Guardiola lauds ´clinical´ City after they brush Arsenal aside again

The greatest Champions League final victory of the modern era could only ever have had Cristiano Ronaldo sitting on the throne as its master.

As Real Madrid and Juventus were finalising plans for their Cardiff showdown, it was speculated here that the iconic Ronaldo might be missing a final to call his own despite all those he has won. Safe to say we may ponder no more.

This truly was the Ronaldo Final .

What a stage to do it, too. A Ronaldo-inspired Los Blancos became the first team in the Champions League era to win back-to-back finals with a 4-1 success that further cemented their standing as this competition s epochal outfit.

Billed pre-match as the Portuguese taking on Gianluigi Buffon and his steely enforcers that other great BBC of these times: Ba…

Chelsea will try to offload Hakim Ziyech in the summer of 2023, according to . The report has claimed that the Morocco international was close to joining Paris Saint-Germain on the final day of the January transfer window, but the move fell through late on. Ziyech, who can operate as an attacking midfielder or winger, will try to leave the former Premier League and UEFA Champions League winners again at the end of the season.

Ziyech has been on the books of Chelsea since 2020 when he joined from Ajax. The Morocco international has not always done well on a consistent basis and is not guaranteed a place in Chelsea manager Graham Potter’s team.

The attacking player has made four starts and six substitute appearances in the Premier League for Chelsea so far this season, …

Portuguese champions Benfica have moved on to confirm deals for a pair of highly-talented youngsters Mile Svilar and Paolo Medina.

The later is a teenage starlet who’s been with Real Madrid since 2009, but got extremely frustrated at the lack of opportunities with Los Blancos. The Mexican’s move to Portugal has already been announced last week but it wasn’t until Monday night that Medina’s move to Benfica was made official.

Medina will initially play for Benfica B hoping to make a big impression and earn the promotion to the first team at Estadio da Luz.

In the meantime, that highly-talented Belgium goalkeeper of Serbian descent, Mile Svilar, has joined the club on a five-year deal.

The 18-year-old shot stopper turned plenty of head during last …

Bologna are close to finalizing the deal to sign Tommaso Pobega from AC Milan, according to Fabrizio Romano. The two clubs are believed to be close to reaching an agreement, and Pobega has accepted the transfer, expected to be in the form of a season-long loan with a clause determining an option to buy.

A product of the Milan academy, Pobega has already had numerous loan spells away from San Siro. Ternana, Pordenone, Spezia and Torino have all benefited from his talents on temporary deals in the past. Over the last two seasons, however, the 25-year-old midfielder represented Milan on 43 occasions in all competitions, scoring three goals and earning three caps as an Italy international.

Pobega was not part of Milan s squad for the season opener against Torino last week, …

Tottenham Hotspur are interested in signing Kalvin Phillips from Premier League rivals Manchester City in the summer transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that former Leeds United midfielder Phillips is likely to leave City in the middle of the season, and that Tottenham are keen on bringing him to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Phillips joined City from Leeds in the summer of 2022. The 27-year-old has failed to make a huge impact at the Etihad Stadium so far and has been a peripheral figure in manager Pep Guardiola’s side. The England international has made three substitute appearances in the Premier League, has made one appearance in the EFL Cup, and has played only seven minutes in the UEFA Champions League for the Citizens this campaign.

Tottenham are…

Is a blockbuster swap deal on the horizon?

Paul Pogba is unhappy at Manchester United, and Juventus are believed to be keen on re-signing the Frenchman.

Juve s Paulo Dybala could be used as a makeweight to prise Pogba back to Turin, where he played between 2012 and 2016.

TOP STORY – DYBALA OUT, POGBA IN AT JUVE?

Juventus want to swap Paulo Dybala for wantaway Manchester United star Paul Pogba, according to Tuttomercatoweb journalist Tancredi Palmeri.

Pogba appears set to leave United after his agent stated the star midfielder s time at Old Trafford was over prior to Tuesday s Champions League defeat to RB Leipzig.

The World Cup-winning France international has been heavily linked with a return to Juve, while LaLiga champions…

The expectation coming into this game was that both nations would be quite conservative, with Ghana being the ones to really get after it due to their respective positions in the group. In the end it was an encounter that failed to really live up to expectations, with both Cameroon and Ghana living to fight another day.

Here we go again

Cameroon are the reigning champions and are expected to go deep into the tournament, whereas their opposition are a shadow of the team they once were back in 2010. During that year they were just moments away from a place in the semi-finals of the Wolrd Cup, whereas this time around, they find themselves scrambling as they continue to try and force themselves back into a position of relevancy.

Christian Bassogog was denied by Richard Of…

Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls)

Arsenal s record goalscorer, Henry picked up the Champions League crown that had eluded him with Barcelona in 2009. A year later the France forward was bound for New York and he was named in the MLS All-Star XI in each of his four full seasons with the Red Bulls. Despite his team finishing 2013 with the best regular-season record, MLS Cup glory remained elusive before Henry moved into retirement.

Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy)

Parallels will most readily be drawn between Beckham and Ibrahimovic, but Galaxy fans would sooner see him replicate Keane s exploits. The Republic of Ireland favourite landed in Los Angeles in 2011 to star alongside Beckham initially. He was the club s top scorer and named their MVP for four consecutive years f…

Turkey president Recep Tayyip Erdogan strongly condemned racism after the Champions League clash between Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir was postponed.

PSG and Turkish visitors Basaksehir will return on Wednesday to complete their match after Tuesday s Group H meeting was halted amid allegations of racism against the fourth official in Paris.

The fixture was stopped after 13 minutes with both sets of players gathering on the sidelines as Basaksehir substitute Demba Ba remonstrated with fourth official Sebastian Coltescu, saying: You never said this white guy . Why, when you mention a black guy, do you have to say this black guy ?

Both PSG and Basaksehir then left the field and play did not resume for over two hours before the match was called off an…

Robert Lewandowski s 199th goal for Bayern Munich was not enough to claim the points as RB Leipzig fought back through Emil Forsberg s penalty to draw 1-1 in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

In their first meeting with Leipzig since a 3-0 DFB-Pokal final win in May, Lewandowski edged closer to a double century of Bayern goals to put Niko Kovac s side ahead.

But, after Bayern had a penalty overturned by VAR, Forsberg levelled matters from 12 yards on the stroke of half-time.

A rejuvenated Leipzig found Manuel Neuer in top form after the restart, though Bayern would have snatched it had Peter Gulacsi not managed to tip Kingsley Coman s deflected effort onto the woodwork as Leipzig held firm to move back into top spot after being briefly replaced by Borussia Dortmu…