..::Football IV::..

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Manchester United Vs Middlesbrough

Manchester United Starting Line-up

David De Gea
Chris Smalling
Eric Bailly
Daley Blind
Antonio Valencia
Marouane Fellaini
Paul Pogba
Ander Herrera
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Anthony Martial
Henrikh Mkhitaryan

&

Middlesbrough Starting Line-up

Victor Valdes
Ben Gibson
Bernardo
Grant Leadbitter
George Friend
Calum Chambers
Marten de Roon
Adam Forshaw
Stewart Downing
Adama Traore
Alvaro Negredo
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Fellaini wa Start karawalaPissu kelinne nathiwa play kaloth hodai
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& Martial wa start karawalaMartial ta hoda chance 1kak Mourinho wa impress karannaSunderland match 1keth anthima tike play kalath play karapu tika hodata play kalaFull attacking

Good Luck Manchester United!

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Full Time

Manchester United 2 Vs 1 Middlesbrough

Manchester United Goal(s)

A.Martial 85'
P.Pogba 86'

&

Middlesbrough Goal(s)

G.Leadbitter 67'

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Congratulations Manchester United!

Well Played!

Ibra ge goal 1ka dunneth nahaFoul kiwwata eke athi foul 1kak naha

& Martial / Ibra / Mata patta

+ Patta match 1ka.hoda fight 1kak

Year 1ka hoda widiyata iwara kalaaluth year 1ke target karanna one kohomahari Champions League place 1ka gannaGGMU!
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Happy New Year 2017!!!

Football thread 1ke hamotama Suba Nawa Wasarak Wewa!

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Manchester United 2-1 Middlesbrough: Pogba completes comeback

Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba kick-started the New Year's Eve celebrations for Manchester United with late strikes as Jose Mourinho's men saw off a spirited Middlesbrough 2-1 at Old Trafford.United were well worth a victory that they looked to have been denied for long parts of the game by poor refereeing, dogged Middlesbrough defending and Grant Leadbitter's goal.

However, Mourinho eventually came out on top in the battle with his former Real Madrid assistant Aitor Karanka with a late comeback straight out of the playbook of Sir Alex Ferguson, celebrating his 75th birthday in the stands.

Mourinho may well have been readying himself for a post-match whinge after referee Lee Mason controversially denied Zlatan Ibrahimovic a first-half goal before Leadbitter put Boro ahead on his first start of the season.However, Martial's finish and Pogba's header arrived within two minutes of each other to spark a frenzied atmosphere and move United a point behind Arsenal.

Boro were left to rue having just a second away win of the season cruelly snatched away from them, with a home fixture against champions Leicester City providing little respite for a side now just two places above the bottom three.

Adama Traore wasted a gilt-edged chance in the third minute for the visitors, shooting woefully wide after leading a three-on-one counter-attack.Pogba hit the post with an overhead kick as United responded, but Traore remained a fleet-footed pest on Boro's right, zipping past Daley Blind and Chris Smalling before George Friend's resulting shot was blocked after he had passed on an open-goal opportunity first time.

At the other end, Martial was similarly menacing and dribbled through a clutch of defenders to tee up Henrikh Mkhitaryan but Victor Valdes was equal to the shot.

There was controversy seven minutes from the break, however, as Martial smashed the left-hand post from 30 yards before recovering possession and crossing for Ibrahimovic to acrobatically finish, only for Mason to harshly adjudge the Swede - at least two yards away from Valdes - guilty of dangerous play.

Former United keeper Valdes immediately became the villain of the piece for the home faithful and he saved sharply from Ibrahimovic early in the second half too.Blind had to be substituted after picking up a booking for scything down Traore, with Juan Mata also replacing Marouane Fellaini, but the change backfired on Mourinho as Boro snatched the lead.

Alvaro Negredo had ploughed a lonely furrow up front, but his quality shone through to nod a Calum Chambers cross down for Leadbitter to drill home and send the travelling support wild.Marcus Rashford was summoned from the bench and ought to have had a penalty when he was fouled by league debutant Bernardo Espinosa, but any Mourinho invective was quickly tempered by a thrilling finish.

Martial spurned a chance when one-on-one but the France international got a goal that could kick-start his season soon after, latching onto Ibrahimovic's flick and steering in at the near post.Boro had barely a chance to reorganise when they were behind.

Pogba stole in at the near post to steer home Mata's right-wing cross and completed a vintage United turnaround that sets them up for a second-half season surge.

 

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Leicester City 1-0 West Ham: Slimani downs Hammers

Islam Slimani ensured Leicester City ended a dream 2016 with a much-needed 1-0 victory over West Ham at the King Power Stadium.

The Foxes completed a scarcely believable Premier League title triumph last season, but a run of just one win in nine league outings had left Claudio Ranieri's men just three points above the drop zone prior to Saturday's match.However, the champions will enter 2017 with a welcome confidence boost, thanks to Slimani's thumping 20th-minute header from Marc Albrighton's teasing cross.

Slimani had already hit the post for the Foxes, who survived a scare towards the end of the first half when Michail Antonio rattled the crossbar and Dimitri Payet's free-kick was well saved by Kasper Schmeichel.

West Ham had Leicester pinned back for the majority of the second period, but the Foxes defence remained resolute to end the visitors' three-match winning league run.

Leicester consequently open a six-point buffer over the bottom three, while Slaven Bilic's side missed the chance to move into the top half.

The hosts made a bright start and Riyad Mahrez - recalled to the starting XI after being dropped for the loss to Everton - latched onto to Demarai Gray's dinked pass before testing Darren Randolph with a stinging volley.

West Ham were let off the hook when Albrighton's deep, right-wing cross was headed against the outside of the post by a stretching Slimani.

But the Hammers failed to learn their lesson, as Albrighton was once again afforded too much space on the right and his cross towards the back post was headed in emphatically by Slimani.West Ham grew into the game and Schmeichel was out quickly to deny Payet after the ball fell kindly for the Frenchman.

Antonio then lashed a volley against the crossbar, before Payet's 25-yard free-kick drew a smart stop low to Schmeichel's left.At the other end, Randolph had to be at his best to keep out Mahrez's free-kick that was heading for the top-right corner on the stroke of half-time.

Daniel Amartey was perhaps fortunate to escape with just a yellow card for an ugly studs-up challenge on Mark Noble early in the second half that eventually forced the Hammers skipper to be replaced by Manuel Lanzini.

Lanzini almost made a swift impact when his cross picked out Andy Carroll, who was denied by Robert Huth's superb last-ditch tackle.West Ham continued to probe and Schmeichel's quick reactions ensured that Aaron Cresswell's deflected free-kick did not squirm into the Leicester goal.

But the Hammers were lucky to still have 11 men on the pitch when Havard Nordtveit's high, lunging challenge on Ben Chilwell only received a yellow card.
Carroll could have done better when he headed wide from Cresswell's left-wing cross late on, but in truth Leicester's defence was largely untroubled in the closing stages en route to a big three points.

 

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Chelsea 4-2 Stoke City: Willian stars in New Year's thriller

Willian's second-half brace proved decisive as Chelsea twice gave up the lead before eventually seeing off a spirited Stoke City 4-2 in the Premier League on Saturday.

Antonio Conte's team deservedly led through Gary Cahill's first-half header, only for Bruno Martins Indi to steer home a scrambled equaliser soon after the break at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea quickly regained their advantage, Willian benefitting from some great build-up play to make it 2-1 shortly before the hour mark.

Peter Crouch then struck from close range to get it back to 2-2 but the Premier League title favourites refused to give up, Brazil international Willian the man on target again soon afterwards.Diego Costa, back in the team after serving a one-match ban, then grabbed a late fourth to put the result beyond doubt.

The win saw Chelsea move nine points clear at the top ahead of Liverpool's clash with Manchester City in Saturday's late kick-off, while Stoke continue to languish in the bottom half.

Conte's men also equalled Arsenal's 2001-02 record for consecutive wins in a single Premier League season, having now notched 13 straight victories under the former Juventus and Italy boss.The visitors made a strong start to the match, mirroring Chelsea's 3-4-3 formation to good effect and denying the hosts both time and space.

Nevertheless, it was the league leaders who created the best early chances, as Stoke relied on Lee Grant to keep them on level terms.

Costa struck the goalkeeper's body with a volley at the back post and was then played in on goal by a pinpoint David Luiz pass from deep, Grant denying the Spain international and then keeping out Eden Hazard's effort from the rebound.
The keeper, on loan from Derby County, also made a good save to turn away Cahill's header from a Cesc Fabregas corner.

Stoke failed to heed those warnings, though, allowing Chelsea to break the deadlock in the 34th minute through the same combination. Fabregas swung in a corner from the left and Cahill powered home from close range, this time leaving Grant helpless.

A lapse in concentration allowed the visitors to snatch an equaliser early in the second half, Martins Indi stabbing home the ball after Crouch had put Cahill under heavy pressure from Charlie Adam's deep free-kick. Seemingly jolted into life, Chelsea resumed their assault on the Stoke goal and went back in front in the 57th minute.

Victor Moses twisted and turned on the edge of the box and fired off a pass that Hazard stopped dead with one touch, allowing Willian to fire home into the top corner and make it 2-1.

Chelsea's usual defensive solidity was strangely absent, as Crouch held the ball up, laid it off to Bojan Krkic and then received it back from Mame Biram Diouf to force home another chaotic equaliser seven minutes later.

Mark Hughes and his players were back on level terms for barely two minutes, though, before a Chelsea counter-attack saw Fabregas slip a carefully weighted pass into the path of Willian, who fired home his second and Chelsea's third from a tight angle.

And any hope Stoke may have had of mounting another comeback were dashed with five minutes to go, Costa bullying Martins Indi off the ball before beating Grant with a fierce strike from another acute angle.

Next up for the Blues is a London derby away to Tottenham on Wednesday, while Stoke are at home to Watford a day earlier.

 

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Swansea 0-3 Bournemouth: Managerless Swans sink to defeat

Rock-bottom Swansea City's struggles continued as they were beaten 3-0 by Bournemouth at the Liberty Stadium in their first fixture since the dismissal of Bob Bradley.

Bradley was fired in the wake of Swansea's 4-1 Premier League defeat at the hands of West Ham on Boxing Day, lasting less than three months in the job after replacing Francesco Guidolin in October.

The Swans turned to Alan Curtis for a third time following Bradley's exit and the caretaker manager made seven changes to the starting XI on Saturday in an attempt to get things back on track.

It was to no avail, however, as Swansea put in a lacklustre performance in the opening 45 minutes, with goals from Benik Afobe and Ryan Fraser condemning them to a two-goal deficit at half-time.

The Welsh side slightly improved after the break, but were unable to claw a way back and the game was beyond them when Josh King netted with two minutes left, meaning Swansea remain bottom heading into 2017 with a mere 12 points from 19 games.

Bournemouth, meanwhile, added three more important points to their tally and sit in mid-table safety with 24 points, a comfortable 10 points clear of the relegation zone.

Swansea threatened for the first time when Kyle Naughton reached Fernando Llorente with a superb cross from the right, but the Spanish striker's header went inches wide as goalkeeper Artur Boruc could only look on.

Bournemouth were the better side in the opening stages, though, and deservedly went a goal up in the 25th minute via Afobe. A poor clearance from Jordi Amat would have ended up in his own net had it not been for goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, but the rebound fell to Afobe and the former Wolves forward made no mistake from close range to open the scoring.

The hosts brought on Modou Barrow for Leroy Fer in an attempt to turn things around, but things went from bad to worse late in the first half, Fraser making it two for Bournemouth after a smooth team move. Junior Stanislas played a clever one-two with Jack Wilshere before squaring the ball to Fraser and the winger coolly slotted home from the goal-line to double his side's lead.

Curtis' men made an encouraging start to the second half, yet it was Bournemouth that looked more dangerous, with Wilshere impressive. The Arsenal loanee created chances for Stanislas and Afobe, but neither managed to get a shot on target, the latter in particular wasting a fine chance from just inside the area. Afobe got another chance to add a third at the hour mark after a clever throughball from Stanislas, only for Fabianski to make a fine save.

The home side saw chances come and go from Neil Taylor, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Oliver McBurnie before King eventually put the match to bed late on with a calm finish after being sent through by Charlie Daniels.

 

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Burnley 4-1 Sunderland: Gray puts sorry Mackems to the sword

Andre Gray scored his first Premier League hat-trick to move Burnley nine points clear of the relegation zone and heap more misery on David Moyes with a 4-1 win over Sunderland.

Gray broke the deadlock after 30 minutes at Turf Moor, making the most of some abysmal Sunderland defending and setting the tone for another dreadful day for Moyes.He wrapped up his hat-trick with two goals in just under three second-half minutes before Ashley Barnes' 67th-minute penalty added to Sunderland's humiliation.

Jermain Defoe did restore some pride for Sunderland four minutes later, but his effort will provide little comfort for a team that lost Lamine Kone to injury 24 minutes in and saw Victor Anichebe sustain a hamstring problem.

Moyes, who went into Saturday's contest with an already stretched squad, will also have to cope without Billy Jones for the visit of Liverpool on Monday and was serenaded with chants of "you're getting sacked in the morning" from the Burnley fans.Sunderland's travelling supporters took aim at club owner Ellis Short as their side slipped to a defeat that sees the Wearsiders remain two points adrift of fourth bottom Crystal Palace, who face Arsenal on Sunday.

Sunderland were fortunate not to fall behind when Barnes met Matthew Lowton's right-wing cross, only to turn it over at the far post.Kone was forced off with an injury seemingly suffered when he collided with the advertising hoardings in an effort to stop Gray going through on goal.

The Ivory Coast international, who has been included in their squad for the Africa Cup of Nations, was replaced by Didier Ndong.And seven minutes after Kone's withdrawal Sunderland's defence was breached.

John O'Shea and Papy Djilobodji both went to challenge Barnes for a long ball, which deflected off the former's head and into the path of Gray, who raced clear and fired under Vito Mannone.

Burnley's lead may have been doubled had Stephen Ward been able to make better contact with a dangerous Lowton delivery, and another chance went begging as Scott Arfield failed to test Mannone from the edge of the area.

A disheartening half ended in fitting fashion for Sunderland as Jones received a yellow card, which means a one-game suspension, and Anichebe pulled up hurt, forcing him to be replaced by Steven Pienaar prior to the start of the second 45 minutes.

Sunderland had offered little threat even before Anichebe's departure and their task was made all the harder when Gray doubled Burnley's lead.

Gray - assisted by more poor defending from Djilobodji - latched on to a seemingly innocuous long ball and took advantage of Mannone's inexplicable decision to race off his line to roll the ball into an empty net six minutes after the restart.

The game was then effectively put to bed two minutes later as he completed his treble by slotting in from Barnes' cushioned lay-off at the end of a well-worked attacking move.

Barnes then got his reward for an impressive showing from the spot after Sebastian Larsson felled Arfield in the area, with Adnan Januzaj's fine run and pass teeing up Defoe for a scant piece of consolation at the other end.

 

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Southampton 1-2 West Brom: Robson-Kanu and Phillips power Baggies to victory

Hal Robson-Kanu marked his first Premier League start of the season in style as West Brom came from behind to secure a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Southampton, who had Virgil van Dijk sent off late on.

Wales forward Kanu, who has made a string of substitute appearances for Tony Pulis' side since his arrival at The Hawthorns in August, blasted in a spectacular maiden West Brom goal 50 minutes into a lively encounter at St. Mary's Stadium.

Shane Long's first league goal since May had put Claude Puel's side ahead five minutes before the interval, only for Matt Phillips to cancel out Southampton's lead moments later.

Southampton, hammered 4-1 by Tottenham in their last home outing, pressed hard for a leveller as the game wore on, though they had to rely on Fraser Forster to keep them in the contest with a fine stop to deny James Morrison.

But for all their possession, the hosts mustered little as they slumped to a second successive home defeat, Van Dijk's 89th-minute dismissal capping off a miserable day for Puel's men.

The victory means that West Brom will end 2016 in the top eight, while Southampton will hope to return to winning ways when they face Everton - and former manager Ronald Koeman - on Monday.

Southampton wasted no time in taking the lead against Spurs last time out, but Puel's side were restricted to little of note in the early stages of Saturday's encounter, with Sofiane Boufal's hopeful long-range strike the highlight of a scrappy opening.

Boufal continued to represent Southampton's greatest threat and the Moroccan playmaker went close again 20 minutes in, lashing a low cross-cum-shot agonisingly wide.

For all Boufal's endeavour, though, it was Dusan Tadic who provided a moment of quality to open the scoring - the Serbian delivering a fantastic corner that Long duly headed home.However, West Brom were back on level terms within two minutes, Phillips making no mistake with a neat finish after getting the better of Maya Yoshida.

West Brom were fortunate not to go into half-time a man down when Allan Nyom lunged in recklessly on Long as the match finally sparked into life, but the full-back escaped a second booking, with Ben Foster forced into an instinctive save to deny Van Dijk from the resulting free-kick.Pulis took no risks at the interval, James McClean coming on in place of Nyom, with Chris Brunt shifting to left-back.

West Brom were quick to capitalise on Southampton's sluggish start to the second half, Phillips turning provider as his throughball freed Robson-Kanu, who thumped a venomous effort into the top-left corner.

Southampton responded with an audacious attempt of their own - Boufal's strike whistling just over before, at the other end, Forster did well to parry away Morrison's header.Robson-Kanu was removed from the fray shortly after, Salomon Rondon his replacement.

And Rondon duly impacted proceedings late on when he was hauled down by Van Dijk, who was quickly shown a second yellow card as West Brom held firm to return to winning ways following successive defeats to Manchester United and Arsenal.

 

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Liverpool 1-0 Manchester City: Wijnaldum downs Pep's men

Liverpool strengthened their grip on second place in the Premier League by closing out 2016 with a hard-earned 1-0 victory over fellow title aspirants Manchester City.

Chelsea's record-equalling 13th consecutive victory against Stoke City earlier on Saturday left their closest challengers looking at respective nine and 10-point deficits when they kicked off at Anfield, although this did nothing to dull Liverpool's senses as Georginio Wijnaldum headed them into an ultimately decisive early lead.
For much of the first period, Jurgen Klopp could claim tactical mastery over his old Bundesliga sparring partner Pep Guardiola in the City dugout and it is Liverpool's superstar manager who now looks the most likely challenger to Antonio Conte in the battle for the league title.

Guardiola's men carried more threat after half-time, but they will drop to fifth in the table if Arsenal and Tottenham pick up wins over Crystal Palace and Watford on New Year's Day respectively.

A grapple for a place in the top four would mark something of a downgrade on Guardiola's previous exploits in charge of Barcelona and Bayern Munich, but Klopp, who ultimately laboured under his rival's latter successes while in charge of Borussia Dortmund, might just have introduced him to a new reality.City began confidently, but the breakthrough came for the hosts on their first attack of note in the eighth minute.

Adam Lallana drifted in from the left and his floated cross was met by Wijnaldum, whose perfectly time run allowed him to tower over Aleksandar Kolarov and plant a header past Claudio Bravo.

The early advantage allowed Liverpool to operate in a more composed fashion than the frenetic pressing normally associated with Klopp's sides, while City's attempts to mix short and long passing resulted in them appearing ragged in possession by the half's midway point.

Emre Can, included to bolster the Liverpool midfield at the expense of striker Divock Origi, arced a shot over as the half-hour approached and City wore an increasingly laboured look.

Lallana should have had the chance to double the lead at the break, but, having pickpocketed Yaya Toure, he errantly darted offside before Roberto Firmino sent him through on goal.Liverpool full-back Nathaniel Clyne failed to control convincingly and prodded wide having ghosted into the box within a minute of the restart.

City's showing remained fractured, although David Silva sashayed in from the right in the 55th minute and drove narrowly beyond the far post, while a stretching Raheem Sterling - barracked throughout at his old stomping ground - volleyed Toure's raking pass into the side netting.

Those chances sparked the visitors' most convincing spell of the contest, tempo suddenly injected into their play, and Wijnaldum unwittingly blocked from Kevin De Bruyne.

But Liverpool held firm amid growing anxiety, despite the departure of captain Jordan Henderson through injury, with City's returning top scorer Sergio Aguero largely feeding off scraps.

There would be no celebrations for the travelling support - featuring City captain Vincent Kompany - in the Anfield Road End and Guardiola has plenty to ponder as he enters 2017 with a team still not as smoothly grooved as Klopp's Liverpool.

 

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Depay not playing because he wants to leave - Mourinho

Jose Mourinho has revealed he banished Memphis Depay from his first-team plans after the out-of-favour Manchester United forward sought a move away from Old Trafford.

Depay is set for a January departure after struggling to make an impact since his big-money arrival from PSV last season, managing just 20 minutes of playing time in the Premier League under Mourinho this term.

In total, the 22-year-old Netherlands international has only appeared in eight matches in all competitions and was last seen in the United squad for the Europa League fixture against Feyenoord in November.And United manager Mourinho explained the reason why Depay has been on the sidelines in 2016-17.

"He was not playing last season. It was not that last season he was playing phenomenally and this season he is not playing at all. That's not the situation," Mourinho said.

"I have to say that in the past couple of months my decisions in relation to Memphis were influenced by the feelings and information that he would like to leave in January and that we were going to have a real offer that we would be willing to accept. That obviously influences me.

"If I know, if I have the feeling that a player is leaving - if I have to give chances and develop other players - then I go to [Jesse] Lingard, [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan, [Anthony] Martial, the players I know 100 per cent who are going to stay with us. It is a position where we have more options."United welcome Middlesbrough to Old Trafford for Saturday's Premier League fixture.

 

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Pochettino: £50m-rated Alli can be one of world's best

Mauricio Pochettino believes Dele Alli can be one of the world's best players as he predicts a decade of dominance for the highly-rated Tottenham midfielder.

An unheralded arrival from League One side MK Dons in January 2015, Alli has made a seamless transition to the Premier League, winning last season's PFA Young Player of the Year award.

The 20-year-old England international has scored six goals this campaign -his second season in the top flight - and Tottenham head coach Pochettino has backed Alli to enjoy continued success in London.

"Yes [he is a £50m player], why not? Today Dele Alli is showing a quality, a talent that it's difficult to find in Europe at 20 years old," said Pochettino, whose Tottenham face Watford on Sunday.

"There's no doubt he is and will be one of the best players in England in the next 10, 12 years. And England represents Europe, and maybe the world too.

"The Premier League is the toughest and best competition in the world, and if you are one of the best in England you are one of the best in Europe."In one year and a half we've talked a lot, and we can see how he is as a person, and that's important; how he's growing up, not only in football. For different reasons that crossed different problems, but he's improved a lot in his behaviour, in his game, in football.

"Now it's a big challenge for all the opponents to stop Dele Alli. He's said he wants success here, he's very happy here, and there's no doubt that he wants to win titles here."

Alli is under contract until 2022 and Pochettino added: "I am very honest in that situation. Sometimes he will joke in the dressing room or on the pitch, but he's very serious."Always I hear him say many times 'I want to succeed here, I want to win trophies here'."

 

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'Money isn't the most important thing' - Ronaldo

After allegedly being the subject of a huge transfer bid from China, Cristiano Ronaldo says he feels "blessed" to still be signing bumper contracts at the age of 31, though he insists that money is not his sole motivation.

Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes claimed this week that Real Madrid received an extraordinary offer of €300million for the forward from an unnamed Chinese Super League club.Had a sale been agreed, the Portugal captain would, according to his representative, have been offered an eye-watering annual salary of €100m.

If the claims are to be believed, Madrid rejected the bid and Ronaldo had no interest in leaving La Liga, with the 2016 Ballon d'Or winner considering himself fortunate to still be commanding big wages and endorsements after penning a new deal at the Santiago Bernabeu in November.

"My target is to maintain [my level]," he told ON E TV."I have a few more years to play football. I signed a great deal with Nike and Real Madrid.

"I'm glad and blessed to sign these huge contracts at my age. It's unbelievable. It's going to give me more motivation to continue working hard and maintain my level."
However, the superstar insists that money is not his sole motivation, claiming that it is merely a by-product of his profession.

"To me money is not the most important thing. I'm looking to money only as a means to become comfortable and independent after I finish football," he added.

Madrid return to action following Spain's mid-season break with the first leg of their Copa del Rey round-of-16 tie against Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday.

 

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Centurion Fabregas sets Premier League record

Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas became the first non-British player to reach 100 Premier League assists as he set up Willian against Stoke City.The Spaniard is also the fastest player to reach the milestone, taking just 293 appearances to reach 100 assists.

Fabregas is only the fourth player to have provided that many final balls for goals, putting him alongside Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard as the players to have achieved the feat.

However, the former Arsenal midfielder has a long way to go to catch assist leader Giggs, who set up 162 goals during his career with Manchester United.
Fabregas does not have the same distance to catch Rooney or Lampard, needing just one more assist to match the Red Devils captain, and three to overtake the former Chelsea and Manchester City midfielder.The assist for Willian was Fabregas's second provider of the day, teeing up Gary Cahill's opener before Stoke equalised through Bruno Martins Indi.

In the same game, Eden Hazard got back among the assists, setting up Willian's first goal. The assist was Hazard's first in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge since May 2015.

 

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'The Manchester United way!' - Usain Bolt rings club to congratulate them on win

Millions of Manchester United fans were celebrating on Saturday as they finished 2016 with a euphoric, late victory over Middlesbrough - and Usain Bolt was among them!The day seemed to be going against them as Zlatan Ibrahimovic's goal was ruled out for a high foot and they had a penalty appeal waved away.

When Grant Leadbitter put Boro ahead midway through the second half, it seemed like Jose Mourinho's men were going to taste defeat at Old Trafford.

But late strikes from Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba secured a 2-1 victory - and Olympic legend Bolt gave the MUTV channel a call to congratulate the squad!

If there was any doubt it had been Bolt who called the studio, he cleared the air completely with a tweet confirming he dialled in from Jamaica on New Year's Eve.
Sprint king Bolt - a 100m and 200m Olympic and world champion multiple times - has previously hinted he'd love to play for the Red Devils. Maybe this latest stunt will finally get his foot in the door!

 

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'Anthony has to listen to me and not listen to his agent' - Mourinho tells Martial to forget transfer talk

Jose Mourinho says Anthony Martial must pay no attention to his agent if he is to hit the heights at Manchester United.

Martial seized his opportunity in the side against Middlesbrough on Saturday, scoring the first in a two-minute, two-goal turnaround that saw off Aitor Karanka's men 2-1 late on at Old Trafford.

The France international has found himself in and out of Mourinho's side this season and the striker's agent, Philippe Lamboley, has been talking up a January move for his client, claiming that talks with Sevilla over a loan move are in progress.

But Mourinho says Martial should pay more attention to him if he wants to become a star, citing Henrikh Mkhitaryan's turnaround from outcast to key player as proof that the Portuguese's way is best.Mourinho said: "He played, he created, he scored, he fought. I think he was very positive.

"I know that he is a top talent. I knew Mkhitaryan was a top talent and I was not playing him. "In this moment he plays even left-back when the team is winning and needs to defend with a little bit more balance.

"So Anthony has to listen to me and not listen to his agent. He has to listen to me.
"He has to listen to me in training every day and in every feedback I give to try to improve players.

"But the Mkhitaryan process I was having almost every day Mkhitaryan’s agent calling me and saying Mkhitaryan with you will be a better player, keep going. "And with Martial every day I read the newspaper: Martial goes to Sevilla, Martial goes on loan, Martial is not happy.

"Martial has to listen to me. He's a player with amazing conditions to be a top player."