Sport Round Up From Around The Globe

Jose Mourinho's first Chelsea side would beat Guardiola's Man City - Terry


John Terry says that Jose Mourinho's first great Chelsea team would beat the current Manchester City side running away with the Premier League title under Pep Guardiola.
City are yet to taste defeat in the Premier League this season, having won 17 of their 18 matches and beaten all of their major rivals to surge 11 points clear at the top of the table, all while attracting praise for the stylish and expansive play that has yielded a spectacular tally of 56 goals.
Their form over the first half of the season has put Guardiola's men on course to break the Premier League records for points (95) and goals (103) in a campaign, leading many to suggest they might be the greatest team in the competition's history.
Terry, however, says the Chelsea teams he captained to back-to-back Premier League titles in 2004-05 and 2005-06 under Mourinho -- accumulating a record 95 points in the first campaign -- would be confident of beating this City side.
"I would say 2004-05 or 2005-06, those first two sides when Mourinho arrived at the club [would beat City]," Terry said during an appearance on Sky Sports' "Monday Night Football" TV show.
"We were never afraid to say: 'They'll have more possession than us,' but we were set, comfortable. The full-backs [William Gallas and Paulo Ferreira] would always go up the pitch, and [Claude] Makelele would always sit, which was great for us centre-backs.
"But we had great legs, great power, and we had the big man up front. Didier [Drogba] made such a difference. We had that ball into Didier, and he could hold it up, with the runners off him [Damien Duff and Arjen Robben], and [Frank] Lampard would be box-to-box game after game."
Key to the domestic dominance of those Chelsea teams was Mourinho, and Terry, currently at Aston Villa, paid tribute to the man he says is the best coach he has worked under in his career.
"He was the first one to come and revolutionise it at Chelsea," Terry said. "He would be the first in, 8 a.m., he'd be the one setting the cones out, and you'd come in as players and he'd be out there, if it was pouring with rain, getting his session organised.
"His standards were so high, and he demanded from everyone. The players, staff, people inside the medical team, everyone at the football club. He was on everything. His intensity and attention to detail was incredible.
"He 100 percent changed the way I thought about football. In his first session, the lads came in and we thought: 'Wow, that's a proper session.'"


Atletico Madrid report Barcelona to FIFA over Antoine Griezmann


Atletico Madrid have reported Barcelona to FIFA for making an illegal approach for Antoine Griezmann
Barca's director of institutional relations, Guillermo Amor, said over the weekend that it was "possible" president Josep Maria Bartomeu had held talks with Griezmann's family.

In line with FIFA's rules, clubs that wish to sign a player must first communicate that desire to the player's club before they can then begin to negotiate with the player if given the green light.
The club and FIFA both confirmed the news to ESPN FC, and a spokesperson for Atletico told Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo on Tuesday: "Atletico Madrid have reported Barcelona for repeated contact with Griezmann and his people, contact which we are aware of. He is a player with a contract with Atletico Madrid and a long contract at that."

Unbeaten Atletico are second in the table, six points behind leaders Barcelona, and Marca reported that Atletico feel that the Catalan club's interest in Griezmann, as real as it might be, is also a destabilising tactic.

The action comes after Amor was asked about Barca's desire to sign the France international on Sunday after a Mundo Deportivo report that Bartomeu had held a meeting with the forward's family.

"If that's what [Mundo Deportivo] said, it's possible," Amor told Movistar+. "Maybe there's been a meeting and things have advanced, although I don't know. There's a good understanding, maybe there have been talks.

"Rumours are inevitable in football. In the case of Griezmann, there are a lot of players we could be talking with, initiating some kind of relationship with if there's an opportunity
"We're obliged to have contact with players. It's something which is done."
If found guilty, Barcelona risk being banned from signing players for the second time in the past five years.

In 2014, FIFA handed the club a one-year transfer ban, which encompassed two transfer windows and was served in 2015, after the illegal recruitment of foreign minors.

Griezmann, 26, looked set to move to Manchester United last summer but performed a U-turn at the last minute.

After Atletico had their appeal for their transfer ban to be overturned rejected, he signed a new deal at the Wanda Metropolitano, saying it would have been "dirty" to leave the club at that moment.

However, he has remained the focus of transfer stories, with his release clause having remained at €100 million when he signed the new terms.

Diego Simeone said recently that he would not stand in Griezmann's way if a "unique opportunity" came along, prompting suggestions that he will leave at the end of the current campaign.

Griezmann apologised on Sunday after sparking a Twitter backlash by posting a picture of himself dressed as a black basketball player.

France and Arsenal legend Thierry Henry named King of Football


To add to the countless honours he amassed during his playing career, Thierry Henry can now legitimately add "King of Football" to his already glittering CV.
Indeed, the 40-year-old Arsenal legend was crowned as such at a Fanzone event in Lagos, Nigeria, on Sunday evening.
Dressed in traditional Igbo ceremonial attire, Henry was anointed "Igwe (king) of Football" in front of hundreds of adoring fans at a gala staged by Guinness.
As well as receiving the honorary title and cooking jollof rice on stage, the Frenchman was also unveiled as an ambassador for Made of Black -- a campaign created to help inspire a new, progressive generation of African artists and performers.