La Liga
ALEX IWOBI’S FORM, GIVES BARCA HEADACHE OVER SUAREZ’S PERMANENT SWITCH TO ARSENAL
There are strong indications that the hope of Spanish Giants, FC Barcelona to push for a permanent move for their Loanee midfielder, Denis Suarez to Arsenal next summer may hit the brick wall following good performance of Super Eagles forward, Alex Iwobi in the present squad.
The Nigerian forward moved from the feeder team in the final years of Arsene Wenger days at the North London side and his stint so far has impressed the new coach Unai Emery.
However in a bid to strengthen the squad, the manager agreed with Barcelona for a loan spell for Suarez who has played below par with the Catalan side and wanted to offload many of its fringe players alongside Andre Gomez who moved to Everton FC from the beginning of the season.
Reports from Spain indicate that Barcelona are willing to push for permanent sale to make funds available to fortify the squad with players to understudy ageing Luis Suarez and a decent backup for Jordi Alba.
According to Marca, the Catalans already know where they will get a good part of the money fund they require for these deals: from the sales of Andre Gomes and Denis Suarez to the Premiership clubs.
Denis extended his stay at Barcelona until 2021 to spend the remainder of the current, 2018/2019 season on loan at Arsenal. The Gunners will pay the player’s salary. The contract also includes a buyout clause for the London-based club.
A loan fee is reported to be in the region of £2.1million. The Gunners would have to pay around £20m if they want to sign Denis on a permanent deal. The Spaniard found it hard to get into the starting XI at Arsenal, but Barcelona still expects the Gunners to use the clause and make the transfer permanent at the end of the season.
However, while Gomez has settled down with the Everton and could translate to a permanent deal this summer, the same cannot be said of the fresh Loanee has only played an hour and six minutes of football since he joined the London side and according to James Benge, a senior football reporter with Football. London on his Twitter handle said ” Iwobi trained with the first team today (Tuesday) after suffering right ankle injury against Southhampton and that will probably change on Wednesday (today) because Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan aren’t making it easy for the Loanee to earn a permanent switch from Barcelona
Failure to displace either of the duo will mean the player will return to Spain which is not a good report for the side who are aiming to offload dead weight players from its payroll.
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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