Toni Kroos hit back at Mason Mount after the Chelsea midfielder took exception to the Real Madrid star s comments ahead of their Champions League semi-final second leg.
Kroos said prior to Madrid s 2-0 defeat to Chelsea on Wednesday that he never lost sleep over an opponent during his illustrious 15-year career.
Mount made note of that remark after Chelsea advanced 3-1 on aggregate to set up a Champions League final showdown against Premier League rivals Manchester City.
I saw one of their players say before that he doesn t lose sleep over individuals, Mount told CBS Sports.
But I think as a team, they need to lose sleep over us as a team.
Kroos responded in a tweet on Thursday, paying a sharp-edged compliment in the process.
Sti…
Mauricio Pochettino lamented that Chelsea were “not nasty enough” in attack as Brentford won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge to send his team to a third home Premier League defeat of the season.
Victory for the visitors, earned with second-half goals from Ethan Pinnock and Bryan Mbeumo, maintained their 100 per cent record on this ground since being promoted to the top flight in 2021 and ended Chelsea’s run of three league games unbeaten.
The hosts failed to take advantage of a first half that they largely dominated, going close through Noni Madueke who struck the crossbar on his first start of the season.
Full time.
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC)
Marc Cucurella should have made more of the chance when Cole Palmer found him unmarked inside the box wit…
Gonzalo Higuain will hang up his boots at the end of the Major League Soccer season, according to his father.
Higuain joined Inter Miami in September 2020, and has scored 15 goals in 44 MLS games for the team co-owned by David Beckham.
The 34-year-old is out of contract in December, and reports had suggested the former Real Madrid and Juventus striker was planning to move back to Argentina at the end of the campaign.
However, speaking to TNT Sports, his father, Jorge, said his son has told him he intends to end his career after he is finished in Miami.
He is not going back to Argentina, his father, a former River Plate and Boca Juniors player, confirmed. He told me that he is retiring at the end of the year. He is ending this year and is retiring f…
Barcelona appear to be in significant danger of losing the greatest player in their history after Lionel Messi informed the club he wants to leave.
Messi rocked the world of football on Tuesday by stating his intention to activate a possible break clause in his contract, which expires in June 2021, and move on to a new club.
Barca hope to be able to convince him to stay, and it is reported the six-time Ballon d Or winner intends to turn up for the return to training next Monday to avoid any potential complications.
When you look at the stats behind Messi s illustrious career at Camp Nou, it s easy to see why the club do not appear overly keen to let him go.
With the help of Opta, we look at a few of the incredible records and feats Messi has achieved wit…
Market: Marseille win
Odds: 3/4 @
Hoping to widen their buffer in the Champions League spots on Wednesday night, a high-flying Marseille will make the trip to Troyes.
Starting with the hosts, while Troyes might have opened 2023 with a much-needed 3-2 victory away at Strasbourg, it appears that might have just been a minor blip for Patrick Kisnorbo s side. Last seen over the weekend crashing out of the Coupe de France thanks to a routine 2-0 defeat against Lille, the Blues almost find themselves sat in Ligue 1 limbo. Landing just a single top-flight victory from their last nine outings a run that stems all the way back to September 18th the former Melbourne City boss will also have a continued headache over his side s defensive struggles. It should also be noted,…
Atletico Madrid s chances of finishing top of Champions League Group A are over after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Lokomotiv Moscow, with Koke having a goal ruled out by VAR.
Diego Simeone s side – without star forward Luis Suarez after the Uruguay international tested positive for coronavirus – needed to win on Wednesday in order to keep slim hopes of pipping holders Bayern Munich to top spot alive.
Yet, despite a bright start in which Joao Felix and Yannick Carrasco went close, Atleti failed to overcome their Russian opponents for a second successive match.
Koke had a goal disallowed for a marginal offside decision, with Jose Gimenez heading wide late on as Atleti were frustrated.
90 + |
FT as tonight s game ends in a draw.
<…
Thiago Motta hailed Juventus team spirit after they shrugged off two injuries and Michele Di Gregorio s red card to secure a thrilling 3-2 Champions League win over RB Leipzig.
Juventus, who are yet to concede a goal in Serie A this season, twice had to fight back from a goal down before securing the win with a late goal from Francisco Conceicao.
They endured a nightmare start as captain Bremer and winger Nicolas Gonzalez were both withdrawn after suffering injuries.
They then went down to 10 men when Di Gregorio was dismissed for handling outside his area, but Dusan Vlahovic s brace had them level before Conceicao showed great feet to tuck home an 82nd-minute winner.
It was a good match, even in the first half where we made some mistakes in the detail…
Tottenham captain Hugo Lloris admitted he “desires for other things” and is contemplating what life could look like away from the north London club at “the end of an era.”
The 36-year-old retired from international duty with France in January, one year after signing a contract extension that would keep him at Spurs through to the end of next season.
There has been speculation, however, that the goalkeeper might have already played his last game for the side he joined in 2012 following his season-ending thigh injury against Newcastle in April.
Lloris told French newspaper Nice-Matin: “We are coming to an important moment, whether for the club or for me. It’s the end of an era. I have desires for other things, I will ask myself quietly to study what wil…
Harry Kane has been given permission to travel to Germany to complete a medical with Bayern Munich, according to reports.
It comes following the news earlier on Thursday that Bayern had reportedly reached an agreement with Tottenham over a £95million deal to sign the England striker.
The clubs are reported to have settled in principle on terms for the England captain to move to Bayern after a series of bids earlier in the summer were rejected, according to reports citing sources in Germany.
Tottenham are not commenting on the latest reports emerging from Germany.
Kane is about to enter the final year of his Tottenham contract, meaning he would be free to leave for nothing in 12 months’ time.
Chairman Daniel Levy is believed to value the striker…
Gareth Bale took aim at the media again on Friday, responding to scathing recent coverage of him in Spain.
The Wales international was the hero for his country on Thursday after scoring two excellent goals to seal a 2-1 win against Austria and put them just one game away from qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar.
However, Bale has rarely featured for Real Madrid, his club side, this season, playing in just five of their 42 matches in all competitions, totalling 270 minutes on the field – the equivalent of three whole games.
Spanish outlet Marca has labelled the winger a parasite , also accusing him of sucking money out of the club.
Bale had described the criticism as disgusting after the Austria win, and he took to Twitter on Friday to further exp…