Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis said on Tuesday he would not sign any more African players unless they agreed to not take part in the Africa Cup of Nations.
Senegal defender Kalidou Koulibaly — now at Premier League side Chelsea — and Cameroon midfielder Andre Zambo Anguissa missed several Napoli games while on international duty at this year’s AFCON, which took place between January and February.
“Or they sign a waiver giving up their right to participate to the Africa Cup of Nations tournaments or between AFCON and the championships in South America… I never have them [Napoli players] available,” he said in a Wall Street Italia talk show.
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Koulibaly responded to De Laurentiis’ comments in his first news conference as a Chelsea player and expressed his disappointment.
“You have to have respect for the national team, because you cannot speak about African national team like this,” Koulibaly said.
“As captain of Senegal I think it’s not a good way to speak about an African national team. But I respect what it is. If he thinks the team can play without African players, it’s up to him. Not everybody has the same idea as him in the club.”
De Laurentiis also criticized the fact that clubs were agreeing to more and more games, suggesting a European tournament with the top clubs from the strongest five countries instead of the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League.
“The world of football cannot self-manage because we do the puppet show for others… if we could play 100 games, it would be a happy ending for everyone and we [clubs] like cretins agree to that.”
The Italian film producer also said he did not support the breakaway European Super League which folded less than 48 hours after it was announced last year as it was an elite club.
“You cannot create a super club of privileged members who invite others [to the league]. You need to democratically keep the door open for everyone,” he said.
De Laurentiis added he was tired of offers from investment funds for the club, adding that he was offered €900 million around four to five years ago by American investors.
“You [bidders] did not understand a thing [about me]. I am a pure entrepreneur who enjoys doing business … let me play,” he said.
“I want to be the 12th player on the pitch. Actually the 12th player is the fan, I can be the 13th or even the 14th, as 14 is my favorite number.”
New Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski said farewell to his former Bayern Munich teammates and club staff during a brief visit to the Bundesliga champions’ headquarters on Tuesday, despite his rocky departure from the club.
The Poland forward, who scored 344 goals for Bayern in 375 games during his eight years in Germany, joined Barca in a deal worth €45 million last month after forcing a move away.
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Lewandowski and Bayern bosses have publicly criticized each other over the transfer, with the striker saying there had been a lot of “politics” from Bayern who he said were “trying to find an argument” to sell him.
Bayern in turn said the situation had been caused by the player who asked to leave despite having a contract to 2023.
“Everything is fine,” Lewandowski told Sky television from his car before driving away from the club offices. “I met everyone and thanked them. I will never forget what I received here and what I experienced.
“That is the most important thing for me. Last week was a bit complicated but sometimes this is part of football.”
Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic spoke with Lewandowski during his brief visit and they cleared the air.
“Robert came into my office to say goodbye and we talked for 15 minutes,” he said in a club statement.
“I addressed everything and we cleared everything. Robert did great things for Bayern and that’s what should remain. He knows as well what he has to thank Bayern for.”
Lewandowski won almost every domestic and international club honor with Bayern, including eight Bundesliga titles, three German Cups, the Champions League and the Club World Cup.
He is the Bundesliga’s second highest all-time scorer behind the late Gerd Muller.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said it would be “difficult” to claim the Roman Abramovich era at Chelsea was good for the brand of England’s top division following this summer’s takeover at Stamford Bridge, which saw the Russian oligarch sell the club to a group led by LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly.
Following Abramovich’s arrival as Chelsea owner in 2003, the London club enjoyed unprecedented success, including five Premier League wins and two Champions League titles, and signed some of the world’s leading players due to the financial transformation overseen by the billionaire.
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But following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, the UK government sanctioned Abramovich and froze his assets, including Chelsea, due to his connections to Russian president Vladimir Putin. And though Masters declined to say that Abramovich would fail to pass the Premier League’s owners’ and directors’ test had it been in place when he bought Chelsea 19 years ago, he said that only the club’s fans would suggest that the Abramovich era was good for the league.
“It’s difficult to say now, with hindsight, that it’s all been good, given what has transpired over the last six-and-a-half months,” Masters said in a media briefing at the Premier League London headquarters. “I think if you ask Chelsea fans, they would give you a different answer.
“I think the situation we ended with has given the sport some challenges we’ve got to meet. Ultimately, there wasn’t an owners’ and directors’ test when Abramovich took ownership of Chelsea, so I suppose the answer to the question is , had there been that in place what would have happened and what safeguards we need to build in for the future?
“[There is] a rolling test, yes. Prevention is better than cure, isn’t it? There wasn’t then, there is now, it’s going to change and part of that actually is probably going to be the strengthening of the annual test.”
The Boehly consortium completed its £4.25 billion takeover of Chelsea on May 30 — 24 hours before the UK government’s May 31 deadline for the club to be sold.
And while there was widespread skepticism that the government would close Chelsea down had Abramovich failed to dispose of the club by the May 31 deadline, Masters said that there were real concerns that a deal may not have happened before the cut-off date.
“You’re in unique circumstances, nothing like this has happened before,” Masters said. “There was obviously a genuine concern the sale wouldn’t take place in the timeframe that was available.
“That didn’t happen thankfully. A lot of people worked extremely hard on it at the club’s end, the government’s end and Premier League’s end to make sure things were running as smoothly as possible. All I can say is we’re very pleased that happened, obviously.”
The Queen has led a jubilant nation in congratulating England’s Lionesses after they ended half a century of hurt by winning the nation’s first major football trophy since 1966.
Within minutes of the Women’s Euros win the monarch said captain Leah Williamson and her players had “rightly won praise” for their win but that their success “goes far beyond the trophy” they won for beating Germany 2-1.
She praised them for setting “an example that will be an inspiration for girls and women today, and for future generations”.
Prince William at the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 final match between England and Germany. Credit: Naomi Baker/Getty Images
Up in the royal box at the game, the Duke of Cambridge leapt to his feet at the win and was there to congratulate the players.
And, it seems he may have helped bring the team luck, hours earlier posting a video message with daughter Princess Charlotte, seven, wishing the team “good luck”.
The Queen presented England’s only previous major football trophy – the men’s World Cup – to captain Bobby Moore at the old Wembley in 1966.
On Monday morning (Perth time), the 87,192-strong crowd at the new Wembley smashed the record for a men’s or women’s Euros final.
As many as 15 million were watching around the UK on television – another record for women’s football, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his children.
He said: “Football has come home! A stunning victory. Huge congratulations to [manager Sarina Wiegman]Leah and the whole team.”
David Baddiel, whose “It’s Coming Home!” lyric from 1996 football anthem Three Lions, echoed around Wembley, also praised the team.
The comedian tweeted: “Home. In fact it’s come home. A sentence I thought I’d never write. I’ve gone. Thank you Lionesses.”
The Spice Girls paid tribute to the “true girl power” of the Lionesses and men’s England captain Harry Kane hailed the “absolutely unreal scenes”.
Jill Scott of England shakes hands with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, after the final whistle. Credit: Harriet Lander/Getty Images
FA head of women’s football, Baroness Sue Campbell, said she was confident the win would have a legacy for women’s and girls’ football.
“I hope it’s spreading wonderful feelings of hope and happiness to the whole nation,” she added.
Cristiano Ronaldo left the stadium before the end of Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with Rayo Vallecano after being substituted at half-time.
Ronaldo, 37, made his comeback against the Spanish side after missing United’s tour of Thailand and Australia to deal with a family issue.
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I have started the game before being replaced after the first 45 minutes. He was pictured leaving Old Trafford before the final whistle, with United sources afterward refusing to comment on whether his early exit from him was sanctioned by manager Erik ten Hag.
Ronaldo is keen to leave the club this summer in a bid to find regular Champions League football elsewhere. He has been linked with moves to Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Atletico Madrid, although sources have told ESPN that United are yet to receive a serious offer for the Portugal forward.
Sources have told ESPN that Ten Hag encouraged the squad members who played against Atletico Madrid 24 hours earlier to attend the friendly against Rayo.
Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Scott McTominay were among the players who watched from the directors’ box while others were in hospitality boxes. They looked on as Ronaldo’s replacement, Amad, opened the scoring for United early in the second half before Alvaro Garcia equalized for the visitors soon afterwards as United ended their preseason campaign with three wins, two draws and a defeat from their six games.
“Overall, I am happy, we made a good preseason,” Ten Hag said. “We make good progress and we’re ready for the season, but still I know there is a lot of room for improvement and we have to improve.
“It’s also a process that continues during the season, but for next week it’s about a result as well. The reception was fantastic. I felt the vibe in the stadium, I felt the vibe they want to send to the team.
“There has to be co-operation between fans and the team so we get the right emotion and, especially, the right results.”
LEICESTER, England — Erling Haaland will have better days in a Manchester City shirt, you can be certain of that, but his first taste of English football saw him resoundingly upstaged by Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez and City teammate Julian Alvarez as the FA Cup holders claimed a 3-1 Community Shield victory over last season’s Premier League champions at the King Power Stadium.
Few players in world football create quite as much noise as Haaland, the 22-year-old forward who moved to City from Borussia Dortmund in a €60 million transfer earlier this summer. The Norway international had his pick of every major club in Europe before agreeing to move to the Etihad and few expect him to do anything but score a truckload of goals on the way to winning trophies galore with Pep Guardiola’s team.
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But Haaland had a debut to forget against Liverpool. Not only did he fail to score, he barely touched the ball, missed an easy chance in stoppage time when hitting the crossbar from six yards and saw Nunez — Liverpool’s €75 million signing from Benfica — leave him firmly in the shade with a dazzling substitute performance which delivered a goal, an assist and an exciting showcase of the qualities he will bring to Jurgen Klopp’s team this season.
And then there was Alvarez, the 22-year-old signed from River Plate for €16 million, who gave an eye-catching City debut by scoring the equaliser, canceling out Trent Alexander-Arnold’s first-half opener, after replacing Riyad Mahrez early in the second-half. While Nunez was explosive, determined and clinical, Alvarez showed the ability to hold the ball, lay it off and take advantage of tight spaces before displaying a striker’s awareness when scoring from close range after goalkeeper Adrian had pushed away Phil Foden’s shot in 70 minutes.
Haaland will undoubtedly score goals for City. His record of him so far for Dortmund, FC Salzburg and Molde, has been so consistently good that he would be foolish to suggest he will do anything but continue his scoring ratio at the Etihad. But this was a day when he was up against one of the strongest teams in Europe, with defenders Joel Matip and Virgil van Dijk one of the best partnerships anywhere in the game, so it was a tough baptism for Haaland. The space to run at defenders which he often enjoyed in the Bundesliga was denied him by Matip and Van Dijk, and any other red shirt that came within close distance. And when he can’t run into the final third with the goal facing him, Haaland is not quite the same threat.
Nunez looked much sharper, and much more able to receive the ball with his back to goal and move defenders around, but Haaland and City are clearly still learning how to work with each other. Mahrez failed to spot a clever Haaland run in the first-half, when the forward had peeled off his marker, while Kevin De Bruyne waved his arms in frustration at his new teammate when he strayed offside and made himself unavailable for a pass in the second half.
And while Nunez was prepared to run across the face of the 18-yard box, Haaland stayed within the tight confines of the central area of the pitch and it made him easier to stifle and perhaps explained why he only managed 14 touches in 90 minutes. On this evidence — admittedly, just 90 minutes — Haaland will offer less to City when he doesn’t have the ball than Nunez will give to Liverpool. Nunez simply looks a more rounded player, but it doesn’t mean he will score more goals and Guardiola insisted that Haaland will deliver in the months ahead.
“He didn’t score,” Guardiola said. “Another day he will score. He has an incredible quality on that and he will do it.
“He fought a lot, made the movements. It’s good for him to see the reality of new country, new league, but he was there. He is going to help us a lot — he had the chances, he was there.”
Opponents that aren’t as accomplished are likely to be blown away by Haaland if he is given the space to hurt them, but ultimately, he has been signed to make the difference in the tight games, against the likes of Liverpool and in the Champions League, so he has still to show he can make that vital step up. It is difficult to envisage Haaland failing to take his game to that level, but he and City have work to do to make it come together.
Liverpool appear to have less to do to make Nunez fill the gap created by Sadio Mane’s summer move to Bayern Munich. His header from him, from Mohamed Salah’s cross on 80 minutes, led to the Ruben Dias handball which, after a VAR review, resulted in a penalty from which Salah made it 2-1 to Liverpool. And Nunez than scored his goal with a diving header, four minutes into stoppage time, after Andy Robertson had teed him up in the six yard box.
“We all know they are a special species, strikers,” Klopp said. “They all need goals and goal involvements.” [Nunez] would have been fine without his goal because he created the penalty with his header and had a chance when the goalkeeper reacted brilliantly. “His goal for him was the icing on the cake, brilliant for him and it’s a really good sign after the time he has been with us.”
So in the battle of the new signings, Nunez won his first encounter with Haaland and helped Liverpool to their first Community Shield success since 2006. But this is a game that means little in the long term. How Nunez and Haaland do in the Premier League and Champions League is what will truly define the success of their big moves.
