Napoli Title chase seems to Slow down

On: By: index

Napoli were realistically seen as the only title challengers for Juventus in the Italian Serie A this season.

However, they now have appeared to have title on a plate for Juventus after losing 3-1 to Udinese in an ill-tempered game. Striker Gonzalo Higuain, who has been a major factor in the club’s push for the league title with more than 25 goals already, took his league tally to 30 goals with a fine effort to equalise after Bruno Fernandes had converted the penalty inside the opening 20 minutes.

However, the game changed dramatically just at half-time when Fernandes restored the advantage for Udinese while Théréau’s goal just before the hour mark helped the club put a lot of distance between them and the title chasing team. Any hope of a comeback came to an end after Higuain received his marching orders for a second yellow card in the 75th minute. Napoli have been unable to score goals in the absence of the former Real Madrid striker and this had a huge consequence on the moral of the team. The loss has allowed Juventus to open a seven-point advantage with seven games left. Despite the sizeable advantage for the reigning champions, Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri is refusing to give up on the title. Continue reading “Napoli Title chase seems to Slow down” →

There has not been much of a winter break for the Spanish clubs

On: By: index

There has not been much of a winter break for the Spanish clubs – especially Barcelona due to their involvement in the Club World Cup – but this does not seem to affect Luis Enrique and his men.

The manager was recently named as the coach of the year at the FIFA Ballon d’Or awards. Despite many being sceptical about his appointment, Enrique managed to match the achievements of great managers like Pep Guardiola by winning a whole host of trophies in one campaign. Repeating the feat will be a major task, but Barcelona appear to be in a strong position as far as defending the league is concerned.

The club are up against Granada just a few days after the 4-1 win over arch rivals Espanyol. Enrique has called for focus from his players and also not to underestimate the opponents. Three points will be a major necessity for the club after having recently conceded the top spot in the la Liga to Atletico Madrid. The latter have been able to go two points clear by virtue of playing one game more than the Catalan club. Barcelona have recently been strengthened by the arrivals of several young players and Arda Turan. The club have been unable to complete the signing of the former Atletico Madrid star due to the transfer ban, which has now been lifted. Continue reading “There has not been much of a winter break for the Spanish clubs” →

In spite of all the rumors, Neymar is not likely to join United anytime soon

On: By: index

Manchester United has scored 2 goals from their opening 3 Premier League matches of the season which is a fairly low amount of goals for a team which is aiming to become the new champions of England and have spent a hefty amount of cash in the summer transfer window.

RadamelFalcao left Old Trafford after not living up to the expectations of fans and Robin van Persie also made his way out of Manchester United, this has left the Premier League club with a deficiency in their attacking department.

Barcelona’s Neymar has turned into a summer target of Manchester United as Louis van Gaal is believed to be interested in signing the Spanish attacker but it will be an extremely player to sign taking into consideration that Neymar has a release clause of €137 million.

Even if Manchester United does splash out that world record fee in signing the Brazilian forward, it seems unlikely that Barcelona are even willing to think about offloading one of their most influential and important players in the entire team.

The agent of Neymar, Wagner Ribeiro stated that all the rumors and reports which have been emerging is nothing more than speculation but nothing is actually real.

Wagner Ribeiro told the media: “There’s nothing. This is speculation in the summer window. The move does not exist. “He has three more years of contract. English newspapers are very speculative. Barcelona never think about selling Neymar and he is very happy there.” Continue reading “In spite of all the rumors, Neymar is not likely to join United anytime soon” →

Neymar is being investigated for tax fraud

On: By: index

It seems like more and more players of Barcelona are being involved with tax fraud and things of this nature as Messi a few months ago was entangled with not paying tax and he was investigated along with his father.

 

Neymar is the latest player of Barcelona to be linked with allegations of tax fraud. Brazilian tax authorities are believed to be examining documents from the finance ministry and have been taking a look at Neymar’s accounts for over a year.

 

Federal prosecutors say they hope to file charges in the next few weeks. Authorities have announced that they have already been seeing a mysterious and unnatural cash flow of around 115 million Brazilian raeals which is about €25 million between the years of 2011 and 2014.

 

In May of 2013, the Brazilian attacker made a switch from Santos to Barcelona for a transfer fee of €57 million but a few weeks after the transfer and everything was completed, there was an investigation made which revealed contradictory information about the transfer. Continue reading “Neymar is being investigated for tax fraud” →

Neymar has become the 5th top goal-scorer of Brazil

On: By: index

At the age of 23, Neymar has already managed to score 43 goals for Brazil at the international stage as the young star of Barcelona has turned into the 5th highest goal-scorer for his country.

Neymar surpassed Bebeto who during his playing career scored 39 goals for Brazil but at this rate it seems like Neymar will overthrow everybody else in the list of goal-scorers which includes players such as: Zico, Romario, Ronaldo and Pele.

All of those players are the ones who are ahead of Neymar in the goal-scoring charts of Brazil but in a few years it could be changing as the young player has a promising future ahead of him.

The Brazilian football team has not been able to lift a World Cup title since 2002 but the national squad which is being guided by Dunga has a team filled with promising young figures with the likes of: Danilo, Fabinho, Oscar, Philippe Coutinho, Lucas Moura and Neymar all expected to turn the Brazilian side into the champions that they once were some time ago.

During the 2014 World Cup, the Brazilian squad managed to reach the semi-finals of the international competition but was knocked out after losing against Germany with a devastating scoreboard of 7-1.

The coach of the Brazilian squad, Dunga is hoping that another scoreboard like this one does not occur and he has been giving other Brazilian players the chance to step up and turn into a regular starter for the national side but Neymar remains being one of the few players who still continues being chosen and seems to be an irreplaceable figure. Continue reading “Neymar has become the 5th top goal-scorer of Brazil” →

Luis Enrique not concerned about Penalty Taken by Messi

On: By: index

Barcelona manager Luis Enrique says that he is not concerned about whether the penalties taken by Neymar or Lionel Messi.

The latter has been the default penalty taker for Barcelona for a number of years now. However, the presence of Neymar has provided a challenge for this role. The Brazilian recently took the spot kick duties in the Copa del Rey match against Villarreal. Barcelona were heading to a comfortable 3-1 victory when they were awarded a late penalty. It would have certainly sealed the tie if the penalties had been converted, but Neymar missed the chance to put Barcelona 4-1 up in the match.

This was the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final and it still hangs in the balance as a result of this missed penalty. Messi has also missed a couple of penalties in recent years and hence Enrique says that he is not concerned whether Messi or someone else takes the penalties. Neymar has been in fine form for the Catalan club this campaign. He is widely seen to be coming of age after scoring 24 goals in just 28 matches. This tally is just a couple short of Messi’s record for the campaign. Messi has 38 goals from 32 matches. Continue reading “Luis Enrique not concerned about Penalty Taken by Messi” →

Neymar brilliant Performance this Campaign

On: By: index

Barcelona superstar Neymar has been in impeccable form this campaign and he has scored three goals in his last three matches. Until now, he was the top scorer in the Barcelona team before being overtaken by Lionel Messi in the last few matches.

The 22-year-old has dismissed claims that there are factions within this Barcelona squad and this has contributed to the poor and inconsistent form they have been showing this campaign. Due to those rumours, even superstar Messi has been linked with a move away from the club. Barcelona have already sacked their director of football, which led to the departure of Carlos Puyol from his assistant director of football role.

Ahead of a crucial league match against Atletico Madrid, Neymar says that the squad is united and that there are no issues within the team. Continue reading “Neymar brilliant Performance this Campaign” →

Neymar To Play For Brazil At Rio Games

On: By: index

Brazil’s coach Alexandre Gallo has said that out of the players that can be over the age of 23 in Brazil’s soccer team for Olympics of 2016, Neymar will be one of them.

He has been talking about what his plans about the team are with Sport TV in Brazil in an interview. He has told that he will be selecting those players that are over-age or maybe he shall select two out of the three. He has also said that Neymar was going to be one of them was for sure. He has referred to Neymar as an integral part of the Brazilians and has said that without him Brazilian football could not be thought of.

Neymar who is just 22 has been a like a gem in the World Cup that was held earlier. Brazil lost in the semi finals after Neymar had injured himself during the quarter finals. Though there have been five silver cups for Brazil, it has never been able to win a gold in Olympic soccer. We shall be seeing for the first time Rio de Janerio hosting an event as grand as Olympics in 2016. Neymar has already been a team member that won Silver in the previous Olypmic game and was just 20. Undoubtedly he will be one of the most recognizable Olympian.

Though for coach Gallo it is clear that Neymar should be a part of the team, it is not all that will matter. There are some nations that take more benefits from the rule for Olympic where the teams are made up of players 23-and-under and with the option of having only three players that can be more than the required age. Brazil too had used this exception to the best possible way by keeping some highly talented players in the team last time.

Sweden sweating on Ibrahimovic fitness

On: By: Liam

Sweden started the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign with a draw against Austria away from home. They came into the match after a 2-0 friendly victory over Estonia, but their failure to win the friendly match places a lot of importance on the upcoming qualifying matches against Russia and Liechtenstein. Manager Erik Hamren was sweating on the fitness of star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic ahead of these two matches. The Paris St Germain centre forward suffered a rib injury at the end of August while playing for his club.

It was highly anticipated that Ibrahimovic would need almost month to recover from the injury and this would have ruled him out of these two matches. However, Ibrahimovic returned to the team and became Sweden’s record goalscorer by scoring two goals in the friendly against Estonia. The 32-year-old was not unable to influence the friendly against Austria in the same manner. After going down to a penalty from Bayern Munich defender David Alaba, Sweden came back quickly with a goal from Zengin. They were unable to find the winning goal that would have given them a positive start to the qualifying campaign.

Three teams are expected to be in contention for the top two automatic qualifying places with Sweden being one of them. “I myself have not talked to him, but I have people in management who have it and we have a good handle with Paris. My hope is that it is not as serious as it might have speculated in the media. With the information I have received, I hope that it will be quickly, even in Paris as well,” said the Sweden manager a month ago about the injury situation surrounding Ibrahimovic. Home matches against Russia and Liechtenstein will be key towards qualifying for the tournament. Ibrahimovic has now scored 50 goals for the national team.

Neymar Back Training

On: By: Liam

One of the stars of Barcelona, Neymar was expected to be main figure behind Brazil for the 2014 World Cup and he indeed did manage to live up to those expectations as he went on scoring 4 goals in 5 matches as the Brazilian attacker played a huge role for his country before picking up an injury that left him unable to play for around 6 weeks.

Barcelona’s next season kicks off on August 24 as they face off againstElcheand it still remains fairly unknown if whether or not the Brazilian player will be able to make it in time for the opening match of the season for his club.

Neymar has started playing in a few training sessions with his squad teammates but the medical staff ofBarcelonahave not officially revealed if Neymar can perform againstElcheas the formerSantosplayer still hasn’t fully recovered.

A statement from the official website of Barcelona said: “Although he has yet to be given a clean bill of health by club doctors, Neymar completed a full session under Luis Enrique this evening, as the squad had their second session of the day. The Brazilian has been gradually getting up to speed with the rest of the players since reporting back for duty with the back injury he picked up at the World Cup.”

Luis Enrique wanted to kick off the campaign by having all of his major stars available for him but this will not be happening as Luis Suarez is banned and will not perform for at least the opening 5 league matches of Barcelona and Neymar still has not fully recovered from the injury he sustained during the 2014 World Cup.