What the papers say
David Squires on … José Mourinho's big day back at Chelsea
Our cartoonist looks back at an eventful afternoon at the Bridge for Chelsea and Manchester United
Continue reading...'My lawyers are confident': Cristiano Ronaldo addresses rape allegation – video
Cristiano Ronaldo says he and his lawyers are confident he will be cleared of an allegation of rape, with the Juventus player declaring himself a 'happy man' prior to facing former club Manchester United in the Champions League.
The 33-year-old is being sued by a woman in the United States, Kathryn Mayorga, who claims he raped her in the penthouse suite of a Las Vegas hotel in 2009.
Ronaldo firmly denied the allegation of rape in a Twitter post and did so again in a surprising appearance at the pre-match press conference at Old Trafford.
'I know I am an example,' he said. 'I know, 100%. On the pitch and outside (of) the pitch, so I am always smiling, I am a happy man. The truth always comes in first position'
Cristiano Ronaldo’s six greatest games at Old Trafford | Paul Wilson
Ronaldo’s Old Trafford unveiling was remarkable in many ways, not least for George Best calling it the most exciting debut he had ever seen when the winger was on the pitch for only 30 minutes. The score was 1-0 to United when Ronaldo came on for Nicky Butt after an hour. By the end it was four and could have been more and the Bolton defenders Nicky Hunt, Ricardo Gardner and Ivan Campo were all glad to hear the final whistle. Pace, power, stepovers, quick feet and quality set-piece delivery: the 18-year-old seemed to have the lot, as one commentator noted. Life after David Beckham was not going to be dull after all.
Continue reading...‘Truth comes first’ – Cristiano Ronaldo defiant on Old Trafford return
• ‘We know it will be tough against United,’ Ronaldo says
Cristiano Ronaldo said on Monday he is a “happy man” and claimed “the truth comes first” as he answered questions in Manchester about the allegation of rape against him.
Ronaldo is expected to play for Juventus against his former club Manchester United in the Champions League match at Old Trafford on Tuesday. He is the subject of a criminal investigation by Las Vegas police and a separate civil action after the allegation of rape by Kathryn Mayorga, which she says happened in the summer of 2009. Ronaldo strenuously denies the allegation.
My lawyers, they are confident and of course I am, too. The most important, is I enjoy the football
Related: Ronaldo’s return to Old Trafford a reminder of how life used to be | Barney Ronay
Continue reading...Ronaldo’s return to Old Trafford a reminder of how life used to be | Barney Ronay
At some point on Tuesday night the home fans at Old Trafford will probably sing a round of Viva Ronaldo. From distant metro platforms to wind-raked terraces, it has been a Manchester United standard of the past decade, an Elvis riff on those six years when Cristiano Ronaldo transformed himself from dazzling gadfly to the best footballer in the world.
With Ronaldo back in Manchester Viva Ronaldo feels particularly apt, a song about a moment in time and a player that have both decisively passed. Juventus against Manchester United in Group H of the Champions League hardly needs the added soap opera of a personal homecoming. But the fact that it is Ronaldo’s first return of the post‑Ferguson years sees him a much-changed figure, in more ways than one.
Related: Miralem Pjanic: ’We were in danger. Football wasn’t the most important thing’ | Paolo Bandini
It is easy to forget quite how good and how perfectly realised Ronaldo was in his final year at United
Continue reading...Chelsea coach Marco Ianni charged over Stamford Bridge touchline chaos
• Ianni twice goaded José Mourinho during 2-2 draw
• United manager warned after trying to confront Italian
Chelsea’s assistant coach Marco Ianni has been charged with improper conduct following the chaotic scenes that marked the closing stages of the 2-2 draw with Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Related: José Mourinho denies interest in taking over at Real Madrid for a second time
Continue reading...Touchline scuffles, Messi's arm and five-goal hauls – Football Weekly
Melissa Rudd is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Paul MacInnes as they discuss Chelsea’s dramatic draw with Manchester United, Fulham’s shocking defence, five-star Luka Jovic and much more
Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.
Melissa Rudd is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Paul MacInnes as they go through the weekend’s footballing action, starting at Stamford Bridge where Ross Barkley’s late equaliser sparked an almighty brouhaha, involving José Mourinho, Marco Ianni and co.
Continue reading...'I don't like this press conference': Mourinho unhappy with Pogba and Madrid questions – video
José Mourinho has denied any interest in taking over at Real Madrid saying that he wants to stay on as Manchester United manager beyond his current contract, which ends in the summer of 2020.
Reports in Spain have claimed Mourinho is seen by Real as a replacement for Julen Lopetegui following the European champions’ disappointing start to the season. They sit seventh in La Liga, four points behind the leaders Barcelona, following Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat to Levante.
Speaking ahead of United's Champions League tie against Juventus on Tuesday, a spiky Mourinho also deflected a question about Paul Pogba taking on his former club, saying: 'I don't like this press conference.'
José Mourinho denies interest in taking over at Real Madrid for a second time
• Mourinho linked following Julen Lopetegui’s poor start at Real
• He wants to stay at Manchester United beyond current contract
José Mourinho has denied any interest in taking over at Real Madrid, stating he wishes to stay as Manchester United manager beyond his current contract, which ends in the summer of 2020.
Reports in Spain have claimed Mourinho is seen by Real as a replacement for Julen Lopetegui following the European champions’ disappointing start to the season. They sit seventh in La Liga, four points behind the leaders Barcelona, following Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat to Levante.
Continue reading...Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action
Woefully leaky Fulham are on course to concede 100 goals, and is it nearly time for Álvaro Morata and Chelsea to part ways?
On the eve of the new season Slavisa Jokanovic said Fulham “don’t have to change much but we need to be intelligent. We need to grow up.” Two months down the line and either Jokanovic underestimated how much Fulham needed to adapt to be ready for the Premier League or his players are not being as smart as he had hoped. Whatever the answer, Fulham did not spend more than £100m in the summer to be languishing in the relegation zone with one win from nine games and a defensive record that is in danger of becoming an embarrassment. Alarm bells should be ringing after Cardiff, who had scored only four times in their opening eight games, doubled their tally for the season against Jokanovic’s porous team. As things stand, Fulham are on course to concede more than 100 goals this season. They need to wise up fast. Stuart James
Related: The Dozen: the weekend’s best Premier League photos
Related: Alexandre Lacazette thriving at sharp end after Emery finally gets his man
Continue reading...Chelsea and Manchester United likely to be warned by FA after chaotic scenes
• José Mourinho provoked by Marco Ianni after late equaliser
• FA could issues charges depending on Mike Dean’s report
Chelsea and Manchester United are expected to be let off with a warning and reminded of their future conduct by the Football Association following the chaotic scenes that marked the closing stages of their 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Related: How should Mourinho fix Manchester United’s defence? By attacking | Jonathan Wilson
Related: Glazers do not intend to sell Manchester United amid reports of Saudi interest
Continue reading...The Dozen: the weekend’s best Premier League photos
Your weekend round-up of the best photography from England’s top flight
- View the Dozen archive
Miralem Pjanic: ’We were in danger. Football wasn’t the most important thing’ | Paolo Bandini
As Juventus prepare to face Manchester United in the Champions League, the midfielder tells of how his tears as a baby helped his family flee war in Bosnia
Fahrudin Pjanic knew war was coming. As a footballer for FK Drina Zvornik in the Yugoslavian third division, he travelled around the country enough to see the social and political tensions that were building in the early 1990s. As the father of a newborn son, Miralem, his instinct was to get his family out before the worst happened.
Related: Skill, desire and Sir Alex: how Ronaldo transformed Manchester United
By keeping things simple, Paul Scholes made himself special. I think Cristiano Ronaldo learned from players like that
Related: Investments are protected and for now Cristiano Ronaldo is too big to fail | Barney Ronay
Continue reading...Glazers do not intend to sell Manchester United amid reports of Saudi interest
• United’s owners not even interested in selling stake in club
Manchester United’s owners, the Glazer family, have no immediate intentions to sell the club, or even a stake in it.
Rumours first began to circulate around a week ago that the Glazers, United’s owners since 2005, were considering a takeover bid from Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, with reports on Saturday suggesting an offer in the region of £4bn was to be discussed between both parties in the next couple of weeks.
Related: How should Mourinho fix Manchester United’s defence? By attacking
Continue reading...How should Mourinho fix Manchester United’s defence? By attacking
There are times when you wonder whether the gods of football have almost too pronounced a sense of irony. Not content with a script that pitted an under-pressure José Mourinho against a series of ghosts of his past (Manuel Pellegrini, Rafa Benítez and Chelsea lining up like the conspirators around Julius Caesar, with Juventus, a club he clashed with repeatedly in Italy and now bolstered by his agent’s most high-profile other client, to come), they have devised a new torment for their plaything: his teams have become incapable of doing the thing he was renowned for getting his teams to do – defending.
Related: Maurizio Sarri admits Chelsea in wrong while José Mourinho accepts apology
When the problem is so clear, why does Mourinho keep playing in a way that accentuates his team’s flaws
Related: Chelsea 2-2 Manchester United: how the players rated at Stamford Bridge
Continue reading...Skill, desire and Sir Alex: how Ronaldo transformed Manchester United
Teenager dazzled on debut and told his teammates he was the best, say those who worked with him, but his inspirational performances took the club to another dimension
Mike Phelan observed all of Cristiano Ronaldo’s six years at Manchester United from the intimate position of first coach and then number two to Sir Alex Ferguson. So when he says the Portuguese – who returns to Old Trafford on Tuesday with Juventus in the Champions League – took the storied club to a different level, it is a measure of the respect he earned at United.
“The impact Cristiano Ronaldo had – he took the players, staff, the football club into a new dimension. He excelled in the development of the team and the club. He was a young impressionable footballer when he came to the club and left a mature adult. And took his game even further on from then. He was inspirational.”
Related: Investments are protected and for now Cristiano Ronaldo is too big to fail | Barney Ronay
‘The first time I saw Ronaldo he was terrorising us from every angle. Players were saying: “What did we just witness?”’
Related: Cristiano Ronaldo scoring for Juventus is just a goal, nothing else | Paolo Bandini
Continue reading...Anthony Martial’s magic shows attack is Mourinho’s best form of defence | Barney Ronay
Nobody really knows how good Anthony Martial is, or could have been or may yet be. Least of all, you suspect, Martial himself, whose last three years after that lavish £53m transfer from Monaco have been spent in stages of uncertainty, in a team that has meandered through assorted fraught and fragile new dawns.
For those ill-disposed to José Mourinho it has been tempting to lump Martial in already as a Salah-to-be, another case of De Bruyne-shock in-waiting, an attacking talent destined to bloom spectacularly away from Mourinho’s heavy air.
Related: Maurizio Sarri admits Chelsea in wrong while José Mourinho accepts apology
Related: Chelsea’s late leveller against Manchester United sparks touchline chaos around Mourinho
Related: Chelsea 2-2 Manchester United: how the players rated at Stamford Bridge
Continue reading...Chelsea were at fault for sparking scuffle, says Maurizio Sarri – video
Maurizio Sarri has admitted that Chelsea were in the wrong over a touchline bust-up between his assistant coach and José Mourinho. Mourinho has dismissed Marco Ianni's behaviour as 'bad education'. The events transpired after Ross Barkley's 96th-minute goal saw the game end with two goals each
Continue reading...Maurizio Sarri admits Chelsea in wrong while José Mourinho accepts apology
• Assistant coach made ‘big mistake’ provoking United manager
• Mourinho dismisses Marco Ianni’s actions as ‘bad education’
Maurizio Sarri apologised to Manchester United and admitted Chelsea were in the wrong after one of his coaches sparked a furious touchline row with José Mourinho.
Mourinho leapt from his seat on United’s bench to confront Marco Ianni after Sarri’s assistant coach celebrated Ross Barkley’s dramatic late equaliser for Chelsea by pumping his fists in front of the away dugout at Stamford Bridge. The dispute spiralled into the tunnel, forcing stewards to intervene, and led to heated exchanges between members of both benches.
Related: Chelsea’s late leveller against Manchester United sparks touchline chaos around Mourinho
Related: Chelsea 2-2 Manchester United: how the players rated at Stamford Bridge
Continue reading...'Fantastic result for Chelsea, an awful result for us', says José Mourinho – video
A late equaliser from Ross Barkley maintained Chelsea’s unbeaten start to the season as tempers flared on the touchline at Stamford Bridge. However, it was clear that the Manchester United manager, José Mourinho, felt his side deserved to take the three points from his former employers. ‘When you are the best team, you want to win,’ said Mourinho
Continue reading...