Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta still aims to bag a Champions League winners medal with the Blues.
He told the club’s website: “When I signed I was so happy. I walked through the door for the first time and was sitting next to legends of the game, and then was on the pitch with them.
“I could see straightaway the ambition and desire of the club. It was a big step forward in my career. The club had just won the Champions League and I wanted to be part of that success in the future.
“It’s the biggest trophy, and being a Chelsea player you have the biggest ambition for trophies. That’s one that I would like to achieve.
“We know it’s a new competition that starts in February, seven games, and every detail counts. We have to learn from the Bayern Munich games last season, make it right and hopefully go as far as possible.”
Fresh reasons have emerged as to why Chelsea may call off move to sign Declan Rice this January.
Chelsea staff are reportedly doubful over the potential signing of the West Ham midfielder.
According to the reports, the west London could opt to ditch their pursuit altogether if Frank Lampard is dismissed.
That’s according to The Athletic, who report that Chelsea’s desire to sign the England international comes primarily from Lampard.
They also claimed that there are some at Chelsea who hold doubts over the midfielder’s ability and whether they should be looking at him.
The value of any potential transfer has also reportedly caused doubts at Stamford Bridge.
David Orstein told the Athletic’s YouTube channel: “This [Rice] is a target driven by Lampard and there are some at Stamford Bridge who harbour reservations, including over whether Rice has corrected certain perceived weaknesses that contributed to the decision to release him from their academy as a teenager.
“And also, the sure scale of finance it would take to get him out of West Ham.”
Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti and Glenn Hoddle say under-pressure Chelsea boss Frank Lampard must be given time by Roman Abramovich.
Lampard is among the bookies’ favourites to be the next Premier League manager to lose his job, after his Chelsea side slumped to four defeats in their last six games.
Some of the west London club’s fans are angling for the removal of Lampard, questioning his tactical depth to handle a big club like Chelsea.
Thomas Tuchel, Julian Nagelsmann, Brendan Rodgers and Max Allegri have been touted while Andriy Shevchenko’s name was also thrown into the ring should Roman Abramovich pull the trigger and get rid of Lampard
Ancelotti knows all about the pressure Lampard is under, having been sacked as Chelsea boss a year after winning a Premier League and FA Cup double.
And he told Gazzetta dello sport, via the Mirror, that: “”They’ve bought a lot of players in the summer and in this case, like at Juventus, there needs to be patience, a rare commodity in football.”
And former Chelsea midfielder Glenn Hoddle agrees with Ancelotti’s assessment.
“He has to be given time,” Hoddle told the Evening Standard.
“It is a work in progress at Chelsea. They are falling short against the top teams and they have to find a way mentally to overcome that.
“They look better against the lesser teams but at the moment they look as if they are not quite ready to really win the league.
“They have talent in the squad but it is going to take some time, they are going to go through these rough patches. That is the process of building a side. You just hope the owner has that vision as well and understands that.”
Chelsea’s bumper new signings need more time to settle in, according to striker Tammy Abraham.
The Blues are ninth in the Premier League and the likes of Kai Havertz and Timo Werner are yet to hit top form in England.
Abraham said: “We have hardly had any time to train together and to work out how each other play so we’re just taking every day as it comes at the moment.
“Every game we play, we’re learning new things about each other. I’m starting to understand them more and they’re starting to understand me more so hopefully we drive each other and be the best we can be.”
A Victor Mbaoma’s brace in either side of half time was not enough to send Enyimba FC of Nigeria into the 2020/2021 group stage of Total CAF Champions League.
The all-importantant match ended 2-1 in favour of the Nigerian side.
Two weeks ago, the first leg was decided in Omdurman where a Saif Terry’s hat-trick condemned the People’s Elephants to their exit from the competition, a result which really inflicted a seemingly irreparable damage coming into the 2nd leg.
Playing in front of a handful of spectators in Aba, a decision which was being influenced by the ongoing 2nd wave of the covid 19 pandemic, it was the visitors who drew the first blood as early as 8 minute into the game, thanks to the technically gifted Malian striker, Saif Terry the hattrick hero in Omdurman, as he raced down from the middle of the park, and expertly faked his way pass Timothy Danladi only to be left one on one with Kayode Olufemi in goal for Enyimba, the gifted striker calmly slotted home from close range.
Their lead was shortlived as a Stanley Okorom’s 14 minute freekick from the right side of the park was parried away, but not to safety by the Al Merrikh goalkeeper only for the on rushing Mbaoma to finsih from close range.
Thee first half eventually ended in a 1 all draw even as the host dominated proceedings trying to reduce the deficit but a disciplined Al Merrikh defence line curtailed their efforts.
The People’s Elephants came out surging in the 2nd half, and their determination paid off just 3 mins into the restart as Samad Kadiri was fouled inside the 18 yard box after a launched back ball by stanley Okorom, Mbaoma stepped up and calmly converted the spot kick to hand Enyimba a 2-1 lead.
The game wore on and Enyimba knowing full well its a herculean task for them, they pressed so hard, asking questions inside Al Merrikh’s 18 yard box. Samad Kadiri came agonizingly close to making it 3-1 for the host as his close range shot was expertly parried to safety by the Al Merrikh goalkeeper who looked so confident throughout the duration of the game.
All further efforts for the hosts to cancel the deficit eventually yielded no dividends as the centre referee blew the final whistle at the end of the 6 minutes additional time. The North Africans progressed to the group stage, thanks to a 4-2 aggregate scoreline.
Enyimba now settle for life in the CAF Confederations Cup.
Juventus turned on the style to end Milan’s 27-round unbeaten record with a Federico Chiesa brace and Weston McKennie strike to earn 3-1 victory at San Siro.
This was a huge showdown and the Rossoneri knew they’d be top anyway, as Inter lost 2-1 at Sampdoria this afternoon, whereas Juve were 10 points adrift of the leaders with a game in hand.
Samu Castillejo stung Wojciech Szczesny’s gloves at the near post after a Rodrigo Bentancur error, but Federico Chiesa had a huge chance on 15 minutes when his chest and volley smacked against the frame of the goal with Gianluigi Donnarumma beaten.
It was only a warning, as moments later Paulo Dybala’s back-heel flick sent Chiesa through with a quick one-two and his angled drive nestled into the far bottom corner from 10 yards.
Chiesa was tearing Theo Hernandez to shreds and his cross only just went past Cristiano Ronaldo, then he stung Donnarumma’s gloves from the edge of the box.
Milan got their equaliser just before half-time. Calhanoglu tackled Adrien Rabiot in midfield to spark the counter, Leao went down the left and pulled it back across for Calabria, who could not have hit a better finish with the inside of the right boot into the top corner from the edge of the area. Juve felt there was a foul on Rabiot in the build-up, but VAR did not intervene.
Ronaldo immediately set up Ramsey to potentially restore the lead, but the Welshman scuffed the finish.
After the restart, Milan started brightly and Szczesny got down to push a Dalot daisy-cutter away with difficulty.
Ramsey scuffed another potentially good chance wide at the back post, but Chiesa was having a dream evening at San Siro and completed his brace.
He again cut inside from the right past Theo Hernandez and curled left-footed into the far bottom corner from the edge of the area. Chiesa felt cramp after that goal and asked to come off.
His replacement Dejan Kulusevski surged down the left to almost prompt an own goal with his cross-shot.
Rodrigo Bentancur was very fortunate to avoid a second yellow card for going in late on Castillejo after 70 minutes.
Donnarumma made a remarkable one-handed save to deny Weston McKennie, who hit it first time from an inspired Ronaldo ball over the defence.
Juve’s substitutions made the difference, as Kulusevski got past Alessio Romagnoli down the right and laid it off for McKennie to fire in from six yards.
Szczesny smothered another Calhanoglu strike and Milan pushed forward to the end with a Daniel Maldini solo effort and Brahim Diaz penalty appeals for the clumsy Rabiot challenge, but strength in depth ultimately made the difference.
Lionel Messi and Pedri scored the three goals Barcelona needed to run away with a priceless away win against Athletic Club in a fascinating La Liga clash at San Mames.
With their 3-2 triumph, Barcelona climbed into third place to put them behind just Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid.
The game was Marcelino‘s first in charge of Athletic given he’s just taken over from Gaizka Garitano, who lost his job following the Basque side’s 1-0 victory over Elche on Saturday.
It was a game that mattered a great deal to both sides, and an action-packed opening period underlined that.
It was Athletic that struck first blood, Inaki Williams showing both physical pace and speed-of-thought to latch on to a through ball, hold it up and coolly finish past Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Barcelona hit back inside the opening quarter of an hour. Lionel Messi hiked a high ball crossfield to find Frenkie de Jong at the back post, who brought the ball back across goal for Pedri to score. Unai Simon could have perhaps done better.
Shortly before half-time, the Blaugrana took a deserved lead. Messi played a cute ball in to Pedri, who delayed for a moment before back-heeling into the path of Messi, who had broken, for the Argentine to coolly finish.
Messi struck the upright and had a goal ruled out for offside, but eventually got his team the two-goal cushion they desired. This time, it was Antoine Griezmann rather than Pedri who teed up the Argentine to finish accurately.
Messi gave the ball away late on, however, to open up a play that ended with Iker Muniain curling an excellent effort past Ter Stegen before hurrying his teammates to get back, restart and push for an equaliser. It was too late, however, and the points went home to Catalonia.
Chelsea’s serial loanee Lucas Piazon is set to finally leave the west London club after featuring three times for the Blues in nine years.
Following three first-team outings, seven loan spells and a broken leg, Piazon will finally have his Blues contract terminated, ahead of a permanent move to Rio Ave.
The Brazilian, now 26, arrived in West London as a fresh faced teenager from Sao Paolo in 2011.
He swiftly impressed within Cobham’s fabled youth set-up, breaking into Chelsea’s first-team set up less than a year later, under Andre Villas-Boas.
After two appearances on the Blues’ bench during that first season, he made his debut in September 2012 aged 18, starting a 6-0 League Cup romp over Wolves and even assisting a goal for Ryan Bertrand.
An appearance in the next round against Manchester United followed, as did a Premier League debut that December against Aston Villa, with things looking promising for the attacking midfielder.
But after signing for Malaga on loan in January 2013, Piazon would never feature for Chelsea again.
After 14 goalless appearances for the LaLiga side, Piazon was soon walking the well-trodden path from Chelsea to Vitesse. He bagged 11 goals and eight assists in 31 appearances for the Eredivisie side, but that wasn’t enough to get him back in the Blues’ plans.
Cornella pulled off a remarkable upset on Wednesday evening in the Copa del Rey by beating La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid 1-0.
The result was all the more remarkable given Cornella have lost their last three league games, including against the B teams of Espanyol and Barcelona. It means Atletico have lost to more third-tier teams than Primera teams since January 18th, 2020.
Cornella took the lead inside seven minutes through Adrian Jimenez, who was assisted by Agus Medina to open the scoring for the hosts.
Jose Maria Gimenez, Atletico’s defensive stalwart, was taken off at half time due to an injury to his left ankle, while Ricard Sanchez was sent off for the visitors in the 63rd minute to leave them fighting for an equaliser with ten men.
Diego Simeone, for his part, was magnanimous after the final whistle. The Argentine praised his opponent’s attitude and enthusiasm, while admitting that he’s finding it difficult to diagnose why his Atletico team is struggling in the Copa del Rey in recent times.
