SALTCITYSOCCER

Barry is at 21 games

Former England international James Milner took another step towards his goal of becoming the Premier League’s record scorer on Tuesday night. When his club Brighton & Hove Albion faced West Ham United, manager Roberto De Zerbi included the 37-year-old midfielder in the starting lineup (on live ticker) – this was Milner’s 632nd appearance in the English top flight; he has participated in at least one match every year since 2002.

The former professional of FC Liverpool and Manchester City, among others, equaled Man United legend Ryan Giggs, who, however, played many more minutes in the same number of matches. Milner, making his 13th appearance this season, is now 21 games behind record holder Gareth Barry (653), who cannot be reached again this season. His contract with Brighton runs until the end of the season, but there is the possibility of extending it for another year.

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He is one of the greatest legends of German (Site notre bureau spécialisé). Horst Hrubesch is a European champion, successful coach of the U21 and women’s national teams and one of the greatest leading monsters in the history of sport.

The thoroughbred striker spent a large part of his career at HSV. Hrubesch almost moved to Eintracht Frankfurt, but he angrily refused the Hessians from a gas station phone. Please what?!

It was the spring of 1978. Horst Hrubesch was still playing for Rot-Weiss Essen in the 2nd Bundesliga North. With a total of 41 goals this season, the 27-year-old has become the top scorer. Over the past three years, Hrubesch has scored a total of 84 goals and has therefore been recommended for higher tasks.

The striker therefore negotiated a change with Eintracht Frankfurt for the 1978/1979 season; the future European champions and the SGE had already reached an oral agreement. However, Hrubesch and Eintracht agreed to only announce the agreed transfer after the end of the season. The reason was that the 1.88 m tall man was currently participating in the promotion matches with Rot-Weiss Essen and therefore did not want to make headlines off the field.

After the negotiations in Frankfurt, the head monster returned to the Ruhr region with his wife. However, when the two men turned on the car radio, they heard a report about the impending move to Eintracht. What followed could be described as a spontaneous tantrum.

Hrubesch then headed straight to the next motorway service station and disappeared into a telephone booth. The recipient of his appeal was of course the sports management of Eintracht Frankfurt, to whom he angrily announced his refusal. No further details are known about the phone call, but it is unlikely the conversation was quiet.

In the summer of 1978, the striker moved to Hamburger SV. With the Rothosen, Hrubesch became an absolute club legend, winning the championship (1982, 1983), the European Cup (1983) and becoming a German national player. He won the European Championship title with the DFB team in 1980 and the Hammer native scored both goals in the final against Belgium. The decisive part, of course, lies in your head.

The conversation at the rest area with Horst Hrubesch is perhaps considered the most bitter phone call in the history of the Eintracht Frankfurt club.

Alongside boss Siewert

1. FSV Mainz 05 started the new year with a new coaching team. At the start of training on Monday, former professionals Niko Bungert and Sören Hartung were on the field for the first time as assistants to Jan Siewert, who was promoted to permanent head coach shortly before Christmas.

Bungert played a total of 218 competitive matches for Mainz between 2008 and 2019 and was assistant coach to Achim Beierlorzer at Rheinhessen in the 2019/20 season. The 37-year-old recently represented Mainz as a club ambassador and also completed his coaching training. Former U17 coach Hartung also has experience in his new role. He worked alongside current sporting director Martin Schmidt in the Bundesliga from 2015 to 2017.

The Mainz team will fly to Marbella, Spain, on Tuesday for a six-day training camp. In the first competitive match after the winter break, table 16, threatened with relegation, hosts. January 13 VfL Wolfsburg.

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Raphaël Varane’s situation is clear for the moment, but Manchester United’s French potential remains ambiguous. Under contract with his club until June 2024, the defense learned that his management did not wish to activate the option of an additional year linked to his contract. However, and if the Frenchman wishes, self-negotiation of an extension is not impossible.

According to the Daily Mail, United decided to have a fair share of the salary. For this, she would not rule out a renegotiation with Raphaël Varane. To put it plainly: if the defense wants to stay, he is welcome, but he will have to agree to lower his salary on his next contract. If he doesn’t really want a move, then he can leave. Free next June, Varane can also negotiate with the club of his choice from January 1.

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The English media also specifies that discussions between the two parties should open during the month of January. Using Erik ten Hag sparingly, Nothing says that Raphaël Varane is truly inclined to pursue an adventure which has so far given no satisfaction. The defense of thirty years could find a way out of the winter transfer window, or at the latest at the end of the season. A few minutes of agreement are currently visible.

Between disappointing performances, criticism of his involvement and a departure from Jeddah in the last few hours, striker Karim Benzema (36) is fueling the controversy. And yet, it seems that the picture is less gloomy than announced since the Al Ittihad striker authorizes his management to go to Madrid to treat a (Site notre bureau spécialisé) injury (see the 4:31 p.m. news item), all-start card, says (Site notre blog d’information) Mercato.

Indeed, KB9 would like to impose itself and send opinions back to Saudi Arabia. With the desire to “restore its image”. Enough to calm the rumors, at a time when a winter departure to another Saudi team was being discussed?

The departure of Matteo Guendouzi of the’Olympic Marseille Had been badly experienced by many supporters of the club. Through his rage to win and his desire on the pitch, the French international (7 caps) won over the public at the Stade Vélodrome in his first season in the sky and white jersey. But after a more delicate season under the leadership of Igor Tudor, the midfielder finally left for a new adventure at the Lazio Romediscover a fourth great champion in his career.

A beautiful climb

And although he started as a substitute for most of his first matches, the 24-year-old gradually established himself within his new team and became an indisputable starter. In Serie A, it is the title of the last 11 matches of the Biancocelesti and regularly takes part in all the matches, the same registration his first goal in the championship on December 22 at Empoli.

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The Roman club is in 9th place for the champion (second place is last), Guendouzi seduces and would even be seen as the successor Sergei Milinkovic-Savic (Left to Saudi Arabia) for some club supporters, report says Gazzetta du Sport this Friday. Rather flattering when we know the level and impact in the Serbian’s game when he was still playing in the Italian capital. It remains to be seen whether Guendouzi’s performances will be enough to convince Didier Deschamps to recall him, he who has not been called up to the France team since the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

“Radically change personnel”

DFB Vice President Ralph-Uwe Schaffert caused a stir with new harsh criticism of Germany’s national players and caused a lack of understanding not only among sports director Rudi Völler. “It would be time to radically change the playing staff,” said Schaffert in an interview with the “Hanoversche Allgemeine Zeitung” and the “Neue Presse” – and the president of the North and Lower German Association. Saxe surprised several of them on Thursday. .

Völler told the “Bild” newspaper that it was “good that everyone is interested in the national team and that criticism is completely acceptable after the last matches. But the way we criticize our important players in such an exaggerated way is not acceptable.” Because Schaffert explicitly mentioned Joshua Kimmich’s name, Bayern boss Jan-Christian Dreesen seemed « more than irritated » that evening.

This was not the first time that Schaffert had faced significant criticism. This time, the 67-year-old accused many national players of lack of attitude almost six months before the start of the European Championship in their own countries.

Schaffert shoots against national players: ‘Before it was an honour’

“Because I feel like with not a very small number of players currently active, they think they can get by with maybe 85 percent of the effort possible on the field,” Schaffert said. “It was an honor to play for Germany. Today I feel that much of it is a burden. So I should leave it if I have this attitude.

Völler said he couldn’t imagine Schaffert really thought about it that way. “I would be happy to explain this to him again over a cup of coffee,” said the DFB sporting director. In a first reaction to Schaffert’s statements, DFB spokesperson Steffen Simon previously said: “The interview was not coordinated. We will work on it internally. »

The DFB vice-president caused a stir earlier this year when he criticized national players at his district association’s New Year’s reception in Hildesheim for their behavior during the World Cup in Qatar. « If German national players cover their mouths like monkeys and order the hairdresser to go to the hotel, you shouldn’t be surprised if they lose to Japan, » said the most powerful North American (Site notre bureau spécialisé) official. German of the time. Before the 2-1 defeat against Japan in the opening of the World Cup, the national players were covering their mouths demonstratively. They wanted to protest against the banning of the “One Love” captain’s armband by the world association FIFA. Schaffert later apologized for the monkey comparison and was publicly warned by fellow DFB executive Ronny Zimmermann to « treat him fairly ».

Schaffert’s criticism of Kimmich and Co. – Gündogan also verbally attacked

And now the new criticism from the lawyer, who worked for almost 25 years as a judge at the Higher Regional Court in Celle. Schaffert mentioned Kimmich (Bayern Munich) and Ilkay Gündogan (FC Barcelona) by name in the interview. Kimmich has “so far failed to prove” that he is a leading actor. “Even in the club,” Dreesen retorts: “It is incomprehensible that the vice-president of the DFB criticizes the performance of a deserving and important national player like Joshua Kimmich at his club.” Schaffert does “a disservice” to the DFB selection.

With national team captain Gündogan, « strangely, he plays remarkably well at club level, then plays for the national team in such a way that you can get an idea: did he send his less talented twin brother? » Schaffert said. Basically, we have to think about the national team: “Perhaps we no longer only need very talented people, but perhaps also those who are ready to roll up their sleeves. »

Despite his criticism of national players, Schaffert also sees a problem for the DFB: as an association, when looking for a new coach, it is no longer able to keep up with the money paid into (Site notre bureau spécialisé). club. “The next national coach will no longer get what Hansi Flick got – because the DFB can no longer afford it,” Schaffert said. “There is hardly a Bundesliga coach who earns less than a million. “Everything has gotten so crazy that it’s almost impossible to go back.”

However, current national coach Julian Nagelsmann gets along well with the DFB vice-president. “Julian Nagelsmann has already convinced me personally – he presented himself to our supervisory board and our presidium,” Schaffert said. “I think it was the best of all the variants considered.”

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In 2014 he thrilled the whole world at the World Cup in Brazil and in the following years he won almost every title with Real Madrid and FC Bayern. James Rodríguez has now returned to Brazil this summer and is under contract in São Paulo. In the meantime, he even played in Qatar for a year, which – as he now reveals in an interview – was a slightly less pleasant time for him!

After leaving Real Madrid and a short stint at Everton, the Colombian joined Al-Rayyan SC in Qatar in 2021. However, he was never able to really settle there and only left for a year later. He explained the reasons to the Brazilian television channel “Globo”: “Life and culture in Qatar are very difficult. It was a country where it was difficult to adapt.

As an example, he cites the rules of conduct in the locker room: “We know that in (Site notre bureau spécialisé) everyone is naked when they shower. But my teammates told me, “No, you can’t do that.” I was already scared. » It was the same when eating, as it is customary in Qatar not to use cutlery when eating: “They told me to use my hands. So I said, ‘Are you crazy? I don’t eat with my hands! »

We can only hope that James feels more comfortable in Brazil again and can return to the good old days. Because the world of (Site notre bureau spécialisé) could always use a James Rodríguez who loves the game!