Jose Mourinho should have a great relationship with Chelsea supporters.
As
the man who gave them three league titles - 60 percent of the league
championships their club has EVER won - you might think the Manchester United boss could expect a warm welcome when he returns to Stamford Bridge.
Apparently not. During United's 1-0 defeat in the FA Cup quarter-final, a large number of Chelsea fans booed and jeered their former hero.
So how did Mourinho deal with this unexpected abuse? In typical Mourinho style, of course.
"Are these people serious? Do they not remember who am I?" (Photo: AFP)
During the game, he simply held up three fingers, to remind
the home support of those three league titles. Straight after the
match, he went one step further - delivering one of his classic comedy
putdowns:
“Until the moment they have a manager that wins four
Premier Leagues for them, I'm the No1. When they have somebody who wins
four Premier Leagues for them, I'll be No2. For this moment, Judas is
No1."
Ouch. Mind you, the Stamford Bridge boo-boys are not the
first victims of a Mourinho barb. Not by a long shot. After he came up with the outstanding reply to
Chelsea fans booing him, here are the best/wittiest insults ever
delivered by The Special One.
Cameroon's last-gasp win ends a 15-year wait for another continental crown
Cameroon came from behind to beat Egypt 2-1 and seal a fifth Africa Cup of Nations in a thrilling, edgy final.
Substitute
Vincent Aboubakar swept in the winner two minutes from time, flicking
the ball over defender Ali Gabr and thumping it home.
Nicolas Nkoulou had earlier equalised for Cameroon, rising highest to power in a header on the hour mark.
The equaliser cancelled out Mohamed Elneny's opener on 22 minutes with a beautifully taken near-post strike.
The wild celebrations for Aboubakar's winner announced Cameroon's return to the continental summit, after a wait of 15 years.
It
also makes them the second most successful nation in the competition's
history - behind Egypt - and marks the first time they have beaten the
Pharoahs in the final in three attempts.
Besiktas striker
Aboubakar ran towards the triumphant Cameroon fans in the Stade de
l'Amitie stands in Libreville to celebrate, pursued by delirious
teammates and coaching staff.
Underdogs Cameroon had already upset the odds to reach the final and stunned the much-fancied Egyptians with the late dramatic strike, after fellow substitute Nkoulou had drawn them level.
Despite
being beset by pre-tournament problems, including the withdrawal of key
players such as Joel Matip and Eric Chuopo-Moting, coach Hugo Broos
managed to assemble a squad that got their reward for being strong,
adaptable and resilient in equal measure throughout.
The Pharaohs -
bidding for an eighth title after seven years in the international
wilderness - started comfortably and Elneny's opening strike capped a
wonderful fluent move down the right.
The Gunners midfielder
started the move and finished it, after receiving the ball from Mohamed
Salah in the box and sweeping it past Fabrice Ondoa into the roof of the
net at the near post.
But Egypt invited the Indomitable Lions to come at them in the second half and they paid a heavy price.
The
excellent Cameroon forward Benjamin Moukandjo whipped in an excellent,
menacing cross and substitute Nkoulou muscled his way through the
Egyptian defence to beat Ahmed Hegazy to the ball and bury it past
44-year-old Essam El Hadary in the Egyptian goal.
The contest
developed into a fascinating cagey final, with Cameroon, inspired by the
excellent Christian Bassogog and Jacques Zoua up front, pinning Egypt
back and limiting them to long balls to Salah and substitute Ramadan
Sobhi.
Fatigue soon set in in the Egyptian ranks and Cameroon got
their ultimate reward for increasing the pressure on the experienced
Egyptian defence.
Aboubakar
controlled a long ball forward with his chest at the edge of the box,
flicked it over the stranded Gabr, before gathering, taking a step and
smashing home off his right foot for a fitting winner.
The Egyptians - featuring the tournament's oldest and most experienced player - El Hadary, were left stunned after looking comfortable for much of the first half.
As
they had done for much of the tournament, Egypt relied on a
well-marshalled defence, led by Ahmed Hegazy, Gabr and Hull City's Ahmed
Elmohamady. They also had the formidable Elneny and Salah leading the
line.
The Pharaohs more than played their part in an entertaining
final, but it was Cameroon's energy that would light up the occasion
and provide a thrilling end to a thoroughly entertaining tournament for
the near-capacity crowd of more than 38,000 in the Gabonese capital.
Belgian coach Broos reflected the unity in his squad's ranks, as he celebrated the first Nations Cup title of his career.
"I am happy for the players," he said. "This is not a group of football players, they are a group of friends."
Egypt
coach Hector Cuper was left to dwell on another defeat in a major
final, having lost two European Champions League finals with Spanish
club Valencia.
"The sadness I have is not because I lost another final," he said.
"It's
because there was so much hope especially among the people in Egypt and
I am sorry for the players who put in so much effort."
Liverpool are are looking to sign Southampton defender, José Fonte, in the January transfer window to plug their leaky defence.
Fonte has recently rejected a new contract deal at St Mary’s, and he is looking for a move elsewhere. Southampton will demand a fee of around £10m for the 33-year-old defender.
According to reports from the Mirror, Liverpool are keen to bring the Portuguese to Anfield to reinforce the defensive area. Jürgen Klopp
wants to bring in an experienced defender to his squad, and Fonte fits
the bill. His wealth of experience could be a major asset for Klopp, as
he aims to guide Liverpool to the Premier League title.
José Mourinho, the Manchester United manager, is ready to test Chelsea’s resolve with a shock move for Nemanja Matić next summer.
United will be looking to spend big next summer as Mourinho is keen to build the squad to his own taste. While Atlético Madrid duo Antonione Griezmann and Saúl Ñíguez are the top of his shopping list, according to the Mirror, the Portuguese wants Matić as well to bolster his midfield department.
Chelsea have exercised the option of recalling striker Patrick Bamford
from his year-long loan spell at Burnley. After Nathan Aké, this is the
second player whom Chelsea have recalled to strengthen the push for the
Premiership title in the second half of the season.
Bamford has been one of the numerous young talents perennially on loan outside Stamford Bridge.
The Burnley move was his sixth such loan spell. Bamford has
disappointed by and large in this spell, playing a grand total of only 33 minutes across six games in the Premiership.
With Chelsea raring to win the Premier League,
Antonio Conte needs to carry out some preemptive measures. Not
surprisingly, there have been suggestions that the Chelsea boss wants to
add another striker to the ranks. With Diego Costa being sublime this
season, the Blues don’t need a first-team striker, but they do require a
capable back-up whenever the need arises. Costa has been disciplined
this season, but still carries the risk of blowing up anytime, and
hence, precautions must be taken.
Chelsea signed Michy Batshuayi from Marseille in the summer. The
Belgian had done exceedingly well with the French club in the last
couple of seasons, and it made sense for the player to move to greener
pastures, especially considering Marseille were in deep crisis after
Marcelo Bielsa resigned.
Chelsea are looking to sign the highly talented Middlesbrough centre-back Ben Gibson at the end of this season.
As per Daily Mirror‘s report, The 23-year-old is one of the most sought after defenders in the Premier League alongside vanDijk right now and AntonioConte sees him as the perfect replacement for club legend JohnTerry.
Till last week, the interest in Monaco midfielder, Tiemoué Bakayoko, was limited to three heavyweight Premier League clubs – Manchester United, Manchester City, and Chelsea. To make the transfer saga more appealing, what more can you do? Yes, you guessed it right. Just add more clubs to the mix.
According to reports from Le 10 Sport, Liverpool and Arsenal
have joined the race for the highly rated 22-year-old French
midfielder. The Reds have made a concrete approach and have contacted
Monaco to enquire about their asking price for the player.
The Fifa Council has “unanimously approved” plans to expand the World Cup to 48 teams from 2026 onwards.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino’s revamped plan for the World Cup
has received the desired backing he has craved. Delegates in Zurich
were asked to vote on four proposals to change the existing format or
stick with the current format of 32 teams.
Cohen Bramall signed for Premier League giants Arsenal on Tuesday
just a week after being made redundant from his factory job with luxury
carmakers Bentley.
The 20-year-old defender — who had previously failed to convince
Crystal Palace and Sheffield Wednesday to take him on after trials with
them — signed for a reported fee of £40,000 (46,000 euros, $48,500) from
non league side Hednesford Town.
Arsenal’s creative fulcrum Mesut Özil has opened up about his stalled contract talks with the Gunners. The German World Cup winner has emphasised the importance of manager Arsène Wenger staying at the club beyond the current season in his signing on the dotted lines.
Özil joined Arsenal from Real Madrid
in a club record transfer in the summer of 2013. The 28-year-old has 18
months remaining on his current contract, and negotiations over a new
deal have hit a roadblock over terms and wages.
However, in an interview with German magazine Kicker, Özil has expressed his desire to sign a new contract and reiterated his commitment to the club.
Chelsea confirmed
yesterday that defender Nathan Ake has been recalled from his loan term
at Bournemouth. The Englishman was supposed to spend the season at the
Vitality Stadium, but has returned to Stamford Bridge
after 6 months. He may have played only 10 games for Bournemouth, but
made a huge impact in that short period. On debut, he scored the only
goal of the game away at Stoke City before netting the winner in a
dramatic 4-3 win over Liverpool at home.
Eddie Howe is facing some big defensive headaches following this
move, with Marc Wilson injured and captain Simon Francis suspended. The
Cherries were eliminated from the FA Cup at the first time of asking in the third round, after being dismantled 3-0 away at League One side Millwall on Saturday.
Time: 5:30 p.m. GMT / 6:30 p.m. CET / 12:30 p.m. ET
Livestream: FIFA.com
All eyes will be on the award for the best men’s player, between
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann. Ronaldo will be
the likely favorite to win this award after recently picking up his
fourth Ballon d’Or. In 2016 the Portuguese forward led his country to
their first ever tournament win at the Euros and won the Champions League with Real Madrid.
The best men’s coach for 2016 has a clear favorite in Claudio Ranieri. The Leicester City manager guided his team to a historic Premier League
title with smart tactics, suffering just three losses in the league all
season. The other managers up for the award are Portugal coach Fernando
Santos and Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane.
Mikel Obi has left Chelsea, the team where he grew from a boy to a
man and became a father. In his 10 years at the London Club, Mikel
rightly divided opinions, but his achievements for the club have to be
hailed and will forever be remembered.
In his 10-year stay, Chelsea became a global club and won major
titles that had not been won before he came in from Norway as a gangling
ball-playing midfielder.
Chelsea’s official site said, “His finest moment came in 2012 in
Munich when his incredible discipline in midfield protected the defence
and helped us to claim our first Champions League triumph.”
Chelsea‘s 13-match winning run was brought to an end last night as Tottenham secured a memorable 2-0 win over their rivals thanks to a brace from Dele Alli.
The England international scored two identical headers in either half to hand Spurs a morale-boosting win. The Blues are still five points clear at the top of the table and will be hoping to bounce back against Leicester in their next game.
Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp will be disappointed that his team have failed to close the gap with Chelsea.
Algerian and Leicester City Super star Riyad Mahrez has been voted as the African Player
of the Year at the 25th edition of the Glo-CAF Awards held Thursday
night in Abuja.
Mahrez dethroned Pierre-Emerick AUBAMEYANG who won the last edition but finished as runners up this year.
Manchester
United are a club with rich history, known as one of the greatest teams
in the world with one of the largest worldwide fanbases. Sir Alex
Ferguson managed Manchester United for an incredible 26 years from 1986
to 2013. Ever since his retirement, they have been looking for the right
replacement to win trophies and keep their supreme status as a club.
This transition over the last five years has seen three different
managers take charge; the latest being José Mourinho this season.
Immediately he looked to use the resources and money that the club had,
bringing in huge signings such as Zlatan Ibrahimović, Henrikh
Mkhitaryan, Eric Bailly and the world record transfer of Paul Pogba.
Swansea City striker, Fernando Llorente, says that he does not know anything about the rumoured interest from Chelsea, and that he is solely focussed on continuing with the Wales club.
Antonio Conte, the Chelsea manager, is looking to bolster his attacking department following the departure of Oscar to the Chinese Super League. Michy Batshuayi
has hardly played under Conte this season, and although the Italian has
backed him publicly, it seems that he is not fully convinced with the
Belgian striker.
James Rodríguez, left, celebrates with Luka Modric after scoring Real
Madrid’s third goal against Sevilla before half-time in the first leg of
the Copa del Rey last-16 tie.
Photograph: Denis Doyle/Getty Images
Real Madrid started 2017 by extending their unbeaten run to 38
matches in all competitions with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Sevilla
in the first leg of their Copa del Rey last-16 clash.
A first-half brace from James Rodríguez and a Raphaël Varane header
was enough for Madrid to ease the foot off the gas in the second half
before the second leg in Seville on 12 January.
Álvaro Morata missed a glorious early chance after Luka Modric picked
out the Spain international in the six-yard box. Morata diverted the
ball wide with the linesman saving the striker’s blushes as he was
flagged for offside.
Ashley Cole, Patrick Vieira and Sol Campbell celebrate Arsenal’s Premier
League title with a 1-0 victory over Manchester United in May 2002, the
12th league win of their record run.
Photograph: Alex Livesey/Getty Images
Chelsea’s
defeat at White Hart Lane means they have failed to equal Arsenal’s
English top-flight record winning run of 14 consecutive matches, falling
one short at 13, although they did match the record for successive wins
in a single season.
Chelsea’s run began following their 3-0 defeat at Arsenal on 24 September, after which they won 2-0 at Hull City and carried on winning right through October, November and December.
Arsenal supporters will claim their run was of greater significance,
even if it spanned two seasons, given that the 13 successive victories
at the end of the 2001-02 campaign carried Arsène Wenger’s side to the
title. They also fitted in winning the FA Cup, beating Chelsea 2-0 in the final in the Cardiff to complete Wenger’s second Double in five seasons.
