Football news

Former Shakhtar Donetsk defender Razvan Rats shared an unusual memory of his career, namely the situation that arose in 2011 after the Champions League away match against Spanish side Barcelona (1:5).

At the moment when the player was giving a post-match interview to a Romanian TV broadcaster, Shakhtar head coach Mircea Lucescu walked past and said to Ratsu (which was heard on air), "You are to blame for two goals."

"I will tell you how I felt then. At that moment I wanted to take the microphone and hit Lucescu on the head with it. I'm not joking! I've been quite impulsive since childhood. So I'm not lying. I had an impulse of physical reaction towards Lucescu.

But that was the first impulse. A split second later I realized that if I did something like that, it would be the end of my career, it would be the last thing I would be remembered for in the history of soccer and it would undo everything I had achieved so far," Fanatik quoted Rac as saying on the iAM Rtucan podcast.

Video of the moment that Rac recalled:

A number of English media outlets claim that the upcoming season will be the last for Josep Guardiola as Manchester City's head coach. The Citizens' owners have already started looking for a successor to Pep.

According to Football Transfers, Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso is considered the main candidate. Representatives of the "citizens" consider the 42-year-old specialist an ideal successor to Guardiola.

"The Pharmacists managed to retain their coach after a successful season, but it is unclear whether they will be able to do so in a year. It is in 2025 that City plans to invite Alonso.

News from the camp of Ukraine's rival in the Euro 2024 group and the opening match of the tournament. Last Monday, the Romanian national team arrived in Germany, where the upcoming European Championship will be held.

The training camp of the "tricolors" at the Euros will be in Würzburg, a small town in Bavaria with a population of 130 thousand people.

It should be noted that at the moment four players from the Romanian national team's bid for Euro 2024 are injured - defender Adrian Rus, midfielder Rezvan Marin, as well as forwards Denis Alibek and Gheorghe Puskas. In addition, there are minor problems for defender Andrei Burke.

However, according to the technical director of the Romanian Football Federation, Mihai Stoikice, all these players have a chance to recover before the start of the national team at the tournament.

Recall, the match of the 1st round of the group stage of Euro 20204 in the group "E" Romania - Ukraine will be held on June 17 in Munich.

Zorya Luhansk striker Eduardo Guerrero is not the only option for Dynamo Kyiv, which continues to search for reinforcements for the attacking line. The capital club has other options for forwards, and the Bilo-Syni are currently considering them.

At the same time, Dynamo continue to negotiate with Zorya and offered several options for Guerrero. Luhansk president Yevhen Geller likes the option of full payment for the transfer more than the "money plus player swap" option.

Today, June 11, in Chisinau at the stadium "Zimbru" will be held a friendly Moldova - Ukraine, which will be the last test of strength for the Ukrainian national team before its performance at Euro 2024 (kick-off - at 19:00 Kyiv time).

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Former Romania midfielder Aurel Cicleanu, a participant of the 1984 European Championship, said what he thinks about the prospects of his country's national team at Euro-2024. Recall, at the group stage of the tournament Romanians' opponents in the group will be Belgium, Ukraine and Slovakia.

"As for our group at Euro 2024, Belgium is an unattainable favorite in it. Ukraine look the next strongest. Slovakia, I think, are also above us in terms of chances. So Romania can only be considered fourth. But it was evaluated approximately the same way in the Euro-2024 qualifying group, and in the end, it won this group. So everything is possible, even in this group.

As for our opponents, I have seen three friendly matches of the Belgian national team. This team is a very tough nut, one of the strongest at this Euro. If we want to get a point with such an opponent, we will have to score. How we will do this job is another problem, it depends on the team and its coaching staff. At the same time, we didn't know how to score even against Switzerland, and we ended up scoring three times. So in today's soccer everything is possible.

Our starting match at the Euros is against Ukraine. Of course, the start is very important in such tournaments. But even with a draw with Ukraine our chances of getting out of the group will remain open and everything will be possible for us. The Ukraine national team is a force! And it does not matter that it reached the Euros through the playoffs. The current generation of the Ukrainian national team were world champions in the under-20 age group, and in this generation there are players who are worth even 100 million euros. Not to mention that the players of the Ukrainian national team play in the top clubs in Europe. So the Ukrainian national team is also a tough nut to crack. But it does not mean that it has no weaknesses.

Well, the Slovakian national team is a team with an Italian coach at the helm, and its players are rated much higher than the players of the Romanian national team. So any positive performance in this group will be a success," Agerpres quoted Cicleanu as saying.

Translation and stylistic adaptation - Dynamo.kiev.ua, when using the material hyperlink is mandatory!

Moldova national team striker Ion Nicolaescu told what he expects from the friendly match against Ukraine, which will be held today in Chisinau.

"A tough match awaits us against a very strong team that will play at Euro 2024. We will try to play a good match, we will give our best on the pitch to get another victory (last Saturday Moldova beat Cyprus in a friendly match - 3:2 - ed.).

Even if it will be a difficult match, it doesn't matter to me. I proved that I can score goals, no matter who we play against. And in the Polish national team there are defenders who play in the Premier League, and the goalkeeper is a Juventus mainstay (in the Euro-2024 qualifying cycle Moldova played away in a 1-1 draw with Poland, and Nicolaescu was the author of his team's goal - ed. note). The main thing is to have chances to score, and there I will have to demonstrate that I am a striker, who already has 15 goals in the national team, and the goal count should continue," moldfootball.com quoted Nicolaescu as saying.

Former Dynamo Kyiv head coach Mircea Lucescu spoke in detail about the current Ukraine national team and its strong qualities in an interview with Romanian publication Golazo on the eve of Euro 2024.

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The Ukrainian national team continues its preparations for Euro 2024. On Monday, the Blue and Yellows arrived in Chisinau, where they will play their final friendly match before the European Championship against the Moldovan national team. On the same day, the Ukrainian national team held an official training session at Zimbru Stadium, where the sparring match with the Moldovans will take place today.

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Atletico Madrid forward João Feliz, who spent last season on loan at Barcelona, spoke about the coaches of both teams.

"The difference between Xavi and Diego Simeone? Xavi communicates more with people, he cares more about the players. This aspect is very important, I think Xavi is better at it," Feliz told The Nude Project.

"Inter Milan will announce the extension of the contract with team leader Nicolo Barella before the start of the European Championship, Sport Mediaset reports.

The Italian national team player will sign a new deal with the Nerazzurri until 2029. This contract will make Nicolo the highest paid Italian footballer in Serie A in the 2024/25 season.

Currently, Barella has missed the friendly matches against Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina due to a muscle injury, but Italy's head coach Luciano Spalletti is confident that the Nerazzurri star will be available for the opening match of Euro 2024 against Albania.

Manchester City head coach Josep Guardiola spoke about his future at the English club.

"The reality is that I am closer to leaving than staying. I have discussed it with the club and I feel that I want to stay. I will stay next season and will talk to the club as it progresses. We'll see," Guardiola was quoted as saying by journalist Fabrizio Romano on the X social network (formerly Twitter).