Mata happy at Chelsea
london: Juan Mata is happy at Chelsea and has no plans to leave the club despite appearing to have fallen out of favor under new manager Jose Mourinho. The 25-year-old Mata was Chelsea’s player of the year last season, scoring 12 goals in the Premier league and setting up 15, but the Spain winger has struggled to establish himself under Mourinho. “It’s been a very, very good two seasons for me here, maybe the best of my career, and what I want this season is the same,” Mata said. “I’m looking forward to achieving as many trophies as we have done in the last two seasons and hopefully this is going to be a good season for us again.”
Mata has played only 65 minutes in Chelsea’s opening three league matches and was an unused substitute in the Super Cup final against Bayern Munich, even after the game went to extra time. He has also been the subject of some transfer speculation. “I think it’s normal in every transfer window that there are lots of rumors but I’m happy here,” Mata said.
At the international level, Mata was a surprise omission from the Spanish national team squad for upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
Chelsea was busy in the transfer market over the offseason and the signings of Marco van Ginkel, Andre Schuerrle, Willian, Christian Atsu, as well as Kevin De Bruyne returning to the club after a spell on loan, have intensified competition in Chelsea’s attacking positions.
After leaving Mata out against Manchester United last month, Mourinho denied that the Spaniard’s future could be in doubt. “Everything is clear between me and the player. We have no problems,” Mourinho said. “I think he’s a very important player for us. He wants to be a very important player for us. He wants to stay. I want him to stay, the club want him to stay. There is no story.”
Real’s record earnings
Madrid: Real Madrid says it posted record revenue of more than half a billion euros (dollars) for a second straight season in 2012-13. The world’s richest club says it earned 521 million euros ($684 million) — a 1.2 percent increase from the previous year — for a profit of 37 million euros ($48.5 million) in a season that failed to produce a major trophy. Madrid says it reduced its debt by 34 million euros ($45 million) for a total still owed of 91 million euros ($119 million).
These figures do not include Madrid’s transfer business from this summer, topped by its world-record payment of 100 million euros ($132 million) for Gareth Bale.
Madrid, who leads Spanish rival Barcelona in the rich list, says its revenue figures are “not reached by any other sporting institution in the world.”
Abidal angry with Barca
Paris: Eric Abidal is angry at how his Barcelona career came to an end and claims he was not even paid by the club when he was seriously ill.
The 34-year-old Abidal had a liver transplant last April, ruling him out of the 2012 European Championship and keeping him away from football for one year. He returned to make a few appearances for Barcelona before leaving to join Monaco in the offseason. “The problem was that my contract was coming to an end. In that case, either it’s renewed, either it ends. I was prepared for both,” Abidal said in an interview with sports daily l’Equipe published Friday. “It was hard to accept but you don’t have the choice. The adventure with Barcelona is over, but I’m very happy to have started another one with Monaco.”
But Abidal said he was disappointed at how his departure was announced. “What was hard to understand was what Barcelona said during my last press conference. By saying that it was a professional choice, it made other clubs doubt,” Abidal said. “It wasn’t even a question of money. The proof being that all the months I was ill, the club didn’t pay me. Now I’m lucky to have the trust of the Monaco coach and president. Touch wood, everything’s fine. But it’s true that there was a time when I doubted myself.”
Abidal has played 90 minutes for Monaco in every league game and was expected to play for France later Friday in its World Cup qualifier at Georgia.
After joining from lyon in 2007, Abidal played 125 league games for Barcelona, helping the Catalan club to win four league titles and two European Cups. He forged a close bond with former coach Pep Guardiola, who is now in charge of Bayern Munich. “He’s someone who appreciates me enormously and I’m still in touch with,” Abidal said. “He was a great coach. He’s the one who gave me my chance. If he was still there, I may have continued (with Barcelona).”
AFRICAN WC HOPES AlIVE
Seven teams will keep alive their hopes of playing at the World Cup in African qualifying’s final round of group games, with continental champion Nigeria and Ghana not yet assured of progression.
Also facing nervous last-round matchups are Cameroon, Senegal and Tunisia, while minnows Ethiopia and Republic of Congo are in position to qualify for the final playoffs at the expense of 2010 World Cup host South Africa and African Cup runner-up Burkina Faso respectively.
Top-ranked African team Ivory Coast, Egypt and Algeria have already reached the 10-team playoffs in October and November that will complete the two-year process to decide which five teams from Africa go to Brazil next year.
Malawi, Zambia, libya, Uganda and Cape Verde Islands hope to overtake some of the other top teams late on.
Ghana and Zambia open the final round of group games on Friday in Group D, the first of a host of winner-take-all games to end the main qualifying stage. Also, Tunisia hosts Cape Verde for the right to qualify from Group B, the Nigerians need a point at home against Malawi in Group F and four-time African champion Cameroon must hold off a challenge from libya when they meet to decide Group I. Senegal plays closest challenger Uganda in Group J’s climax in neutral Marrakech with just a point between them.
uefa punishes three clubs
Nyon: UEFA has disciplined one Hungarian team and two Polish clubs for racism involving fans at Europa league matches. UEFA says Honved must play its next two Champions league or Europa league matches in an empty stadium, and pay a 50,000 euro ($66,000) fine. The Budapest club was charged over “racist behavior and racist chanting” from fans at Serbian club Vojvodina in July. Honved was eliminated. UEFA says lech Poznan and Piast Gliwice must close sections of their stadiums housing “ultras” groups at their next home European match.