Page 86 - Soccer360 - Issue 103

90TH MINUTE
WHO SAID WHAT
‘’I believe Cristiano Ronaldo started all of this and everybody called him ‘crazy’, and this and that, today you see the league more and more.’’ – Neymar has hailed the influence Cristiano Ronaldo has had on the Saudi Pro League, after his own recent move to the Middle East.
“They make you go to Asia, USA, really tough matches, derbies, big games, and people fall. If Courtois isn’t there, then someone else will be, right? And if Militao isn’t there then someone else will be, and if Kevin isn’t there then someone else will be. This is a lost battle unless the players stand up for themselves and say ‘we aren’t playing’. It’s a lost battle, nothing UEFA or FIFA will do.”
– A furious Pep Guardiola has lashed out at football’s rulemakers, accusing them of triggering a rise in injuries by further increasing the amount of minutes for players.
“I think Man United are the new Spurs. Desperate. Absolutely desperate. Biggest insult I always think about teams are teams who can’t do it away from home or players who aren’t up for it away from home.”
– Manchester United legend Roy Keane tore into his former club following their defeat to Tottenham in the Premier League, calling them “the new Spurs”.
11
Jürgen Klopp has now overseen 11 consecutive Premier League wins against Eddie Howe
– the longest winning run in the competition’s history by one manager against a specific opposing manager.
WHO, WHAT, WHERE?
Mauricio Pochettino can be forgiven for appearing to forget who two Chelsea players were given his bloated squad. The Blues boss was taken aback after being asked about Malang Sarr and Jamie Cumming in his post-match press conference following the 3-0 win over Luton. He replied “Who?” after being asked about Sarr. Following a transfer window which has seen the west Londoners splash out around £350m on nine new players, it is hard to keep count on who the club can rely on. Football fans have joked that Pochettino is struggling with the same issue after he was asked about two of his squad players.
Sadio Mane had to do a double take prior to Al Nassr’s clash against Al Fateh after being left stunned at meeting his teammate’s twin brother. The Liverpool icon was left baffled after greeting Al Fateh defender Qassem Lajami ahead of kick- off. Seemingly unbeknown to the Senegal international, the 27-year-old is a twin of his Al Nassr teammate Ali Lajami. Ali was not named in the matchday squad, but Qassem started the encounter, with Mane left seeing double after shaking his hand. In a hilarious video that has gone viral online, Mane could be seen giving a priceless reaction.
PRIME TIME ERLING
Erling Haaland is the latest sporting
superstar to join team Prime - and is
loving life with Logan Paul and KSI. The Manchester City frontman has signed up
with the YouTube sensations to promote
their energy drink, joining huge sporting names Arsenal, Barcelona and Bayern
Munich. An announcement was made on Prime’s Instagram page, which showed the trio together and had a caption that read:
“The future of hydration meets the future of Football. PRIME x @erling.haaland.” The then posted a string of hilarious videos, one of which showed both teaming up in goal, but still having zero chance against Haaland penalties. A further clip showed the Norwegian megastar squaring up to Paul, before turning to KSI but being unable to contain his laughter.
70%
Manchester City have only converted 70% of their penalties in the Premier League under Pep Guardiola (43/61), the lowest percentage of any team to have taken at least 30 in the competition under a manager.
KANE PRANKED
Harry Kane was bizarrely pranked by former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino to leave Alan Shearer in stitches. The Chelsea manager was speaking with the Newcastle legend, whose Premier League goals record of 260 is intact following the England captain’s switch to Bayern Munich. Writing for The Athletic, Shearer revealed that before their interview started, Pochettino whipped out his phone to record a video message. Shearer wrote: “Mauricio Pochettino bounds into the interview room at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground and envelops me
in a bear hug. He pulls out his phone and tells me he wants to record a quick video to send to Harry Kane, his former player at Tottenham Hotspur who recently moved to Bayern Munich. And before I know it he is looking into the camera saying: ‘Harry, we have signed Alan and he is going to score more goals, sorry’.” Shearer later declared that Kane had seen the funny side of the message, as he replied to Pochettino: “He’d still score more goals for you.”
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