Kylian Mbappe claimed it is a big lie to say players do not care about winning the Ballon d Or as he named Karim Benzema and Sadio Mane as his main rivals for this year s award.
Mbappe was named on a 30-man shortlist to be named the best player in the world on Friday, having scored 39 goals in all competitions as Paris Saint-Germain won the Ligue 1 title last season.
No player across the top five European leagues matched Mbappe s total of 60 goal contributions across the 2021-22 campaign, although his France team-mate Benzema is the clear favourite after helping Real Madrid to the Champions League and LaLiga trophies.
In an interview with France Football, Mbappe, who has previously backed Benzema to win the award, acknowledged he was desperate to be named th…
Verdict: Harry Kane to score anytime
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Booking their spot in the quarterfinals of this year s Champions League in midweek, Tottenham will travel to St. Mary s on Saturday afternoon.
Southampton
Starting with the hosts, while Southampton may have impressed on their trip to Old Trafford last weekend, the Saints 3-2 loss still sees them sat firmly at the heart of a relegation battle. Now holding just a two-point buffer from falling back into the bottom-three, Ralph Hasenhüttl has now seen his side record just a single victory in their last six Premier League outings. With their only win coming over leading relegation contenders Fulham last month, it has been their inability to hold onto a lead that is becoming a growing frustration…
Manchester City took a giant step towards the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a 4-0 thrashing of Basel at St Jakob-Park.
Pep Guardiola s side tore Leicester City to pieces 5-1 in the Premier League at the weekend and resumed in similarly menacing mood against the Swiss champions.
Basel were left to rue Dimitri Oberlin failing to punish City s early defensive vulnerability and having a penalty shout turned down as a blistering spell of three goals in the space of nine first-half minutes from Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and Sergio Aguero took the game away from them.
Gundogan did his World Cup hopes no harm with a sublime second as Germany boss Joachim Low looked on from the stands and, by the time that showpiece comes around, Guardiola could be refl…
If Sunday s League Cup final at Wembley can be viewed as the beginning of the end for outgoing Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini, the match marks the end of the beginning for his Liverpool counterpart Jurgen Klopp.
As Pep Guardiola waits in the wings, Pellegrini s City remain in the Premier League title hunt, despite consecutive home losses to top two Leicester City and Tottenham, and are poised to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League following a timely return to form at Dynamo Kiev in midweek.
Overcome Liverpool and City can push on for further honours in the competitions prioritised by their owners, in the hope of giving Pellegrini a golden farewell. Lose and the fragile confidence they impressively pieced back together in the Ukrainian capital mi…