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LONDON: Henrique Hilario is set to end his 18-year career with Chelsea by leaving the club to join Thomas Tuchel in the England national team.

The goalkeeper joined the Blues in 2006 as a reserve goalkeeper behind Petr Cech and Carlo Cudicini.

He spent almost a decade as a reserve goalkeeper before retiring in 2014 after being part of Premier League and Champions League winning squads.

Two years after hanging up his gloves, Hilario returned to Chelsea under Antonio Conte as assistant goalkeeping coach.

He was then promoted two years later by Maurizio Sarri and remained in that role including under Tuchel.

But the German manager – who replaces Gareth Southgate as Three Lions boss – will take Hilario with him to Wembley.

Tuchel, 51, who will start his job on January 1 after signing an 18-month contract, is using the free time to organize his coaching staff.

He also convinced current Chelsea performance analyst James Melbourne to join him.

Hilario and Melbourne will welcome former Blues coach Anthony Barry, who will be number two behind Tuchel.

PORTO: Cristiano Ronaldo once again signaled his retirement after scoring twice for Portugal.

Ronaldo, 39, one of the greatest players in football history, has scored more than 900 goals in his career.

The Portuguese forward, who has represented Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus, is now with Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner took his international tally to 135 goals in 215 appearances after netting twice in Portugal’s 5-1 win over Poland in the UEFA Nations League yesterday.

After the match he insisted that his focus remains on football, with retirement depending on his level of motivation by the age of 40.

“I just want to enjoy it. Plans for retirement? If it’s in another year or two, I don’t know. I’ll be 40 soon.

“I still want to enjoy it as long as I feel motivated to continue. When the day comes when I no longer have the motivation, I will retire,” Ronaldo said.

According to Ronaldo, he has no intention of becoming a coach once his playing career is over.

“I don’t see myself as a team manager, it’s not in my plans. My future is outside of football, but only time will tell,” he said.

LONDON: Bruno Fernandes hopes new manager Ruben Amorim can “inject energy” at Manchester United’s troubled club after the Portuguese coach arrived at the English Premier League (EPL) club.

Amorim arrived at the Carrington training center last Monday for a meeting but cannot begin training until his work permit is confirmed.

The 39-year-old coach, the successor to the sacked Erik ten Hag, steered Sporting Lisbon to two titles in four seasons and left them with 11 wins in 11 league games this season.

“Sometimes someone can change the energy of a place, if it’s at the right time,” Fernandes, who left Sporting shortly before Amorim took over, told MUTV.

“We hope he can come and this is the right moment for him to come and inject his energy, bringing with him his quality and knowledge in football, because he has done something really special at Sporting.

“If anyone doubts it, it’s about looking at the past. Sporting didn’t win the league for about 20 years and he helped them win the league again and he won it twice in four years with a young team in a moment of change.”

Captain Fernandes said managing United, who have not won the EPL since 2013, would be a bigger challenge than the job at Sporting.

“Obviously you can’t bring or change what he did at Sporting here, because you have different players, you have a different way of playing and everything,” he said.

“I am quite confident that the idea of ​​football that he has, independent of the way he wants to play, will be a good idea and it will lead to success for us.”

Amorim is the sixth permanent manager appointed since Alex Ferguson’s 27-year reign ended in 2013.

United sit 13th in the EPL after a poor start to the season but are only four points behind the top four.

Amorim’s first action will be at Ipswich on November 24 right after the international match.

MANCHESTER: Ruud van Nistelrooy is interested in becoming Manchester United manager in the future, but for now he is happy to remain as assistant to new manager Ruben Amorim.

Van Nistelrooy will complete his fourth game as interim manager when he takes on Leicester City at Old Trafford tomorrow, before handing over the squad to Amorim, who starts on Monday.

The former United striker, who had several coaching opportunities when he returned to the club as Erik ten Hag’s assistant last summer, was asked if he would be interested in filling the hot seat at Old Trafford.

“Of course, I thought about it a lot when I decided to become United’s assistant coach.

“I know coming back to Manchester United is something special and I want to be part of this journey, even as an assistant coach.

“I aspired to be a manager, but I decided to sign a two-year contract as an assistant coach,” said Van Nistelrooy.

However, Van Nistelrooy is not sure if his role is still the same under Amorim who is expected to bring his coaching line from Sporting Lisbon.

Nistelrooy’s focus now is to hand the team over to the new manager without a single defeat in four games under his charge.

So far United have won two and drawn once under Nistelrooy, and they need to get a positive result against Leicester tomorrow.

MANCHESTER: Moises Caicedo’s second-half strike cancelled out Bruno Fernandes’ penalty as Chelsea came from behind to draw 1-1 with Manchester United at Old Trafford.

It was Man United’s first Premier League game at home since manager Erik ten Hag was sacked.

Chelsea are currently fourth in the league on 18 points while United, coached temporarily by Ruud van Nistelrooy, are 13th on 12 points after 10 games.

United captain Fernandes completed the penalty kick in the 70th minute after Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez fouled Rasmus Hojlund while trying to catch the ball.

Sanchez failed to guess the direction of Fernandes’ kick and Nistelrooy jumped for joy in celebration of the goal.

But the home crowd’s joy was short-lived as Casemiro failed to clear a Chelsea corner, allowing Caicedo to fire past Andre Onana for the visitors’ equaliser.

Ten Hag was sacked on Monday as United sat 14th in the league. Ruben Amorim was appointed as his replacement last Friday and will arrive at the club on November 11.

LONDON: Arne Slot says he is getting to know his Liverpool squad better every day as they chase four trophies in his first season as manager.

Liverpool, who will face Brighton tomorrow, are just one point behind Premier League leaders Manchester City.

They have started the Champions League campaign brilliantly and managed to reach the quarter-finals of the League Cup.

Overall, the Reds’ squad won 12 out of 14 matches in all competitions, with just one defeat.

Slott, who replaced Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager, was asked in his pre-match press conference today what he had learned about his squad’s ability to compete for four trophies this season.

“You learn every day, especially if you haven’t been with the team long like I have,” he said.

“You learn every day from new situations, and as I said before, the Chelsea game (winning 2-1) was something I learned from them, that they can defend well and defend their advantage.

“The way they bounced back against Arsenal (2-2 draw) was pretty positive, and the number of games we had to play, and they were still able to turn up and play good football, that’s also something you can see.”

Slot, said his reserve players created a positive impact in the 3-2 victory over Brighton in the fourth round of the League Cup, yesterday.

“We will need them all season,” he said.

“So it’s good to see that they’re at the level it takes to play for us.”

LISBON: Ruben Amorim said there is no agreement yet for him to become Manchester United manager after Sporting announced that the English Premier League (EPL) club is ready to pay them his release clause of 10 million euros.

The news comes a day after the team sacked Erik ten Hag with United languishing in 14th place in the EPL table.

The club expect the Portuguese coach to be in charge of the team for Sunday’s league game against Chelsea at Old Trafford, but Amorim would not confirm anything.

“I have nothing to say now, we are analyzing here. Anything I say will cause more noise,” Amorim told a news conference after Sporting’s 3-1 win over Nacional in the preliminary Portuguese League Cup quarter-finals this morning.

“There is nothing to say about it. There is a statement from the club, everyone already knows about it. It has been said by the club. The rest, we don’t know the real details. We will wait and see.

“There is a desire on the part of the club (United), which negotiates with Sporting, but it often involves my decision. Talking about it at the moment just creates chaos for the club and this whole situation.

“I can’t promise anything. All I know is I’ll be at the training center tomorrow and I’m preparing the team for the league game against Estrela da Amadora on Friday.”

He tried to divert the question back to the game but he had to repeat the same answer several times as reporters kept asking him about United.

Amorim, 39, who emerged first choice shortly after Ten Hag’s sacking, steered Sporting to the Primeira Liga title in 2021, ending a 19-year title drought, before winning for the second time last season.

Portuguese media reported his last game with Sporting was against Nacional earlier this morning and Amorim was then expected to negotiate with United over his staff and salary.

LONDON: Erik Ten Hag’s position is back in danger after Manchester United lost 1-2 to West Ham in the English Premier League action at the London Stadium just now.

Jarrod Bowen’s controversial penalty in the 92nd minute helped Julen Lopetegui’s West Ham seal a meaningful win and hand United their fourth defeat in nine games which has seen them languish in 14th place in the league.

In fact, the defeat proved that the London Stadium was clearly a bad place for Ten Hag, who lost for the third time in a row there during his career as the Red Devils manager.

Regardless, United have themselves to blame for the defeat after several chances in the first half failed to be converted.

It included Alejandro Garnacho’s effort hitting the crossbar as early as the second minute while Diogo Dalot failed to put the ball into the gaping net in the 32nd minute.

However, West Ham rose to improve the game in the second half which saw them take the lead thanks to Crycensio Summerville’s goal in the 74th minute.

Casemiro however equalized with a header in the 81st minute but Bowen’s controversial penalty in stoppage time saw United fall.

BARCELONA, Spain: Robert Lewandowski and Pablo Torre scored two goals each as Barcelona thrashed Sevilla 5-1 early this morning to remain three points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga ahead of this weekend’s Clasico clash.

Los Blancos beat Celta Vigo early yesterday morning to draw level with Hansi Flick’s side but Barca restored their advantage with a dominant attacking display.

Veteran striker Lewandowski took his tally to 12 goals in 10 La Liga games, with Pedri Gonzalez scoring the second from the edge of the box before substitute Torre added the fourth.

Stanis Idumbo grabbed a consolation goal for Sevilla late in the match but Francisco Garcia Pimienta’s side crashed out on his return to the club where he spent nearly three decades in various positions.

Torre completed the big win with a free kick that went beyond the reach of opposing goalkeeper Orjan Nyland.

“It’s very important, considering the match we’re going to play, but it’s also an important match and we got three points,” Pedri told Movistar.

“Just before the game the coach said the space was outside the area so I was lucky (to score).”

LONDON: Liverpool are interested in signing former Manchester United star Alvaro Carreras.

The left-back left Old Trafford and joined Benfica for 5 million pounds last May.

But just five months after his move, Spanish media reported that Carreras was now on Liverpool’s radar.

Carreras’ contract at Benfica expires in 2029 and is said to have a release clause that can be activated by Arne Slot.

The 21-year-old spent half of last season at the Portuguese giants on loan.

Carreras has never been featured in Man United’s first team – only warming the bench in a few Premier League games.
Erik ten Hag’s side have had their worst start to the season in the league and the left-back position is one of the most problematic after Luke Shaw’s injury.

The decision to let Carreras go was seen as a mistake with one supporter saying: “We are a very stupid club.”