Friday, 9 May 2014

Ronaldo sets sights on Champions League glory against 'fantastic' Altetico

The Real Madrid star is relishing a tough test against their city rivals in Lisbon and admits "nothing is impossible" for Portugal at the World Cup
Real Madrid attacker Cristiano Ronaldo is determined to extend his Champions League goal record in the final against Atletico Madrid - but insists the trophy itself is more important.
The 29-year-old broke Lionel Messi's tally of 14 strikes in a single tournament this season, with his double in the semi-final win over Bayern Munich taking him to 16 for the 2013-14 campaign.
And Ronaldo has his sights set on adding to his remarkable scoring record in the final in Lisbon later this month - although he admits he would be delighted to see a team-mate score the winning goal.
"We've won the Copa del Rey, La Liga is difficult - although not impossible - and we are in the final of the Champions League. At the start of the season, we would have taken that," he told reporters at a Samsung event when asked about Madrid's season so far.
"We will play against a great side [in the Champions League final]. Finals are always 50-50 although we know we're facing a great rival. We hope it'll be a great night and that we win.
"They're a fantastic team. They're first in La Liga and that says a lot about them. It's beautiful to have two Spanish teams in the final, and also Sevilla, who are in the Europa League final.
"The record is good, I beat it, and it's in the past. Now what I want is to win the Champions League and score in the final, although if a team-mate scores that's fine, the important thing is to win the trophy."
Ronaldo is set to captain Portugal in the World Cup finals this summer and, while he believes Brazil and Spain are the favourites for the trophy, he believes "nothing is impossible" for his own side.
"Spain and Brazil are the great favourites. Portugal have to take it game by game, because, in football, nothing is impossible," he added.
"I want to enjoy the World Cup in Brazil, it's a brotherly country for me, and they speak my language."

Alves: I'll leave Barcelona if the energy doesn't change

The defender could depart Camp Nou this summer and insists that this season will be a "disaster" if the Catalan giants fail to reclaim the league title
Dani Alves has cast doubts on his future at Barcelona, saying he will leave unless there is a "change in energy" at the club.
The 31-year-old right-back joined the Catalan giants from Sevilla in 2008 and has won a plethora of trophies at Camp Nou, including four La Liga titles as well as two Champions Leagues and Club World Cups.
But the Brazilian, who has been linked to a move to Paris Saint-Germain recently, said that he feels hurt by the amount of criticism he and the team have received this term as they crashed out of the Champions League and continue to trail Atletico Madrid in La Liga. As a result, he claimed he could leave the club this summer.
"It’s very hard to get the chance to play for Barcelona and, whether people like it or not, I’m part of the history of this club," he told RAC1. "I need energy, it’s what motivates me; I’m an upbeat, happy person.
"I’ve always been like that, but because the results aren’t what people expect, they need someone to shoot at and I feel shot at. I really believe in energy, I live off this energy and, if you start to create negative energy, things don’t flow.
"If this energy doesn’t change, I’ll probably leave because it wears you down. If I'm to stay this summer, there has to be a change of energy."
Alves then turned his attention to his side's title run-in. With two weeks of the season remaining, they sit three points behind league leaders Atletico Madrid, who they face on the final day.
“If we don’t win the league, this season is a disaster," he said. “We’re getting too many chances, and you can’t let chances slip. I trust this team 100 per cent and I guarantee we won’t disappoint."
He further indicated that the speculation surrounding Luis Enrique taking over from current coach Gerardo Martino comes at an inopportune moment for the team.
"As a player I think he was phenomenal and as a coach he’s doing a very good job at Celta, but I think that at this club people are often too hasty. We’re still fighting for the title. People need to take things a bit more calmly, not rush things so much, because the season hasn’t finished."
He was then asked for his thoughts on his side's signing of compatriot Neymar.
"Very strange things happen here. Real Madrid were going to pay €100 million for Neymar, Barca get him for €57m and people say it’s an incredible amount. What’s incredible is that he came here when €100m was being offered."

Rodgers: Lallana a terrific young player

Rodgers: Lallana a terrific young player
The Southampton captain has been heavily linked with a move to Anfield in recent days and the Liverpool manager admits he is an admirer of the 25-year-old
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has revealed his admiration for Southampton midfielder Adam Lallana, describing the England international as a "terrific young player."

It emerged last month that the Reds, Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham were monitoring Lallana with a view to a possible summer move.

Recent days have seen renewed speculation linking the 25-year-old with a move to Anfield and Rodgers admits he is a big fan of the Southampton star.

"Adam is a terrific young player....there is always speculation," he told reporters.

On Thursday Lallana hinted that he wants to stay at Southampton beyond the summer after accepting the club's Player of the Year award.
"The club means the world to me," he said.
"I've been here since I was 12 and I want to keep progressing with the club. I just hope we can make strides forward in the summer and just keep going from step-to-step and doing well.
"I've got a great relationship with the fans. We've been on a journey, and this is the icing on the cake.

Chelsea will sign a striker, confirms Mourinho

Chelsea will sign a striker, confirms Mourinho
The Portuguese has reiterated the need for the Blues to bolster their attacking options with Atletico Madrid striker Diego Costa set to move to Stamford Bridge this summer
Jose Mourinho has confirmed Chelsea will sign a striker this summer as the club look to bounce back from a trophyless season.

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Mourinho returned to Chelsea in June 2013 after a six-year absence, but has failed to deliver any silverware in his first season back in London, with the club looking set to finish third in the Premier League.
There was disappointment in Europe, too, with Mourinho's men suffering a semi-final exit at the hands of Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
The Portuguese has not been shy in criticising his current strikers in public, with Samuel Eto'o, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba netting just 18 league goals between them this season.
And in his pre-match press conference on Friday, Mourinho reiterated Chelsea's need to bolster their attacking options, following Atletico striker Diego Costa having agreed to move to Stamford Bridge at the end of the season in a deal worth €42 million.
"The striker is something we are speaking about for a long, long time," he said.
"In December and January, when all of you [the press] were asking why we were not bringing a striker, I was clear in saying it's something we were working on, that we were preparing the long-term future and not just an immediate solution.
"It's normal that we're going to bring a striker now. We have good strikers, good players, but it's the normal evolution of the team.
"Everyone wants the summer transfer window to improve and one area that we want to improve is the strikers' position

Ronaldo my role model for Manchester United success - Januzaj

Ronaldo my role model for Manchester United success - Januzaj
The highly-rated Belgian is keen to emulate the former Red Devils forward by embracing a regime of increased physical training to become stronger on the ball
Manchester United winger Adnan Januzaj says that he is using former Red Devils hero Cristiano Ronaldoas a model for his development.

Since making his United debut against Sunderland as an 18-year old earlier in the season, the Belgian is now regarded as one of the brightest prospects in world football and sees the Real Madrid superstar as the example to follow.

Januzaj cites the Portuguese's commitment to physical training in the gym as a particular lesson as he attempts to become stronger on the ball.

"I watch [Ronaldo] a lot and try to do the same things that he does," the youngster told Inside United. "He is a very good player.

"I always look at him and watch his games as well and try do what he is doing and remember what he did at Manchester United.

"I have to work hard in the gym like he did because, when he came here, he wasn't strong but, after a year or so, he became really strong and could push people away. I'm getting a bit stronger now due to the gym work."

I can’t get fat

I can’t get fat
Arizona: Emma Stone finds it hard to keep weight on. The actress says she finds it difficult when people insinuate that she doesn’t look good because she’s so skinny. Keeping weight on is a struggle especially when I’m under stress and especially as I have gotten older, she told Cosmopolitan magazine. That’s the way things will change as time goes on, as does everything. Stone also opened up about reading ‘completely untrue’ statements about her and her health. Her main goal, she said, is always to be honest with herself, asking herself questions like, I am respecting myself and being responsible.–SH

Monica Lewinsky: "I regret what happened between me and President Clinton."

Monica Lewinsky: \

Monica Lewinsky, the onetime White House intern whose 1990s affair with Bill Clinton nearly brought down his presidency, broke a long silence on Tuesday, saying she regretted what happened.

Writing in Vanity Fair magazine, Lewinsky, 40, said it was time to stop “tiptoeing around my past -- and other people’s futures. I am determined to have a different ending to my story." Her affair with Clinton was one between consenting adults and the public humiliation she suffered altered the direction of her life, she wrote.

"Any ‘abuse’ came in the aftermath, when I was made a scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position," she said in excerpts of the article published on the magazine's website.

Lewinsky added, "I, myself, deeply regret what happened between me and President Clinton. Let me say it again: I. Myself. Deeply. Regret. What. Happened."

The affair led to Clinton being impeached by the House of Representatives in 1999. The Senate acquitted him and Clinton completed his second term in 2001. Lewinsky dropped from sight after the scandal. She got a master's degree in social psychology from the London School of Economics and has lived in Los Angeles, New York and Portland, Oregon.

“I turned down offers that would have earned me more than $10 million, because they didn’t feel like the right thing to do,” she said.

Lewinsky said she was strongly tempted to kill herself several times during the investigations and in one or two periods after. Her name resurfaced in U.S. political discourse in February, when former first lady and Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton was quoted as calling her "a narcissistic loony toon" in an article based on the papers of a Clinton friend. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, a likely Republican presidential contender, accused Democrats of "hypocrisy" for claiming to back women's rights while giving Bill Clinton a pass for his "predatory" behavior towards Lewinsky.

Spokesmen for the Clintons and the Clinton Foundation in New York had no immediate comment on the article. Lewinsky said she was motivated to speak out by the 2010 suicide of a Rutgers University student who killed himself after a video of him kissing a man was streamed online.

"I was also possibly the first person whose global humiliation was driven by the Internet,” Lewinsky wrote.

Her goal “is to get involved with efforts on behalf of victims of online humiliation and harassment and to start speaking on this topic in public forums."