Croatia coach Slaven Bilic is quietly confident of his side s chances of success at Euro 2012.
Bilic s side kick-off their Group C campaign against the Republic of Ireland on Sunday, looking to emulate the success they had at Euro 2008 when they reached the quarter-final stage.
But Croatia have suffered a significant blow with Bayern Munich forward Ivica Olic out with a thigh injury.
Basically the bottom line is that every group is hard. Every opponent is hard because we are playing in the Euros, Bilic said.
It s a cruel sports tournament and more cruel than the World Cup and not to mention the Olympic Games. This group is very hard, we have world champions and European champions and we have Ireland.
But, four years ago our group was very ha…
Jose Mourinho was delighted with a perfect Chelsea display in the 5-0 win over Swansea City in the Premier League on Saturday.
Jose Mourinho hailed Chelsea s stunning display against Swansea City on Saturday as perfect , but warned his side they must maintain their form if they want to go down in history.
The 5-0 destruction of Garry Monk s team moved Chelsea five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the table ahead of their meeting with Arsenal on Sunday, and Mourinho expects more of the same if Chelsea are to secure a first Premier League title since 2010.
A scintillating first half from the leaders saw Oscar and Diego Costa both score twice, before Andre Schurrle added a fifth late on.
Mourinho said: [It was] the perfect game, everything…
Bayern Munich winger Danijel Pranjic has confirmed he is set to join an unnamed Chinese club on an unbelievable deal.
The 30-year-old declined to name the club in question but revealed he has been offered a lucrative contract to leave the Champions League finalists.
I got an offer from China that I cannot possibly refuse, Pranjic told Croatian source Nogometni Magazin.
Financially, it s an incredible offer. I ve not yet signed, but really I ve already decided.
The Croatia international will reportedly earn 11 million Euros over two years.
After the Champions League final, the club s owner will pick me up on a private plane to fly to China to sign the contract, Pranjic said.
The president said we will offer you a private driver 24 hou…
“I dream of playing there”.
According to a recent report from to Sport Bild, Amadou Haidara has revealed that he wants to play for Manchester United one day – although he followed that up by stating that he is very satisfied with RB Leipzig right now. The 21 year old joined the German side earlier this year from Red Bull Salzburg, and has also made a handful of appearances for the Mali national team since debuting back in 2017. He is widely considered to be one of the most exciting young midfielders in the world right now, and as you can imagine, this kind of news is probably going to interest the Red Devils.
United are in desperate need of a bit of steel in the middle of the park, and that’d especially be true if Paul Pogba were to end up leaving the club. That…
Barcelona head coach Ernesto Valverde warned his side to learn from their experience in losing to Roma but does not expect a repeat when his side face Liverpool in the Champions League semi-finals.
Valverde s side are 3-0 up ahead of Tuesday s return at Anfield after Lionel Messi put the Reds to the sword at Camp Nou last week, but last year Barca crashed out despite holding a three-goal advantage.
Leading 4-1 against Roma, Barca contrived to lose 3-0 at the Stadio Olimpico, exiting the Champions League at the quarter-final stage via the away goals rule.
Messi subsequently made it clear Champions League success was Barca s priority this season and Valverde wants Barca to right the wrongs of that Roma defeat.
It s an experience to learn from, but the good…
New Tottenham head coach Antonio Conte reassured he is very pleased with Harry Kane despite the striker s lean spell of scoring form.
Spurs cruised to a 2-0 win over Brentford in the first ever top-flight meeting between the sides on Thursday, though Kane could not get on the scoresheet and has just one Premier League goal to his name so far this season.
The England international did, however, record a game-high three key passes in a creative performance that was typified by his usual preference to drop deep and look to link-up play.
As Conte prepares to host Norwich City, who the Italian has never faced before in the league, he once again gave his backing for goal-shy Kane.
First of all, I m sure Harry is happy if we win and he doesn t score, Conte sa…
Tottenham Hotspur have paid Swansea City an initial transfer fee of £11 million for Joe Rodon, according to . The Premier League club have secured the services of the Wales international central defender on a five-year contract.
Rodon is a very talented and promising young central defender who will make Tottenham a better and stronger team at the back. The 22-year-old made a total of 54 appearances in all competitions for the Swans since making his debut for the Welsh club in the 2018-19 season.
Spurs are sixth in the Premier League table at the moment with seven points from four matches. Jose Mourinho’s side will return to action on Sunday when they take on West Ham United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the Premier League. As for Swansea, the Welsh club are current…
Mikel Arteta said the way Eddie Nketiah trained made him impossible to leave out against Nottingham Forest as the striker repaid the faith by opening the scoring on his recall.
The 24-year-old had not scored a competitive goal in over 10 hours before breaking the deadlock as the Gunners began their quest for the Premier League title with a narrow 2-1 win.
After a 30-minute delay to kick-off following an issue at the turnstiles, Nketiah struck just after the midway point of the first-half, his deflected strike coming on the back of a fine piece of skill from Gabriel Martinelli.
Bukayo Saka’s fine curling effort proved enough to secure the points, even though Forest rallied and pulled a late goal back through substitute Taiwo Awoniyi.
Our Hale End goalsco…
Market: Under 3.5 goals
Odds: 1/2 @
Two sides who will be looking to extend on their FA Cup adventure this weekend, Accrington Stanley will welcome Barnet to the Crown Ground on Saturday afternoon.
Starting with the hosts, while Accrington Stanley might still be looking over their shoulder at the drop zone, John Coleman s men are in the midst of a recent flurry. Although the Reds might have been disappointed by their 1-0 loss at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday on November 12th, the Lancashire-based outfit have won three of their last four outings across all competitions. Last seen earlier in the week claiming a 1-0 win away at Grimsby while on EFL Trophy duties, the ex-Rochdale boss should find the mood in his camp at a high. Recording back-to-back clean sheets…
Free-spending Fiorentina have moved to confirm their interest in Lyon striker Lisandro Lopez.
The Serie A side have made a number of high-profile signings in the summer transfer window, but they were unable to sign a quality centre forward, which was one of their priorities.
Viola narrowly missed out on Manchester United star Dimitar Berbatov, but they are already looking towards the January transfer window.
Fiorentina sporting director Daniele Prade has revealed the club are keen on Lyon star Lisandro Lopez.
“This is a great player, a modern striker. We are following (him). But, I won’t say anything else,” Prade confessed to La Nazione.
Fiorentina chiefs have gone the extra mile to keep hold of star striker Stevan Jovetic and believe Lisan…