Category Archives: SPORTS

Radamel Falcao in action for Monaco

Striker Radamel Falcao faces a choice between Liverpool FC and Chelsea as he weighs up his next move, that’s according to reports in France.

The Colombian star is reportedly set to depart Monaco on-loan once again, and could favour a move to Anfield because he’d receive more playing time.

The 29-year-old has been linked with a move to Jose Mourinho’s side, with the Chelsea boss keen to help the striker “reach his level” once again.

He is reported to have said: “If I can help Falcao reach his level again, I will do it. It hurts me that people in England think that the real Falcao is the one we saw at Manchester United.”

Reports in France claim that Liverpool are keen to bolster their attack with a “major goalscorer” and Falcao fits the bill. He struggled last season at Manchester United, scoring just four goals in 26 appearances, but he’s been a regular scorer everywhere else, boasting 204 career goals in 334 appearances.

The Reds could be set to miss out on Inter Milan midfielder Mateo Kovacic, that’s after Roberto Mancini denied the Croatian midfielder would leave the club.

Liverpool have been linked with Kovacic numerous times this summer, with the Reds thought to be offering a £15m package for the 21-year-old, the Liverpool Echo reports.

“Kovacic will become a champion,” Mancini told Sky Sport Italia. “He is young, but has already improved a lot. I think he will stay at Inter

“I don’t think there is anything going on with him regarding a transfer.”

And finally, Liverpool could be closing in on a deal to sign Real Madrid winger Denis Cheryshev, that’s according to the Daily Star.

New Real Madrid boss Rafa Benitez is said to be happy to sanction the move for the 22-year-old Russian, with Real looking for a fee of around £22m for the player.

Cheryshev yesterday admitted he’d be open to an “irresistible offer”.

He said: “The holidays are imminent and we will see whether there are (some offers) or not. If no ‘irresistible’ offer comes through, then my first option would be to stay with Villarreal. I’m convinced that in terms of professional set up and sporting ambition, this club is way ahead of many others.

“But now everything are rumours, no more no less. I know that if I stay with Villarreal, I’ll be extremely happy, as I have been to date.

“I have no idea as to what is going to happen. I’ve spoken to Marcelino and he confirmed that Villarreal hope to have my services next season but that’s all. I don’t know where I’ll be next season.

“My future affects several parties, so it is not something easy. I must return to Real Madrid and they are the ones that have to make the first decision [on whether to keep me or selling me]. And once Real Madrid decide we will see what happen.”

source:belfastlive.co.uk

Tην εστία της Ρεάλ Μαδρίτης θα υπερασπίζεται, όπως όλα δείχνουν, από τη νέα σεζον ο Νταβίντ Ντε Χέα.

Όπως αποκαλύπτει η ισπανική εφημερίδα «Marca» Οι «μερένχες» ήρθαν σε συμφωνία με τη Μάντσεστερ Γιουνάιτεντ για την απόκτηση του Ισπανού τερματοφύλακα, και πλέον απομένουν τα τυπικά για την ολοκλήρωση της μεταγραφής.

Το «deal» ανάμεσα στις δύο ομάδες έκλεισε στα 25 εκατ. ευρώ, ενώ η Μάντσεστερ θα έχει λαμβάνειν άλλα 5 εκατομμύρια ευρώ ως μπόνους επίτευξης στόχων.

Από την πλευρά του ο Ντε Χέα θα εισπράττει 6 εκατ. ευρώ ετησίως.

Πηγή:zougla.gr

Iraklis Thessalonikis returns to the Super League

Atromitos forced PAOK’s third consecutive defeat in the Super League play-offs to throw the fight for the second spot in the mini-league wide open, with one round of games left to play.

The Peristeri club triumphed 1-0 at Toumba to climb above PAOK – which at one point this season was on top of the Super League table and is now facing the prospect of finishing last in the play-offs and entering the Europa League from mid-July.

A goal by Tasos Karamanos at the end of the first half settled the game in favour of the visitors, who suddenly have a chance to snatch the spot that leads straight to the group stage of the Europa League in September.

Panathinaikos and Asteras Tripolis shared a goalless draw, with Asteras being happy with the point and Panathinaikos – that has already secured the top spot in the mini-league – preserving its spotless defensive record in the play-offs for a fifth game in a row.

Stathis Tavlaridis left Panathinaikos with 10 men in injury time as he sought to get a red card to serve a one-game ban instead of having a greater penalty to serve on the total tally of his yellow cards this season.

Panathinaikos has 15 points, Asteras is second with seven, Atromitos is on five and PAOK is last with four.

In the final round of games on Sunday Atromitos hosts Panathinaikos and Asteras clashes with PAOK. The winner at Tripoli will snatch the second spot, but if Asteras does not beat PAOK, Atromitos can nick the privileged position in the mini-league if it beats Panathinaikos.

In the second-division play-offs Iraklis Thessalonikis mathematically clinched the second spot, behind AEK, to secure its promotion back to the Super League after four years in the lower-division wilderness.

source:Neos Kosmos

AFP investigating Aussie World Cup bid

The Australian Federal Police says it is evaluating allegations of misappropriated funds in Australia’s $42.5m bid for the 2022 World Cup.

Fairfax Media reports that the AFP has been in contact with officials from the Department of Health and Sport as they look into how FIFA executive Jack Warner received $500,000 in funds from Australia earmarked for a stadium building fund.

National sports minister Sussan Ley has made it clear Australia would not bid again to host the World Cup until there are major changes at FIFA.

“This, more than ever, resolves my view that appropriate governance reforms at FIFA must be undertaken, and succeed, before Australia could ever entrust taxpayer dollars towards any bid overseen by FIFA,” she said.

FFA chairman says bid was ‘clean’

Football Federation Australia (FFA) has sent an open letter to Australia’s football community to assure it that Australia’s bid for 2022 was devoid of corruption.

“We ran a clean bid,” FFA chairman Frank Lowy says. “I know that others did not.

“But did we make mistakes? Yes. Were we naïve? In some cases, yes. Would we do things differently in future? Absolutely.”

Lowy admits that Australia was playing “catch up” with the rest of the footballing world when they were fielding a bid, which led them to make poor judgement calls.

“This led us to recruit, on the advice of FIFA’s leadership, consultants who ultimately proved less than effective to say the least.”

Lowy said the $500,000 was a compromise from the $4 million that the North and Central American Football Association (CONCACAF) was asking for the development of the Centre of Excellence in Trinidad & Tobago.

“The chief executive of the Centre, not Warner, gave us the bank account details for CONCACAF,” Lowy said.

“We paid the money into that account and received confirmation it was received by the bank. It was paid into a CONCACAF account, not Jack Warner’s personal account.”

When the corruption came to light, the FFA provided all the information on their donation to authorities, Mr Lowy says.

source:Neos Kosmos

Στην τελική ευθεία μπήκε η προετοιμασία της Εθνικής ομάδας των Ανδρών εν όψει των επικείμενων εκτός έδρας αγωνιστικών υποχρεώσεών της με τα Νησιά Φερόε στις 13 Ιουνίου, για την προκριματική φάση του EURO 2016 και τον φιλικό που θα ακολουθήσει στο Γκντανσκ με την Πολωνία, τρεις ημέρες αργότερα.

Οι διεθνείς είχαν τη Δευτέρα… απαρτία για πρώτη φορά, καθώς ενσωματώθηκαν οι ποδοσφαιριστές που ως και το βράδυ της Κυριακής είχαν υποχρεώσεις με τους συλλόγους τους στα πλέι οφ της Σούπερ Λίγκας, κι έτσι ο Σέρχιο Μαρκαριάν μπόρεσε να δουλέψει με πλήρη σύνθεση.

«Κάθε παιχνίδι είναι και ένας τελικός για εμάς. Όσο υπάρχουν ελπίδες, μαθηματικά, θα διεκδικούμε τη νίκη σε κάθε ματς, με στόχο φυσικά να πάρουμε την πρόκριση» δήλωσε στα ΜΜΕ ο Σωτήρης Νίνης, που επιστρέφει στο αντιπροσωπευτικό συγκρότημα ύστερα από περίπου ενάμιση χρόνο.

Από την πλευρά του ο… “νέος” Ταξιάρχης Φούντας, ο οποίος κλήθηκε στην Εθνική ομάδα για πρώτη φορά, δήλωσε πως «είναι κάτι πολύ μεγάλο να σε βλέπει ο προπονητής στα παιχνίδια της ομάδας σου. Θα δώσω τον καλύτερό μου εαυτό στην Εθνική όποτε εκείνος το ζητήσει».

Πηγή:in.gr

Ο διεθνής αμυντικός μίλησε για τον αποκλεισμό του από την αποστολή της Εθνικής, αφήνοντας αιχμές κατά του Γιώργου Καραγκούνη, κάτι που προκάλεσε δυσφορία στις τάξεις της Γαλανόλευκης

Ο Χοσέ Χολέμπας έδωσε συνέντευξη στο “contra.gr” αφήνοντας αιχμές κατά του Γιώργου Καραγκούνη για τη μη κλήση του στο αντιπροσωπευτικό συγκρότημα για τον αγώνα με τα Νησιά Φερόε και την Πολωνία.

Το γεγονός αυτό προκάλεσε δυσφορία στις τάξεις της Εθνικής, ενώ τονίζεται πως η ομάδα ασχολείται αποκλειστικά με τις υποχρεώσεις της και τους παίκτες που έχουν κληθεί από τον Σέρχιο Μαρκαριάν.

Πηγή:madata.gr

Μπορεί να είναι το τέταρτο Champions League που κατακτά ο Λιονέλ Μέσι, όμως ο αργεντινός σούπερ σταρ δεν φαίνεται να το «χορταίνει», καθώς δεν αποχωρίζεται την κούπα με τα μεγάλα αφτιά ούτε στο… πρωϊνό.

Έτσι φαίνεται από τη φωτογραφία που ανήρτησε στον προσωπικό του λογαριασμό στο instagram, όπου δείχνει τον ίδιο να παίρνει το πρωινό (καφές και κρουασάν) και στη διπλανή του θέση να έχει το τρόπαιο.

Αξίζει μάλιστα να σημειωθεί πως η Μπαρτσελόνα θα κρατήσει το αυθεντικό τρόπαιο του Champions League, αφού το βράδυ του Σαββάτου το κατέκτησε για 5η φορά στην ιστορία της.

Σύμφωνα λοιπόν με του κανονισμούς της UEFA όποια ομάδα το κατακτήσει το Champions League 5 φορές ή 3 συνεχόμενες το κρατάει το αυθεντικό. Ομάδες που έχουν πάρει την «κούπα» σπίτι τους είναι οι: Ρεάλ Μαδρίτης (10 κατακτήσεις), Μίλαν (7 κατακτήσεις), Λίβερπουλ (5 κατακτήσεις), Μπάγερν Μονάχου (5 κατακτήσεις), Άγιαξ (3 συνεχόμενες)

Πηγή:in.gr

Ο πρώην αντιπρόεδρος της FIFA Τζακ Γουόρνερ, ο οποίος βρίσκεται στο επίκεντρο του σκανδάλου διαφθοράς που πλήττει τη διεθνή ποδοσφαιρική συνομοσπονδία, είχε απαιτήσει 7 εκατ. δολάρια από Αιγύπτιους αξιωματούχους, προσφέροντας σε αντάλλαγμα επτά ψήφους για την ανάληψη του Παγκοσμίου Κυπέλλου 2010.

Αυτό υποστηρίζει ο τότε υπουργός Νεότητας και Αθλητισμού της Αιγύπτου, Αλεϊ Εντινέ Χιλάλ, σε δηλώσεις του στο Γαλλικό Πρακτορείο Ειδήσεων.

«Ήταν ο Γουόρνερ που μας προσέγγισε, στην έδρα της FIFA, μας είπε ότι θα μπορούσε να μας διασφαλίσει επτά ψήφους και μας ζήτησε ένα εκατομμύριο δολάρια για κάθε ψήφο», ανέφερε ο Χελάλ, επιβεβαιώνοντας σχετικό ρεπορτάζ που προβλήθηκε την περασμένη Πέμπτη στην αιγυπτιακή τηλεόραση.

Η Αίγυπτος διεκδίκησε τη διοργάνωση του Παγκοσμίου Κυπέλλου 2010, του πρώτου που θα διεξαγόταν στην αφρικανική ήπειρο, αλλά τελικά δεν πήρε ούτε μία ψήφο. Το Μουντιάλ ανατέθηκε στη Νότια Αφρική.

Πηγή:in.gr

Juventus knew that, from the moment they secured their place in the Champions League final, they would be seen as huge underdogs against Luis Enrique’s free-scoring Barcelona.

The Bianconeri may enjoy unrivalled dominance in Serie A but were fully aware they remained some way short of Europe’s very best side. Yet the confidence of the Turin giants was boosted by their win over Real Madrid in the semi-finals, and they headed to Berlin determined to give a good account of themselves.

“We started out with the important aim of getting into Europe’s top eight. We’ve gone beyond that and are in the final two. Now we’ll look to finish first,” coach Massimiliano Allegri told reporters this week, per his club’s official website.

“We mustn’t think about how to stop Barcelona, but instead how to build the play ourselves, because it’s unlikely the game will finish goalless,” he added, which was an apt point considering Juve’s hopes of holding off Barcelona were dented severely by the loss of Giorgio Chiellini to injury just a few days earlier.

Allegri’s analysis was proved correct within four minutes, as Andres Iniesta ran unchecked into the box and linked up with Jordi Alba. The Barcelona skipper then slipped a superb pass to Ivan Rakitic, and the Croatian side-footed past a helpless Gigi Buffon to hand his side the lead.

Arturo Vidal had a chance to equalise but blazed his shot over the bar and lost his head from there. Lunging into a string of ill-advised challenges, the Chilean—the first man from his nation to play in a Champions League final—eventually received a yellow card for a foul on Neymar.

Buffon made an excellent stop from Dani Alves moments later, and the Catalan side were unfortunate not to take a greater advantage into the half-time interval.

source:bleacherreport.com

OLYMPIASTADION, BERLIN — Barcelona become the first European club to secure the treble for a second time after beating Juventus, 3-1, to win the Champions League on Saturday.

A remarkable trio delivered the unforgettable treble. A season built on the collective genius of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar was elevated into rare historical company by the newest member of that attacking trident, as Suarez lashed home with 20 minutes remaining after a brilliant solo run from Lionel Messi had carved Juventus apart to restore a Barcelona lead they would not relinquish.

Neymar, perhaps feeling left out, then wrapped things up deep into injury time, as substitute Pedro (a forgotten man at times this term) capped his cameo with the assist.

Juventus, denied their own treble by the loss, started the game awfully, falling behind to a sweeping team move finished off by Ivan Rakitic less than four minutes after the opening whistle, but a smattering of brilliant saves from Gianluigi Buffon kept Massimiliano Allegri’s side in the game long enough for Alvaro Morata to steal a second-half equaliser against the run of play.

Stunned by the Spaniard’s intervention, Barcelona briefly stumbled as Juventus pushed forward and, for at least the five minutes after Morata’s goal, looked more likely to steal the next. But Messi and Suarez eventually proved too irresistible for the Italian champions—as they have invariably been against all challengers this season—and, over the final 15 minutes, there were relatively few scares as Barcelona became European champions for the third time in the last seven seasons.

It was left to Xavi, the departing legend whose substitute appearance in Berlin made him the most capped player in Champions League history, to lift the trophy—as Luis Enrique celebrated his first season as Barca coach with a remarkable treble.

“This is our 60th match [of the season],” the coach said. “We’ve lost six games, had four draws and I think the figures show it is one of the best seasons for Barcelona.

“We need to nourish ourselves with trophies and titles. Without a doubt the best club in Europe is Barcelona.”

With no real surprises in the two lineups—both Andrea Barzagli and Andres Iniesta, the pregame injury concerns for either side, were ultimately passed fit to start—fans were eager to see how the domestic champions of Italy and Spain would fare against one another.

After a slightly nervy start (Javier Mascherano making two early mistakes, the first of which yielded the game’s opening snapshot to Carlos Tevez) from Luis Enrique’s side, almost as soon as Barcelona found their equilibrium, they seemed to take the lead. Sergio Busquets spun his man in midfield in a passage of play that kicked his side into gear, launching a sweeping passing move that culminated in Iniesta cutting the ball across for Rakitic to direct a measured finish beyond Buffon.

Juventus seemed startled by the occasion and knocked further out of their rhythm by that early setback, with Arturo Vidal’s travails indicative of their struggles. The Chilean was guilty of a couple of overenthusiastic challenges even before he was booked in the 11th minute for a snap at Busquets’ ankles and continued to risk invoking the referee’s ire as his passion for the moment threatened to get the better of him. Perhaps his part in the opener, as replays suggested he was guilty of failing to track Rakitic into the box, was also weighing on his mind.

All the while as Vidal was harrying around aimlessly, it seemed a second Barcelona goal was almost inevitable, with Neymar appealing vocally for a handball off Stephan Lichtsteiner and then Jordi Alba guilty of squandering a glorious opening after being left unmarked from Rakitic’s corner.

That Barca did not eventually take the lead was only down to Buffon, however, as the veteran Italian made a breathtaking one-handed save to deny Dani Alves—more involved on the ball than any other player in the first half— from slotting a right-footed effort beyond him.

source:bleacherreport.com