“Alright Phil, enjoying the holiday?” asked Pablo, a Manchester United fan from Old Trafford.“We’re not on holiday,” replied Phil Neville sternly. That was 20 years ago this week, inside Rio de Janeiro’s Intercontinental Hotel.While Real Madrid’s players, who stayed in the same hotel overlooking the Atlantic, were so approachable that some United fans kept in touch afterwards with Raul and Fernando Hierro, United’s were not. The club trained behind closed doors, annoyed locals and failed to perform on the pitch. United’s trip to Rio was shrouded in controversy from start to finish, with the clownish Piers Morgan accusing the club of disrespecting the FA Cup for not competing in it.The funniest front page of all time? pic.twitter.com/a9pCoQymUr— Scott Patterson (@R_o_M)...
Being in agreement with Mino Raiola is not a pleasant situation to be in, but his remarks about Manchester United are hard to contest."Today I wouldn’t bring anyone else there, they would ruin even Maradona, Pele and Maldini. Paul (Pogba) needs a team and a society, one like at Juve before."Ruin is probably the wrong word. Likely by design, because Raiola was in a retaliatory mood and trying to be provocative. But he was right in the sense that United aren’t equipped to cater to the very best players in the game and, rather than dismissing the super agent on account of what he represents, it's worth pausing for thought to consider that reality.The Paul Pogba situation is complicated and...
With the winter transfer window officially open, here are a few names from Serie A that could be of interest to Premier League clubs.Lautaro Martinez, Inter MilanMartinez made his debut for Racing Club in Argentina by coming on as a substitute for Diego Milito – his personal idol and an Inter legend. Now he is following the great striker's footsteps at the San Siro – and had fast become one of the best strikers in Italy. While his first season was good, the second has taken things to a new level with 13 goals in all competitions and a superb partnership with Romelu Lukaku.Naturally, the 22-year-old is a hot name in the transfer market, with Barcelona mentioned as a possible...
On 16 April 2004, Arsenal beat Leeds 5-0, in what is to date the last Premier League meeting between the two sides.There are 27 players to get – 11 starters for both sides, and three and two substitutes for Arsenal and Leeds respectively. We’re giving you six minutes to name as many as you can, and providing the positions and nationalities of each player (though be warned – some players may not have been in the position you most associate them with that day).Once you’re done, send your scores to @FourFourTwo on Twitter and see how you compare against other readers.THEN TRY Quiz! Can you name every player with 6+ Premier League goals in 2019? On Monday night, Arsenal take...
So dreadful is Everton’s modern record at Anfield, that it would be easy to dismiss their loss on Sunday as just another chapter in a tortured recent history. In a way it was, because Everton always manage to save their very worst for Liverpool, but rarely have they produced such a dispiriting tone in defeat.It was a fixture into which they carried all the advantages. They were older, better, and infinitely more experienced than their opposition. These were hardened professionals standing in opposition to what was, in the main, a team of teenagers with a handful of token Premier League appearances between them. And yet a 1-0 scoreline barely described the distanced between them at full-time or just how easy...