The "icon" of Brazil, former player, and coach Mario Zagallo, left the hospital on Sunday after spending 12 days due to a respiratory infection. Zagallo, the first person to win the World Cup as a player and coach, can now celebrate his 91st birthday. The "icon" of Brazil, former player, and coach Mario Zagallo, left the hospital on Sunday after spending 12 days due to a respiratory infection, according to a medical source. Zagallo, the first person to win the World Cup as a player and as a coach, was able to celebrate his 91st birthday Tuesday at his home, after being admitted to intensive care at Barra d'Or Hospital in Rio de Janeiro on July 26. Zagallo posted on his Instagram page, where the "old wolf" has 116,000 followers, "After several difficult days, I became 113 percent better." Attached to his post, he added, with a photo of himself raising his thumb, "Thank you so much for your support! Now you have to bear with me again!" Zagallo wrote his name in football records after becoming the first to win the World Cup as a player (1958 and 1962), then as a coach (1970), before German Franz Beckenbauer (1974 and 1990) and French Didier Deschamps (1998 and 2018). He is also still the only one to have participated in five World Cup finals, losing only one of them as a coach, and that was against France in 1998. In the previous edition of the 1994 World Cup, Zagallo worked as an assistant coach to Carlos Alberto Parreira, during the fourth of the five world titles for Brazil. But his undeniable masterpiece is still the 1970 World Cup in Mexico after his newly appointed coach for the "samba dancers" team led him to his third world crown with a charming playing style and a group of stars led by the legend Pele, Jairzinho, Tostao, Gerson and Rivelino.

Didier Deschamps, coach of the French national football team, expressed his confidence once again that Paul Pogba will play a prominent role with the national team in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, despite his absence from the stadiums at the beginning of the new season due to injury. He said that he "will be present and will participate in the World Cup." Pogba sustained a knee problem in pre-season after returning to Juventus from Manchester United on a free transfer. There were early suggestions surgery could see the World Cup winner miss Qatar 2022, but he has opted instead for therapy that aims to ensure a far swifter return. Pogba is set to again be paired with N'Golo Kante in the France midfield in November, although the Chelsea man has not been without his own injury issues in recent seasons. "We're talking about players who are in high demand – two players who have a big experience, leaders," Deschamps told Le Parisian of the duo. "It is important that they are there, but we are never safe – hence the need to prepare younger players. "I am obviously in contact with Paul. His participation in the World Cup, today, is not questioned." Antoine Griezmann is another player still seen as key to Deschamps' plans, despite scoring only three goals in La Liga last season.

Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Brazil’s Neymar were picked as the two best players and topped the perfect line-up for the best players in the major European leagues during the opening round of the new season 2022-2023. Europe witnessed the kick-off fashion of three major leagues during the last week, namely: the English Premier League, the French League 1, and the German League, while only the Spanish League and its Italian counterpart remained in the next few days. Messi and Neymar came at the head of the line-up of the best in Europe in the first round of the new season, which was chosen by the global "Ho Score" website, after their brilliance in the PSG club's shirt.

  Last season was an exciting one for La Liga, with plenty going on below the top of the table. The race for the top four and Champions League football remained tight until the final weeks of the season and the relegation battle still had three different teams playing for their survival on the final day. Yet in terms of the title race itself, there was always one clear favorite. This time, things look quite different. Many had banked on Real Madrid securing the signature of Kylian Mbappe this summer, but his decision to stay at Paris Saint-Germain left Los Blancos without a star addition to their front line. On the other hand, Barcelona has been arguably the most active side in Europe in the transfer market. Bringing in five new faces, the likes of Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde have reset expectations both internally and externally at the club. They also managed to retain Ousmane Dembele, whose contract expired but eventually re-signed with the Blaugrana. The sale of their assets in order to fund those deals has been controversial, to say the least, but on the pitch, it has made matters all the more entertaining. Some even have Barcelona as favorites to usurp Real Madrid and win t

La Liga heavyweights Barcelona is reportedly just one brink of signing 31-year-old Spanish full-back Marcos Alonso from Premier League club Chelsea. The Catalan newspaper says that Alonso's agent, Vali Ramadan, is in Barcelona to meet the officials there, as the deal between the duo must be closed and it will only remain for Barcelona to announce it officially after that, and transfer expert Fabrizio Romano also stated that the deal is about to expire. The Blaugrana asked Alonso to wait for them to resolve their scoring issues before completing the deal, something they hope to do this week, and it is assumed that Alonso has asked coach Thomas Tuchel not to play with him until his future is resolved. If the deal is completed, which should be for a fee of close to €10m, it would, in turn, lead to Alejandro Balde's departure, as the 18-year-old had been impressive in pre-season, but Alonso's arrival would mean a loan move for Baldi so he can of continuing to evolve. With Alonso at 31, some have questioned the wisdom of spending money on an older defender to support Jordi Alba rather than giving his minutes to Baldi, but coach Xavi Hernandez was clear that he wanted two quality alternatives in every position and Baldi is still young and lacking in expertise. Marcos Alonso has been a divisive figure for Chelsea fans since arriving at the Premier League club from Fiorentina in August 2016. The Spaniard has been in and out of the starting lineups at Chelsea throughout his stint with the Blues but has delivered the goods more often than not, especially when reprising an advanced role on the left flank. Reputed Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano has claimed that it is only a “matter of time” before Marcos Alonso joins Barcelona in the ongoing transfer window. Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has hinted at the 31-year-old full-back’s imminent move to Camp Nou, revealing that the Barcelona target has requested his departure from Stamford Bridge.

Isco Alarcón has joined the ranks of Sevilla after several weeks as a free agent. The midfielder has arrived free of charge and has agreed to reduce his salary to join Lopetegui's project. The former Real Madrid midfielder signed a two-year deal with Sevilla and underwent a medical examination on Monday. Both suffered declines at Real Madrid after the 2018 World Cup, and the duo hopes to reignite the spark that made Isco a valuable player during his early years at Real Madrid. His performance was so impressive with Los Blancos that he was once linked as a potential star for Manchester City, and transfer expert Fabrizio Romano explained that Pep Guardiola was very keen on the midfielder. “I can reveal that Isco was on Pep Guardiola’s list at Manchester City more than three years ago. The city considered this possibility but Isco was untouchable for Real Madrid at that time,” According to Fabrizio Romano in his exclusive column for CaughtOffside. “However, there have been no negotiations this summer with Arsenal, Tottenham, or any other English club – Sevilla has always led the race.” Committing to a definitely decent salary for Isco, Sevilla hopes to give his best, unlike what happened in the past two seasons, where Isco did not exceed the 1000-minute barrier in the Spanish League with Los Blancos.

"The Athletic" UK sports newspaper revealed that Manchester United is considering signing Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot who has a year left in his contract in Turin. The France international is one of the highest earners at Juventus with a €7m-a-year salary. He joined the Bianconeri on a free transfer from PSG in 2019, so any sale would allow the Serie A giants to make a capital gain. The Red Devils are looking to bolster their midfield and according to The Athletic, Rabiot is among their targets for the summer. David Ornstein reports Rabiot ‘is thought to be high among a number of candidates.’ Manchester United are also interested in Barcelona’s Frankie de Jong and ‘United must decide whether they try to close out this proposed signing irrespective of their ongoing attempts’ to secure the ex-Ajax star. Although a sale would make sense for Juventus financially, Max Allegri is already dealing with short options in the middle of the park, given that both Paul Pogba and Weston McKennie have been ruled out for several weeks after suffering injuries during the pre-season. Rabiot, 27, has played 129 games for Juventus, scoring six goals. Sassuolo midfielder Davide Frattesi is a potential candidate to replace Rabiot as, according to Sky Sport Italia, the Bianconeri have resumed their interest in the Italy international.

Liverpool is reportedly considering a swap deal to land 29-year-old Croatian midfielder Marcelo Brozovic from Serie A club Inter Milan. According to a report by Italian outlet Calciomercatoweb, Liverpool is interested in Inter Milan defensive midfielder Marcelo Brozovic and could make a summer move for the 29-year-old Croatian midfielder. The Reds are plotting a swap deal that could see either Naby Keita or Roberto Firmino move to the Serie A club. Liverpool is prepared to offer one of Naby Keita and Roberto Firmino in a possible swap deal that would see Brozovic move to Anfield. Both Keita and Firmino have just a year remaining on their Liverpool contracts and thus it makes sense that the Merseyside club could want to offload them this summer than risk losing them on a free next year. According to CMW, Liverpool would be open to exchanging either one of Naby Keita's or Roberto Firmino in a straight swap deal to acquire Brozovic’s services. Klopp's side started the game with Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, and Thiago Alcantara in that position, and one could easily argue the Reds lost the battle on the day. Brozovic has been with Inter Milan since 2016, having joined the Serie A outfit from Croatian giants Dinamo Zagreb. He has made 289 appearances for the Italian club across all competitions since then, scoring 28 goals and providing 37 assists in the process. Earlier, Reds midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain sustained a hamstring injury during their pre-season tour of Asia last month, and the Englishman was forced off the pitch during Merseyside's 2-0 win over Crystal Palace in Singapore.

  The latest Spanish reports said that Barcelona has begun negotiations with Argentine Legend Lionel Messi, about the possibility of returning to the "Camp Nou". The Catalan side is keen to bring the Argentine back to the club before he hangs up his boots as a professional footballer. As per a report by Cat Radio, Barcelona is in talks with Messi regarding a return next summer. The forward's contract at PSG expires at the end of the season, after which he will become a free agent. Messi had to leave Barcelona last summer after the club could not afford to renew his contract. The Argentine had agreed on a new deal with a massive wage cut, but La Liga rules prevented them from registering him. PSG pounced on the situation and signed the forward on a free transfer. He had a sub-par debut season with the Ligue 1 side. He netted 11 goals and laid out 15 assists in 34 g