26, July 2020
Football: Mourinho vows to get Tottenham back in top four next season 0
Jose Mourinho vowed to get Tottenham back “where we belong” next season after they settled for Europa League qualification at the end of a troubled campaign.
Mourinho led Tottenham to a sixth-place finish in the Premier League after Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace.
Tottenham were 14th when Mourinho took charge in November following Mauricio Pochettino’s sacking and he endured a series of injuries to key players before the coronavirus hiatus.
So, while Mourinho was frustrated to have missed out on Champions League qualification, the Tottenham boss believes the foundations have been laid for a return to the top four next season.
“What we can do of course is improve. When all the players are available we showed in this last period where we belong. I don’t know, maybe in this period, after lockdown, we finished third or fourth in the table,” Mourinho said.
“So that’s where we belong. I want to have my team, my players, not a medical room full of players. I want a pitch full of players.
“Of course as a squad the main thing is to keep our very good players and after that improve the squad.
“Are we going to buy 10 players? No. Are we going to buy players for £100 million? No. We are going to improve.”
Mourinho oversaw a six-game unbeaten run to deliver Europa League qualification, overturning a seven-point gap to sixth place after a loss at Sheffield United earlier this month.
While the Europa League doesn’t have the prestige of the Champions League — in which Tottenham finished as runners-up last year — Mourinho said they should focus on winning the competition next season.
“Of course everybody that one day plays Champions League doesn’t want to go back and play Europa League but it was the only thing possible after such a difficult season for club,” he said.
“Arriving 14th and handling things is not bad at all. I am quite happy next season we play in Europa League and it’s just a question to motivate ourselves for that competition and try to motivate the fans to support us and do something beautiful.”
Source: AFP
8, August 2020
Football: A Champions League quarter-finals without Ronaldo 0
Lyon qualified for the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Friday despite losing 2-1 in Turin.
A goal up after winning February’s first leg, French side Lyon will face Manchester City at the final tournament in Lisbon after drawing 2-2 on aggregate and going through on away goals.
Lyon squeezed past the Italian champions thanks to Memphis Depay’s 12th-minute penalty which put Rudi Garcia’s side two goals ahead in the tie and left Juve with a mountain to climb.
Needing to score three unanswered goals in order to go through, Cristiano Ronaldo tried his best to drag the Italian champions over the line.
He levelled the scores on the night with a penalty of his own with two minutes left in the opening period before crashing a second home on the hour mark.
However Juve performed poorly and Lyon managed to hold on to set up a clash with Pep Guardiola’s City, who put out 13-time winners Real Madrid, on August 15.
Despite their nine consecutive Italian league titles in a row, Juventus could not get past a French side that finished seventh in Ligue 1 this season.
Ronaldo leads attack
Ronaldo spearheaded the Juventus attack as the five-time Champions League winner pushed for the last eight spot in his native Portugal.
Lyon’s early breakthrough came after Rodrigo Bentancur was judged to have fouled Houssem Aouar, and Depay calmly slotted past Wojciech Szczesny from the spot.
Juventus had dominated play early with Federico Bernardeschi dribbling through the Lyon defense after 19 minutes before Marcelo deflected the shot clear of goal.
Ronaldo sent a header wide after 21 minutes with Lopes denying a curling Ronaldo free kick, but he drew Juve level from the spot just before the break when Depay handballed a Miralem Pjanic free-kick.
The Portuguese then scored a second long range effort, with Leonardo Bonucci missing a chance minutes later.
Paulo Dybala came on with 20 minutes to go but failed to lift the Italians, with the Argentine who had been carrying a thigh injury, limping off quarter of an hour later.
Ronaldo missed to win the tie when he sent a header wide, ending Juventus’ hopes of a first Champions League title since 1996.
Juve, who had won only two of their last eight league games, end the season in the worst possible way, exhausted by the accumulation of matches at the end of a season interrupted for three months because of coronavirus.
The Ligue 1 season did not finish with Lyon’s only hope of qualifying for next year’s Champions League now resting on winning the 2020 edition.
Source: AFP