Barcelona, Real’s perfect records face stiff challenge
FORM GUIDE
Tottenham L W W W L Liverpool W W W W W A fairly young squad, Spurs have worked together for the last four or five years, gelling into a well-oiled machine. In Harry Kane they have world-class striker who is backed by a settled midfield and defence. Liverpool are almost as good as they were when they last won the League in 1990. And, they look to be the only side that can compete with Man City. The 4-1 defeat at Wembley in corresponding fixture last October still rankles Liverpool fans. Manager Juergen Klopp has overhauled his defence since than, with only one of the back five from that game — Joe Gomez — in playing XI. He is now in the centre of defence, with the ice-cool Virgil van Dijk providing a steadying influence alongside him. Liverpool managed to win against Crystal Palace and Leicester, but they were far from dominant. Their key striker Mohamed Salah's (right) subdued displays in these games would be a cause for concern as Liverpool had ridden on his goal-scoring spree last season to a fourth-place finish.
Klopp has only made one change in the first four games, but the coach says he will have to rotate his squad in a period in which they play seven games in 23 days. Tottenham are three points behind Liverpool after their three-game winning streak was ended by a surprise 2-1 defeat against Watford.
Mauricio Pochettino's side has too often let themselves down when the stakes are high and they go into the Liverpool clash with question marks in several positions. Harry Kane (left) has looked to be suffering a World Cup hangover, while Hugo Lloris caused a distraction with his arrest for drunk-driving. With Kane still to hit top gear, Spurs could do with a dynamic display from Christian Eriksen. Eriksen made it 15 goals in his last 18 international games with a double in Denmark's Nations League win against Wales.
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Tottenham win manager Jose Mourinho turned on the media once more on Friday as he launched a detailed defence of his use of England international striker Marcus Rashford.
The 20-year-old forward impressed for the Three Lions over the international break as he started, and scored, against both Spain and Switzerland.
That led to questions over whether Mourinho was making the most of Rashford’s abilities as he has struggled to hold down a regular place in the United side 170 Played Tottenham will be without attacking midfielder Dele Alli, who is yet to recover from a hamstring injury picked playing for England against Spain in
Nation’s League last week.
where he faces stiff competition from Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Anthony Martial.
Rashford will definitely be
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Liverpool win Tottenham win on Select 2,
7:30pm, Chelsea v Cardiff, live on Select 2 HD
10:00pm, Watford v Man United, live on Star Sports Select 2 & HD
missing when Mourinho’s men travel to Watford on Saturday, though, as he begins a threematch ban after being sent-off Liverpool win Draw against Burnley before the international break. “I think I can expect that Sunday I’m going to be highly criticised for not playing him tomorrow because some of the boys are really obsessed with me and, some of them, they have I think a problem with some compulsive lies,” said Mourinho.
He reeled off a stream of statistics detailing Rashford’s 105 starts under in charge before pointedly suggesting other managers should be quizzed for their use of young English players.
Madrid and Barcelona’s flying starts to the La Liga season will be put to the test on Saturday when they both travel to the Basque country.
Real play Athletic Bilbao while Barcelona visit Real Sociedad in fixtures that have often proved to be among their hardest away trips over the last decade.
Real were held to a goalless draw at the famously atmospheric San Mames stadium last season and have only won two of their five league visits to the ground since it was built in 2013, and they will face a typically hostile atmosphere as they chase a fourth win after seeing off Getafe, Girona and Leganes.
Barcelona, meanwhile, have scored 12 goals in their opening three league wins but have only picked up one victory in their last eight league visits to Real Sociedad’s Anoeta stadium, finally snapping an 11-year winless run there by coming from two goals down to win 4-2 in January.
Things could be even tougher for Ernesto Valverde’s side as
BARCELONA:Real
champions Juventus revealed Thursday that debts almost doubled during the past financial year which ended on June 30 hitting €309.8 million ($362 million), up from €162.5 million the previous season.
Despite lifting a seventh straight Serie A title the club suffered as a result of their Champions League quarter-final exit.
After a profit of €42.6 million in 2016-2017, Juventus posted a loss of €19.2 million for the 2017-18 season. Revenues slumped by more than 10 per cent to €504.7 million.
Juventus’ net debt surged by 90.7 per cent as it climbed by €147.3 million to €309.8 million, which was largely down to transfer outlays of €119.5 million, as well as the “negative cash flow of operations”.
It was also due to the decrease in UEFA premiums, given that Juventus had reached the Champions League final the previous year, and of capital gains, with the summer 2016 marked by the transfer of French midfielder Paul Pogba to Manchester United for 105 million euros.
The accounts only cover the period up to June 30, and do not include a breakdown of this summer’s transfers when the club bought Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid for €100 million. Real Sociedad will be playing for the first time at their stadium since it was renovated to get rid of a running track and bring the stands closer to the pitch. “We’re very happy because at last we get to play at a stadium without a running track, it’s going to be a very special day,” said Sociedad president Jokin Aperribay.
A new pitch has been re-laid at Anoeta and both clubs will be hoping it fares better than the new surface Barca had to play on in their last away trip, when the pitch repeatedly cut up in a narrow 1-0 win at Real Valladolid which led to La Liga launching an investigation.
Barca often struggle in the first game back after an international break but this time they will benefit from extra rest for talisman Lionel Messi, who sat out Argentina’s recent international friendlies, and defender Gerard Pique, who has retired from the Spanish national team.
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MILAN:Italian