Man Utd ‘return’ for Ten Hag’s ‘old wish’ with Chelsea tipped to sanction ‘most anticipated departure’

Dani Alves believes Real Madrid are a more dangerous side after selling Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus.

The five-time Ballon d Or winner – Madrid s all-time record goalscorer – joined the Serie A champions in a deal worth €112million in July.

But Madrid have claimed 10 points from their opening four LaLiga games under new boss Julen Lopetegui, with Ronaldo s old attacking allies Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema to the fore.

Former Barcelona right-back Dani Alves played in the Juventus side that lost in the 2017 Champions League final against Madrid before joining Paris Saint-Germain, and he feels Los Blancos now present a more varied threat.

I think that, contrary to what everybody thinks, Madrid is more of a team without Cristiano, he told Marca.

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Santiago Solari dismissed comparisons to Zinedine Zidane after being appointed interim coach of Real Madrid.

Solari was named caretaker Madrid boss after Julen Lopetegui was sacked in the wake of his side s 5-1 El Clasico loss to Barcelona on Sunday.

The former Argentina and Madrid midfielder steps up from his role as Castilla coach – just as Zidane did in 2016 – but Solari played down comparisons.

Let s just let him live in peace, he s one of Real Madrid s greatest icons, he told a news conference on Tuesday.

There s not enough words to describe Zizou, let s leave him live with his greatness and not compare [us].

Nobody can compare with him.

First session with Solari |

— Real Madrid C.F.  (@realmadriden)

Zid…

Cristiano Ronaldo will have to wait for his 200th Premier League appearance after being named on Manchester United s bench for Everton s visit on Saturday, with Edinson Cavani making his first start of the season.

Cavani has had to be patient at the start of 2021-22, with the experienced Uruguayan absent for much of the first six weeks of the season.

His pre-season was delayed by his Copa America duties and subsequent extended holiday, while he has also missed games due to injury.

Cavani appeared as a substitute in last weekend s defeat to Aston Villa and Wednesday s 2-1 Champions League win over Villarreal, taking his appearances tally to three for the season.

But he looked sharp against the Yellow Submarine, with his trademark tirelessness key to winnin…

Robert Lewandowski broke Gerd Muller s long-standing record for goals scored in a single Bundesliga season with a last-gasp effort as Bayern Munich routed Augsburg 5-2 on a day of fond farewells.

The prolific Pole could only watch on as an own goal plus efforts from Serge Gnabry, Joshua Kimmich and Kingsley Coman had the champions flying at half-time of the season finale at the Allianz Arena.

But, after consolations from Andre Hahn and Florian Niederlechner, Lewandowski followed in when Rafal Gikiewicz spilled Leroy Sane s effort to make it 41 top-flight goals for the season with the last kick of the game.

It was a dramatic ending to an emotional outing, which was the last for head coach Hansi Flick and modern-day Bayern greats David Alaba, Jerome Boateng and Ja…

Europa League holders Atletico Madrid will face German big guns Bayer Leverkusen, while Liverpool meet Italy s Napoli following the draw for the group stage on Friday.

Atletico, who beat Fulham in last year s final thanks to an extra-time goal from Uruguay striker Diego Forlan, face an awkward Group B as not only must they take on Germany captain Michael Ballack s new team but they also come up against Norwegian side Rosenborg as well as Aris of Greece.

Liverpool are the most successful European side among the 48 teams contesting the group stages, having won the Champions League five times and the UEFA Cup precursor to the Europa League three times, most recently in 2001.

Now coached by Roy Hodgson, who guided Fulham to last year s final, Liverpool will also hav…

Jose Mourinho s behaviour and the subsequent abuse of Anthony Taylor by Roma fans has led to former Premier League referee Mark Halsey calling for stricter punishments.

Taylor and his family were verbally and physically targeted at Budapest airport in the wake of Roma s Europa League final defeat to Sevilla.

Both teams felt aggrieved by some of Taylor s decisions in the game, but Mourinho was particularly vehement, and was filmed shouting abuse at the official long after the final whistle had blown.

Halsey was infuriated by what he saw.

Everybody that s seen the footage or watched the game, I thought both teams conduct with their players and the coaching staff was appalling, Halsey told Stats Perform.

On the night I thought Anthony [Taylor] and …

Man City to bid for Alex Sandro

La Gazzetta dello Sport has learned that Manchester City are hot on the trail of Juventus full-back Alex Sandro.

It is no secret that the Citizens are on the lookout for left-sided defenders, with both Aleksandar Kolarov and Gael Clichy having failed to impress.

Manchester City have been keeping close tabs on Alex Sandro for a couple of years now, and the Brazilian s impressive performance in the recent Champions League clash between the two sides appears to have persuaded the Premier League giants to make their move.

The Citizens officials wasted no time as they immediately informed Juventus general manager Beppe Marotta of their interest in the defender, hinting they could offer up to €40 million.

Alex Sandro, …

that Liverpool will move to sign Barcelona winger Cristian Tello next month.

The twenty-four year old is currently on loan at Porto, who he moved to in the summer of 2014 and has so far racked up over fifty appearances for them in all competitions, scoring nine goals.

He also has twenty goals for Barcelona, and was part of their La Liga winning 2012/13 squad while he also has a winner’s medal in the Copa Del Rey.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is drawing up a list of potential transfer targets as the looks to strengthen his squad for the second half of the season and has also been linked with a move for Bayer Leverkusen’s Stefan Kiessling.

The Merseyside club scored a late equaliser to salvage a point from their trip to West Bromwich Albion on S…

Tottenham striker Harry Kane insists his side s ambitions go far beyond wanting to finish above Arsenal in the Premier League.

Mauricio Pochettino s side are four points behind leaders Chelsea at the top of the table, having amassed a club record of 74 points this season.

A victory over Arsenal in Sunday s north London derby will guarantee that Spurs will finish above the Gunners in the top flight for the first time since the 1994-95 season and inflict a damaging blow on their rivals hopes of a top-four finish.

Kane, however, says their priority is on closing the gap to Chelsea and keeping their title hopes intact.

For the fans, it would be great to finish above Arsenal and actually do it by winning against them but, from our point of view, we ve got big…

Atletico Madrid are said to be monitoring the possibility of signing Alex Telles from Portuguese giants Porto, according to AS. The 26 year old made the jump over to the former Champions League winners back in 2016 from Galatasaray, and since then he’s been able to establish himself as a solid star in the first team. Of course, there are always bigger and better deals out there, with Diego Simeone reportedly looking towards Telles as a long term replacement for Filipe Luis.

It is strongly expected that Luis will be leaving Atletico at the end of the season, and Telles could fit straight into their plans. It’s smart of Simeone to make these plans now and several clubs around Europe are believed to have already voiced their interest in Telles, who seems to be going from stren…