had been left out of the starting XI for turning up late for Southampton's final team meeting before the game and then failed to redeem himself by making an impact in attack after coming on in the 80th minute.

"Sadio was one of the 11 players [scheduled] to start but we have rules in the team," Koeman told reporters after the match. "He made a big mistake before the game. In our last meeting, two hours before [the game], he came late.

"Everybody knows we have a sanction, you don't start, then you have to make changes in the team, changes in the all set-pieces and everything.

"I don't understand a player who's coming late to the last meeting and my message to Sadio two days ago was that I didn't think he was really focused and concentrated, that happened Thursday in the training session.

"[He has let down] his team-mates because we as a club like to treat everybody with respect and you have responsibilities as player to the fans, to your team-mates, to the board, to the technical staff and that's very painful."

Asked if Mane's actions were related to talk of Manchester United making an approach for him in the transfer window, Koeman replied: "Maybe. Ask him. Ask him why?

"There is no excuse. We had a great talk from our chairman yesterday about the club, about the team, about the respect, about the ambition, spirit, focus, concentration, and this happened."I'm also angry about the second yellow card from Victor. A player with his experience needs to know, if you have a yellow already in the game, that you can't do that tackle on that position on the pitch.

"Maybe he's doing too much to resolve some problems that happened on the pitch but he has to know he can't take that risk to do that tackle."

The Saints have now won just one of their last nine games in all competitions and sit one spot above Norwich in 13th in the Premier.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Atletico Madrid 1-0 Levante: Late Partey strike sends hosts clear at top

Atletico Madrid went two points clear at the top of La Liga as a blunder from Levante goalkeeper Diego Marino gave Diego Simeone's side a 1-0 win on Saturday.

Defending champions Barcelona's 0-0 draw at Espanyol earlier in the day afforded Atletico the chance to gain a slender lead at the summit.Fortune was not on Atletico's side for much of the encounter despite the capital city club dominating at the Vicente Calderon.

The hosts struck the crossbar three times, while striker Jackson Martinez squandered a host of opportunities to break the deadlock.Martinez was withdrawn in the 73rd minute and it was his replacement Thomas who made the crucial impact nine minutes from time.

The 22-year-old's tame effort somehow slipped under the arm of Marino to wrap up all three points and send Atletico first as they bid to regain the title they lost to Barca last season.

It did not take long for Simeone's men to demonstrate their superiority as they quickly began to dictate proceedings, Martinez forcing a smart save from Marino in the sixth minute.

Antoine Griezmann then curled a free-kick over the bar from the edge of the area before Atletico had claims for a penalty waved away by referee Clos Gomez.

Atletico were aggrieved not to have been awarded a spot-kick following Ivan Lopez's sliding challenge on Angel Correa and Levante continued to live dangerously - only the crossbar preventing Stefan Savic from opening the scoring with a near-post header from a corner.For all of Atletico's dominance they were fortunate not to fall behind when Levante captain Verza powered narrowly wide on the half-hour mark.

Martinez saw an effort deflected off target six minutes later as Levante survived the almost constant stream of pressure to cling on until half-time.The Colombia forward glanced a header wide seven minutes after the restart and was involved again as the woodwork denied Atletico for a second time.

Former Porto star Martinez chested the ball down for Koke, whose fierce drive cannoned off the underside of the bar.The profligate Martinez missed the target with a header and Luciano Vietto then hit the top of the bar with a cross-cum-shot from the right wing.

However, Atletico's frustration finally came to an end as Thomas dribbled skilfully into the box, his side-footed shot eluding the grasp of Marino and rolling over the line to give the 2013-14 champions the advantage in the race for the title.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Liverpool eye Lorient left-back Guerreiro

Liverpool are interested in signing Lorient left-back Raphael Guerreiro, Goal understands.

The 22-year-old, who can also play on the left side of midfield, has helped the French side into the top half of the Ligue 1 table and earned his first cap for Portugal late in 2014.

Liverpool are expected to allow Jose Enrique, whose contract expires at the end of the season, to leave in January if a suitor can be found and are looking for a new left-sided defender to compete with Alberto Moreno.

They have monitored Guerreiro's progress and the player is well known to Jurgen Klopp, who followed him when he was the manager of Borussia Dortmund."Raph has a contract [until 2017]," a source at Lorient told Goal. "We are very happy with him and he remains involved in the club project."

Liverpool are also lining up a move for Leicester full-back Ben Chilwell, who has impressed during a loan spell at Huddersfield Town and is a target of Arsenal and Tottenham's.

Lorient are set to lose Lamine Kone to Sunderland but Lamine Gassama, whom the Black Cats had also bid for, has turned down a move to the Stadium of Light.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

'Messi to join River Plate? Why not!' - D'Onofrio

River Plate president Rodolfo D'Onofrio believes Lionel Messi could retire at the club should the Barcelona ace wish to return to his native Argentina.

The four-time Ballon d'Or winner opened the scoring against River in December's Club World Cup final, as the Blaugrana went on to clinch the trophy with a 3-0 victory. And the Millonario president has now confirmed that he would love to see Messi jsign for the club he so nearly joined as a teenager.

"Why not think that Messi could one day finish [his career] in River?" the official told Clarin , as he gave details of the emotional post-final encounter he had with the star. "When the game ended Messi and [Javier] Mascherano came out of the dressing room to chat with us for a while. Leo congratulated me and all of River, in my name.

"His manners are astounding, he is the best player in the world and despite that he is warm, humble, down to earth, friendly.

"The apology he offered the fans I don't know if he did it because he is a River supporter or not, but it is related with the respect he has for Argentine football."
D'Onofrio continued by telling the story of how Messi was on the verge of becoming a River player, but that paperwork issues thwarted his arrival. "He told me he went to River for a trial, but the problem was he did not control his registration, Newell's did," he said.

"He went back to Rosario to find it, but six months went by and he could not get it, he could not play. "At that point he went to Barcelona due to custody issues."

Mascherano, who began his career with River, is another whom D'Onofrio believes could be starring in the Monumental stadium in the near future. "Almost jokingly, I asked him 'When are you coming back to River?' He looked at me with a knowing smile and did not deny anything," he said.

"If I have to interpret that smile, I would dare to say it was something like, 'One day I will go'. Javier knows absolutely everything about River, he is up to date on what happens in the club."

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Neville: No special plan to deal with Ronaldo

Gary Neville insists he has not devised a special plan to deal with Cristiano Ronaldo when his Valencia side take on Real Madrid on Sunday.The former Manchester United right-back will come up against his old team-mate at Mestalla as he goes in search of his first win as Los Che manager.

But Neville says he has not spent any extra time worrying about how his players will contain three-time Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo, as he says he is well-versed in the talents of the 30-year-old."I've not spent a massive amount of time thinking about him, and that's not paying disrespect to him," he told Sky Sports.

"When you're playing against Cristiano Ronaldo you can plan all you like for it, but on his day he can do something special; a free-kick from 40 yards, something ridiculous on the ball."I'm more thinking about the positions the defenders need to be in to give themselves the best chances of stopping him, and the midfielders."

Valencia sit in 11th in the Spanish top-flight as they prepare to face Real, who will look to move level on points with second-placed Barcelona with a win on Sunday, the Catalans having been held to a draw by Espanyol.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Barclays Premier League 2016.01.01 Fixtures

Barclays Premier League 2016.01.01 Fixtures

Crystal Palace Vs Chelsea

Everton Vs Tottenham

​

 

[Wolverine GTR]

LA Liga 2016.01.01 Fixtures

LA Liga 2016.01.01 Fixtures

Rayo Vallecano Vs Real Sociedad

Granada Vs Sevilla

Real Betis Vs Eibar

Athletic Bilbao Vs Las Palmas

Deportivo Vs Villareal

Valencia Vs Real Madrid​

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Pardew: Premier League big boys will bounce back

Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew is expecting a response from the Premier League's big teams sooner rather than later in a season of unprecedented upsets.

Pardew will be hoping that response is delayed at least another week as Palace welcome title holders Chelsea to Selhurst Park on Sunday.

Chelsea have endured a slow start to the season, resulting in the departure of club's most successful manager Jose Mourinho, but Pardew feels they can still push for a top-six finish.

"For Chelsea, it is a freak year which I don't think is going to happen again," Pardew told a news conference.

"I think they are going to find it hard to get into the top six, but they will push."

Manchester United have also struggled this season, with under-fire manager Louis van Gaal spanning eight matches without a win in all competitions prior to Saturday's 2-1 victory against Swansea City.

"It's a season that's thrown up a few surprises, but the top clubs will react," Pardew added.

"Don't think [United and Chelsea] are just going to say 'OK' and roll over. We will drive them to get better.

"At the moment the top clubs, apart from Arsenal, who have come through the process and are on an even keel, are searching on how to deal with the up-and-coming stars while running a Champions League campaign. It is proving very difficult for them."

But Pardew feels the struggles of the big clubs have offered teams such as Palace a unique opportunity to close the gap on the Premier League elite.

"Suddenly the opportunity has come to get past them and, because we have been able to go out and buy better players, we can compete," Pardew said.

"It hasn't totally happened yet, but the opportunity is there. We have definitely upped our game."

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Hazard: If I have to play up front, why not?

Chelsea attacking midfielder Eden Hazard insists he is happy to operate as a striker despite preferring to play on the left.

The 24-year-old started up front in Chelsea's 0-0 draw with Manchester United on Monday, for the third time in a month, with regular striker Diego Costa suspended for the trip to Old Trafford.

Costa has been under fire this season while injuries to Loic Remy and Radamel Falcao have limited the Blues' fire power throughout the season, and Hazard is willing to lead the line in future.

"I prefer to play on the left wing but if I have to play up front, why not?" he told the club's official website. "It just means I need to come a bit deeper to get the ball at my feet but I enjoy it.

"It’s the same, my job is always to try to make the difference. When I play as a striker it’s important for me to get into the box when crosses come in and try to get across to the front post."

Hazard was pleased with his performance against United in a game he feels his side should have won, and is now targeting three points in their clash with Crystal Palace on Sunday.

"It was good," he said of his performance against Loius van Gaal's side. "I just want to be on the pitch, it doesn’t matter if I’m on the left, right, in the ‘number 10’ or as a striker.

"When we don’t have a striker I can help the team out. I just try to do my job and against United I think I did my job.

"We were unlucky not to score a goal. The result could have been better but that’s football, a draw at Old Trafford is good.

"Now we play Crystal Palace and we want to start the second half of the season well, we need to start winning games."

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Ronaldo reveals plans for life after football

Cristiano Ronaldo says he will live like a king when he retires from football, but he does not envisage himself remaining in the game as a manager.

The Real Madrid star will turn 31 in February and it’s inevitable that over the next few years there will be rumours about his next move.However, Ronaldo insists he is not thinking about taking on a coaching role when his time in the limelight comes to an end.

"There is another life after football,” he said in an interview with Papel. “I think at first it will be tough [not playing], but if you ask me now if I want to coach, I would say no. Neither [would I want to be] a club director nor a president.

“You can say you have the best job, money, cars, houses... but that is not everything. “One example: On Saturday there’s boxing on in Las Vegas and I would like to take my family and friends, but I can’t because I have no time. But after [football] I want to live like a king.”

After a decade spent sparring with Barcelona’s Lionel Messi to be the world’s No.1 player, the spotlight on Ronaldo’s career has led to huge amounts of pressure. He doesn’t feel the weight of the expectation on his shoulders, though, or the constant speculation about his life. "I can handle the pressure due to the hard life I’ve had,” he continued.

“Leaving home at 11 and going into a different world, first to Lisbon and then to Manchester, was very difficult and between 11 and 18 I [learned about] stability. “So I’ve become the person I am today because of the time I spent without my family and going through difficult times.

“I was a teenager, but I had to do things as a man - to the point that I had to do my own ironing. My mental strength began at that time.”Ronaldo also dismissed the idea that other people’s opinions worried him.

He added: “Everyone can think what they want. I go to bed each day with a clear conscience and I sleep well. “We cannot be obsessed with what other people think of us - even God didn't please everyone.”