Erling Haaland has claimed he is still not as good a footballer as his father Alf-Inge, despite enjoying a prolific start to life at Borussia Dortmund.Erling has averaged a goal every 46 minutes in the Champions League season, and found the net nine times in his first seven Bundesliga games following his £17 million move from Red Bull Salzburg.Alf-Inge played for Nottingham Forest, Leeds and Manchester City across a 10-year stint in England, but retired aged 30 after struggling with a knee injury.Erling scored twice in Dortmund’s first-leg Champions League victory over PSG in February, but insisted he is yet to reach the heights of his father’s career.“No, no,” the 19-year-old told the April issue of FourFourTwo, out now,when asked...
Billy Gilmour has captured hearts and minds. He might also have stolen Jorginho’s first team place at Chelsea. His performances against Liverpool and Everton were outstanding, he seems to have had a real, rather than illusory effect on the speed of his side’s play, and it’s not entirely coincidental that Chelsea, collectively, are playing with more attacking fluency than at any other point under Frank Lampard.Gilmour, it turns out, has been exactly what they’ve needed. A deep-lying midfielder who cuts opposition lines with beguiling ease and who marches Chelsea up the field at a pacetheir opponents can’t easily cope with. It’s too early to say for sure, but even if Gilmour can’t sustain this initial burst of form, Lampard has...
‘‘Diego Simeone can smell the alcohol on Ariel Ortega’s breath. The River Plate boss knows that his captain hasn’t been to bed.It’s 11am on Saturday June 22, 2008. In a little over 24 hours, River will conclude their title-winning Clausura campaign at Banfield’s Estadio Florencio Sola. The stadium will be full, not only to celebrate the legendary Javier Sanguinetti’s final game for the home side, but to witness Ortega lift the trophy in the centre circle.El Burrito (‘The Little Donkey’) has already carried out that duty a fortnight earlier, when River wrapped up the league with a game to spare thanks to a 2-1 home win against Olimpo, but this is different. This is symbolic. Ortega will be ceremonially ending...
Six minutes on the clock, 30 playersto ponder. Go on...Remember to tweet your scores@FourFourTwo, and challenge some friends - especially if they support Tottenham, right?NOW TRYQuiz! Can you name Jose Mourinho's most played players at Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham? In 1962, Tottenham Hotspur wrote themselves into the record books.Already the first-everleague and cup double winners - a full decade before rivals Arsenal- they smashed Atletico Madrid 5-1 in Rotterdam to become the first British club to win a UEFA competition.Tonight, Jose Mourinho's men dust themselves off from the disappointment of Madrid last summer and focus on another European final.Spurs have a history of wonderful European nights - we're looking for the 30 footballers who have featured most heavily on...
Tottenham Hotspur legend Gary Mabbutt says that Jose Mourinho has a mammoth task ahead of him at the club that he won the FA Cup with - but there's everything to play for this season.Mabbutt captained Spurs to an FA Cup victory in 1991, the last time the club lifted the trophy. Speaking at the London Football Awards last week, he said that the lack of a preseason period has hampered progress for Mourinho and that he's a big fan of the manager."Personally, I’m a big Jose fan," said Mabbutt."I think that people don’t realise how difficult it is to come in mid-season and take over a club.""Normally you get a preseason period, working with the squad, bringing in the...