Terry Venables was remembered as “the inspiration of a generation” as tributes flooded in for the former England, Barcelona and Tottenham manager following his death at the age of 80.
Venables made more than 500 appearances for Chelsea, Tottenham, QPR and Crystal Palace, but would go on to make his real mark as a coach, also taking charge at Palace and QPR.
The nation rallied behind Venables’ England team at Euro 96 in the summer football came home as the team brilliantly blew away the Netherlands 4-1 – Venables himself described the performance as “perfection: my most thrilling experience in football” – only to lose to Germany on penalties in the semi-final at Wembley.
The Football Association marked the passing of “a true football icon” and sa…
Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe has revealed he was criticised in the early stages of his career for not scoring enough goals and showing off .
The 22-year-old leads the Ligue 1 scoring charts with 20 goals in 25 appearances this term and has netted a further 10 in other competitions.
Mbappe has scored 120 goals in 160 outings for PSG overall since joining in August 2017 from Monaco, where he first made a name for himself at the age of 16.
But the French World Cup winner, who started his youth career with AS Bondy before moving on to Monaco, has admitted he was not always so prolific in front of goal.
For a long time, in the youth teams, I was criticised for not scoring enough goals and showing off, he told UEFA.
In today s football,…
Tottenham should have kept Jose Mourinho in charge for the EFL Cup final as he knows how to set up a team to play against Manchester City, says Wayne Rooney.
The day after confirming their involvement in the 12-club breakaway European Super League, Spurs announced the departure of Mourinho after less than 18 months in charge.
A 2-2 draw away at Everton last week further damaged Tottenham s hopes of a top-four finish in the Premier League, while they were knocked out of the Europa League after failing to hold on to a 2-0 first-leg lead against Dinamo Zagreb at the last-16 stage.
However, they do have the possibility of securing silverware on Sunday when they take on City at Wembley, making the timing of Mourinho s departure a surprise to Rooney.
I think …
According to sources close to Jose Mourinho, as revealed earlier today, the reports linking him with a return to Real Madrid are believed to be false. He is not said to be open to making a comeback at the Bernabeu, where he spent three years of his managerial career between 2010 and 2013.
Jose is said to be on the ropes at Manchester United, with some believing that he’ll be out of a job before the season is even said and done. The Red Devils have declined to comment on the rumours, although given the current state of his performance at Old Trafford, it doesn’t even seem like they’d really be all too interested in making a deal happen.
Mourinho has been with United since 2016, and he hasn’t quite been able to achieve the same kind of success that he did with the…
According to a recent report from Sky Sports News, Mario Mandzukic is still an option for Manchester United during the upcoming January transfer window – but he is not going to be training with the club before the window actually opens. Some suggestions have been made that United have reached some form of agreement with Juventus over a possible deal for the veteran forward, in a potential deal that has been ongoing since during the summer transfer window. Mandzukic hasn’t been featuring for Juventus throughout the course of the season with Maurizio Sarri not believing he is key to their current plans, which has swung the door wide open for the Red Devils to put forward some kind of an approach.
One way or another, though, it doesn’t seem like Mandzukic is going to be…
Prediction: Crystal Palace to win 1-0
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Crystal Palace will look to edge closer to Premier League survival on Saturday as they travel to the King Power Stadium to take on struggling Leicester City.
The Eagles currently sit in 13th position in the league standings but are only three points above the drop zone so a victory in the East Midlands could go a long way in seeing them secure their position in the top-flight. Elsewhere, Leicester s pursuit of European football has taken a huge blow in recent weeks and they are only one point above Palace, albeit five points better off, so a win for the Foxes could be the perfect tonic for their recent downturn in fortunes.
Leicester City
Claude Puel s Foxes come into the match against Pal…
Ronald Koeman has been appointed as Barcelona s new head coach, replacing Quique Setien.
Setien paid the price after seven months in charge resulted in no LaLiga title and a Champions League humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich.
Koeman leaves his role with the Netherlands to take charge at Camp Nou – where he was formerly a star player and assistant manager on a two-year contract.
It is his first club job since he left Everton in October 2017 and the stakes could not be higher with Lionel Messi entering the closing stages of his career.
We use Opta statistics to review Koeman s coaching career to date as he begins his 11th job as a head coach.
played for Barça from 1989 to 1995
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goals
— FC Barc…
Manchester United captain Harry Maguire was sent off after collecting two first-half bookings during England s Nations League clash with Denmark.
Maguire was cautioned in the fifth minute after plunging his studs into Yussuf Poulsen and his outing took a further wrong turn shortly after the half hour.
A heavy touch from the world s most expensive central defender left him lunging in on Kasper Dolberg, leaving referee Jesus Gil Manzano with little option.
Shortly after England were reduced to 10 men, Christian Eriksen put Denmark ahead from the penalty spot, although they lost Dolberg as the forward failed to shake off the effects of Maguire s challenge.
3 – Harry Maguire is the third player to be sent off for the England men s team at Wembley a…
Milan forward Ante Rebic has been left out of Croatia s preliminary 34-man squad for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.
Rebic was a key part of the Croatia team who reached the World Cup final in Russia in 2018, opening the scoring in an impressive 3-0 group-stage win over Argentina in that tournament.
However, the Rossoneri man has only made three Serie A starts this season, and although he has hit the net three times in his seven total league appearances, it has not been enough to enter him into Zlatko Dalic s thoughts.
Rebic last played for his country at last year s Euro 2020.
Luka Modric briefly sparked concerns over his fitness when he missed Real Madrid s Champions League defeat to RB Leipzig this month, but the 2018 Ballon d Or winner is included on…
Jurgen Klopp is still hopeful that Georginio Wijnaldum will put pen to paper on a new Liverpool contract.
The Dutchman is into the final year of the deal he signed following his 2016 arrival from Newcastle United and will be free to talk to other clubs from January.
Barcelona were credited with an interest over the summer – their coach Ronald Koeman having worked successfully with Wijnaldum during his stint as Netherlands boss.
However, after seeing the former PSV midfielder score a beautiful curler as Liverpool ran out 4-0 winners against Wolves on Sunday, Klopp revealed that he has not given up on the idea of keeping the player at Anfield.
Asked about that prospect, the German told Amazon Prime Sport: I hope so, to be honest.
You can see …