Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka has hit out at former club manager Avram Grant for belittling him.
The 31-year-old will come up against his old boss, who managed him for six months in 2008, when Chelsea face Portsmouth in the FA Cup final later Saturday.
The Sun reports in his new book, Anelka, published on Sunday, the striker said: Grant used to look down on me.
It was as though he felt I should be grateful and not ask for anything. The pretext for this was I had been brought in from Bolton.
Anelka said his treatment at the hands of Grant knocked his confidence to the extent he knew he was going to miss the decisive penalty in the 2008 Champions League final against Manchester United.
I set great store by emotions and Grant did not show great …
Chelsea have parted company with manager Jose Mourinho by mutual consent after weeks of intense speculation over his future.
The defending Premier League champions suffered a fifth defeat in their last seven Premier League games against Leicester City on Monday, after which Mourinho said he felt betrayed by his players.
Although Chelsea finished top of their Champions League group with a 2-1 victory over Porto last week, the 2-1 loss at Leicester leaves them 16th in the Premier League table and just one point above the relegation zone after 16 matches.
A club statement said: All at Chelsea thank Jose for his immense contribution since he returned as manager in the summer of 2013.
His three league titles, FA Cup, Community Shield and three League…
Didier Drogba believes the current Chelsea team still has work to do to match the side he played in during his first spell at Stamford Bridge.
Drogba scored 157 goals in 341 games during his initial spell at Chelsea between 2004 and 2012, and became ingrained in the club s folklore by scoring the winning penalty in a shootout win over Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League final.
In that same period Drogba also won the Premier League three times, League Cup twice and the FA Cup four times.
Drogba made an emotional return to Stamford Bridge ahead of the 2014-15 campaign and enjoyed more success as Jose Mourinho s men cantered to the title while also winning the League Cup.
But when asked to compare the two sides, Drogba told BT Sport in an intervie…
Javier Chicharito Hernandez started the MLS season with a bang, scoring twice as LA Galaxy spoiled Phil Neville s Inter Miami debut in a 3-2 victory.
Former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker Chicharito endured a difficult and injury-plagued 2020 season, Mexico s all-time leading goalscorer netting just twice after joining the Galaxy.
But Chicharito kicked off his redemption season in style – his two-goal second half sinking David Beckham s Inter Miami in Sunday s season opener.
I m holding [back] my tears. I suffered the loss of my grandfather, I would love him to keep watching [me] scoring goals, Chicharito said. I m very touched because, like I told you, last year was very difficult.
I miss him so much and these goals are for him, my kids, m…
Arsenal are putting the finishing touches on what will be their first official offer of a new contract to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, according to Matt Law of .
The forward s current deal is set to expire next summer, and the club were expected to sell now if a new one isn t agreed soon in order to avoid losing him for free. However, they ve made it clear, especially head coach Mikel Arteta, that they would prefer Aubameyang to put pen to paper and spend several years more at the Emirates.
Apparently, should he agree to the terms offered, the Arsenal captain would be earning £250,000 per week as a base salary, with various bonuses to come on top of that.
The 31-year-old has reportedly been of interest to Barcelona, Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain, but the Gu…
Joachim Loew believes his Germany side s sensational performances at the World Cup will prompt the giants of European football to descend on the Bundesliga in search of new stars.
The German Bundesliga is the most represented league in the World Cup semi-finals, with 28 players plying their trade there.
It would have been 29 but for Germany full-back Jerome Boateng switching from Hamburg to mega-rich Manchester City during the tournament.
But with the remaining 22 German players plus six of the Dutch squad playing in Germany, Loew believes that s where big teams will look to do their shopping ahead of the new season.
The big clubs in Europe will look at our players, said the Germany coach.
German teams have worked hard on systems, they ve paid …
Spain s victorious World Cup squad returned to a heroes welcome in Madrid with hundreds of thousands of fans cheering the team as they paraded through the capital s streets on an open top bus.
People chanted Campeones! Campeones! Campeones! and waved red and gold Spanish flags at the players as the black bus crawled along a roughly eight-kilometre (five-mile) route through the city s main thoroughfares Monday amid scorching temperatures.
Fans waved at the players from balconies while others climbed on trees to get a better view of the 23-man squad which won the World Cup for the first time in Spain s history with a 1-0 extra-time defeat of the Netherlands on Sunday.
We can speak of there being several hundred thousand people, a spokeswoman for the mayor s offic…
Swansea City are set to make a January move for Leeds United star Sam Byram, .
Manager Garry Monk is keen to bring in a new right sided player after losing Nathan Dyer to Leicester City for the season, and has identified the 22 year old as his top target.
A fee of £8m has been quoted for the England U20 international, who recently turned down Leeds’ offer of a new contract.
Since breaking into the first team in the 2012/13 campaign, Byram has racked up one hundred and twenty-seven appearances in all competitions, scoring seven goals.
Southampton, Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton are also interested in securing his services, though Monk is keen to steal a march on his rivals.
Swansea, who suffered their first defeat of the season last weekend…
Carlo Ancelotti believes his former club Paris Saint-Germain have now developed a winning mentality .
The vastly-experienced Italian failed to guide the Ligue 1 club to the title after taking the reins from Antoine Kombouare in the 2011-12 winter break, as PSG finished second behind Montpellier.
Ancelotti, now Real Madrid coach, put that right in his first full campaign in charge, though, masterminding their first league title in 19 years at the end of last season before departing to take over at the Bernabeu.
And the former Milan coach feels that the French champions have improved immeasurably in a short space of time, with Laurent Blanc s men currently standing on the brink of retaining their title.
We didn t have a real identity to our play in that first seaso…
Stoke City and Mame Biram Diouf ended lengthy goal droughts but could only earn a point in a 2-2 Premier League draw at Bournemouth, who were fortunate not to have Harry Arter sent off.
A Lys Mousset own goal had the visitors in front by the break at the Vitality Stadium, Eddie Howe s men levelling against the run of play through Junior Stanislas in the 62nd minute.
Diouf s scrappy 73rd-minute finish, his first Premier League goal for 12 months, looked set to be the winner, only for a late Ryan Shawcross own goal from Max Gradel s header and Joshua King s touch forcing the spoils to be shared.
The result leaves the Cherries 10th, while Mark Hughes side are a point worse off in 13th spot.
FULL TIME: . We twice come from behind to post a point at home.