Author: cimi

Milan manager Gennaro Gattuso has claimed his side played much better than the 1-0 scoreline suggested after Milan lost to Sampdoria on Saturday evening in Serie A.

The Rossoneri went down 1-0 to Sampdoria following a Gianluigi Donnarumma blunder in the first minute of the match. Milan were never able to recover and despite playing much better in the second half, the lone goal ended up being the only thing to separate the two sides. 

Gattuso spoke with Milan TV via the Milan official site following the match and the manager claimed: “We played better than we did against Chievo and in other games that we’ve won. I’m not seeing a team that is completely off its game, but we got it wrong in the first half, when the difference between the sides was their level of quality.

“After the break, we increased the pressure, managing to do much better than what we did in the Derby. But one fact still remains: we’re standing here talking about another defeat.”

When asked about Donnarumma’s gaffe the manager simply stated: “He made a mistake, but this is part of the game.”

The former Italy international finished the interview by speaking on different individuals who may or may not have played a part in the match. Gattuso stated: “There wasn’t a problem with [Franck] Kessie, it was simply a choice made on a technical basis. [Tiémoué] Bakayoko? He grew into it in the second half, I was pleased with him. 

[Hakan] Calhanoglu? He has the qualities to play using just two touches. Physically, he’s fine, and he’s managing to keep the tempo high playing from a midfield position.” 

?Milan continue their fight for a spot in next seasons’ Champions League as they host Udinese in a ?Serie A clash on Tuesday night at the San Siro Stadium. 

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?Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane has admitted that he likes Paul Pogba ‘a lot’ amid rumours that Los Blancos could make a move for the Manchester United superstar in the summer.

Zidane recently returned to the helm at the Bernabeu in a bid to salvage something from the remainder of Madrid’s dismal campaign, and the Frenchman is expected to oversee a huge shakeup at the club during the summer ahead of a renewed push for silverware next season.

The club icon’s return is set to have a big impact on the futures of a number of Los Blancos’ current squad, but attention has also begun to turn to which players could be the next star arrivals in the Spanish capital. ?Pogba recently described ?Madrid as ‘a dream club’.

Amid links over a potential move to unite Zidane with his compatriot ahead of next season, Zidane said of Pogba via ?BBC Sport: “I know him personally. He brings so much and there are few players who bring as much as he does.

“He’s a midfielder who knows how to defend and how to attack. But he is not my player, he is at Manchester.

“He has always said that, after Manchester, Madrid has always interested him. So when his experience at Manchester ends, why not come here to Madrid?”

Pogba’s future at Old Trafford had looked increasingly uncertain under Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese often singled out the midfielder for criticism during his reign as ?United manager and even declared that he would no longer captain his side.

However, the Frenchman has enjoyed a considerable upturn in form since the arrival of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as Mourinho’s replacement, becoming a central figure once more under the Norwegian and seemingly more likely to stay put at Old Trafford given his renewed morale.

United may well resist any offers from Madrid as they look to arm Solskjaer with a squad capable of challenging for the Premier League title next term.

However, with Zidane set to be handed a huge transfer war chest to revamp his Madrid squad in order to challenge for major titles once more next season, Los Blancos may be prepared to make an offer that United would find difficult to turn down for the 26-year-old.

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?Massimiliano Allegri said that teenage sensation Moise Kean had the ‘mentality’ of a Juventus player after the 19-year-old came on and scored the only goal in their 1-0 win against Empoli.

The Bianconeri laboured during the first half allowing their opponents to exert themselves and create some half chances. However, Allegri’s side not only lost star man Cristiano Ronaldo while on international duty but also Paulo Dybala in the warm up prior to kick off. 

After opting to keep Moise Kean on the bench, Allegri did get the key decision of the match right when he sent on the young Italian forward. Within three minutes of coming on, Kean met Mario Mandzukic’s flick on with a ruthless half volley to secure all three point for Juventus.

As quoted by Calciomercato, the manager heaped praise on the promising forward who also scored on his debut for Italy during the international break.

“You have to have the right mentality when you play for Juventus, this is what makes the difference when you play at such high levels. Kean? He is young and he has to keep working hard that’s for sure. He has a lot of qualities and he has the potential to become a great player but it is all in the mentality.”

Allegri also addressed the grander scheme of things as far as Bianconeri’s title challenge goes and the injuries to Ronaldo and Dybala via Juventus’ official website. 

“We played a bad first half, we didn’t have distances and time against a good Empoli. We were better after the break where we didn’t concede anything. We needed a 1-0 that was a struggle, it’s another step towards the title.

“[Dybala] with Argentina he took a blow to the calf, today he had a hardening and we didn’t want to risk him.

“He [Ronaldo] did something this morning, but he went to jog. We need to see when he can run.”

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?Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has provided injury updates on Joe Gomez, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Xherdan Shaqiri ahead of their meeting with Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

The Reds have fallen back to second in the Premier League, but can move ahead of Manchester City once again with three points against Mauricio Pochettino’s men.

Fortunately for Klopp, he may be able to call on Gomez to help earn a win on Sunday, as he told the club’s ?official website that the defender has recovered from the leg fracture which he suffered in December.

Klopp said: “It is nice – Joe is not injured anymore and nearly fit. He will not be in the afternoon training session because he has to do something else – he has to work on his endurance, that’s how it is and how the boys always have to do it, like Ox [?Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain] had to do it when he was finally back in training.

“After a long time, I think Joe was out for 15 weeks, that is long, so he needs to now create the basis again for the rest of the season.”

In a separate post on ?Liverpool’s ?website, Klopp discussed the fitness of ?Alexander-Arnold, who was forced to sit out England’s European qualifiers against both the Czech Republic and Montenegro with a back injury.

He said: “Trent still feels his back. We are not 100 per cent sure, so we have to watch him. Trent wants to [be] 100 per cent, but we have to see. It is a strange one, it’s not an obvious injury that you can say something is broke or whatever, it’s just a bit annoying actually that he cannot feel really free.

“For him, it was really important that he could do the rehab and not being in normal training all the time.”

Finally, Klopp offered an update on Shaqiri, who also missed international duty with a groin injury. He added: “[He is] good, much better. Shaq, since a couple of weeks [ago], has had some problems with the groin.

“He trained, not how he could train, but was still in the squad and all that stuff because we didn’t have a lot of options. Now he feels better day by day and should be fine for the weekend.”

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?Brighton manager Chris Hughton has claimed his side have put themselves under ‘more pressure’ to avoid relegation from the Premier League following ?their 1-0 defeat to Southampton.

In a game of very few clear-cut opportunities, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg scored the game’s only goal for the Saints eight minutes after the interval, as the Seagulls were subjected to their sixth league defeat in their last nine games. 

Speaking after the game, as quoted by ?Sky Sports, Hughton insisted that his side’s sole focus now will be looking to bounce back in their midweek game against Chelsea, rather than their FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City next weekend.

He said: “We’ve got a lot of work to do to make sure we stay in this division. 

“Today has done us no favours. It was a really big opportunity, particularly being at home, to increase that gap a bit more. It puts a bit more pressure on us. I knew we were in a battle before the game and if anything that has slightly hardened that.

“My thoughts at this moment are not on the cup tie and I don’t expect any of our players to be thinking about it either. Players are playing for places every game and I need to see a lot of what I like on Wednesday first.”

The defeat at the Amex Stadium sees ?Brighton remain 15th in the table, although they have been joined by ?Southampton on 33 points – five above Cardiff in 18th, as the threat of relegation remains a very real prospect for the south coast side. 

Hughton also pointed to his side’s lack of cutting edge in the final third as one reason for the loss, with the hosts recording just one shot on target in the game.

He added: “I thought they were better than us. They were more threatening in the final third. We had defended well and went through the first half without them having any really good chances.

“That was probably the tale of the game. The one or two chances they had – a really good counter-attack for the goal – and that was the difference between the two teams.

“We never really threatened the goalkeeper enough and I can’t remember him (Angus Gunn) having to make too many saves. We didn’t play at a level that was going to win us the game – particularly at home.”

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