All posts tagged: Football interviews

An unforgettable week makes England newcomer Dan Burn believe anything is possible | Football News

An unforgettable week makes England newcomer Dan Burn believe anything is possible | Football News

Published by Webster

It must feel like anything is possible for Dan Burn right now. A day after ending Newcastle’s 70-year wait for a major domestic trophy, the defender met with new England coach Thomas Tuchel after receiving his first call-up for the national team. Now he has his sights set on the 2026 World Cup. Story continues below this ad “I would say (last) Monday it definitely wasn’t on my radar, but now I think that’s got to be the ultimate aim,” Burn told a news conference on Tuesday. No wonder he opted against getting fully involved in Newcastle’s celebrations following the English League Cup final triumph against Liverpool on Sunday. Burn, who scored the opening goal in the 2-1 win at Wembley, was due to report to England’s training base in Burton the following morning. “It was strange. As soon as I left the stadium my focus completely switched to this. I had my family here and the kids and we ended up getting on the bus about 12 o’clock back to the hotel. It was …

‘If I score more goals than Cristiano Ronaldo, it doesn’t mean I’m bigger’: Kylian Mbappe | Football News

‘If I score more goals than Cristiano Ronaldo, it doesn’t mean I’m bigger’: Kylian Mbappe | Football News

Published by Webster

After a sedate start to his Real Madrid season, Kylian Mbappe has rediscovered his goal scoring touch, netting 31 goals in all competitions for the club. With at least 12 games remaining in the season, he is touted to surpass his idol Cristiano Ronaldo’s debut season haul of 33 strikes. But the Frenchman shies away from comparisons with the Portuguese legend. “If I score more goals than Ronaldo and Cristiano it doesn’t mean that I am better, just that my first season is better. Scoring goals is important, but it is even more so if we win La Liga, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey,” he told reporters after securing a brace that notched three points against a resilient Villarreal, whom they beat 2-1 after conceding an early goal. “The adaptation period for me has ended and now I have to show my quality. I want to play well here, I want to make a mark on the season,” he had said earlier. Story continues below this ad He already bettered the record …

‘Sometimes he needs to trust his teammates’: Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim on Bruno Fernandes | Football News

‘Sometimes he needs to trust his teammates’: Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim on Bruno Fernandes | Football News

Published by Webster

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim lauded captain Bruno Fernandes after the Portuguese midfielder netted a hattrick against Real Sociedad to propel the club to the last 8 of the Europa League. However, Amorim also said that Bruno needed to trust his teammates a little bit more on the field. “When we need it, (Fernandes) is always there,” Amorim said. “He can bring the ball forward. He can score goals. He is a perfect captain for our team and we need to help him win titles.” “We know that sometimes he is frustrated. We know he wants to win so badly and when things are not going well, he is changing position and going after the ball. Sometimes he needs to trust his teammates,” he added. Story continues below this ad United, who drew the first leg against Sociedad last week, went a goal down after 10 minutes when Matthijs de Ligt fouled Mikel Oyarzabal and Oyarzabal converted from the spot. However, the hosts levelled six minutes later with a penalty scored by Fernandes after Igor …

Focus is to change his mind: Ruben Amorim on Manchester United co-owner’s recent criticism of select players | Football News

Focus is to change his mind: Ruben Amorim on Manchester United co-owner’s recent criticism of select players | Football News

Published by Webster

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim said that the team will be focusing on changing the mind of co-owner Jim Ratcliffe who in a recent interview had criticized some players of the current squad, saying they were not good enough and were overpaid. “If we’re being honest, in this moment everybody — me, all the players — we are underperforming this season. We can always change that, so I include myself in that part of ‘underperforming’,” Amorim told reporters. “You are talking about players like Casemiro, for example, that won everything (with Real Madrid) and we know that these kind of players can play so much better. So that is the focus and he was honest on that. The focus is to change his mind and to change all the people’s minds,” he added. Story continues below this ad Ratcliffe, however, had showered Amorim with praise saying that the Portuguese was “outstanding young manager” who would be at the club for a long time. “It’s a little bit the character, we are quite similar. I always …

‘We made the wrong decision’: Sir Jim Ratcliffe says Manchester United made error in continuing with Erik ten Hag after 2023/24 season | Football News

‘We made the wrong decision’: Sir Jim Ratcliffe says Manchester United made error in continuing with Erik ten Hag after 2023/24 season | Football News

Published by Webster

Manchester united co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe admitted that it was a mistake on their part after they took a decision to continue with Dutch manager Erik ten Hag after he had won them a FA Cup last season. Last season, Ten Hag guided United to an 8th placed finish before winning an FA Cup with them but he was sacked in the 2024/25 season even after being given a contract extension due to United languishing in the 15th spot after 9 matches. “It was too early for us to make a big decision in reality. It was quite difficult to extract Erik’s performance from the structure around him. Was the erratic performance a function of Erik, or was it a function of the organisation? And we couldn’t really get to the bottom of answering that question with certainty, I suppose, so we gave Erik the benefit of the doubt,” he said in an interaction with Gary Neville. When Neville asked if he regretted the decision to continue with Ten Hag, Ratcliffe said, “Yeah, it was …

Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho given 4-match ban, fined for comments on Turkish referees | Football News

Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho given 4-match ban, fined for comments on Turkish referees | Football News

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The Turkish football federation on Friday issued a four-match ban and a fine of 1.6 million Turkish lira ($44,000) on Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho after his recent comments on referees after a match against Galatarsaray. In his post-match interview on Monday, Mourinho welcomed the decision to bring in a foreign referee for the game and also praised Slavko Vincic of Slovenia for a “top performance.” Mourinho said he’d gone to see the referee and thank him following the game. When he saw the fourth official — a Turkish referee — Mourinho said he told him: “If you are the referee … would be a disaster.” Asked about a challenge early in the match, he said a Turkish referee would have reacted with a yellow card “after the big dive and their bench jumping around like monkeys.” Story continues below this ad The Turkish federation said the ban and fine were instituted due to “derogatory and offensive statements towards the Turkish referee” and accusations of chaos and disorder in Turkish football. It said Mourinho’s remarks violated …

‘Not even Guardiola believes what he said’: Carlo Ancelotti dismisses Pep’s claim of Manchester City having 1% chance against Real Madrid | Football News

‘Not even Guardiola believes what he said’: Carlo Ancelotti dismisses Pep’s claim of Manchester City having 1% chance against Real Madrid | Football News

Published by Parlour News

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti dismissed Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola’s claim that the 2023 champions League champions have just a one percent chance of beating the Spanish juggernaut in the second leg of the UCL playoffs. “Honestly, not even (Guardiola) believes what he said, but I’m going to ask him about it before the game anyway,” the Italian joked in a press conference on Tuesday. “He doesn’t think they have a one percent chance of advancing and neither do we think we are 99 percent favourites. We have a small advantage due to what we did at Manchester and we have to use it in our favour. Learning to play with the advantage is a psychological issue and it is difficult to deal with it. I could come here and say that we have no advantage and will play as if we were 0-0… but it’s nonsense and nobody would believe me. What you can control is the attitude of the team and ensure we play the same game as a week ago because …