Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan has stressed that he has no plans of leaving the Citizens despite the ongoing speculation over his future. The Germany international has been linked with a potential move to Barcelona in recent weeks as they seek a replacement for Andres Iniesta but Gundogan remains content with his club situation.
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has stressed that he is committed to the Blues for the remainder of his contract despite talk of him rejoining Italy in the summer. Speaking ahead of the Manchester City game, the 48-year-old reiterated his stance with his Blues contract only expiring in the summer of 2019, he said: “I think I have already answered this question, nothing has changed compared to the past… especially my answer, it has not changed.”
Roma suffered yet another heavy defeat in the Champions League after losing 7-1 to Bayern Munich in front of their own supporters. This was a defeat that matched a similar loss to Manchester United in the previous time Roma were playing in this competition. They returned to the European elite after doing well under Rudi Garcia last season, but the former Lille manager seems some way away from getting his team back to the top of the European table. Garcia says that despite this heavy defeat, he is confident that Roma can reach the top of the group.
Roma, Manchester City, and Bayern Munich comprise a very difficult group. The Italians are paying the price for not being in the Champions League over the last few years. Their UEFA coefficient is very low and this has resulted in this tough draw. City are yet to take even from the opening three matches and, as a result of it, they are two points behind Roma. Even with this heavy defeat, Roma can still qualify for the knockout stages which will be a major achievement especially given that they have been without this top-level European football for a number of years before Garcia’s arrival.
The Italian league resumes this weekend with the second placed Roma taking on Sampdoria in an away match. “The truth always comes out on the pitch; on Tuesday it was shown that they were stronger, but the scoreline was excessive. The Champions League is tough and we knew that, but we’re still second in the group. Now let’s focus on the league. Sometimes slip-ups happen, but we have to continue guiding our ship. Great victories can also be built upon heavy defeats – I always think positively. There will be time to analyse the defeat against Bayern again when we go to Munich. The result is always the consequence of how we play,” said Garcia.
Inter Milan manager Walter Mazzarri says that he is confident that his team can become the Barcelona of the future. Barcelona are regarded as one of the most successful clubs in the last seven or eight years. They have lifted every major trophy on numerous occasions during this period. However, the start of the very first century was not exactly ideal for the Catalan club, as they struggled to cope with the issues. They were constantly under the shadows of their arch rivals Real Madrid.
Inter Milan’s most successful period in the history recently came to an end after the club slip out of the Champions League and also out of contention for the league title in the last few years. Prior to this form of form, Inter won 5 successive league titles and also the Champions League after a gap of more than four decades. Mazzarri says that Inter are going through a transitional period right now, but he is confident that the players that are coming through the ranks will help the club once again return to the top. After struggling in terms of trophies in the early part of the 21st century, Barcelona enjoyed immense success under Frank Rijkaard and Pep Guardiola.
“Ours is a project that goes forward in time. A new cycle has started and no one has pointed out that we’re playing with four young players. Just like it happened at Barcelona, we will return to winning. At Napoli I demonstrated my ability to carry out a project. My hope is to reach the Champions League right away. You have to find the quality through work. Big signings are not the only way to create a big team,” said Mazzarri, who led the club to a fifth place finish last season. Inter recently won 7-0 against Sassuolo at the San Siro.
In an effort to get back into the England national team, Jack Rodwell has completed a £ 10 million move to Sunderland. The former Everton midfielder has struggled for first-team opportunities at Manchester City. He moved to Etihad stadium for around £ 12 million two years ago. However, after featuring in just 26 matches during this period, he is keen on getting regular football. Rodwell was once spoken as the next big thing in the England setup. This was primarily due to Wayne Rooney’s emergence from the Everton youth ranks in the same way as Rodwell.
The 23-year-old, though, has struggled to live up to the expectations primarily because of injuries. He appears to be finally behind the injury problems, but getting game time at City has been tough because of the intense competition. Players like Yaya Touré and Fernandinho have dominated City midfield and it will be tough to dislodge them straightaway. Once spoken of as the replacement for Frank Lampard, Rodwell is keen on recovering his international career. Since making his England debut in 2011, the 23-year-old has made only three appearances in total for the national team.
Due to Roy Hodgson’s clear statements that he wants to focus on the youth for the upcoming Euro 2016, Rodwell may feel that he will have a great opportunity should he play regularly. “Regular football is the most important thing for me. This is a great place for me to be. Watching the World Cup left a little bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. I was supporting the team 100%, but I also wanted to be there so I think it’s time I put that right. Without doubt the last couple of seasons I have not played nearly enough football as I have wanted to play,” said Rodwell.
Roma captain Francesco Totti has stated that he is extremely delighted with the way the club has managed to return to Champions League after several years out of this elite competition. Roma have been consistent players in the Champions League only a few years ago, but the last few years have been very difficult for the club. The arrival of Rudy Garcia as the coach has done wonders to the team. They have not only been able to return to Champions League, but this was also the season that they almost won the title.
The title campaign suffered during the middle of the season. Otherwise, they would have been top of the table. Continue reading TOTTI DELIGHTED
Juventus suffered their first defeat in a long time after being beaten 2-0 by Napoli during the weekend. This brought an end to the unbeaten run, which stretches over 22 matches. Their club have been simply brilliant other Antonio Conte, who is on course to leading the club to their third straight league title. The brilliant young and upcoming manager has said that the club needs to recover quickly from this defeat. He says that the defeat against Napoli is a major motivation to get back to winning ways when the club take on Lyon in the Europa league.
After being knocked out of the Champions League at the group stages, Juventus has set a target of winning the Europa league this campaign. This will be their first major European success in a long time. After almost sealing the Italian Serie A title, Juventus will be shifting their focus entirely towards this competition. They have been drawn against French outfit Lyon, who have fallen from their Champions League days of the past. The first leg will be away from home and it gives Juventus a great opportunity to put themselves in a commanding position before the return leg.
Lyon have been for the French league this campaign and Conte is straightaway targeting a win from the first leg.
“I hope the defeat in Naples will allow us to regroup. Lyon are a great French team, very strong in attack and also physically. We know their strengths and weaknesses. We know that the first leg is always important. We are going to try and keep the ball. The fact we are the last Italian team in the Europa League is a great satisfaction but has put pressure on us. We want to go far in this competition, the final is at home. But we have injured players too,” said Conte.
After his move to Italy football in the summer, Rafa Benitez has tried to sign a couple of his former players from Chelsea. It was rumoured that he was interested in bringing Juan Mata to Napoli, but that would never materialised and the Spaniard has since gone to Manchester United for a club record fee of £ 37.1 million. This deal has surprised many since Mata has been one of the best players for Chelsea in the last two years. This is also the opinion of Benitez, who says that he would have never sold in the 25-year-old.
Benitez is an admirer of Mata after having played him in most of the matches when he was at Chelsea. The 25-year-old, though, never got a look in under the new management of Jose Mourinho, who has been involved in a war of words with Benitez for several years. The rivalry has been resumed after Benitez commented that Mourinho was wrong in deciding to sell the player of Mata’s quality to one of the main rivals. Eden Hazard has been made as the main man under Mourinho. The Belgian international has started in every Premier league match up until now.
Benitez won the Europa league with Chelsea last season, but Mourinho hit back saying that he does not want to win the second rated European competition.
“I am not here to talk about Chelsea. But Juan was their best player in the last two years. That is it. You can see that, but I am not here to analyse what they did,” said Benitez ahead of his return to England. He is coming back with his Napoli team, who play against Swansea in the Europa league. Napoli have dropped into this competition after finishing third in their Champions League group despite finishing with 12 points.
Inter Milan’s coach Walter Mazzarri has received the dreaded vote of confidence from the president after a poor run of results has seen the club slip out of contention for the top three. Only the top three teams in the Italian league qualify for the Champions League next season. Since the 1-0 win over AC Milan, Inter have been very poor and it has seen them slip several points behind Napoli in the third place. There are unlikely to make the vast points difference in the remaining matches of the season. Mazzarri, who was appointed by former president Massimo Moratti, is in danger of losing his job.
Just before any manager is sacked, they usually receive a vote of confidence from the board or the president. It has happened with Mazzarri as well, as president Erick Thohir says that the club are fully behind the manager despite not having won in 2014. The club has won just eight of the last 22 league matches, while they also suffered an embarrassing defeat in the last 16 of the Coppa Italia. There have been rumours that the club are considering a change in management in order to improve their fortunes. However, this vote of confidence from Thohir is likely to keep Mazzarri in the job at least for the next few weeks.
“After the close of the January transfer window and the game in Turin, I feel it is appropriate for me to outline our sports strategy. We are going through a transition year and our main aim is to lay the foundations for our future: this is a difficult season and clearly it is not easy to find another winning combination like the one we had a few years ago. I will sit down and discuss with him which players possess the necessary qualities and motivation to remain with us,” said the president.
Juventus are once more at the top of the Italian league Serie A, As.Roma had started the season in a superb way as they went undefeated for a large amount of matches but a number of draws against Ac.Milan, Atalanta, Torino and Sassuolo allowed Juventus not only to catch up but also to surpass at the top spot of the league.
With the transfer window opened most clubs from around all leagues are dying to secure a player that can solve some of their weaknesses. Chelsea needs a decent striker, Manchester United is in need of a midfielder, Ac.Milan wants an entire new team.
But looking at Juventus and their top notch squad there isn’t much improvement that needs to be done. The side of Antonio Conte is the club that has scored more goals than any other in Serie A and at the same time is one the squad’s which has conceded fewer goals.
Even at his fairly elevated age, Gianluigi Buffon is still regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world and still has a few more seasons that he can surely perform at his usual world class level. Meanwhile on the midfield Arturo Vidal has been a breakthrough player and a perfect teammate for the architect Andrea Pirlo.
The attacking department of the team is also fairly well rounded with Carlos Tevez and Fernando Llorente leading the way for the squad.
There has been however rumors about some players that might be leaving Juventus which is the case of Giovinco and Martin Caceres who has attracted the attention of Roma and Napoli but other than that, there really isn’t anything that Conte has to worry about.
The only player that has sparked the interest of Juventus is Luis Nani who is not enjoying any playing time in Manchester United and the Italian team could be tempted to make a move for the Winger but at the current situation that Juventus is in right now, their squad is good enough to secure the Scudetto.