La Liga
Signing Coutinho Will Make Neymar Stay In Barca
Man of the moment in the summer transfer market has asked FC Barcelona to sign on his age-long pal since their youth days in Brazil, Philippe Coutinho if they want him to stay in the club and ignore the world record transfer fee that Paris Saint Germain are ready to pay on him.
Already, FC Barcelona are tracking Coutinho who is certain to keep Neymar happy in the club.
According to British tabloid, Metro, Barca have had to make a host of promises to Neymar in order to keep him at the club’
Defender, Gerard Pique remarked on Sunday night that the Neymar has been successfully persuaded to stay.
The 25-year-old suddenly became embroiled in one of the summer’s most unexpected transfer sagas, with Paris Saint-Germain seemingly prepared to activate his €222m (£199m) release clause as manager Unai Emery spoke of a need to sign ‘one of the best players in the world’.
But according to various reports in Spain, Pique, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez spoke with the PSG target for several hours to convince him of his importance at Camp Nou, before Pique confirmed the U-turn with a simple message on Instagram: ‘He stays.’
Another publication, Sport, claims that Barca went on a major charm offensive, beginning with new boss Ernesto Valverde who underlined Neymar’s importance as a key player, before the rest of the dressing room got in on the act.
Messi and Suarez insisted that he is just as integral a part of the famed ‘MSN’ attack as they are, while Pique reminded him of what it means to play for Barcelona and the legendary status he can acquire if he continues with the club.
mActions speak louder than words, though, and Messi relinquished free-kick duties in their pre-season win over Juventus at the weekend to show Neymar that he can share the spotlight, with the Brazilian likely to take more set-pieces in the future.
Meanwhile, Mundo Deportivo reports that, while Barca will not offer Neymar a new deal after only signing an extension last year, they are prepared to convince him of his importance another way: by signing his favourite players.
One of the biggest draws for Neymar about joining PSG was the abundance of Brazilians already in the French capital, including his good friend Dani Alves and former Brazil skipper Thiago Silva.
As a result, Barca want to bolster their ranks with a few Brazilians of their own and will target two friends and compatriots of Neymar to keep him happy and settled in Catalonia: Former Tottenham flop Paulinho and, even more importantly, Liverpool playmaker Philippe Coutinho.
It was mission accomplished, said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti after his side fought back from two-goals behind to snatch a rip-roaring 4-4 draw on Tuesday for a 5-4 aggregate win that put them through to the Copa del Rey final.
Ancelotti brushed off questions about a sub-par performance by his side and praised his players’ effort in what he considered a highly entertaining encounter.
“We have achieved our goal today which was to reach the final and there is not much time to think about it,” Ancelotti told a press conference.
“It was an entertaining game with some mistakes and a lot of good things. It was fun and we are in the final.
“I never saw ourselves out of it because anything can happen at the Bernabeu. When we have to come from behind, we never give up. We never give up, especially at home, with the fans by our side.”
Ancelotti said David Alaba was not to blame after he deflected two balls into his own goal, calling it “bad luck” by the Austrian defender, but urged his defence to play with better focus moving forward.
“It’s not good to concede four goals in a game,” Ancelotti said.
“Right now we are a team that has a lot of effectiveness up-front, but little balance.
“However, we can’t ignore what we did in attack, scoring four goals against Real is not that easy. I think we are doing quite well.”
Real Madrid, who have won the Spanish Cup only once in over a decade, will play either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid in a mouth-watering final in Seville next month.
Atletico fought back to hold Barca to a thrilling 4-4 draw ahead of Wednesday’s second-leg in Madrid.
-Reuters
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Real Madrid’s legendary coach Carlo Ancelotti will go on trial next week for allegedly failing to declare income to Spain’s tax office, the Madrid court which will hear the case has said.
Prosecutors are seeking a jail term of four years and nine months for the 65-year-old Italian, accusing him of having cost Spain’s treasury more than one million euros ($1.1 million) in undeclared earnings from image rights in 2014 and 2015.
The trial will begin on Wednesday and it is expected to last two days, a spokesman for the court said.
Ancelotti, who as a coach has won a record five Champions League trophies including three with Real, must be present for the hearings, he added.
Prosecutors accuse him of only declaring in his tax returns the personal remuneration received from Real Madrid during those two years even though he himself declared himself to be a tax resident in Spain and indicated his home was in Madrid.
They accuse Ancelotti of allegedly setting up a “confusing” and “complex” system of shell companies to hide his extra earnings from his image rights as well as from other sources such as real estate.
A Spanish court in 2023 ordered Ancelotti to stand trial over the affair, but did not set a date.
Ancelotti dismissed the affair last year as “an old story that I hope will be resolved soon” when he was asked about the case.
He took over at Real Madrid in 2013, leaving in May 2015, before being appointed at Bayern Munich the following year.
The former Italy international midfielder, who as a player won the European Cup twice with AC Milan, later managed Napoli and Everton before returning to Real Madrid in 2021.
Aside from his success in the Champions League he has won domestic league titles with Madrid and Milan, in England with Chelsea, in Germany with Bayern Munich and in France with Paris Saint-Germain.
-AFP
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Spain’s former soccer chief Luis Rubiales told Reuters on Thursday he would appeal a court ruling which found him guilty of sexual assault for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent.-
-Reuters
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