🚨 Jones scores on England debut, bad news for João Palhinha, Iniesta buys new club, Deco on Haaland and much more
Plus all of the other stories making the news in the world of football...
Good morning everyone and welcome to your Monday morning edition of the Daily Briefing! Thanks as always for reading, and hope you enjoy :-)
Today’s top stories:
Lionel Messi and Argentina defeated in Paraguay
Raphinha makes in 25 G/A for the season after scoring for Brazil
Plus more from Arsenal, Chelsea and Real Madrid
Argentina
A Lionel Messi-led Argentina succumbed to a shock defeat to Paraguay in their World Cup qualifier. Despite taking the lead through Lautaro Martínez, La Albiceleste were ultimately undone by goals from Antonio Sanabria (19) and Omar Alderete (47).
Arsenal
Alexander Isak directly addresses “move rumours” amid Arsenal transfer interest.
AS Roma
Claudio Ranieri has been officially confirmed as Roma’s new head coach on a short-term contract until June 2025. It is his third stint at the club (fourth if you count his playing career) after he led the Giallorossi between 2009-11 and again in 2019.
Barcelona
Barça director Deco has continued the charm offensive with regard to Man City striker, Erling Haaland, telling Spanish media: “There are only one/two strikers like our Robert Lewandowski and Haaland is one of them... First of all, we should check if Haaland is what we need for our project. We’re not working on strikers as of now as we’ve Lewandowski. We will see at the right moment.”
Deco also commented on Barcelona’s chase last summer for Athletic Club’s Nico Williams: “Nico was in our thoughts last summer… but he made his decision and life continues. We signed Dani Olmo, he was a priority target for us.”
Any thoughts that Viktor Gyökeres rather than Erling Haaland would be a target for the Catalan giants was quickly put to bed by Deco: “He’s a good striker who scores a lot of goals, but we’re not working on that. We have Lewandowski, we’re so happy with him and we’re not going to discuss any striker now.”
Similarly, Deco immediately shut down rumours surrounding a goalkeeping replacement: “No, our priority is Marc-André ter Stegen who is under contract for the next three years. We won’t sign anyone to replace him. If I was Diogo Costa, I’m not sure I’d join Barça to be a backup. We are not working to sign him.”
Barcelona make plans for highly-rated Malian teenager.
Bayern Munich
Bad news for Vincent Kompany and Bayern Munich, as João Palhinha had to leave international duty with the Portuguese team after picking up an adductor injury. Bayern staff will assess him and decide on the next steps.
Brazil
Raphinha scored again, this time for the Selecão. His goal makes it 15 for the season, plus 10 assists for club and country. It was his first time wearing the iconic No.10 jersey too. It wasn’t enough for Brazil to triumph over Venezuela, however, as Telasco Segovia’s equaliser on 46, just three minutes after Brazil had taken the lead, was enough to earn the hosts a point.
Chelsea
Si Phillips discusses how Marc Cucurella has become one of the first names on the Chelsea team sheet under Enzo Maresca.
England
The Football Association have launched an investigation after reports that England supporters were tear-gassed in Greece.
FC Helsingør
Former Barcelona legend Andrés Iniesta has made his first foray into football club ownership after his retirement. Along with Swiss company, Stoneweg, his company NSN have bought Danish club FC Helsingør.
Globe Soccer Awards
The 15th edition of the Globe Soccer Awards will take place in Dubai on December 27th, and voting has opened for various awards:
Juventus
Juventus’ Colombian defender Juan Cabal will miss the rest of the season after it was confirmed that he has torn his ACL.
Juventus documentary on Fagioli post-betting ban to be televised.
Liverpool
Liverpool star entangled in scandal as lawsuit filed against him.
Manchester United
Rúben Amorim took some time to take in his surroundings at an empty Old Trafford. The ‘Theatre of Dreams’ will soon be full of expectant supporters with the 39-year-old’s first home match in charge of the team coming against Fotballklubben Bodø/Glimt on November 28th.
Nations League
North Macedonia vs Latvia (1-0): In a game that had just five shots on target, Nikola Serafimov’s 57th minute strike for the hosts was good enough to take the points.
Greece vs England (0-3): Lee Carsley’s side eased to victory in Greece, though it took two late goals to put some gloss on the scoreline. Ollie Watkins had opened the scoring on seven minutes, before an Odysseas Vlachodimos own goal on 77 and Curtis Jones’ first on his debut for the Three Lions (83) completed the scoring [pictures from ITV Sport]:
France vs Israel (0-0): Didier Deschamps will be fuming with his side after dropping points at home to Israel, who were without a point until Thursday night’s fixture. Despite 71 percent possession, 24 shots and more than double the passes of their opponents, they could not break them down.
Belgium vs Italy (0-1): Newcastle ace, Sandro Tonali, scored his first goal in international football on 11 minutes, and that was enough to see off the hosts in a tightly fought contest.
Ireland vs Finland (1-0): Evan Ferguson continued his good form at international level with the winner on 45 minutes. Ultimately, it will be in vain as Ireland remain six points behind second-placed Greece with one game left to play.
Slovenia vs Norway: (1-4): Antonio Nusa gave the visitors the ideal start with a goal on four minutes before Benjamin Šeško fired the hosts level from the spot. Erling Haaland saw Norway retake the lead on 45 before Nusa’s second just before the hour and an 82nd-minute fourth from Jens Petter Hauge closed out the scoring.
Real Madrid
Despite many rumours in the media, David Alaba’s return for Real Madrid is edging closer. There will be no retirement announcement, and the club have full trust in the player for 2025.
Real Madrid make defender wanted by Bayern Munich and Barcelona a top priority.