Desmond Sport

T he Champions League group stage is now at its halfway point, each team having played three matches with three more to come, and before anything happens to spoil the effect it might be worth pressing the pause button for a moment to take in the unexpectedly fine view. Not only does the Premier League boast the impressive total of five entrants this time, thanks to Manchester United’s dogged perseverance in last season’s Europa League, but all five English clubs at present top their groups. The competition is still young, yet even though Tottenham have visited the Bernabéu and Chelsea have faced Roma and Atlético Madrid, no one has actually lost yet Anyone looking at the stats and rankings right now, in fact, could easily run away with the impression that English teams are quite good. How this promising situation is going to resolve itself over the next few matches to reach the doom and gloom scenario that the group stage usually brings is ...

N ostalgia took over at the weekend when Arsenal beat Everton 5-2 and Liverpool  went down 4-1 against Spurs  at Wembley. Almost to a person the nation’s subeditors came up with London 9 Merseyside 3 as either a headline or a strap, unintentionally giving away their age and outlook in the process. Because you would have to go back to the last millennium to remember the days when battles for league supremacy were routinely fought out between London and Merseyside. In terms of league titles, Merseyside has been a trophy-free zone since that heady period in the 1980s when Liverpool and Everton (but mostly Liverpool) took it in turns to finish on top of the pile. The story of the Premier League years has usually been one of a contest between London and Manchester, with just a couple of seasons (Rafa Benítez and Brendan Rodgers) when Liverpool managed to finish runners-up to Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United (fact!) orManuel Pellegrini's Manchester City. The last...

Nigeria stars Ahmed Musa, Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho will be receiving instructions from a new manager after their club Leicester City named Claude Puel as their manager on Wednesday. The club sacked former coach Craig Shakespeare last week after he led them into the Premier League’s relegation zone. “Leicester City are delighted to announce the appointment of Claude Puel as the Club’s new First Team Manager,” the club confirmed on their official website on Wednesday. “The 56-year-old Frenchman arrives at King Power Stadium with a wealth of experience at elite levels of the game, having managed teams in France’s Ligue 1, the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League. He has signed a contract to June 2020. “The former AS Monaco, Lyon and Southampton manager will take charge of his first Leicester City fixture this coming Sunday as the Foxes host to Everton at King Power Stadium in the Premier League. “Claude will be supported by Michael Appleton, who retains his r...

Pep Guardiola laid into the match ball after watching his Manchester City beat Wolves on penalties in the Carabao Cup, saying it would have been a "miracle" for Sergio Aguero to have broken his scoring record with it. The clash between the sides top of the Premier League and Sky Bet Championship was an entertaining - if scoreless - affair, with Claudio Bravo required to be at his best to deny Nuno Espirito Santos' side from snatching a shock win. The Chile goalkeeper again came to the rescue in the shoot-out at the Etihad Stadium, denying Alfred N'Diaye and Conor Coady as  City won 4-1 on penalties after a scoreless 120 minutes . Guardiola was satisfied to be in the quarter-finals but was not best pleased with the English Football League's Mitre match ball. "The ball is not acceptable to play with... at that level," the City boss said. "We play with a different ball. It's not Nike, Adidas I don't know, it's a different brand...

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lieke Martens were named Fifa men’s and women’s player of the year respectively at the governing body’s annual ‘The Best’ football awards, which took place in London on Monday night. The Real Madrid forward retained the title he won in 2016 – again finishing ahead of Lionel Messi in a vote between national team players, coaches, media and fans – meaning that he has now been named Fifa’s top male footballer five times. He took 43.16% of the total vote, reflecting a year in which he won a Champions League and La Liga double with Real Madrid, continuing to put top-class opponents to the sword with astounding regularity. His two goals against Juventus in Cardiff helped Real achieve continental supremacy for the 12th time and he had already scored   a hat-trick against Atlético Madrid   in the semi-finals Asked how long he could keep up this level of form, Ronaldo said: “I don’t know, I just enjoy the moment, the moment is great. I feel hap...

Kylian Mbappe has won the Golden Boy award ahead of Gabriel Jesus and Ousmane Dembele, who were shortlisted. The award is given to the best player under the age of 21 in Europe and is voted for by a panel of journalists from across the continent. The 18-year-old shone at Monaco last season and has scored four goals and has four assists in 11 games for Paris Saint-Germain this season having moved in the summer on an initial loan deal. The striker, who already has eight international caps for France, won with 291 votes beating second-placed Dembele, who secured 149 votes. Wayne Rooney (2004) and Raheem Sterling (2014) have previously won the award which is given to the player who has been in the best form over the previous calendar year.

A creditable goalless draw at Liverpool,  a solid away win in the Champions League at Benfica,  an is-he-or-isn’t-he flirtation with Paris Saint-Germain , a refusal to commit his long-term future to Manchester United  and, finally, a hand grenade lobbed towards those managers who "cry about injuries" unlike him. This has been a classic week for  José Mourinho . The question, though, is why? Or why now? Why is the 54-year-old, whose team are flying through the early stages of the season, doing and saying things that he does not seem to need to? Mourinho’s side are second in the Premier League after eight games, lead their Champions League group with maximum points, have scored 33 times in all competitions and remain unbeaten. Yet at the weekend Mourinho was praising PSG’s “magic, quality, youth”. Then there was a statement that he would not finish his career at Old Trafford. When quizzed about this in Lisbon before the game against Benfica he said: “I ask h...

Nigerian-born British world heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua believes taking on Carlos Takam in his fifth world title fight on short notice will offer him an opportunity to show a different style in the ring. Joshua, who holds the International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Organisation (IBO) heavyweight titles, will face Takam, who has stepped in for the injured Kubrat Pulev, at the the Principality Stadium, Cardiff, on October 28. Joshua had been preparing for a bout against Pulev who is a 6’4” boxer but will now face Takam who is 6’1”. “Yes, of course, I want to show new skills. This what people will remember me for,” Joshua told Sky Sports. “What type of fighter was he? What do you know Guillermo Rigondeaux for? Phenomenal skills. I’m trying to display a few different things while I’m here, to add to my legacy. “That would be great, wouldn’t it? But it’s not the reality, unfortunately. I will have to find diffe...

Veteran manager Harry Redknapp can see the end of his long and storied management career in sight and will not be in contention for the managerial role at Scotland or Wales after both countries failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. The 70-year-old took over at Birmingham in April and succeeded in keeping the relegation-threatened Blues in the Championship. He signed a one-year deal to stay on in May, but was dismissed following a run of six successive defeats in all competitions early this season. The former West Ham and Tottenham boss suggested shortly after his departure that he could retire, and Redknapp’s stance appears unchanged a month on from his sacking. “My career’s gone,” he told Sports Gazette. “I’ve had a long spell managing. I’ve done roundabout 1500 games or something crazy. I don’t see myself going back into football.” A consulting role or international post would still be of interest to Redknapp, although he expects the Scottish Football Association to lo...

I n isolation there was nothing special about the goal, almost exactly a year ago, that gave Napoli brief parity in a group-stage tie with Besiktas. It was a sharp enough finish from Dries Mertens, getting across his man to stab in José Callejón’s low centre, but the headline was that they proceeded to lose at San Paolo for the second time in four days. The fact that the Turkish champions had joined Roma in putting three past  Napoli  at home looked of much greater consequence than a stand-in striker’s demonstration of instinct. Thirty-eight goals later, Mertens, who takes on Manchester City with Napoli in the Champions League on Tuesday night, has been the dominant force in a side  whose irresistible form  suggests a first Serie A title in 28 years may be a matter of time. Few could have seen this coming from Mertens, previously a capable winger who had an eye for goal but had largely played second fiddle on the left to Lorenzo Insigne since joining from PSV Eindh...

W hen Pep Guardiola referred to Tottenhan Hotspur  as “the Harry Kane” team, there were people at the London club who did not know whether to laugh or cry. The Manchester City manager, after all, had been in charge of the Lionel Messi team at Barcelona. Behind the scenes at Tottenham, amid the pot-and-kettle bitching, came a recollection from last season. Had they not beaten Guardiola’s City convincingly at White Hart Lane without the injured Kane?  Mauricio Pochettino almost always keeps his thoughts on this type of thing out of the public domain. Not this time. Last Friday the Spurs manager gave Guardiola both barrels, describing his comments as “disrespectful, sad and unnecessary” and making the point that his rival “struggles to be a gentleman” when on a winning roll. In other words, Guardiola can look down on others when he is riding high – as he and City are, at present. Pochettino said he had never called Guardiola’s Barcelona “the Messi team” but, privatel...

Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most hardworking footballers on earth, having enjoyed a successful career at Manchester United before moving to Real Madrid where he currently plays and earns £365,000 weekly. The footballer who's also a model and businessman has made millions and he's still making more money. He's known for his flamboyant lifestyle off the pitch and he has got a special taste for fast cars. During his time at Manchester United, Ronaldo was first seen with a Porsche Cayenne worth £67,500, followed by a suave BMW M6 ( £77,500 ), Porsche Carrera S - (£87,335), and Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano worth £200,000. Following his transfer to Real Madrid in 2009, the Portuguese continued his flamboyant lifestyle off the pitch. He added to his garage Audi RS5 - (£61,0000), Audi R8 - (£107,000) Audi S8 - (£82,000), Mercedes S65 AMG Coupe - (£180,000), Mercedes-Benz AMG GLE 63S - (£105,000) and Range Rover Sport SVR - (£100,000) The football star also has Ferrari F12...

Lionel Messi fired Argentina into the World Cup with a brilliant hat-trick on Tuesday as South American champions Chile suffered a shock elimination. Messi single-handedly resurrected Argentina’s hopes in a 3-1 win over Ecuador in Quito that drew a line under a chaotic campaign that had left the two-time champions in danger of failing to qualify. The Barcelona superstar scored twice inside the opening 20 minutes to give Argentina the lead after Ecuador had stunned the visitors with an opening goal after from Romario Ibarra after 38 seconds. Messi then completed his hat-trick — the 44th of his dazzling career — with a sublime chip in the second half to seal the victory. The Argentinian superstar can now look forward to his fourth appearance at the World Cup at next year’s finals in Russia, where he will attempt once more to lead his country to an elusive major title. Since his country’s defeat to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final, Messi has twice suffered agony at major to...