Football news

Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva reacted to criticism that his team’s players are already too old to play at a high level.

"Tell me, which player? Name me names. I am 30, Kovacic is 30, you are not talking about guys who are 36. We had six or four bad months, and out of nowhere it appears that we are old.

In the last eight seasons, we have won six Premier Leagues, and for four bad months we are old? These are people who do not understand the game, have never played this game, and probably understand nothing about football.

We are going to prove them wrong. We have time for this. With this season, it’s already too late to fix anything, maybe with a few tournaments, but we will come back, don’t worry,” quoted the Portuguese by Manchester Evening News.

It is worth noting that City’s victory over Bournemouth (2:1) secured them a record seventh consecutive FA Cup semifinal.

Some matches of the 30th round of the English Championship took place. We present to your attention their results.

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Bayern forward Harry Kane dismissed reports of a potential return to the English Premier League.

"A couple of random stories — nothing more. I am fully focused on Bayern. I don’t know where these rumors came from. I am happy here at Bayern.

The Champions League has been my dream for almost my whole life. And we have the chance to achieve it this year, but also to win a trophy at home in front of our fans," Kane is quoted by ESPN.

The head coach of Madrid’s Real, Carlo Ancelotti, commented on the lack of playing minutes for striker Endrick.

"I think the history of this club shows how many players sat on the bench for a long time. Vinícius — for several years, Rodrigo, Valverde, Camavinga. If you want to be at Real, it’s accepted to sit on the bench for a while," Ancelotti is quoted by Marca.

The defender of the Italian “Roma” Gianluca Mancini shared his thoughts on the Ukrainian forward of his team, Artem Dovbik.

“Artem is a golden boy, exceptional. We know that, unfortunately, his family is going through a tough time right now, and I think that affects him. But on the football field, for 90 minutes of the game, you need to be able to forget everything.

I sometimes joke with him because he is just a four-door wardrobe; I’m almost afraid of him in training: sometimes, after a challenge with him, you fly four meters away!

In the first half of the match against “Lecce” (Serie A, “Lecce” — “Roma“ — 0:1, the author of the only goal was Dovbik, — ed.) I told him: “Either you score a goal or you get a yellow card. I want to see you shoulder the defender into the air!” And then it happened that Dovbik’s winning goal came after his shoulder push on Baschirotto. They are both big, but Artem went at him with the necessary sporting rage and ended up scoring. And I told him then, “You’re strong, you should scatter everyone.” But, of course, in a football context,” Mancini’s words are cited by europacalcio.it.

The midfielder Khusraw Toirov, who plays for Odesa’s "Chornomorets" on loan from Donetsk’s "Shakhtar", has been transferred to the second club team — U-19.

Thus, the new coaching staff of the team, led by Oleksandr Kucher, evaluated the player’s performance.

Toirov was registered for the "sailors" in February. The 20-year-old Tajik midfielder managed to play only two matches in the spring part of the current championship — against "Lviv" and "Polissya", in each of which he came on as a substitute in the second half.

The former Germany national team player Lukas Podolski expressed regret over Thomas Müller leaving "Bayern Munich".

— It’s really sad that the club made such a decision regarding him. Thomas Müller did not have the opportunity to determine his future himself. He deserved to decide this on his own, — said the 2014 world champion. — He has achieved absolutely everything and is the face of the club. Sometimes those who are still playing are underestimated or not given their due. Thomas is more than just a role model in the club.

Well-known commentator Ihor Tsyhanyk assessed Mircea Lucescu’s period at Kyiv’s «Dynamo».

If he hadn’t won the championship, «Dynamo» wouldn’t have received money for two Champions Leagues, about 80 million dollars. Plus, they sold two football players. That’s about 100 million dollars. And that’s money that could have been used to finance the club at a certain level, — said Tsyhanyk on the Youtube channel Dream Bigger.

Everton manager David Moyes is interested in recruiting Scottish striker Ben Doak from Liverpool, reports The Scottish Sun.

According to the source, Moyes is a big admirer of Doak’s game, but it is currently unclear whether Liverpool will be willing to reach a deal with their neighbors Everton. The Scot is currently on loan at Middlesbrough, but he will return to Liverpool in the summer, where high hopes are pinned on him.

The famous Belarusian coach Oleg Dulub explained why Oleksandr Hladky did not succeed in Kyiv’s Dynamo.

— It’s hard to answer unambiguously without being inside the team. Hladky was optimally suited for Rebrov’s combinational style, but there are moments when there’s incompatibility between a player’s and a coach’s character.

I managed to communicate with Hladky; he has very good human qualities. I had a lengthy conversation with him in the sauna. About two hours! I asked him about Shakhtar, about Dynamo, and in the end I told him: “Sasha, you have such a time that you need to show yourself. Help us, and we will help you.” I was very happy when he scored in the very first game, — said the expert.

As previously reported, the match of the 22nd round against Rukh was a jubilee match for Vitaliy Buyalskyi, his 350th, as part of Dynamo in all competitions.

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The Directorate for the Ukrainian Cup has announced that the draw for the 1/2 finals of the 2024/2025 season tournament will take place on April 3. The ceremony will start at the House of Football at 14:00.

Recall that in the semi-final draw, "Bukovina" (Chernivtsi) will participate, as well as the winners of the quarterfinal matches "Oleksandriya" — "Shakhtar" (Donetsk), "Rukh" (Lviv) — "Dynamo" (Kyiv), and "Veres" (Rivne) — "Polissya" (Zhytomyr).

The base day for the semi-finals is April 23.