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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
The Euro XI: Ruben Amorim keeps banter-verse ticking, Richarlison pulls up Ronaldo tape, the world pays tribute to Diogo Jota
Well, that was all a little bit disappointing. The opening weekend of European football was, in most ways, frighteningly predictable. The Premier League teams that should have won, did, indeed win. Man United looked good but lost to Arsenal (thanks, of course, to a free kick). Man City are (maybe) back and they have a shiny new attacking midfielder to replace Kevin De Bruyne. Meanwhile, on the continent, PSG survived a scare, Barcelona showed that they are still excellent, while Diego Simeone offered some compelling evidence for him to just stick to stocky Spanish midfielders and stop faffing about with all of this "finesse." In fact, the real action happened a little below, lurking in the shallows, on the edge of the spotlight. GOAL US presents The Euro XI, with 11 key observations from the weekend. Diogo Jota, remembered The soccer news cycle moves on so quickly that it's, at the very least, reassuring to see that some important things remain top of mind. Such was the case with the European-wide tributes to Diogo Jota. His memory was everywhere: celebrations, pre-match acknowledgements, songs. But perhaps most jarringly was the extra minutes Mo Salah took in front of the Kop, teary-eyed, as the fans belted Jota's tune. Maybe football can confront something real, after all. Ruben Amorim and the process "We are going to play 3-4-2-1 if it kills us!" Presumably, at least, that was what Ruben Amorim said to his players before the season. And, well, it didn't kill them against Arsenal, even if they did lose 1-0. Man United were really rather good throughout, and showed that there may yet be hope for this strange, strange club. Then again, anything more would have been an immense blow to the football banter sphere. Mikel Arteta, watching his own fall apart (and somehow still winning) How the hell did they get away with that? If Man United were excellent in defeat Sunday afternoon, then Arsenal were dismal in victory. It was a fairly morbid start to the season for (checks notes) phase 7 of Mikel Arteta's Gunners. They showed plenty of fight, but very few tactical ideas when they had the ball. Sure, this is Old Trafford, where anything can happen. But winning 1-0 thanks to a bit of terrible goalkeeping? That's what you call a league-contending team? Thomas Frank does not believe in Spursiness The whole Tottenham thing for a long time was to squeak out results against far better teams, and then get battered by the smaller clubs. Well, Thomas Frank has bucked that trend early. Spurs did rather throw things away in the Super Cup against PSG last week, but, like, it's PSG - and PSG are very, very good. Regardless, history dictates that Spurs would then go out and lose to Burnley at home. So much for that. Tottenham were excellent value for their 3-0 win, full of attacking intent and scorers of three very good goals. Time for predictable mediocrity? That just might be progress. Richarlison is not the man you remember A strange thing happens to the Spurs' mercurial attacker every World Cup year. Suddenly, this baffling, misfiring, intensely confusing footballer decides that he is the 2020s' answer to Ronaldo Nazario. Here comes O Fenomeno again, but he's got really bad tattoos and plays in North London. It's a strange vibe, but a comforting sort of inevitability of football. Richarlison kept the bit going in style with a truly lovely bicycle kick. Expect 30 in all competitions now, of course. Tijjani Reijnders is scary talented The Pep Guardiola logic is simple. He has lost Kevin De Bruyne, who is too old and too injured for his rebuilding juggernaut. The solution? Go out and buy the next one. Of course, Reijnders is a different archetype of player, all jinks, cuts and tight movements. He's not as powerful as De Bruyne (and he's not as good, either). But he did look a wonderful footballer this weekend, scoring and assisting in his City debut. The Pep rebuild is pending. The Black Cats are back in style What could any of us expect from Sunderland? In theory, they weren't supposed to be here. The Northern English side spent the last six weeks of last season playing pretty morbid football, but squeaked into the playoffs, and got hot at the right time. A couple of hundred million pounds later, and they're here and, presumably, prime relegation candidates. That might yet happen, but they were excellent against a miserable West Ham side, running out 3-0 winners in their Premier League return. Welcome back. Barcelona can still play football When Lamine Yamal spent all summer partying, and, presumbably, disregarding the responsibilities of being a professional footballer, there were a few raised eyebrows. Could this really be the next Messi? He likes social media too much. He parties too hard. Cue the rampant catastrophizing. What we had instead, it seems, was a footballer resetting in style. Yamal scored what is now his goal to round off Barcelona's 3-0 opening night win, a lovely cut and curl to see off 10-man Mallorca. Nothing to see here. The wheels come off for Atletico... immediately? Every couple of summers, Atletico Madrid open their checkbook. It's an odd thing, this perennially third club trying to spend like the big boys. But here they are, splashing the cash at an apparent moment of weakness around them. It makes sense, strategically. Real Madrid are enduring something of a blip. This could be their chance to push back towards the top. Well, it got off to a pretty tepid start. Atleti started three new midfielders and lost 2-1 to Espanyol, letting a duo of goals in late on. They might need time - and La Liga isn't very forgiving. Rodrygo ain't going anywhere There goes one of the more fun transfer sagas of the summer - already. Rodrygo was rumored to go to Arsenal. Then he was supposed to go to Liverpool. Then he was surely going to be a Man City player. In the end... he is very much staying at Real Madrid. At least, that's what Xabi Alonso claimed in a news conference Monday. Snooze. PSG are still very, very good The fall off was never likely to happen, but wouldn't it be pretty to think so? PSG spent 80 minutes or so missing a lot of chances against Nantes, and we all got a bit excited. Could there be jeopardy in Ligue 1? Would Luis Enrique have some work to do? Nah. In the end, Vitinha bagged the winner, and the Parisians are off to a flyer. So much for all of that.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Jack Grealish's instant answer to Celtic transfer 'interest' as Hoops Treble winner retires
Celtic reportedly considered a stunning loan deal for Jack Grealish before the Man City star joined Everton for the season. England international Grealish, 29, was unveiled by the Toffees on Tuesday after sealing his year-long switch to Merseyside. But according to a shock report in The Athletic, the Hoops were among a number of clubs who had "expressed an interest". READ MORE: Andy Halliday obliterates Rangers tactics as he exposes 'pure myth' under Russell Martin READ MORE: The SPFL star who was 'signed and sealed' for Rangers transfer this summer and why it collapsed However, the article states that the playmaker "never seriously considered a move to Scotland." City's £100million club-record signing had fallen out of favour under Pep Guardiola and made just one Premier League start last term. Etihad chiefs had hoped to recoup a portion of the massive fee they shelled out to lure the attacker away from Aston Villa in 2021. Serious interest in a permanent deal during this window never materalised, though, and a temporary switch to Everton was agreed. It's believed an option to buy in the region of £50m for the most expensive British player of all-time has been included. The Toffees have also paid a substantial loan fee for Grealish and will cover a chunk of his eye-watering £300,000-a-week salary. West Ham, Italian champions Napoli and Turkish giants Fenerbahce were also in the running for his signature. Grealish declared "there was only one place he wanted to go" after David Moyes sold him on a move to the Hill Dickinson Stadium. He hopes kickstarting his career at Everton will help him win back his place in the Three Lions squad ahead of next year's World Cup. Meanwhile Hoops Treble winner Dedryck Boyata has officially retired from football at the age of 34. The Belgian defender joined Celtic from Man City in 2015 and won eight trophies in four years at Parkhead. He had a three-year stint in Germany with Bundesliga club Hertha Berlin before returning to his homeland with Club Brugge in 2022. Boyata has been without a club for seven months after ripping up his contract with Brugge and has now decided to hang up the boots. Tune in to Hotline Live every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport's newest podcast, Game On, every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bitesize chunks.
The Sun
30-07-2025
- The Sun
England Lioness hero slapped with fine after being caught driving her VW Polo without road tax
TRIUMPHANT Lionesses star Khiara Keating came down to earth with a bump yesterday when she was found guilty of failing to pay her car tax. It came a day after the reserve goalie took part in the Euros winners' open-top bus parade and visited Downing Street. Khiara failed to appear in court so the case was proven in her absence by Tameside magistrates. She was stopped in her VW Polo in Bury, Gtr Manchester, in December. The tax had expired four months earlier. Man City goalie Khiara, 21, of Westhoughton — who was pictured with the Euros trophy in London on Tuesday — was fined £440 and ordered to pay back duty of £79.17 and £20 costs. In June, police dropped a charge of possessing laughing gas after she denied it. The keeper told the BBC when the charges were dropped: 'I'm relieved the charges have been dropped. "As I've always said, I did nothing wrong. 'It's been a difficult time, but I've always known the truth. "Now I'm just looking forward to focusing fully on the Euros and spending time with my family.'
