English football back in business
Manchester City and Chelsea clash at Wembley
After all the drama of the World Cup and countless pre-season friendlies, competitive football in England’s top flight returned as Manchester City and Sergio Aguero outclassed Chelsea 2-0 in the Community Shield at Wembley Stadium yesterday.
The traditional curtain-raiser for the Premier League in England saw league champions City take on the FA Cup winners Chelsea, who now have Maurizio Sarri at the helm, having taken over from Antonio Conte during the summer break.
While many of the friendlies involving Premier League teams over the past few weeks have been criticised for their lack of top names on show — many marquee players were resting up after their World Cup exertions in Russia — both sides at Wembley had no shortage of talent on the pitch.
Club record £60 million signing Riyad Mahrez started for City while Chelsea include new signing Jorginho as the mercury reached 30˚C in London. Sarri also included 17-year-old Callum Hudson-Odoi in his side, while City boss Pep Guardiola put teenager Phil Foden into the action from the start.
Despite poor form and no place in the Spain squad at the World Cup, Alvaro Morata was up front for Chelsea, and the impressive Ross Barkley also lined up in midfield alongside Cesc Fabregas.
City started on the front foot as Chelsea looked nervy to begin with. Jorginho gave the ball away cheaply before Mahrez saw an attempt blocked. City’s Sane was next to try his luck for City from distance after five minutes as Chelsea continued to lose possession cheaply.
The chances kept coming for City and they found the breakthrough after 13 minutes thanks to all-time top scorer Aguero.
The Chelsea defence backed off Foden, who was allowed to advance to the edge of the penalty area. From there he laid off to the Argentine striker who fired past former City goalkeeper Willy Caballero.
The strike was Aguero’s 200th for City, further stretching his lead as the club’s greatest goal-getter.
Morata was the first to threaten for Chelsea after 26 minutes, but his shot was way off target.
The remainder of the first half continued in a similar pattern, with the Chelsea fans venting their frustration at the inability to stay in possession.
However, an old problem for City made an appearance just before the break as Claudio Bravo almost allowed a long-range wallop from Marcos Alonso to bounce over his head.
Hungry for more
After the interval, Aguero almost immediately made it 2-0 but Brazil defender David Luiz stood up and denied him. At the other end, Morata was persevering and almost had a chance before the big John Stones dealt with him comfortably.
Aguero was played in by a magical Foden after 52 minutes and the mercurial striker rounded Caballero but only to find the side-netting.
All the good work done earlier by Luiz was undone five minutes later when Aguero polished off a Bernardo Silva that had the Brazilian chasing shadows.
That made it 201 and counting for Aguero.
Time was ticking away for Sarri’s men and the flow of the game was disrupted by a series of substitutions.
Still Aguero was at the heart of every attack for City and playing like it was 2008, not 2018. His old teammate Caballero denied him a hat-trick on 75 minutes when he kept his close-range attempt out.
The Argentine took a well-earned rest on 80 minutes when he was replaced by another City veteran Vincent Kompany.
City were still hungry for more and Caballero produced a great save to deny first teenager Brahim Díaz and then Gabriel Jesus.
In they end, Guardiola had to settle for 2-0, but this result spoke greater volumes than the scoreline.
It is early days, but City still look a level above their rivals on this showing.
The traditional curtain-raiser for the Premier League in England saw league champions City take on the FA Cup winners Chelsea, who now have Maurizio Sarri at the helm.
New Al Wahda reserve team coach Adrian Mutu has told Gulf News that he will draw upon all of his experiences to be an invaluable source of guidance to his young players.
The 39-year-old former Juventus star, who joined the Abu Dhabi club last month, enjoyed a mixed career, ending as Romania’s joint all-time highest scorer alongside Gheorghi Hagi on 35 goals.
However, he also served two long-term suspensions for failed drugs tests while at Chelsea and Fiorentina in 2004 and 2010.
The first was for cocaine, while the second was for banned appetite suppressant sibutramine. “I wouldn’t say many,” he said of his career ups and downs in an exclusive email interview with Gulf News, sent while on camp in Poland with Al Wahda this week.
“I only had one bad experience when I was a little bit older than the players I’m coaching at the moment. I was only 23-years-old,” he added of that first incident, which saw him sacked from Chelsea.
“Now I can tell my players how to be a footballer 24 hours a day, and when you eat, drink or go out, I can tell them to think about whether it’s good for them and whether it will affect their performance. Anyway, that’s an old story from almost 20 years ago.”
Looking ahead to a new and exciting chapter in his life the four-time Romanian footballer of the year added: “This opportunity with Al Wahda is very important for me, as it is for the young players who will work with me. It’s important for me because I will have the opportunity to practice and teach football, the passion of my life, and of course I will also get to experience a different culture.
“For the players it’s important to listen, learn and work hard, because all I have experienced in my life, not only as a footballer, all that I have learnt, will be available for them.
“I will help and support them to fulfil their dream, but ultimately it depends on them and how much they want it, they must understand this is not the final result and what people don’t see behind the success is the hours and hours of hard work and sacrifice. To change the reality you must change your mentality.
Good results
“I would like to have good results to pay back the trust the club have put in me. And the most important thing for me is to produce two or three players who can play in the first team next season,” he added, while thanking Al Wahda’s head coach and fellow Romanian Laurentiu Reghecampf for giving him his chance in the UAE capital.
“He was very important, he told me about this opportunity and encouraged me to accept it. I like the city and the people are very nice to me. I’m looking forward to my family joining me here.”
Asked if he thought 33-yearold five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo joining Juventus would help Italy become the best league in the world again, Mutu, who scored over 100 Serie A goals and was a three-time best foreign player there, replied: “I hope so, but let me tell you something, Serie A is very tough and to play at the highest level you need to be prepared.”
Mutu won two Serie A titles while at Juventus in 2005 and 2006, but both were revoked due to a match-fixing scandal involving clubs (not players) plotting with officials to select favourable referees. It was this that sparked the Italian league’s downfall.
The most important thing for me is to produce two or three players who can play in the first team next season.” Adrian Mutu » Al Wahda Under-23 coach