Ole Gunnar Solskjaer acknowledges Manchester United must sharpen up in defence if they are to achieve their ambitions of winning major trophies.
United eased into the last 16 of the Europa League on Thursday after a goalless draw with Real Sociedad at Old Trafford secured a 4-0 aggregate victory.
It was their 16th clean sheet in all competitions this season, the third-most of any Premier League team, behind only Chelsea (19) and Manchester City (24).
However, conceding goals has been a problem throughout 2020-21. The Red Devils have shipped 46 across all competitions – more than twice as many as City (20) – with 32 of those coming in the league, more than any other side presently in the top five.
Although 11 of those were conceded in Un…
Lionel Messi insists he does not compete with Cristiano Ronaldo to be considered the world s best player, although he admits he finds it motivating to see Real Madrid in the Champions League final.
The attacking duo have shared the Ballon d Or between them since 2008, winning five each, and are widely considered to be the greatest footballers of their generation.
Debate continues to rage over who should be considered the better player and Ronaldo even claimed in December, after winning his fifth Ballon d Or, that he should be seen as the finest in history.
Messi, though, says he is not interested in striving to be acknowledged as the very best, even though watching Ronaldo and Madrid prepare for a third European final in a row has given him an extra drive to succ…
Arturo Vidal s move to Barcelona opens up an opportunity for the Chile midfielder to win a league title in a third different European country.
Having won four Serie A crowns with Juventus and the Bundesliga three times with Bayern Munich, Barcelona s dominance of LaLiga last season makes racking up a league-hopping treble realistic.
The achievement would see Vidal move alongside the likes of David Beckham (England, Spain, France), Clarence Seedorf (Netherlands, Spain, Italy) and Thierry Henry (France, England, Spain) by enjoying success in a trio of European domestic leagues.
But as illustrious as that list of names may be, there are a select group of players who have gone one better.
Here, we take a look at five of the stars who have won league titles in…
Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe made Champions League history on Wednesday with his penalty against Barcelona.
The France international powered home from the spot after 31 minutes to claim Lionel Messi s record as the youngest player to reach 25 goals in the competition, aged 22 years and 80 days.
After a hat-trick in the first leg last month, Mbappe has now scored four goals against Barca this term the most a player has ever scored against the Catalan club in a single season in the competition.
Messi cancelled out Mbappe s goal soon after with a stunning effort from distance, taking his tally of Champions League goals from outside the area to 19.
Since his debut in the competition in December 2004, only Cristiano Ronaldo has scored m…
FC Barcelona do not depend on themselves to win the Liga title anymore. With only two matches left in the schedule, Los Blaugranas must win both contests and wait for Real Madrid to go D1, L1 at best to retain the crown in Spain s top-flight. In other words Real Madrid will be the new league champions if they manage to defeat Villarreal on Thursday evening. Los Blaugranas have been stumbling of late and while their recent form looks decent Perhaps the best example of how strong have looked is the fact that they re just one game away from just their second undefeated La Liga home campaign since the start of 2013/14. They are massive favorites ahead of this match, but that s not what matters the most to them. It s entirely possible that Barcelona will be playing this game paying a lot of …
Cristiano Ronaldo is still the world s best player despite not reaching his usual heights at Juventus, according to former Portugal team-mate Nani.
Ronaldo helped Juve win Serie A and the Supercoppa Italiana in his first season in Italy, scoring 28 goals in 43 games in all competitions.
However, that was the five-time Ballon d Or winner s lowest scoring return since 2008-09, when he netted 26 for Manchester United.
But Nani – now playing for MLS side Orlando City – has no doubt Ronaldo is still the best player in the world.
It was a successful season for him. I think he did great, he told Omnisport.
One month ago today, scored THIS bullet header in the Turin Derby!
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen)
It is not easy to play in…
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Barcelona will be hoping to claw themselves back into the title race this weekend as they host Celta Vigo at the Nou Camp on Sunday evening.
The Catalans currently sit four points off of the pace with just two matches of La Liga remaining so a win this weekend would be crucial. Meanwhile, Eduardo Coudet s men still have a slight chance of European football so will hope to secure a boost with victory.
Barcelona
Having somewhat been in contention for the crown just a few weeks earlier, Barca s chances now seem remote after a poor run of form since the end of April. They have now just one out of their last four league matches following their 3-3 draw with Levante last time out. It looked like Ronald K…
Liverpool great Kenny Dalglish has tested positive for coronavirus, the Premier League club announced on Friday.
The Reds issued a statement provided by Dalglish s family, explaining the 69-year-old former Scotland international was in hospital regarding a different matter on Wednesday but was given a COVID-19 test.
Sir Kenny was admitted to hospital on Wednesday, April 8, for treatment of an infection which required intravenous antibiotics, the statement read.
In keeping with current procedures, he was subsequently tested for COVID-19 despite having previously displayed no symptoms of the illness. Unexpectedly, the test result was positive but he remains asymptomatic.
Sending our love and best wishes to Sir Kenny
— Liverpool FC (at ) (@LFC) <…
Feyenoord confirmed the appointment of Jaap Stam on Wednesday, with the former Manchester United defender earning the most prestigious job of his coaching career to date.
Stam, previously of Reading, will take charge of the Dutch giants at the end of the season, replacing Giovanni van Bronckhorst, even though he was only brought in by strugglers PEC Zwolle at the end of December.
The former Netherlands international was an outstanding centre-back for United but his career at the club ended early after a spectacular falling out with Alex Ferguson following the publication of his autobiography.
Stam has since claimed he was sold to balance the Old Trafford books and he is the latest in a long line of former Ferguson pupils who are now making their way as manager…
I honestly don t know if he s going to get tired of being praised every day, Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni mused after Lionel Messi s latest masterclass.
Once again, Messi was at the heart of all of Argentina s attacking play, providing two assists before netting a goal of his own with a sublime late free-kick in Saturday s 3-0 Copa America quarter-final win over Ecuador.
The 34-year-old tops the Copa America charts for goals and assists, with four of each.
As Scaloni suggests, it is hard to stop praising him. There arguably are not enough superlatives to describe Messi.
This Copa may have been viewed as the younger Neymar s time, on home soil, but the numbers back up the veteran Messi so far.
Un gol. Dos asistencias. Más ángulos del part…