Sports

Cristiano Ronaldo returns to Manchester United after 12 years

Published

3 years ago

August 27, 2021

Ronaldo has been with Juventus since 2018. He will rejoin, the club with which he established himself as a superstar.

After 12 years in which he has claimed a dozen or more major trophies and broken a string of records, Cristiano Ronaldo will return to Manchester United (in England), where he first established himself as a superstar – one of the finest players – leaving Juventus on a two-year contract.

The team confirmed Ronaldo’s return on Friday, saying the deal was “subject to agreement of personal terms, visa and medical.”

The rush of people logging on to read the announcement crashed Manchester United’s website.

A reunion that many United fans have longed for over much of the last decade materialized only at the last minute, thanks in part to the public and private interventions of several of Ronaldo’s former teammates, his long-term mentor, Alex Ferguson, and his colleague with the Portuguese international side, and now United, Bruno Fernandes.

On Thursday evening, it appeared that Ronaldo would be returning to Manchester — but to play for the team across the city.

He had informed Massimiliano Allegri, the Juventus manager, that he had no intention of playing for the team again, while his agent, Jorge Mendes, was trying to negotiate a salary package with Manchester City, the reigning Premier League champion.

Ronaldo was a dominant force for Manchester United earlier in his career.

City’s appetite for the deal, though, was said to be tepid at best; the impetus had all been from Ronaldo’s representatives. City refused to countenance paying Juventus a fee for a player it was desperate to offload as it sought to cut costs in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.

City’s best offer was a swap deal including Raheem Sterling, the English forward, which Juventus rejected. By Friday morning, the club was distancing itself from signing Ronaldo.

United, though, had been spurred into action by the thought of one of its most beloved alumni playing for a direct rival. Several former United players, including Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney, as well as Ferguson, either reached out in private or spoke out in public to urge Ronaldo not to forget where in the northwest of England his loyalties lie.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the club’s coach, spoke glowingly of Ronaldo in a news media conference on Friday. “He knows we’re always here,” Solskjaer said.

The club, with permission by its owners, the Glazer family, agreed to a salary package for the next two seasons with Ronaldo’s representatives, and eventually offered Juventus a fee that could rise close to $40 million, depending on the 36-year-old’s success with the team during his second stint.

As the details were being finalized, all Ronaldo could do was wait. He had been pictured, earlier on Friday, boarding a private jet near Turin, Italy, where Juventus is based. At that stage, his destination was unknown. A few hours later, as far as United’s fans, his former teammates and his current manager are concerned, he was heading for the only place he could: home.

New York Times

Sports

Court orders Juventus to pay Ronaldo £8.3m

Published

1 day ago

April 18, 2024

Trends Admin

Cristiano Ronaldo

Court orders Juventus to pay Ronaldo £8.3m

Juventus have been ordered to pay Cristiano Ronaldo £8.3m in owed wages by an Italian court.

Ronaldo, 39, agreed to defer wages when football in Italy was halted by the Covid pandemic in the 2020-21 season.

The Portuguese had claimed he was owed more than £17m by his former club.

Court orders Juventus to pay Ronaldo £8.3m

Sports

Arsenal need support, love, after Champions League exit – Arteta

Published

1 day ago

April 17, 2024

Trends Admin

Arsenal need support, love, after Champions League exit – Arteta

Mikel Arteta says he has to show his Arsenal side “support and love” after Bayern Munich knocked them out of the Champions League.

Joshua Kimmich’s second-half header in Germany gave Bayern a 1-0 win on the night, and a 3-2 aggregate victory in their quarter-final.

It was a second successive defeat for Arsenal, who lost control of the Premier League title race last Sunday as Aston Villa beat them 2-0.

“I wish I had the right words to say to the players to make them feel better. What I am going to do – and all the coaching staff too – is to be close to the players.” Arteta said.

“I feel so grateful to be the coach and to work with them every single day.”

Arsenal were chasing a first Champions League semi-final spot since 2009, with Arteta accepting his team were inexperienced at this stage of the competition.

This was their first quarter-final appearance since 2010.

“We haven’t played this competition for seven years and we haven’t been in this stage for 14 years,” he said. “There’s a reason for it.

“We want to do everything fast-forward, super-quick, in one season. I think we have the capacity and the quality to be in the semi-final because the margins are very small.

“Those margins are coming from something else that maybe we don’t have yet. We have to learn it.

“When you look historically, it took other clubs seven, eight or 10 years to do it. Today, that’s not going to make us feel better that’s for sure.”

The Gunners, who need City to drop points if they are to win the league for the first time since 2003-04, return to Premier League action at Wolves on Saturday.

“What I need to do is stand right next to them and give them support and our love and we have to pick it up because on Saturday we have a big, big game,” said Arteta.

“We are still playing for the Premier League. The Premier League is there and we really want it. We have to show now that we are capable of turning this around.”

Sports

It’s massive win, says Bellingham as Real Madrid knock out Man City from UCL

Published

1 day ago

April 17, 2024

Trends Admin

It’s massive win, says Bellingham as Real Madrid knock out Man City from UCL

Manchester City are out of the Champions League following a penalty shoot-out defeat they suffered Wednesday night in the hands of Real Madrid in an epic encounter at the Etihad Stadium.
After a 1-1 draw on the night that left the teams tied 4-4 on aggregate, Antonio Rudiger scored the winning spot-kick after Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic had their attempts saved to see the 14-time winners progress 4-3 in the shoot-out.
Rodrygo had given Carlo Ancelotti’s side the advantage on the night and in the tie with an early goal on the counter-attack but Kevin De Bruyne’s 76th-minute equaliser took the game into extra-time, in which neither heavyweight could deliver the knockout blow.
It was a back-to-the-wall effort by Madrid and Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions were applauded from the pitch even in defeat.

But their hopes of an unprecedented second successive treble are over. It is Madrid who face Bayern Munich in the last four.

Bellingham: This was beautiful

“It’s a relief because you put so much into the game,” said Bellingham, speaking to TNT Sports.

“To win the game was a massive reward.

“It is incredible. Moments like this are magic and it just comes down to mentality.”

Man City 1-1 Real Madrid (Agg 4-4, Madrid win 4-3 on pens)

Sky Sport