Five time World Player of the year and now the record signing for Italian club Juventus, Cristiano Ronaldo has said his move from Real Madrid was a “well thought out decision”, adding that aims to help his new club win their first Champions League title in more than two decades.

Ronaldo, who joined the Italian champions last week on a four-year contract for 100 million euros ($117.07 million), added that he did not want to stay in his comfort zone after winning three straight European Cups with Real.

The 33-year-old left Los Blancos as their all-time top scorer with 451 goals in all competitions and won two La Liga titles and four Champions League trophies over nine years.

“I’m a person who likes to think about the present,” he told a news conference on Monday. “I’m still very young and I always liked the challenges, from Sporting, to Manchester (United), to Real (Madrid) and now Juventus.

“It was a well thought-out decision. It is the best club in Italy. It has an outstanding manager (Massimiliano Allegri) and coaches so it was not a difficult decision to take.”

“I am very ambitious and I like new challenges. I hope everything will go very well. Luck always helps but you have to look for it.”

Why Italy, not Qatar or China?

Ronaldo said he was grateful for the opportunity to represent Juventus, admitting players of his age usually settle for a move to less competitive leagues in Qatar or China.

“Usually players think their careers are over when they are 33. But I don’t feel that at all,” he said, adding that this showed he was “different from the others”.

“(Juve) is a big club and usually players of my age go to Qatar or to China, with all due respect, so coming to such an important and great club at this stage in my career makes me very happy.”

Ronaldo said one of the factors in joining Juve was the standing ovation given to him by the Turin club’s fans on his last visit, when he scored an astonishing overhead kick for Real in the Champions League quarter-finals.

“It was a really stunning moment for me,” he added. “Being welcomed this way is so rewarding. It increases your motivation to start a new adventure.”

Juventus plot European comeback

The signing of the five-times world player of the year and Champions League top scorer for the last six seasons is a major coup for Juve, who have lifted the Serie A title for the last seven seasons but have not won Europe’s top prize since 1996.

“We are going to fight not only for the Champions League but for the Serie A title,” said Ronaldo. “We know competition will be tough but we must stay concentrated.

“I hope I can help Juventus win it (the Champions League). They couldn’t win (last year) because even when you get to the final nothing is written. I hope I can be the lucky star of this club but we will see what happens.”

Ronaldo scored twice when Real beat Juventus 4-1 in the 2017 Champions League final in between triumphs over Atletico Madrid and Liverpool in Europe’s elite club competition.

The Portugal captain took his goalscoring form to the World Cup in Russia and netted four times, but failed to lead the European champions beyond the last-16 stage.

Ronaldo said he would start training with Juve on July 30 and hoped to feature in the opening match of their title defence in August. The fixtures will be announced later this month.

REUTERS

The European season will come to a close this weekend with the Champions League final, yet teams across the continent have already got to work scouting out new players for next season. We asked our friends at Football Whispers to scour the European media to round-up the latest transfer news and big stories.

Germany

Bayer Leverkusen have confirmed goalkeeper Bernd Leno will leave the club this summer, but the Arsenal target’s destination has yet to be confirmed. The player’s agent, Uli Ferber, has stated that he is fully focused on the World Cup and will make a decision later in the summer. (Kicker)

Despite being under contract until 2019, Arturo Vidal is on Manchester United’s radar and may opt to leave Bayern Munich this summer before new signing Leon Goretzka replaces him in the first team. (SportBild)

Eintracht Frankfurt forward Ante Rebic scored two goals to help his side beat Bayern Munich in the DFB Cup final on Saturday and has already stated he wouldn’t be opposed to a move to Bavaria. The Croatian forward has turned his career around under former Frankfurt manager Niko Kovac and has stated that he would happily follow the coach to Munich. (Bild)

Italy

Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata has been linked with a move to AC Milan, but it seems as though representatives of the Spanish striker were in fact meeting Juventus’ delegates this week in Milan. The Italian champions are reportedly interested in initially loaning the striker before signing him permanently at the end of his loan agreement as they did with former Blues wideman Juan Cuadrado. (Calciomercato)

Representatives from Lazio had a four-hour meeting with Samuel Eto’o’s agent this week to discuss the possibility of signing the 37-year-old striker this summer. The Cameroon striker is close to leaving Turkish side Konyaspor and may be tempted back to Italy. (Tuttosport)

Spain

Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu confirmed on Catalonian radio that the club will not be able to speak to Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann or begin negotiating for the player until July 1. (Mundo Deportivo)

Villarreal are closing in on Newcastle target Toko Ekambi and could sign the Angers striker for €18m. According to reports a fee has been agreed and the two clubs are now ironing out the finer details. (Marca)

France

Under the threat of UEFA’s financial fair play sanctions, PSG will look to push through the sale of forward Goncalo Guedes to Valencia, assuming the Spanish club are willing to pay the full €40m asking price. (L’Equipe)

Didier Deschamps has labelled Adrien Rabiot’s decision to remove himself from France’s list of reserves for the World Cup as a “huge mistake” before stating that he learned of the midfielder’s decision through an email from the player. (L’Equipe)

Culled from Sky Sports News

Liverpool fans threw bottles and cans and aimed fireworks at the Manchester City bus as it arrived at Anfield ahead of Wednesday night’s Champions League game.

In the video, Liverpool fans can be seen launching bottles at Manchester City’s bus before the game on April 4.

Liverpool won the game, 3-0.

(Source: AP)

Zenit Saint-Petersburg coach Roberto Mancini said Tuesday he was open to taking over the vacant job as Italy national football coach.

Mancini, 53, is being touted along with Chelsea manager Antonio Conte and former Bayern Munich coach Carlo Ancelotti to take the reins of the demoralized four-time World Cup winners.

Giampiero Ventura was fired as coach last November days after Italy’s shock failure to reach the World Cup final for the first time in 60 years.

Finding Ventura’s successor has been complicated because the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has to elect a president to replace Carlo Tavecchio, who was also forced to resign.

“Before choosing a new coach it seems to me that we have to choose a new FIGC president,” former Manchester City and Inter Milan boss Mancini told Italian talk show “Tiki Taka”.

“But I absolutely don’t rule out Italy, like the other coaches I think. When you’re a coach you can rule nothing out.”

Former Chelsea, Real Madrid, Juventus and AC Milan boss Ancelotti – a three-time Champions League winner – had been Tavecchio’s choice.

But the 56-year-old, free since his sacking by Bayern Munich last year, has said he would prefer to stay in club management.

Former Juventus boss Conte, 48, coached Italy from 2014 before joining Chelsea in 2016, winning the Premier League in his first season.

Conte revealed last year that he misses Italy and plans to return to his homeland in the near future.

“Italy is my homeland, so once I have had some good experiences, formative experiences, important and life-changing experiences, I’ll be back. I don’t know when but that’s the aim,” he said in September.

The FIGC on Monday agreed their budget for 2018 and have set aside 5 million euro ($5.6m) to pay the new coach, despite a projected deficit of 9 million euros for the year, according to press reports.

Three candidates have their hat in the ring for FIGC presidency – former Italy and Roma star Damiano Tommasi, now head of the Italian Players’ Union; Italian Professional League president Gabriele Gravina and FIGC vice-president Cosimo Sibilia.

The election for president will take place on January 29.

(Source: Agence France Presse)

Some 1,000 Juventus soccer fans watching the European Champions League final in the Italian city of Turin have been injured in a stampede triggered by a bomb scare.

Witnesses said a firecracker explosion caused a panic movement at a Champions League fan zone in one of Turin’s main squares, where some 20,000 Juventus enthusiasts had gathered Saturday to watch their team face Spanish club Real Madrid on giant TV screens.

During the second half of the match, which Juventus lost 1-4, people mistook firecrackers for a terrorist bombing or gunshots, according to the witnesses.

Many panic-stricken fans then started screaming and trying to run out of the place when some people shouted that a bomb had exploded, triggering a large stampede.

Video cameras showed a sudden rush in the middle of the crowd flung against barriers at Piazza San Carlo Square.

About seven people were seriously hurt, including a 7-year-old boy who had been trampled.

“At that moment, I saw the entire piazza went in the direction next to the screen to escape, all in a panic,” said Brian Hendrie, an Associated Press reporter. “They ran, fell on the ground on the glass.”

Afterwards shoes and bags littered the ground, while people were seen limping and searching desperately for friends and relatives, according to a witness.

Police are now investigating the cause of the mayhem.

“The root cause of this was panic, to understand what triggered it we will have to wait a while,” said Renato Saccone, the prefect of Turin.

Juve head coach Massimiliano Allegri said following the match, “I would just like to say that we feel for what happened to our fans in Turin. There was an incident there; we hope that not too many people were injured.”

In recent years, a string of terror attacks, including bombings, shootings and stabbings, have hit multiple European cities, striking fear into the hearts of the nations in the continent.

Just as the European Champions League final was taking place, terrorists struck at the heart of London, killing six people in a series of vehicle and knife attacks.

Source: Presstv

Manchester United claimed their second major trophy of the season and secured Champions League football as they overcame Ajax and Cameroonian keeper Andre Onana to win the Europa League final in Stockholm.

On an emotional night following the attack which killed 22 people at Ariana Grande’s concert at the Manchester Arena on Monday, United’s fans were allowed a measure of celebration as Jose Mourinho’s side won in comfort.

Paul Pogba’s deflected shot put them ahead in the 18th minute and Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s sixth Europa League goal of the campaign, flicked in from Chris Smalling’s header at a corner, confirmed they would add to the EFL Cup won against Southampton earlier this season.

Wayne Rooney made a brief appearance as a substitute with a minute left and the game won, being handed the captain’s armband by Antonio Valencia on what could well be his farewell appearance for United.

And as the final whistle sounded and United’s celebrations began, chants of “Manchester” rang around the Friends Arena in tribute to those who died and were injured in the attack which cast a shadow over this showpiece occasion.

Source: BBC

At least one person has sustained injuries after a bomb explosion targeted the bus carrying members of the German football team Borussia Dortmund. Dortmund tweeted a collection of posts, saying, “There was an incident on departure of our bus. One person was injured. More information will follow.

“Bomb explosion at the team bus. Players in safety. No danger in the stadium. More information will follow. “Borussia Dortmund and police confirm there was an explosion involving the team bus with one injury (Bartra).” The German-language tabloid Bild reported that the incident occurred on Wittbräuckerstraße just 10 kilometers from Westfalenstadion, which is the home of Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund.

The paper identified the injured victim as 26-year-old Spaniard Marc Bartra, who is on his way to hospital. The explosion took place as the German team was to play against Monaco-based football club Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club Monaco in a Champions League quarter-final at the stadium tonight. Dortmund officials have confirmed that a decision on whether the game will go ahead will be made within next hours.

Presstv