After managing to guide Juventus to the first title in nine seasons, Antonio Conte has turned out to be one of the highly wanted managers in Europe. He has been linked with major clubs like Chelsea and Real Madrid over the last few months, but the 43-year-old has said that he does not plan to leave Juventus now. He has said that it is extremely overwhelming to learn about the interest from the likes of Real Madrid and Chelsea, but he feels extremely happy at Juventus itself. He has pointed out to the harmony between him and the directors at Juventus as the main reasons for this happiness.
Until recently, Conte has recalled that he was just the manager who had won two promotions from the division of Italian football. However, Juventus decided to place their faith in him. He has said that there are several stages in his Juventus stay, which aims to make the club the top dog in Europe once again. It has been more than a decade the club lost won the Champions League. The club managed to dominate and win the league last time around. There are favourites to do the same this season as well due to their substantial nine-point advantage over second placed Napoli.
“There is absolutely no chance of me leaving Juventus at the end of the season. It’s very pleasing to hear big European clubs appreciate you, but the praise is there for the players and Juventus overall. This means we are all working well together and should be proud. I am very much in sync with the president, directors Beppe Marotta and Fabio Paratici. As long as this harmony exists, there will be no problem. Do I feel ready for a big European club? I am already at a big European club,” said Conte.
Real Madrid has defeated Real Sociedad in a La Liga match played at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday. Madrid won the match by a close margin of 4-3. This was the 11th victory for Madrid in the ongoing La Liga. Madrid is currently at no. 3 in the points table with 36 points in 18 matches.
Real Madrid was off to a brilliant start in the match and took the lead in the second minute with the goal of Karim Benzema. Sami Khedira set up the goal with a great pass to Benzema just outside the penalty area. Benzema turned and smashed the ball into the left hand corner of the net.
But, Madrid didn’t manage to maintain the lead for a long time. The scores were equalized just after a few minutes. Sociedad earned a penalty in the ninth minute and Xabi Prieto made full use of that opportunity. He sent the ball into the right hand corner of the net and brought his team back into the match. The goal keeper of Madrid, Iker Casillas, was completely deceived by that shot. He dived in the wrong direction.
Real Madrid got ahead again in the 35th minute with the goal of Sami Khedira. Who capitalized on the pass of Ricardo Carvalho and played a brilliant back heeled shot to send the ball into the net. But, again, Madrid lost the advantage soon. Prieto found the net for the second time in the match in the 40th minute and the scores got equalized.
The Real Madrid team started the second half very aggressively. Cristiano Ronaldo scored a couple of goals just in the space of two minutes and put the Sociedad team under a lot of pressure. However, Prieto completed his hat trick in the 76th minute and made the match quite interesting, but, eventually, he wasn’t able to prevent the defeat of his team. In the remaining time, the Madrid players played quite sensibly and didn’t give any chance to their opponent.
The Tottenham midfielder Gareth Bale has said that he is confident that the team can recover from the three consecutive defeats suffered in the Premier league. Tottenham suffered their third consecutive defeat in the Premier league following the 5-2 defeat at the hands of arch rivals Arsenal during the weekend. Gareth Bale was one of the scores for Tottenham in otherwise poor match for the club. Due to the fact that they have lost their way in recent weeks, their competition for the top four positions is now under threat. However, the good spirit within the team will be able to lead them to winning ways once again according to the Welsh winger.
This defeat has now meant that Tottenham are currently eighth in the Premier league. Gareth Bale has said that the team is extremely good in the opening few minutes of the match when they also took the lead through striker Emmanuel Adebayor. However, the 18th minute red card for the Togo striker meant that it was downhill for Tottenham from then on in. Bale refused to blame the striker for the defeat and has said that everyone felt bad after the match. However, they are keen to pick up things when they take on West Ham United in another London derby this weekend.
“We started well, felt in control, got an early goal and the lads were confident that we’d see out the rest of the game or even take the game to them and score more goals. It was obviously disappointing in the end but the lads showed spirit, we fought back and tried to attack at every chance. If the lads show that spirit in every game, with 11 men, I’m sure we’ll be fine,” said Bale, who scored the final goal for Tottenham in the match.
The Hull City manager Steve Bruce has said that he wants his team to confirm that they will be one of the contenders for the title come the end of the season by containing the good run of form shown in recent matches. Even though Hull City have been one of the best teams in the Championship so far this campaign, they suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Leicester City during the weekend. Despite this defeat, Hull City still remain extremely close to the leaders at the top of the table – Brighton and Hove Albion. The former Sunderland manager Steve Bruce has said that he wants his players to maintain the same form that will take them closer towards winning promotion back to the Premier league.
The former Sunderland manager recently took over at the KC stadium with a view of helping them return to the Premier league. It has been a few seasons since Hull City were last in the Premier league and the lack of parachute payments will make it extremely tough for them to compete against the relegated clubs. Hence, Steve Bruce has made it a priority to get Hull City back into the Premier league. There are currently eighth in the table with 13 points on the board.
“The onus is on us now to get back to winning ways and two home games is a great opportunity. We’ve got a good record at home this season and the next week will be huge before the international break. Almost a quarter of the season will be gone by the end of next week, we’ve got to pick up enough points to make sure we stay in the top six because that’s where we want to stay,” said Steve Bruce after the 3-1 defeat against Leicester City.
The Real Madrid manager José Mourinho has said that he is extremely happy with the result of the recent El Clasico that saw Real Madrid managed a 2-2 draw with Barcelona at the camp Nou. Real Madrid came into the match looking to get a victory, which would help them close the gap to Barcelona to just five points. However, they were not able to secure the much-needed winning goal in the match, but that did not worry the manager of the capital club. The former Chelsea manager said that he is extremely delighted at the performance of his team, while he is also happy with the football on the show.
Mourinho has said that the lack of too much of tactical discipline from the teams meant that it was an open and attacking football. As a result, it was a pleasure to see such a football match. The Portuguese attacker Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring for Real Madrid in the 23rd minute, but the Argentine superstar Lionel Messi soon equalised for Barcelona 7 min later. Then, it was the turn of Lionel Messi to give Barcelona the lead in the match through a wonderful freekick, but Cristiano Ronaldo equalised for Real Madrid minutes later.
“The world will be happy because often these matches are too tactical and end goalless. The match had everything that people like. Those fans that are in different time zones across Europe will have been awake and enjoyed this Clasico a lot and perhaps are already asking for another one in the Cup or the Champions League. I really enjoyed my team’s display… For me, the result reflects the match,” said José Mourinho after the match. As a result of the draw, Real Madrid still remain the points behind Barcelona in the table.
The spurs midfielder, Luka Modric, could sign for Real Madrid in a few days. According to some reports, both the clubs have agreed on the transfer fees and the deal could be finalized in the next 2 or 3 days. However, it has not been revealed how much Tottenham would have to pay to buy the Croatian player. Modric is likely to go through a medical test in the next 48 hours and after clearing that test, he could sign for the Spanish Club.
Modric has been playing for Tottenham Hotspur since the last 4 years. He had joined Tottenham in 2008. He had joined the club on a contract of 6 years. He made his debut for Tottenham against Middlesbrough in a match of the English Premier League. Modric’s performance in the 2008-09 season was below par. He generally plays as an attacking midfielder. But, Juande Ramos, who was the manager of Tottenham at that time, used him as a defensive midfielder in that season and at the end of the season, Modric had clearly said that his performance was affected because he wasn’t allowed to play at his preferred position. At the start of the 2009-10 season, Modric injured his leg and was ruled out of the team for one and a half month. However, he came back in the later part of the season and played decently. In the last season, Modric’s performance was not that good and at the end of the season, there were speculations that Tottenham might think of selling Modric in the next summer window.
However, the manager of Real Madrid, Jose Mourinho, hasn’t yet confirmed that Modric is going to sign for Madrid. He said that the club is looking to sign the Croatian midfielder, but, the transfer fee hasn’t been finalised yet. He is in touch with the authorities of Tottenham. Whenever both the clubs agree on the transfer fees, he would inform the media.
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