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Cristiano Ronaldo has explained he wanted to leave Real Madrid for a “big club” like Juventus, rather than settle for an easy retirement in China or Qatar.

The Portugal international was unveiled as a Juventus player on Monday night following the completion of his medical, sealing a for €100 million (£88m/$117m) move to Serie A.

“I’m not sad [about leaving Real Madrid], this is a big club and with all due respect players at this stage of my career usually go to Qatar or China, so I’m grateful to Juventus for allowing me to join such a big club,” Ronaldo told reporters.

“I feel great to be here. It’s a big challenge, it’s a tough league but I’ll be ready. Age isn’t important, I feel good and motivated. Excited. I’ll try to do my best as always and I’m looking forward to trying to do my best and winning every title.

“Juventus gave me a wonderful opportunity and I’m so grateful for that. I can see that Juventus is a club that can have a lot of success, they’ve won domestic cups and Scudetti and were in the Champions League final.

“I’m so proud to be here, I’m proud they were interested in me and I hope I can take Juventus to an even higher level.”

The former Manchester United and Sporting player also commented on his rivalry with Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, which will naturally reduce with him leaving La Liga.

“I don’t see players as rivals,” he added. “Everyone speaks about my rivalry with Messi, but everyone fights for their own club and that’s what I’ll do here. In the end we’ll look back and see who is the best.”

More to follow…

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Maurizio Sarri said he needs to make “one or two adjustments” before Chelsea will be ready to play his football as he looked forward to going head to head with “the most important coaches in Europe”.

The 59-year-old arrived at Stamford Bridge to replace Antonio Conte as Chelsea’s head coach, ending his 13-year spell in Italy, where he worked at nine different clubs.

Chelsea announced Sarri’s appointment hours before they confirmed the signing of Jorginho, who excelled under him at Napoli and had been heavily courted by Manchester City.

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The Blues are also competing for the signing of Aleksandr Golovin from CSKA Moscow, with Monaco having confirmed an offer, while Arsenal and Juventus are interested.

And an excited Sarri believes the squad is close to the level he wants before the new campaign gets underway.

“I think Chelsea are a good team,” Sarri told Chelsea TV. “The problem is that in England, there are five or six very good teams.

“I think with one or two adjustments, we can try to play my football.

“In the Premier League there are all the most important coaches in Europe, maybe in the world. It will be very exciting to play against [Pep] Guardiola, [Mauricio] Pochettino, [Jose] Mourinho, [Jurgen] Klopp and all the others.”

Manchester City boss Guardiola had previously said he would be delighted if Sarri were to come to the Premier League, but the Italian responded humbly when asked about praise from one of his new rivals.

“Guardiola is principally a friend,” said Sarri. “I think he has spoken well about me for this motive.”

Sarri gave his assessment of Jorginho, who joined Chelsea after the London club fended off competition from City for his signature, and he was glowing in his account of the Italian midfielder’s capabilities.

“Jorginho is not a physical player, he’s a technical player,” said Sarri.

“But [his] most important quality is that he’s very quick in the mind so he has the ability to move the ball very quickly.”

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Juventus is the perfect and exciting choice for Cristiano Ronaldo, according to former Chelsea forward Didier Drogba.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner is set to complete a €100 million transfer plus €12 million in bonuses to the Italian Serie A champions on Monday.

The deal that surprised the world will also see the Portugal international earn €30 million per year net salary.

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However, Drogba revealed that he was not amazed when Real Madrid confirmed his departure last week and admitted that he was closed to moving to the Italian top-flight as well.

The former Chelsea talisman is also impressed by the 33-year-old’s motivation for new challenges after spending nine years at the Santiago Bernabeu where he won 16 trophies including four Uefa Champions League titles.

”I am not remotely surprised [by Ronaldo transfer]. I find it as a perfect, exciting and such a good choice that I was about to do it, too.” Drogba was quoted as saying by Football Italia.

“I thought I had already joined a Serie A club and we were down to the details, but then everything evaporated. Don’t ask me the club, there’s no point opening that up now.

”In any case, it was more than just an offer and I was very interested, so I perfectly understand Ronaldo’s desire to play in Serie A.

”Many say he should’ve remained at Real Madrid and maybe for any other champion at the age of 33, that would’ve made sense. Real are a giant club with ambitions always at the top level, but he is someone who feeds on motivation and at that age, you need new challenges.”

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Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer from Real Madrid to Juventus will have a revitalising effect on Italian football, according to former Madrid and AC Milan playmaker Kaka.

The Bianconeri persuaded Madrid to part ways with their all-time leading goal-scorer, agreeing a €100 million (£88m/$117m) deal, and the five-time Ballon d’Or winning forward completed his medical in Turin on Monday.

Former Brazil international Kaka, who moved from Sao Paulo to Milan in 2003 and then spent four years at Madrid before returning to San Siro, believes the presence of Ronaldo in Serie A could help to restore the country’s sporting reputation, referencing the Italian football scandal of 2006 that saw Juventus relegated to Serie B.

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“Ronaldo to Juventus is a good thing for whole of Serie A,” Kaka told Omnisport, speaking courtesy of Adidas.

“Playing for Juventus is great.

“Italian football had difficult moments in the past but Juventus survived and became great again in Italy and Europe after a negative period.

“They’ve restarted after Serie B and they are a great team in Italy and Europe now. They signed one of the most important players and are bringing him to Italy.”

Ronaldo will aim to help Juventus win their eighth consecutive Serie A title in 2018-19, and the club’s supporters will hope he can bring their long wait for a third Champions League trophy to an end.

Juve last won Europe’s premier club competition in 1996, but lost the final in 2015 to Barcelona and to Madrid in 2017, Los Blancos and Ronaldo also knocking them out in the quarter-finals last season.

But Kaka feels the Ronaldo effect will be not just in Turin, but throughout Serie A and Italy’s lower leagues.

“All the other teams will have an advantage thanks to this big name,” said the 36-year-old.

“In my opinion, as an Italian football lover and Milan supporter, it’s going to be a nice thing for Italian football.”

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After a month of scintillating football and storylines, the 2018 World Cup has now come to a close. According to FIFA president Gianni Infantino, “It’s been the best World Cup” in history.

One of the most interesting developments in Russia this summer was the implementation of VAR. This addition had a decided impact both on the pitch and in the Fantasy sphere as more penalties were given in this tournament (29) than the previous two World Cup’s combined.

The impact of this is evident as England and France were awarded and scored the most penalty goals (3) while their forwards, Harry Kane and Antoine Griezmann respectively, finished one-two in both the Golden Boot race and points in the Goal game . Unsurprisingly, those penalty goals also helped propel both players to the semi-finals.

Speaking of semi-finalists, eight of the 11 highest scoring players in the Goal game made it to that stage. It’s not exactly a shock that players that played more matches scored more points, but it’s still a little surprising that players that had big performances in the early stages (Cristiano Ronaldo, Artem Dzyuba, Philippe Coutinho, etc) failed to make the cut. 

The Premier League edition of Goal Fantasy Football is now available so select your team ahead of the new campaign.

GK: Thibaut Courtois – Belgium – 7 Starts, 27 Saves, 3 Clean Sheets, 6 Goals Conceded = 34 Points

The Belgian arguably had his worst campaign at Chelsea this season but, fortunately for his national team, he was back at his best this summer. Courtois ended up capturing the Golden Glove as he finished with the most clean sheets at his position (three) while also topping the heap in saves as well (27). With an ageing defence in front of him, it’s hard to not think that Belgium’s window is closing quickly, but Courtois should yet have another two World Cups in him.

DEF: Yerry Mina – Colombia – 3 Starts, 3 Goals, 2 Clean Sheets, 1 Goal Conceded = 36 Points

DEF: Raphael Varane – France – 7 Starts, 1 Goal, 4 Clean Sheets, 6 Goals Conceded = 35 Points

The past few months have gone about as perfectly as possible for Varane who has now won both the Champions League and the World Cup in 2018. In fact, the majority of his career has been like that as the Real Madrid defender has already won 16 trophies despite being just 25 years old. As for this tournament, Varane was tied for first in clean sheets (four) which, along with his goal, made him the best Fantasy defender in Russia.

DEF: Andreas Granqvist – Sweden – 5 Starts, 2 Goals, 4 Goals Conceded, 3 Clean Sheets = 35 Points

DEF: Lucas Hernandez – France – 7 Starts, 2 Assists, 4 Clean Sheets, 6 Goals Conceded = 34 Points

MID: Eden Hazard – Belgium – 6 Starts, 3 Goals, 2 Assists = 36 Points

Hazard was both fantastic and consistent at this tournament and helped guide Belgium to a respectable third-place finish. Individually he took part in more goals (five) than any other midfielder and finished the World Cup top five in both chances created and touches in the box. Still just 27 years old, we should get to see Hazard at at least one more World Cup and he should be just as good of a Fantasy option than as he was this year.

MID: Ivan Perisic – Croatia – 7 Starts, 3 Goals, 1 Assist = 35 Points

MF: Denis Cheryshev – Russia – 3 Starts, 4 Goals = 32 Points

FOR: Antoine Griezmann – France – 7 Starts, 4 Goals, 3 Assists = 43 Points

He started the tournament having just confirmed that he would stay at Atletico Madrid and ended it as a world champion. As for the Goal Fantasy game , Griezmann’s 43 points were enough for him to be crowned our Fantasy Player of the Tournament. The forward actually scored two fewer goals than Golden Boot Winner Harry Kane, but the Frenchman’s creativity made enough of a difference to see him finish with the most combined goals (goals + assists) and therefore the most Fantasy points.

FOR: Harry Kane – England – 6 Starts, 6 Goals = 42 Points

FOR: Mario Mandzukic – Croatia – 6 Starts, 3 Goals, 3 Assists = 36 Points

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