Newcastle battled to a very good point against Liverpool as Rafael Benitez held his former side to a draw at St James Park. For Jurgen Klopp, it was yet another disappointing result as both Manchester clubs moved further from their reach.
Philippe Coutinho s stunning strike opened the scoring before Joselu s fortuitous goal levelled the tie, and that was that. The visitors had 17 shots in total, but just two on target as the Magpies more than held their own recording five shots on target. Ultimately, it was yet another display of profligacy from Liverpool.
The result means that Newcastle finish the seventh Premier League match-weekend in the top half of the table with 10 points, while Liverpool are two points and two places above the Magpies in seventh.
Followi…
Real Madrid defender Alvaro Arbeloa has heaped praise on Jose Mourinho, claiming the Portuguese helped disrupt Pep Guardiola s La Liga dominance with Barcelona.
As Arbeloa prepares for Saturday s Champions League final with Madrid and Mourinho seemingly closes in on a move to Manchester United, the Spanish defender reflected on the latter s time at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Mourinho spent three seasons in the Spanish capital and guided Madrid to La Liga glory in 2011-12, ending Barca s run of three consecutive titles.
Mourinho was very important to break the Catalans dominance, Arbeloa said in an interview with beIN Sports.
He has not been given enough recognition for this but if he hadn t come along, Pep Guardiola would still be winning titles in Barcelo…
Radamel Falcao and David Ospina echoed the sentiments of a nation in hoping Colombia team-mate James Rodriguez makes a swift recovery from injury.
James started the game against Senegal in Samara on Thursday, but departed in disconsolate fashion after only half an hour, seemingly with a muscular issue.
In his post-match media conference, head coach Jose Pekerman was unable to confirm if it was a recurrence of the calf problem that saw James start on the bench against Japan in the Group H opener.
Yerry Mina headed the only goal of the game as Colombia topped the group to reach the World Cup last 16, where they will play England in Moscow on Tuesday, and Ospina hopes to see James back in action quickly.
La Selección Colombia clasificó a octavos de final d…
Former Manchester United boss David Moyes believes no manager could have performed better at the club in the season after Alex Ferguson retired.
The 54-year-old was appointed as successor to Ferguson when his compatriot called time on a glittering career after guiding United to their 20th top-flight title in 2012-13.
Moyes lasted less than a year in charge, though, with United enduring a dismal season in which they finished seventh in the Premier League and won no trophies aside from the 2013 Community Shield.
Jose Mourinho, who won the EFL Cup and Europa League in his first campaign in charge, recently claimed the club had failed to evolve under Moyes and then Louis van Gaal until he took over in May of last year.
Moyes, however, is adamant that any man…
Luka Modric has won the Golden Ball for the best player at the 2018 World Cup.
The Croatia captain and Real Madrid midfielder inspired his side to the final for the first time in their history but was powerless to prevent Didier Deschamps men from taking the trophy 4-2 in Moscow.
Modric beat Belgium forward Eden Hazard and Antoine Griezmann, who claimed a winner s medal after netting for Les Bleus in the final, to the prize.
FIFA s Technical Study Group decided the winner of the award, which was given to Argentina s Lionel Messi in 2014.
Past winners include Zinedine Zidane, Brazil great Ronaldo, Diego Maradona and Paolo Rossi.
Modric is also among the early favourites to win the 2018 Ballon d Or later this year.
adidas Golden Ball Award…
Besiktas have completed the signing of Barcelona defender Adriano Correia on a three-year contract.
Barca confirmed on Friday that the Turkish champions have paid an initial €600,000 to sign the 31-year-old, a fee which will rise to €1.7million if they reach the Champions League during his stay at the club.
Besiktas had been keen to sign a new left-back following the departure of Ismail Koybasi to Fenerbahce and earmarked the versatile Adriano as the perfect replacement.
Adriano joined Barcelona from Sevilla in July 2010 and won four LaLiga titles and two Champions League trophies as part of an impressive 16 honours at Camp Nou.
Welcome to your new home Adriano Correira!
Bem Vindo Adriano!
— Beşiktaş JK English (@BesiktasEnglish)
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Opening up this summer s European Championships on Sunday afternoon, England will welcome Croatia to Wembley for their first Group D contest this weekend.
England
Starting with the hosts, while England might have managed to land themselves a pair of friendly victories last week, The Three Lions failed to lay down much of a marker in the North West. Just about landing back-to-back 1-0 wins against Romania and Austria, Gareth Southgate s side will know that they must make some improvements if they re to get one over on their old enemy this weekend. Watching Croatia end their World Cup run at the semi-final stage out in Russia three years ago, The Whites are still tipped as a landslide pick to clinch top spot in Group D. With many from ac…
Juan Bernat has joined Paris Saint-Germain from Bayern Munich on a three-year deal, the Ligue 1 champions have announced.
The clubs have not announced details of a transfer fee, with Bernat s switch reported to be worth in the region of €15million.
Bernat joined Bayern from Valencia in 2014 and has played 113 competitive games for the club, winning four Bundesliga titles and scoring five goals.
I am very proud to be joining Paris Saint-Germain, the 25-year-old told his new club s official website.
After my debut in Spain and my experience in Germany, I will discover a new country and, above all, a new club who have made a spectacular rise in recent years.
¡Bienvenido !
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_inside)
Paris Saint-G…
Manchester City, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain want to sign Caglar Soyuncu from Leicester City in the summer transfer window, according to . City manager Pep Guardiola is keen on the 25-year-old defender, and the Premier League champions are now preparing an offer for him.
Leicester would want €50-60 million as transfer fee for Soyuncu, who has been on the books of the former Premier League champions since 2018. Barcelona, Guardiola’s former club, are also claimed to be keen on the Turkey international.
Soyuncu is one of the better defenders in the Premier League and has also played 38 times for the Turkey national football team. The 25-year-old 19 starts and four substitute appearances in the league for the Foxes last season, scoring one goal in the proces…
Santos have revealed an unexpected gripe with Lionel Messi being acclaimed for beating Pele s single-team goals record claiming the Brazil great s friendly feats have been overlooked.
Barcelona captain Messi scored his 644th competitive goal for Barcelona in the 3-0 win over Real Valladolid on December 22.
That took him past the total of 643 that Pele scored in official games for Santos, and three-time World Cup winner Pele has been quick to praise the Argentine forward.
Yet Santos appear to believe that Pele s 448 goals in friendlies should carry equal weight, and that therefore the true leader in goals for one team remains their greatest player.
The Plays Of The Game
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona)
An article on the Santos websit…