Cristiano Ronaldo got the winner after Francisco Conceição’s wonder strike had cancelled out Florian Wirtz’s header in Munich “Will Cristiano Ronaldo leave Al-Nassr at the end of the month and sign with Inter Miami?” asks Kurt Perleberg. As wild as that may sound, none other than Gianni Infantino himself has suggested Ronaldo wants to play in next month’s Club World Cup, which Al-Nassr failed to qualify for. Whether he ends up playing alongside Lionel Messi in the 305, we’ll have to wait and see. 6 mins: Neto gets more joy up against Germany’s back three, galloping into space and crossing for Ronaldo, whose first touch sets up a shot at goal … which is just too close to Ter Stegen. A decent opening for each side in the opening minutes. Continue reading...

The Portuguese’s Al-Nassr chapter could end without silverware but whispers of a Club World Cup cameo means his Saudi Pro League story is far from over For a social media post described around the world as “cryptic”, it doesn’t seem all that hard to decipher. Minutes after Al-Nassr’s last game of a disappointing season ended in defeat on Monday, Cristiano Ronaldo – who had previously said that he was happy to finish his career in Saudi Arabia – posted on social media. “This chapter is over. The story? Still being written. Grateful to all.” The biggest star in the Saudi Pro League (SPL) looks to be on his way out of Riyadh after two and a half years of personal milestones but no major trophy with Al-Nassr. With the Yellows no closer to a first title since 2019 than when he joined in December 2022 and no place in Asia’s Champions League next season, the 40-year-old may not, as the club had long expected, extend his contract – which ends on 30 June – for another year. Continue reading...

A partnership between the world’s best man-manager and the Seleção will be fun – and potentially glorious The year is 2026 and Carlo Ancelotti is recreating a famous Real Madrid photo. Once more he finds himself on an open-top bus celebrating a landmark victory in sunglasses while smoking a cigar, accompanied by a smiling Rodrygo, Vinicius Junior and Éder Militão. David Alaba is missing and there are confusing new additions, such as Casemiro and Raphinha. Pan out and we realise we’re nowhere near the Cibeles Fountain in Madrid but are instead on Avenida Atlântica by Copacabana beach. Yellow and green confetti fills the sky and Neymar is showing off a record-extending sixth World Cup to an adoring crowd. He’s finally won them over for delivering the hexa, something expected of him since he rose to prominence as a spiky-haired Santos prodigy at the turn of the 2010s, and they have fallen in love with the Seleção again. Continue reading...

Real Madrid head coach to start Seleção job on 26 May Brazilian FA hails ‘the coming together of two icons’ Carlo Ancelotti has been confirmed as the next manager of the Brazil national team. The Brazilian football confederation (CBF) has announced that Real Madrid’s Italian head coach, one of the most successful managers in the history of European club football, will take up the position from 26 May. The appointment had been widely predicted, with it also expected the 65-year-old would be leaving his post at the Bernabéu at the end of the Spanish domestic season. Continue reading...

The two best players of their generation suffered same-day disappointments that show the game is starting to move on Not long ago, the results might have been seismic. Or at the very least, worthy of an eyebrows-raised remark. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the two leading lights of their generation, the dominant on-field forces for most of this century, both going out of continental competition in the semi-finals? Both in upsets? On the same day? On Wednesday, it actually happened. Messi’s Inter Miami fell to Vancouver 5-1 on aggregate in the Concacaf Champions Cup, and Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr lost 3-2 to Kawasaki Frontale in the AFC Champions League Elite at a nominally neutral site in Saudi Arabia. Continue reading...

Backed by same force as Newcastle, Neom’s promotion signals era of spending in futuristic city that is yet to exist Europe’s biggest clubs may not pay much attention to Saudi Arabia’s second division, but a new and curious force in the international transfer market is emerging from that league. Neom Sports Club (SC) have not only never played a top tier game before but also represent a city that does not yet exist. Neom won promotion to the Saudi Pro League last week and will, from next season, take their place alongside the so-called ‘Big Four’: Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr of Riyadh, and Jeddah giants Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli. This group, home to Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Riyad Mahrez, are to become the ‘Big Five’. That is because Neom SC belong to the planned futuristic urban area of Neom, backed by the Public Investment Fund behind the aforementioned quartet, as well as Newcastle. Continue reading...

Yokohama F.Marinos again put their faith in an Australian coach ahead of an Asian Champions League quarter-final with Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr Ange Postecoglou looks a little frazzled these days but may find some comfort in watching one of his old clubs play on Saturday evening (Sunday 5.30 AEST) and contemplating his Japanese legacy. Yokohama F.Marinos meet Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr in an Asian Champions League Elite quarter-final with Patrick Kisnorbo is in charge. The 44-year-old is the fourth Australian to occupy the Yokohama hotseat since Postecoglou left for Celtic in 2021 after three years in Japan that must seem happier by the week. Rose-tinted glasses can be forgiven in light of Tottenham Hotspur’s current woes. For all the talk about second-season trophies, there should be more about how Postecoglou – in his first J.League campaign with Yokohama in 2018, was saved from relegation only by goal difference. Yokohama were, of course, the second-highest scorers in the league, with just one goal fewer than the champions, in what proved to be the platform for the title-winning season that came next. Continue reading...

The finishes are still flowing for Al-Nassr but, at 40, his future for club and country is under increasing scrutiny On Saturday, Cristiano Ronaldo can take a big step towards a first major trophy since moving to Saudi Arabia but the quarter-final of the Asian Champions League against Yokohama F Marinos also offers a chance to take a smaller stride towards an unprecedented personal milestone: 1,000 first-class goals. Pelé scored plenty but claims of 1,279, recognised by the Guinness World Records, included unofficial and exhibition games and perhaps, wondered Diego Maradona, backyard games against his nephews. The stats site RSSSF credits the Brazilian with a total of 778. Continue reading...

Challengers for Champions League come from Saudi Arabia as AFC officials privately admit rules need examining Cristiano Ronaldo has yet to win a major trophy – the Arab Club Champions Cup does not count – since signing for Al-Nassr in December 2022 and the 40-year-old’s best chance this season is the AFC Champions League Elite. The Riyadh club are nine points off the top of the Saudi Pro League but should get past Esteghlal of Iran in the last-16 of the continental competition next week. With the games from the quarter-final stage onwards taking place in Saudi Arabia, this could be the year. Head coach Stefano Pioli has not quite brought the fluency required to a team that still rely too much on individual talent in individual moments but in a cup competition perhaps that will be enough, especially when you add Jhon Durán. The Colombian has already shown his goalscoring prowess and could make the difference for the club and Ronaldo, who scored six goals in the group stage. Continue reading...

Slot: ‘No reason to think Salah’s level is dropping’Liverpool manager brushes off social media post Arne Slot has said Mohamed Salah can sustain a world-class level like Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, and it is more important how the Liverpool striker plays than what he writes on social media. Salah moved into outright eighth on the all-time Premier League goalscorers’ list with a stunning, trademark finish against Brighton on Saturday. It was the 164th goal of Salah’s Premier League career and ninth of the season so far in all competitions. On Sunday the striker, who is out of contract with Liverpool at the end of this season, posted a message on X that said: “No matter what happens, I will never forget what scoring at Anfield feels like.” Continue reading...

The two multiple winners are not on this year’s shortlist, and a new name on the old trophy can only help to restore respect for this historic award The Ballon d’Or, football’s most famous individual prize, was not always the gold-plated standard for tedium it has become during the past 16 years. From 1990, 17 different players won the award over the next 18 years, with victors hailing from not only Brazil, Germany, France and Italy but also Ukraine, Liberia, Bulgaria and even England. But if the names from the 1990s hit like a wave of nostalgia – Van Basten! Baggio! Stoichkov! Weah! Ronaldo! Rivaldo! – the list from 2008 onwards is crushingly repetitive. Cristiano Ronaldo won his first gong that year, Lionel Messi succeeded him, and what was once a fun way to spotlight a great player – or at least an outstanding 12 months – turned into a proxy war for social media’s most overplayed debate. Messi and Ronaldo hoovered up 13 of 15 awards from 2008-2023, a duopoly driven by the players’ relentless brilliance but also powered by the marketing machines of Adidas and Nike, as well as political in-voting. Continue reading...

In an extract from the book How to Win the Premier League, Ian Graham reveals the process behind Liverpool’s capture of the Brazilian in 2015 In the weeks leading up to my first day as director of research at Liverpool [in 2012], I could barely sleep. It was the club I’d supported since I was a child. The new owners had proven in baseball they’d adopt a data-driven approach. I would be working with Eddy [Michael Edwards] again. The combination of his expert opinion on players, honed during his years as a video analyst, and my data analysis would make us unstoppable in the transfer market. Eddy had also recruited Barry Hunter and Dave Fallows, who would soon arrive from Manchester City. They would overhaul Liverpool’s scouting department. But everything immediately went wrong. Before I, and the other new hires, started, Liverpool had to replace their manager, Kenny Dalglish. The choice was between Brendan Rodgers or Roberto Martínez. Brendan was the stronger candidate and was chosen. FSG were concurrently searching for a director of football to replace Damien [Comolli]. The search was unexpectedly cut short when Brendan used a media interview on his first day in the job to say: “I am better when I have control … I wouldn’t directly work with a director of football … If you want to have a sporting director, get him in and then you can pick your manager from there but if you do I won’t be the manager.” Continue reading...

World Cup holders beat Bolivia 6-0 in Buenos AiresMessi now has 112 international goals, second all-time Lionel Messi scored his 10th hat-trick for Argentina to raise his career total for his country to 112 goals in a 6-0 World Cup qualifying win over Bolivia on Tuesday. Messi played the entire match before raucous fans at Estadio Monumental who chanted his name after he opened the scoring in the 19th minute. Messi added goals in the 84th and 86th minutes. Only Cristiano Ronaldo, with 133, has scored more international goals in men’s football than Messi. Continue reading...

‘Huge privilege’: Tuchel succeeds Southgate as managerBarney Ronay on the news | And feel free to mail Michael Confirmed details: Tuchel will be assisted by English coach Anthony Barry, who is currently the assistant manager for the Portugal national team under Roberto Martínez. Tuchel and Barry worked together at Chelsea and Bayern. Tuchel and Barry will begin work on 1 January 2025 before the qualification process for the 2026 World Cup. The decision to recruit Tuchel and Barry was approved by the FA Board early last week, with Tuchel signing his contract on Tuesday 8 October (interestingly two days before the defeat to Greece). The announcement was delayed to minimise distraction around the international camp. Interim head coach Lee Carsley will remain in charge of England through to the conclusion of the Nations League group stage next month, with games away to Greece and at home to Republic of Ireland. Carsley will then return to lead England’s Under-21s. One of Thomas Tuchel’s old bosses calls him a “footballaholic”. The image is of a man who spends every minute of every day poring over the game’s tactical intricacies. No wonder Tuchel quickly made good on his promise to turn Chelsea into a team that nobody would relish playing after inheriting a broken unit from Frank Lampard in January 2021. They were champions of Europe four months later, stunning Pep Guardiola and Manchester City in a tense final in Porto after perfectly carrying out Tuchel’s plan. It was a remarkable achievement. Chelsea were flailing in mid-table when the German who has agreed to be England’s next manager took over. They were shipping goals at an alarming rate. Undeterred, Tuchel immediately ironed out the flaws and introduced a 3-4-2-1 system that turned Chelsea into the stingiest team in Europe. Continue reading...