Reds to benefit from Mourinho-conte spat
LONDON: Manchester United and Chelsea cross swords t his weekend with all eyes on the dugouts after a war of words between Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte and Liverpool could take advantage.
With one or both of the sides bound to drop points at Old Trafford, Jurgen Klopp’s team are in prime position to pounce, hosting West Ham after a 10-day break following the 5-0 demolition of Porto in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
Conte and Mourinho have Zinedine Zidane’s decision to relegate the out-of-form Gareth Bale to the bench against Alaves has added fuel to the speculation that the Wales striker could leave Real Madrid in the summer transfer window. As Real continue to trail runaway league leaders Barcelona by 14 points, HT takes a look at Bale’s troubles this season:
and poor form, Bale has failed to fire this season and the Spanish media believes he has lost all his credit at the Bernabeu.
in as substitute in three of the last four games — vs Real Sociedad, Leganes and PSG. He started against Betis but showed little sign of life and was taken off.
part of three Champions League-winning campaigns at Real and his traded poisonous barbs this season, culminating in the pair saying they felt “contempt” for each other. The feud started when the United boss said he did not need to “act like a clown” on the touchline, a comment perceived to be aimed at the animated Conte, who responded by claiming Mourinho must have “demenza senile” — senile dementia.
BIG CLASH
United recently appeared secure in second place in the Premier League, albeit a distant second to Manchester City, but two defeats in three games leave Mourinho’s side looking vulnerable with
partnership with Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema has been compared with the Messi-suarez-neymar combination at archrivals Barca before the Brazilian left.
Bale’s time at the Bernabeu has been marked by ups and downs — his latest poor run of form prompting the Spanish media to castigate him for failing to show the quality expected of a 101 million euro signing.
(all competitions)
of everything. I am happy with Gareth, but we need to go little by little with him. We want him to find his best form, then we'll see what we do in the coming games. We are playing well at the moment and I am going to need everyone.
Real Madrid manager
matches against four of the top six sides still to come, including Chelsea in fourth spot.
LIVERPOOL ON A HIGH
Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have the chance to leapfrog second-
(in pic) has termed Bale as a key ingredient of his winning formula at Real, Spanish dailies Marca and Sport insist that Real president Florentino Perez has given his nod for the sale and the club is looking for a buyer for the Wales star.
5:30pm, Celta v Eibar; 8:45pm, Real Madrid v Alaves;
11:00pm, Leganes v Las Palmas;
1:15am (Sun), Barcelona v Girona, live on Sony Ten 2 & HD2 placed Manchester United, at least temporarily, when they host West Ham on Saturday.
The club are riding high after smashing Porto 5-0 in the Champions League and will strongly fancy their chances of qualifying for next year’s competition with a Premier League run-in full of winnable fixtures.
“It’s really hard in the moment to make the squad,” Klopp told the club’s TV channel, LFCTV. “Wow, I’ve never had a situation like that with the quality of the players not being in the squad.” “It’s difficult, it’s getting more and more difficult, but that’s good for us of course,” he added.