Jude Bellingham described captaining Borussia Dortmund as the biggest honour of my career so far as he warned it will be tough to finish off Chelsea in London.
The England midfielder led Dortmund to a 1-0 win in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie, with the 19-year-old skippering the hosts as 38-year-old Thiago Silva wore the armband for Chelsea.
The result on Wednesday gave Dortmund a first win over English opposition in the competition since a 2-0 victory against Arsenal in September 2014, halting a winless run of nine games (D1 L8).
Bellingham said of his leadership experience: I think it comes quite naturally, but for me it s probably the biggest honour of my career so far, to captain this football club.
I have brilliant role models l…
German Football Association (DFB) president Reinhard Grindel praised the country s enthusiasm and infrastructure after 18 stadiums applied to be part of the country s bid to host the 2024 European Championship.
The DFB required all applications to include a seating capacity of 30,000 publicly available seats and both Freiburg Stadium and Karlsruhe s Wildparkstadion included expansion plans in their submissions.
The other 16 applications came from Berlin (Olympiastadion), Bremen (Weserstadion), Dortmund (Signal Iduna Park), Dresden (DDV Stadium), Dusseldorf (ESPRIT arena), Frankfurt am Main (Commerzbank Arena), Kaiserslautern (Fritz-Walter-Stadion), Cologne (RheinEnergieStadion), Leipzig (Red Bull Arena), Monchengladbach (Borussia Park), Munich (Allianz Arena), Nuremberg …
Declan Rice believes a green jacket would be an ideal complement to claret and blue for West Ham fans Billy Horschel and Francesco Molinari.
England and West Ham footballer Rice sent the loyal Hammers a message of good luck on Thursday, with the Masters getting under way at Augusta National.
Neither Horschel nor Molinari hail from West Ham s traditional east London catchment area, but both have made public declarations of love for the Premier League club.
Horschel, a 35-year-old American, became a West Ham supporter during his days in college and used a golf bag bearing club colours and the team s crest during last year s Open Championship.
Molinari first began following West Ham in 2009 when his friend and fellow Italian Gianfranco Zola was manager o…
Thiago Motta was satisfied with Juventus s performance after they strolled to a 3-0 home win against Como in his first Serie A game in charge on Monday.
Juve put on a confident display as they beat newly-promoted Como with Samuel Mbangula, Timothy Weah and Andrea Cambiaso all on target in the opener at the Allianz Stadium.
I was satisfied with the performance but above all with the result. We deserved to win, Motta told a press conference.
Today, I liked the defensive phase, understanding the moment to press, recompose, the willingness of the attackers, of Dusan [Vlahovic] to start the first pressing.
I m satisfied. We can improve there too, and we ll try to do it in everything. I think this team should and can do it.
Juve, who won nine consec…
Caoimhin Kelleher is ready to leave Liverpool in search of first-team football.
Kelleher, 25, has been Alisson s back-up for several seasons at Anfield, though did play in some big games during Jurgen Klopp s time in charge.
That included starring in the EFL Cup final against Chelsea in 2022.
However, with Liverpool having signed Giorgi Mamardashvili, who will join next season, Kelleher believes the time is right to move on.
And the Republic of Ireland goalkeeper suggested he could have left this summer, if Liverpool had not rejected offers.
I made it clear in the last few years I want to go be a number one and play week in, week out, said Kelleher ahead of Ireland s Nations League clash with Greece.
The club made the decision to get ano…
Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour will attend the Champions League final on Saturday evening.
Club sources have confirmed to the PA news agency that the sheikh will be present in Istanbul as City face Inter Milan bidding to win Europe’s top club prize for the first time.
It will only be the second game he has attended since his investment vehicle, the Abu Dhabi United Group, purchased City in 2008.
It s time!
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— Manchester City (@ManCity)
Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak was also due to be at the showpiece match at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium.
City have risen to become the dominant force in the English game under Mansour’s stewardship with the club having won seven Premier League titles in the past 12 years and five of t…
Inter Milan reached the Champions League final by defeating city rivals AC Milan 3-0 on aggregate.
The Nerazzurri, who will face either Real Madrid or Manchester City in Istanbul on June 10, were the last Italian club to win the competition, beating Bayern Munich 2-0 under Jose Mourinho in the 2010 final.
Here, the PA news agency picks out some of the strengths and weaknesses of the Serie A side.
Strengths
Dogged defence
Inter’s progression to the showpiece match at the Ataturk Stadium owes a lot to a stingy defence. Simone Inzaghi’s combative team emerged from a group containing Bayern Munich and Barcelona. They have kept a tournament-high eight clean sheets in their 12 matches, including five from six in the knockout stages, with goalkeeper …
Holders Portugal will face world champions France and fellow heavyweights Germany in a daunting Group F at Euro 2020.
Saturday s draw in Bucharest pitted Fernando Santos men and their talismanic captain Cristiano Ronaldo against the winners of the two World Cups either side of their Euro 2016 triumph.
It means Didier Deschamps Bleus will have an opportunity for revenge after Portugal beat them on home soil at the Stade de France to lift the trophy.
The nation with the dubious pleasure of joining them is still to be determined. Iceland, Bulgaria or Hungary would claim the fourth spot if they progress through their play-off route in Path A.
However, if Romania are victorious in Path A, they will go into Group C with Netherlands, Ukraine and Austria.
…
Liverpool supporters’ group Spirit of Shankly “have no argument” with Jurgen Klopp’s criticism of Anfield’s atmosphere but expressed concerns of the effect tickets prices have had on football fan culture.
Reds boss Klopp was not impressed with the home crowd during the Carabao Cup quarter-final demolition of West Ham in midweek and told fans to give their tickets away if they are not prepared to get behind the side against Premier League title rivals Arsenal on Saturday.
The Spirit of Shankly group, which was founded in 2008, admitted the atmosphere is a concern among supporters and is in talks with the club over how the situation can be addressed.
“We have no argument with Jurgen Klopp highlighting issues around the Anfield atmosphere, or lack of it,…
Arsenal are interested in signing Jose Maria Gimenez from Atletico Madrid in the January transfer window, according to Fichajes. The report has claimed that Barcelona and Real Madrid are also keen on the 28-year-old Uruguay international centre-back.
Jose Maria Gimenez has been on the books of Atletico since 2013. The 28-year-old centre-back has been superb for the Spanish club over the years and is at the top of his game now at the age of 28. The Atletico no. 2 has made two starts and two substitute appearances in La Liga so far this season and has also played 45 minutes in the UEFA Champions League.
Arsenal are third in the Premier League table at the moment with 17 points from seven matches, a point behind leaders and defending champions Manchester City. Meanwhile, A…