Roma to continue their unbeaten streak tonight 🇮🇹🤞

The fact you didn’t know you needed: Carlo Ancelotti coached all four Brazilian players to have won the Ballon d’Or. Rivaldo. Ronaldo. Ronaldinho. Kaká. 🇧🇷

Ronaldo on Ronaldinho: “Ronaldinho was better than me. He drove opponents crazy and made you fall in love with football.” Ronaldinho’s response: “No. Ronaldo was better. He was playing with one knee and nobody could stop him.” Two Brazilian greats giving each other their flowers. 🇧🇷🙏

Throwback to Saïd Benrahma scoring twice against Fulham in the League Cup and getting the Man of the Match award… Along with a copy of Crash Bandicoot for PS4. 😅 Not a bad night’s work.

AC Milan had just finished 6th in Serie A and missed out on the Champions League. Their response in the summer of 2001? ✅ Filippo Inzaghi from Juventus ✅ Andrea Pirlo from Inter ✅ Rui Costa from Fiorentina Three signings who would go on to play a huge part in Milan’s return to the top of European football. Not a bad rebuild.

The greatest rivalry in Premier League history

Ryan Reynolds: “Football is a legal poison and an infernal journey. “Owning a club is emotionally draining, financially foolish and completely addictive. “I’m obsessed with Wrexham, though a part of me wishes I hadn’t gotten involved.” Football ownership summed up pretty well.

Once upon a time at Roma... 🇮🇹

This might be one of the strangest routes into professional football... Football Manager teamed up with Xbox for a competition offering someone the chance to work with Bromley as a “Tactical Performance Assistant”. The winner was 23-year-old Nathan Owolabi, who went through a proper interview with manager Andy Woodman before being brought into the club. It wasn’t just a gimmick either. Owolabi worked with Bromley’s staff, analysed matches and helped provide a different tactical perspective during the season. Woodman later spoke positively about what he brought to the group, saying his different way of looking at the game was useful in some important moments. That same season, Bromley went on to win promotion to the EFL for the first time in the club’s history. From spending hours on Football Manager to working inside a real football club during a historic promotion season. Some story. 🎮

Mário Jardel’s numbers in Europe were ridiculous. At Porto, he scored 168 goals in 175 games. At Galatasaray, 34 in 43. At Sporting, 67 in 62. He won the European Golden Shoe twice, finished as the Portuguese league’s top scorer five times and even scored both goals as Galatasaray beat Real Madrid in the 2000 UEFA Super Cup. From arriving in Europe in 1996 to 2003, he scored 269 goals in 280 games. Jardel later said: “If I were playing today, I’d be worth between €150m and €200m.” One of the most prolific strikers of his era, but rarely mentioned alongside the biggest names.

To think Kane was constantly mocked week in week out at Tottenham, to turn his career around and win football’s top individual prize. Leaving the Premier League is the key.

Juan Román Riquelme on Louis van Gaal at Barcelona: “Straight after my presentation, he took me into the dressing room. There was a table full of videos of me. “He said: ‘You’re the best in the world when you have the ball, but when you don’t have it, we’re playing with one less player.’ “Then he told me the president had signed me, but his system was 4-3-3 and I had to play on the left wing.” Riquelme tried it, but kept drifting inside to get on the ball. After one game against Racing Santander, he created both goals in a 2-1 win and the newspapers praised him. Van Gaal’s response? “Everyone says you played a great game, but I told you to play as a left winger.” Riquelme admitted things became difficult after that, but still respected Van Gaal for being honest with him.

Sir Alex Ferguson on trying to sign Alessandro Del Piero: “After Italy won the World Cup and Juventus went down to Serie B, I was sure he would leave. A player like him doesn’t play in the second division. “Real Madrid wanted him too, and I thought there would be a battle between us and them to sign him.” Del Piero’s response? “Sir, I respect you a lot, but Juventus are suffering. I’m the captain. Do you expect me to leave them now?” He stayed, helped Juventus win promotion back to Serie A and never played for another European club. 👏

Ryan Giggs on Cristiano Ronaldo’s rise at Manchester United: “At first, you couldn’t imagine he’d become one of the greatest goalscorers ever. There was too much dribbling, frustration, diving, and he didn’t always know when to pass. “Then suddenly it clicked. “After that, you just had to give Cristiano the ball. Even in a team with Rooney, Tevez and Scholes, he became the player who made the difference when we needed it most. “The greatest players show themselves in the biggest moments. He did it for us, then at Real Madrid and Juventus. “He has to be considered one of the greatest players of all time.”

Jürgen Klopp’s instructions for Jakub Błaszczykowski’s Borussia Dortmund tribute match were pretty simple: ☑️ Win. ☑️ Score goals. ☑️ Give the ball to Kuba. Klopp’s team ended up winning 5-4, with Błaszczykowski setting up the winner. Tactical masterclass. 😂

Roberto Carlos on THAT free-kick against France in 1997: 🚀🇧🇷 “When I placed the ball down, I already knew how I was going to strike it. I always liked having the valve facing me. “Dunga and Zagallo didn’t want me to shoot from that distance. Dunga even wanted to take it himself. “I had my boots specially fitted so they were tight on my feet. It gave me better control when striking the ball. “When I hit it, I didn’t expect it to curve that much. When I saw it going so far wide, I thought it might not come back. “After the game, I spoke to Zidane, who was in the wall, and he told me: ‘Only you can do something like that.’ “That goal made history.”

Jimmy Bullard on why he became the Premier League’s “joker”: “When I was at school, my biggest dream was to play in the Premier League. When I finally got there, I thought, ‘What now?’ “I knew I wasn’t going to stand out just by playing, so I decided to become the joker. I started doing silly things, and it worked. I became a bit of a showman and the fans loved it.” Bullard even remembered being in the tunnel at Old Trafford with Rio Ferdinand and Paul Scholes: “I’d be shouting, ‘Alright lads, what are we doing today then?’ and they’d just look at me like, ‘Who is this lunatic?’” “After I retired, loads of people told me I was actually better than I got credit for. Maybe I was. But I chose a path I don’t regret.”

Throwback to Samuel Eto’o responding to José Mourinho’s age joke in the best possible way. Before Chelsea faced Spurs in 2014, Mourinho had joked about not knowing whether Eto’o was really 32 or 35. Eto’o then scored in Chelsea’s 4-0 win and celebrated by pretending to be an old man, hobbling over to the corner flag and using it like a walking stick. 😂 Even Mourinho was laughing. “I didn’t suggest the celebration, but I knew about it. The best way to defuse the situation is to make fun of it.”

Neymar Jr: "When I was at Santos they compared me to Messi, I liked that comparison, but when I came to Barcelona and saw how he plays and what he does I knew that I was far from being compared to him, I said to myself 'Forget it, you have to learn from him now.' "Messi doesn't train a lot, you can wake him up in the middle of the night for a match, he will come from bed to the pitch, he will score, he will win and he will go back to sleep, because he is a talent, that's all, he helped me a lot, he wanted me to be better than him, he never thought about himself, he helps everyone, that's why he is loved by everyone."