Marotta: Italian football lagging behind

Liverpool goalkeeper Brad Jones has signed a new long-term deal with Brendan Rodgers side.

The 30-year-old was brought to the Reds in 2010 by former boss Roy Hodgson from Middlesbrough for a free transfer.

Since then he has served as back-up to Pepe Reina and has played 14 games in total for the Merseysiders including 10 this season in all competitions after the Spaniard went down with an injury.

In those games he has kept three clean sheets including in the Europa League home game against Anzhi Makhachkala.

The Australian keeper, who has made three appearances for his national side since 2007, has committed his long-term future to the club after proving his worth to the team this campaign.

Jones joins a number of players including Luis Suarez…

Mohamed Salah believes Liverpool can win the Premier League after his inspirational display fired the Reds to a crucial yet hard-fought win over Newcastle.

Salah recovered from a first-half penalty miss to score twice and set up another as Jurgen Klopp’s side won a New Year’s Day thriller 4-2 at Anfield to move three points clear at the top.

It was his final game before joining up with Egypt ahead of the upcoming African Cup of Nations.

Outstanding.

— Liverpool FC (@LFC)

Salah told Sky Sports: “It’s a great result for us. The game was very intense and we managed to pick up three points and now we are top of the table. We need to stay calm and win every game.”

Asked about his side’s title chances, he added: “We believe a l…

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson laughed off reports that he is interested in Crystal Palace star Wilfried Zaha.

Zaha has become one of the hottest commodities in world football since bursting onto the season with Palace during the 2010/11 season.

The Ivorian-born Englishman s form this season attracted plenty of admirers, with a January move to Old Trafford the likely scenario but Ferguson played down those rumours on Friday.

Nothing to report, I can tell you that, said Ferguson.

We re in this world and its January and I know you are all getting desperate for a story but there is no story absolutely no story to tell you.

While he was non-committal on potential signings, Ferguson ruled Wayne Rooney out of Sunday s mouth-watering sh…

Former Italy international Marco Materazzi says he would never entrust Rafael Benitez with his team if he were a club president.

Materazzi worked under Benitez at Inter Milan in the first half of the 2010/11 campaign before the Spaniard parted company with club, and the World Cup-winning centre-back was not impressed with the coach s methods.

He is not exactly my ideal coach. If I were in charge of a club, I would never entrust him with my team, Materazzi was quoted as saying by France Football.

What I did not like about him was the way he presented himself to the team. Great coaches like (Marcello) Lippi and (Jose) Mourinho use unwritten rules, but Benitez wanted to write 10 to 12 things down.

It was like we were back to school or had to follow traff…

Thomas Lemar is closing in on a transfer to Atletico Madrid after the Spanish club announced they have reached a preliminary agreement with Monaco for the France winger.

Lemar has regularly been linked with a move away from Stade Louis II since enjoying a sensational campaign in the club s title-winning 2016-17 season.

The 22-year-old was a key man for Leonardo Jardim s side, scoring nine times and setting up another 10 in Ligue 1.

He attracted the interest of Arsenal – among others – and appeared to be on the verge of a move to Emirates Stadium early last season, but the collapse of Alexis Sanchez s proposed switch to Manchester City reportedly saw Lemar s transfer fall apart.

But he finally appears to have secured his next challenge, with Atletico g…

This was everything Vladimir Putin could have dreamed of. 

If Putin required vindication and quite frankly he doesn t, not many question the Russian president  for spending more than £8bn on bringing the World Cup to a country still stricken by widespread poverty, he would point to the events at the Luzhniki Stadium on Thursday afternoon.

The revamped bowl on the banks of the River Moskva rocked, initially to the songs of a British pop star, and then to the cheers of the Russian public as their heroes swept aside the limp challenge of Saudi Arabia, cruising to a 5-0 win in the tournament opener.

Putin s decision to spend such vast amounts on the World Cup was dismissed by some as a vanity project but, for him, it represented a chance to showcase the  new …

Thiago Silva has warned things could get worse before they get better for Chelsea unless the club stop and put a strategy in place .

Chelsea lost 2-0 to Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday to exit the Champions League 4-0 on aggregate at the quarter-final stage.

The Blues also fell short in both domestic cup competitions and are 11th in the Premier League, despite spending more than £600million on new players over the past year.

That has coincided with the Todd Boehly-led consortium taking over from Roman Abramovich, with the new backers having nothing to show for their investment so far.

The owners have already sacked Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter, with Frank Lampard brought back as caretaker manager, but Silva hopes lessons will be learned.

…

Best Odds: 8/13

Bookmaker:

Desperate to make an immediate return to winning ways this weekend, Tottenham will make the trip to the South Coast when they face off against Brighton on Sunday night.

Tottenham

Starting with the hosts, having to eventually settle for a 0-0 stalemate against Fulham at the Amex in midweek, Brighton fans know that their side missed out on a golden chance. Still firmly looking over their shoulder at the drop zone and in the midst of yet another relegation battle, the Seagulls are a side desperately seeking some stability. While Graham Potter s side might have managed to extend on their FA Cup adventure last weekend thanks to a 2-1 win against League One outfit Blackpool, a 1-0 win against Leeds earlier in their month is their only Premi…

The Bayern Munich players celebrate after their team hammered Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg semi-final Champions League clash

Bayern Munich destroyed Spanish giants Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg of their semi-final Champions League clash last night.

The fact that Bayern defeated the Catalans was not a major surprise, but the ease in which they did was.

Power

Bayern Munich’s performance was full of power. They simply overpowered Barcelona all over the over field and Barca did not have an answer to it. This was one of the keys to victory for the German champions.

Weakness

It does not take a genius to work out where Barcelona’s weaknesses are. They lack physical presence in the team in general and in last night’s clash Bayern…

Juan Cuadrado has completed a switch from Fiorentina to Premier League leaders Chelsea on a four-and-a-half-year deal.

Chelsea have confirmed the signing of Colombia international Juan Cuadrado from Fiorentina on a four-and-a-half-year deal.

After weeks of speculation, Chelsea announced Cuadrado s arrival on Monday, shortly after Andre Schurrle s departure to Wolfsburg.

Cuadrado spent five-and-a-half years in Italy, initially with Udinese before a move to Fiorentina in 2012 following a loan spell at Lecce.

I am very happy and thankful for this opportunity I’ve been given, he told Chelsea s official website.

This is a great club and honestly it is like a dream to join the Chelsea family and to know that the manager believes in me. I’m happy. …