News Update

Eden Hazard and David Luiz loved Ross Barkley’s outrageous nutmeg (Picture: Chelsea TV) Ross Barkley is determined to prove his worth to Chelsea after a disappointing first season at Stamford Bridge and he’s certainly been impressing his team-mates in training. The 24-year-old midfielder had a strong pre-season under new manager Maurizio Sarri and played the full 90 minutes of Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat to Manchester City in the Community Shield. Barkley also started against Huddersfield and  Arsenal  in the  Premier League  and was perhaps unlucky to lose his place to loan signing Mateo Kovacic away at Newcastle on Sunday. However, intent on returning to Sarri’s starting XI, Barkley was busy showing up his team-mates, namely Marcos Alonso, at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground this week. The former Everton man pulled off one of the cheekiest nutmegs you are likely to see as the Blues took part in a rondo. Just look at the reactions of Ba...

Real Madrid with the Champions League Trophy. AFP Real Madrid dominated the list as Uefa announced its awards for the 2017/2018 Champions League competition. The awards were handed to the players on Thursday in Rome at the draws for the group stages of the 2018/2019 campaign. Real Madrid won the competition for the third time on a trot the last term.  List Of Winners At 2018 Uefa Champions League Award Best Midfielder:  Luka Modric (Real Madrid) Image: Twitter/Uefa Defender of the Season : Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) Image: Twitter/Uefa Goalkeeper of the Season : Keylor Navas (Real Madrid) Image: Twitter Best Forward :  Ronaldo (Juventus, formerly Real Madrid) Image” Twitter

This year's group stage draw was coupled with the awards ceremony for the second year in a row The  Champions League  draw was not all that was announced during Thursday's plush ceremony in Monaco. For the second year in a row, UEFA have taken the opportunity to hand out awards to the best players of last year's competition. The best goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and forward from the 2017/18 competition, which saw  Real Madrid  win the trophy once again after beating  Liverpool  in the final, were honoured during the event. Real had a nominee in every position, while Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne were also given recognition from the Premier League. Here are all the winners of the awards handed out for their achievements last season... Marcelo and Ramos were both up for the best defender of the competition UEFA President's Award 2018 Winner:  David Beckham Awarded for outstanding achievements, professional excellence and exemplary per...

Olivier Giroud  wants to stay and fight for his place at  Chelsea . Blues boss  Maurizio Sarri  has preferred  Alvaro Morata  this season with Giroud given an extended break after France's World Cup campaign in the summer. But Giroud is now pushing hard for a start against Bournemouth on Saturday with Morata struggling for form and confidence, says the  Mirror . And he is determined to stay, despite late summer interest from  Olympique Marseille . Chelsea  striker Giroud was on the bench for Sarri's first three Premier League games in charge.

Former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi has said he would not have signed Cristiano Ronaldo had he still been in charge. The  Bianconeri  broke their transfer record  to land Ronaldo for €100 million  this summer, but Moggi insists he would never have spent so much on a 33-year-old. He also questioned the club's decision to sell Gonzalo Higuain, who  joined AC Milan on a season-long loan  with a clause which could see the move become permanent next summer. "In terms of marketing, it's a sensational deal," Moggi told  Il Corriere dello Sport . "But I would never have spent such a high fee on a 33-year-old -- and I would certainly not have announced it before selling Higuain, someone who scores 20 goals a season." Moggi, who was at the club from 1994 to 2006, also recalled how he actually "signed" Ronaldo in 2003, just before his move to Manchester United -- only for the deal to fall through because striker Marcelo Salas refused to join S...

The draw for the 2018/19 Champions League group stages is later today. The best teams from across the continent will once again be sending their representatives to Monaco, as they wait to see what groups they will be drawn into as 31 teams will be out to  finally  unseat Real Madrid as Champions of Europe. Los Blancos have won the last three editions of Europe’s top prize and will be aiming for their 14th overall triumph. A deciding factor in how these teams will get on is what group they are drawn into, and who their opponents are. Their pot will play a big part in this, as they are UEFA’s seeding system for the groups. Pot 1 is Champions from around Europe as well as the Champions League and Europa League winners. Then after that the pots are organised via UEFA co-efficient (i.e. performances over the last five European seasons). With the exception of Lokomotiv Moscow in pot 1, the pots this year are actually very well-matched. We here at Squawka thought we...

Kylian Mbappe constantly reminds Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Gianluigi Buffon that he never thought he'd line up alongside him, according to the former Juventus stopper. Buffon, 40, moved to the French champions for free in the summer, while 19-year-old Mbappe completed a £135million permanent deal after spending last season on loan in Paris. And he is kept acutely aware of the two-decade age difference between him and his teenage clubmate. Buffon said: 'With Mbappé we joke and often laugh together, he always tells me: 'Never in my life could I have imagined playing one day with you?" 'He saw me play the 2006 World Cup against France, when he was a boy. I faced him in the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2017.' Buffon also believes his current team are born winners, and is happy to share keeping responsibilities with team-mate Alphonse Areola. The 25-year-old had been first choice at PSG before Buffon's arrival, and the two look set t...