Football | La Liga: Real Madrid Not Dependent on CR7 - Zidane

This Sunday we saw one of La Liga’s most exciting match ups in this very young season so far. Real Madrid and Valencia met at Santiago Bernabeu where the Che’s haven’t won within the last ten years. Despite what the numbers might say Valencia is traditionally one of the teams that can give Real Madrid and Barcelona a difficult time in their usually dominant La Liga campaigns.
This Sunday’s showdown was no different as both teams battled to highly contested 2-2 draw. The Ronaldo-less Madrid side set up in a flexible 4-3-3 system that saw Marco Asensio as the wild card as he did not constantly remain on the wing and would constantly help out the interior midfield play, led by Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. This didn’t always benefit the Los Blancos as it sometimes caused Isco to become missing in action during large periods of the match. Despite that, Madrid played their usual dominant game with Marcelo constantly arriving from behind to set up goal scoring opportunities for Karim Benzema who had a horrific outing combined by a great night from Brazilian goalkeeper Neto which ultimately sealed the draw in the final score.

Zinedine Zidane has rejected suggestions Real Madrid are dependent on Cristiano Ronaldo following a stuttering start to their defence of La Liga in the Portuguese star's absence.

"You know who Cristiano is", Zidane told repoters at his pre-match media conference. "We cannot talk about dependency, but I always want him to be with us. What interests me is that everyone can play. Cristiano brings only goals, but is a leader as well and he always wants to win. He transmits that to his team-mates. We are all happy that he is very happy to play again because it is what he likes, what makes him happy".

"He is going to play tomorrow, but we're not going to have him on Sunday. I hope Sunday is the last game of the season that he is not here."

Ronaldo was dismissed during the first leg of their Supercopa de Espana triumph over Barcelona and received a five match ban for shoving the referee.

Madrid went on to win their first league game of the season in his absence, but that was followed by successive home draws with Valencia and Levante.

Football | Champions League: Barca & Juve Announce Squads for Champions League Opener

The Champions League is back again and FC Barcelona return to the top European competition against Juventus, the team that eliminated them in the last season. Ernesto announced the squad list to face the Italian squad, and he emphasized the presence of Sergi Roberto who was absent at the last La Liga match.

BARCA SQUAD:

TER STEGEN, CILLESSEN, SEMEDO, PIQUE, RAKITIC, SERGIO, DENIS, A. INIESTA, SUAREZ, MESSI, DEMBELE, MASCHERANO, PAULINHO, DEULOFEU, JORDI ALBA, SERGI ROBERTO, ANDRE GOMES AND UMITITI

Ardan Turan, Alcacer and Rafinha will not play because of injury or illness.

Vermaelen, Digne and Aleix Vidal have been left out.

Juventus also announced their squad.

Notable absentees: Howedes, Chiellini, Khedira, Marchisio and Mandzukic are not included

JUVENTUS SQUAD:

SZCZENSNY, PINSOGLIO, DE SCIGLIO, BENATIA, ALEX SANRO, BAARZAGLI, AUGANI, PJANIC, MATUIDI, ASAMOAH, STURARO, BENTANCUR, MERIO, CALIGARA, HIGUAIN, DYBALA, DOUGLAS COSTA, BERNARDESCHI

Football | Transfer: Neymar's inherent super-transfer is beyond calculation

Neymar's inherent super-transfer to Paris Saint-Germain is "beyond calculation and rationality", Arsenal manager Wenger said on Thursday.

Wenger said the €222 million deal was a consequence of what happens when "a country owns a club".

"For me, it is the consequence of the ownership and that has completely changed the whole landscape of football in the last 15 years," he said  at the Emirates Stadium Conference.

"Once a country owns a club, everything is possible.

"It is very difficult to respect the financial fair play because you can have different ways or different interests for a country to have such a big player to represent a country.

Arsene Wenger said Qatar's use of football as a vessel for soft diplomacy meant PSG's owners did not need to worry about whether the transfer represents value for money.

"We are not in a period anymore where you think, in some places: 'If I invest that, I will get that back.' We are beyond that," the Arsenal manager said.

"The number today involves a lot of passion, pride, public interest and you cannot rationalize that anymore."

"It also looks like the inflation is accelerating," he said.

"We crossed the €100 million line last year (when Paul Pogba joined Manchester United from Juventus) and, only one year later, we're crossing the 200 million line.

"When you think that Trevor Francis was the first £1 million player and that looked unreasonable, it shows you how much distance and how far we have come, how big football has become.

"It's beyond calculation and beyond rationality."

Football | Pre-Season: Lukaku, Rashford on target for United

Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford were on target as Manchester United defeated Premier League rivals Manchester City 2-0 in their International Champions Cup pre-season clash at Houston's NRG Stadium on Thursday.

Belgian international Lukaku grabbed his second goal in his second start for United as the Red Devils eased past a disjointed City.
England striker Rashford meanwhile continued his impressive pre-season form with his third goal in three games of United's US tour.
The game was the first ever Manchester derby played on foreign soil and both teams commemorated the May 22 attacks at a concert in the city shortly before the kick-off.
"It was a very good training session," United manager Jose Mourinho said afterwards.
"We had to play well in the first half, is good intensity, the players are tired. I am really pleased and I'm sure Pep (Guardiola) is the same. The result is not the most important thing."
City manager Pep Guardiola meanwhile shrugged off the loss, preferring to enthuse about the performance of teenager Phil Foden, a 17-year-old who has emerged from the club's youth set-up.
"I don't have words... It's a long time since I saw a performance like this - it was another level," said Guardiola, who also confirmed that defender Aleksandar Kolarov was on his way out of the club, with Roma the likely destination.
"I don't like working with people who don't want to stay. He has a big chance to go to Roma. He has said he wants to leave," Guardiola said of Kolarov.
Kolarov's looming exit heightens speculation that City are close to signing Monaco fullback Benjamin Mendy.
Earlier, United enjoyed the better of the early exchanges, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan testing new City keeper Ederson with a long-range effort just after 20 minutes.
Ander Herrera also tried his luck from distance shortly afterwards but the young Brazilian gathered comfortably.
At the other end meanwhile, City, who handed a debut to new signing Kyle Walker, slowly got into their stride, with a deflected Raheem Sterling effort tipped over by David De Gea.
City should have had a penalty on 31 minutes when youngster Patrick Roberts was tugged back by Chris Smalling as he burst into the area.
Instead Smalling managed to get a foot in and clear with Sterling's follow-up effort blocked.

Football | Bundeliga : Neuer replaces Lahm as Bayern's captain

 Germany goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer will replace Philipp Lahm as Bayern Munich's skipper for next season, the Bundesliga champions' chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has confirmed.

"Our No 1 is the No 1 (choice) – Manuel Neuer," Rummenigge told Munich daily newspaper TZ.
"He is an established professional, who will take the armband from Philipp Lahm.
"He has developed really well with the national team – not only on, but also off the pitch."
World Cup-winner Neuer has been Germany's goalkeeper since Bastian Schweinsteiger made his final international appearance last August.
The 31-year-old Neuer steps in to skipper Bayern after Lahm retired from all football in May after 22 years with the Bavarian giants.
Neuer has sat out Bayern's current tour of China and Singapore to recover from a foot surgery, but is expected to be back for the German giants when the new Bundesliga season kicks off on August 18.
Bayern will be hunting a sixth straight German league title in 2017/18.
Having signed for Bayern in 2011, Neuer will become the fourth goalkeeper to captain the side after Oliver Kahn, Raimond Aumann and Sepp Maier.
In Neuer's absence, Thomas Mueller is captaining Bayern on their tour of China, where they lost 3-2 to Arsenal on penalties in a friendly after a 1-1 draw in Shanghai on Wednesday.
A header by Arsenal's Nigeria striker Alex Iwobi deep into added time cancelled out Robert Lewandowski's early penalty for Bayern before the Gunners won the spot-kick shootout.

© AFP

Football | Transfer Mood : Szczesny Now Juve's Keeper

Juventus have signed Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny on a four-year contract for €12.2 million the Italian champions said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Poland international, capped 29 times, spent the last two years on loan at Serie A rivals AS Roma, making 38 league appearances last season.
The 27-year-old finished the campaign with the most clean sheets in the league, 14, one ahead of Gianluigi Buffon, Juventus' first choice goalkeeper for the last 16 years.
"Every player that comes at Juventus becomes better, every player that comes wins trophies," Szczesny said in a news conference.
Juventus said on their website (www.juventus.com/) that the fee for the Pole may increase by €3.1 million if certain conditions are achieved over the course of the four-year deal.
Buffon, capped a record 169 times by Italy, renewed a contract with Juventus until 2018 last year and said that he is planning to retire after the 2018 World Cup.

© Reuters

Football | Transfer Window : Pepe joins Besiktas from Real

Portugal international Pepe has signed for Besiktas, the Turkish champions announced on Tuesday, bringing to an end 10 incident-pakced years with Spanish giants Real Madrid.

The 34-year-old Brazilian-born defender joined Real from Porto in 2007 for €30 million, winning the Liga title in his first campaign.
His contract with Real expired last month and, according to reports in the Turkish media, he will sign a two-year contract with Besiktas.
He leaves Real after winning three La Liga titles, two King's Cup trophies and following three Champions League triumphs, although he missed this year's European Cup final victory against Juventus due to injury.
Pepe gained infamy in his second campaign in Spain for kicking out at Getafe's Javier Casquero after fouling him and punching Juan Albin in a game in April 2009, earning a 10-game ban, and later said he had "lost control".
He was sent off four times for Real, including a red card for a lunge on Barcelona's Dani Alves in a Champions League semifinal first leg in 2011, but will be fondly remembered by the Madrid club's fans for his spirited performances and consistent partnership with Sergio Ramos.
Pepe has made 86 appearances for Portugal and was named Man of the Match in the Euro 2016 final win over France.
He scored an added time equaliser in Sunday's Confederations Cup third place playoff game against Mexico to send it into extra time in which the European champions won 2-1.