Robinho criticises Mancini

Erling Haaland has made the most prolific start ever to a Premier League career after the Manchester City striker helped himself to a perfect hat-trick against Nottingham Forest.

Haaland put City 2-0 up within 23 minutes with two close-range finishes at the Etihad Stadium, before making history with a header seven minutes before the break.

His treble – his second in as many games after he fired City to a 4-2 comeback win over Crystal Palace last time out – took him to nine goals in his first five Premier League outings.

City legend Sergio Aguero and former Newcastle United and Coventry City forward Micky Quinn had previously set the benchmark, with eight goals in their first five appearances in the competition.

Indeed, Haaland, with nine, has alrea…

Real Madrid s Italian international defender Fabio Cannavaro said Friday he was keen to extend his contract with the Spanish champions beyond its 2009 deadline.

Of course without any problem, the 35-year-old World Cup-winning captain said in an interview with El Mundo.

Cannavaro s agent said recently that 2008-2009 would be the former Napoli, Parma, Inter Milan and Juventus player s final season at Madrid.

But Cannavaro said: Before talking to another team we will talk to Real.

Here before matches there is laughter, music and joy, he said, comparing Spanish football to Italian where if you smile you run the risk of being accused of not being ready for the match .

But Canavaro admitted that he would find it hard to give up his international …

Chelsea star Eden Hazard can be decisive in leading his team to the Premier League title, according to team-mate Branislav Ivanovic.

After a below-par previous campaign, Hazard has started 2016-17 with renewed vigour, scoring twice in three games to help Antonio Conte s men make a 100 per cent start to the season.

Ivanovic believes the brilliant Belgian could be the difference in the title race in his current form.

Eden Hazard is for many people one of the best players in the world, especially after a performance like this one, Ivanovic said after Saturday s 3-0 win at home to Burnley.

Everyone can be looking to Eden sometimes, including the last month. And in my opinion he is the player that can decide the league, everything – and every game we play.…

With the January transfer window open across Europe, clubs will be checking their budgets to see if they can make additions for the second half of the campaign.

January is traditionally a tough time to do business with teams generally unwilling to allow stars to leave but Erling Haaland s switch from Salzburg to Borussia Dortmund shows major deals are possible.

Unsettled players around the continent may push for a chance at a new club as squads get shuffled, but who are some of the big-name stars who could be on the move this month?

We have picked out 10 players who have been strongly linked with switching teams during the January transfer window.

PAUL POGBA (Manchester United)

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer s recent insistence that Pogba would not leave Unit…

Manchester United will play against the Malaysian national team on July 18 as part their pre-season Asian tour, organisers confirmed Tuesday.

The team will arrive in Kuala Lumpur one day before the match, San Boon Wah, managing director of Proevents, the match promoter, was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.

San said Kuala Lumpur would be the first destination for the Red Devils in their Asian Tour 2009 before the team heads to Indonesia on July 20, South Korea (July 24) and China (July 26).

Manchester United has a huge fan base in Malaysia.

Azzuddin Ahmad, general secretary of the Football Association of Malaysia, said the Malaysian team would put on their best performance against Manchester United.

We are looking forward to the match be…

Former Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli says he was not surprised to see Roberto Mancini sacked by club this week.

Mancini was sacked on Monday after three-and-a-half years in charge of the club, which included winning the Premier League and FA Cup, for not achieving the targets set by the club s owners this term.

He signed Balotelli in August 2010 from Inter, but after problems on and off the field sold the striker to Milan in January 2013 stating that the move was for the good of the player .

The striker admitted that he was not surprised to hear that his former manager had been relieved of his position at the Etihad Stadium, but suggested there were off-field reasons for the decision rather than just a lack of success on the pitch.

I am not rea…

Justin Kluivert will wear shirt number 34 for Roma in tribute to his former Ajax team-mate Abdelhak Nouri.

The Netherlands international completed his switch to the Serie A side from Ajax for €17.25million last month.

Nouri was left with permanent brain damage after experiencing heart failure during Ajax s friendly against Werder Bremen in July 2017.

And Kluivert announced on Saturday he will honour Nouri in his choice of shirt number at Roma.

Why 34? Appie s number, Kluivert wrote on social media. My prayers and shirt number for you, my friend-brother who taught me so much.  

34  

— Justin Kluivert (@justin_kluivert)

Last month, Ajax confirmed a review of the on-field treatment received by Nouri was inadequate .

M…

Everton manager Ronald Koeman still aims to become Netherlands coach at some stage in his career.

The 53-year-old was widely regarded as the favourite to replace Louis van Gaal after the 2014 World Cup, but the Dutch football association eventually opted to appoint Guus Hiddink instead, who in turn made way for Danny Blind in 2015 following an underwhelming start.

Koeman left Southampton to take charge of Everton ahead of the 2016-17 campaign, signing a three-year deal at Goodison Park, but still has designs on the top job in his homeland.

Coaching Netherlands remains one of my ambitions, Koeman told Fox Sports.

But I think every coach would like that. If I get the chance to coach Netherlands, I would like to take that chance.

I was kee…

Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall believes years of effort and investment have paid off as the Gunners prepare to shatter the Women s Super League attendance record against Tottenham.

Over 50,000 fans are expected at Emirates Stadium for Saturday s north London derby, as WSL clubs seek to build on the shining success of England s home Euro 2022 triumph.

A record crowd for any European Championship fixture – men s or women s – was set at Wembley when 87,192 spectators saw the Lionesses beat Germany after extra time on July 31.

Now the Gunners are poised for a bumper crowd of their own, and Eidevall was keen to highlight there had been no fudging the numbers with the impressive ticket take-up.

It s 50,000 sold tickets, he said.  They re not giveaways, t…

Barcelona returned to winning ways in La Liga with a 3-0 thumping of Malaga, while Atletico Madrid beat Rayo Vallecano 4-2 on Sunday.

The Catalan giants dropped to third in the table after Atleti and Real Madrid won ahead of their Camp Nou fixture, but reclaimed their place at the summit with a thoroughly convincing performance on Sunday.

After consecutive league draws against Atleti and Levante – the first time Barca had gone two league games without winning since May 2011 – Gerardo Martino s side dominated the first half and took the lead through Gerard Pique in the 40th minute, his second goal in as many matches.

Barca would have led by more if it were not for the brilliance of Malaga goalkeeper Willy Caballero, but goals from Pedro and Alexis Sanchez in the fir…