🚨Fabrizio Romano on Julian Álvarez to Real Madrid: 🗣️ “At the moment, there is a lot of speculation surrounding Julián Álvarez and Real Madrid, but I want to be very clear—there is nothing concrete or advanced as things stand. Real Madrid admire Álvarez. They appreciate his versatility, work rate, and goalscoring ability, but admiration and an active negotiation are two very different things. From what I’m hearing, no agreement has been reached between the clubs, and there are no advanced talks with the player. It’s a situation to monitor because top clubs will always keep an eye on players of his quality, but there is no ‘here we go’ or anything close to that at this stage. As always in football, things can change quickly if the right opportunity presents itself, but for now, the reports linking Julián Álvarez with Real Madrid should be treated as speculation rather than a deal that’s close to happening.”

🚨Thierry Henry on Portugal’s elimination from the FIFA World Cup: 🗣️ “I’m going to say something that a lot of Portuguese supporters probably don’t want to hear. This Portugal team has massively underperformed. Not because they lacked talent, but because too many of their biggest players never reached the level everyone expected. Bruno Fernandes has been dreadful by his own standards throughout this World Cup. The creativity, the leadership, the decisive moments we’ve seen for years simply weren’t there. Then you look at Vitinha and João Neves—fresh from winning the Champions League with PSG. Two midfielders who dominated Europe. Yet in this tournament, they’ve been almost invisible. Missing in action when Portugal needed control, composure and personality. And then there is Cristiano Ronaldo. People will blame him because that’s the easy thing to do. I won’t. Because if you decide to start Cristiano, then you have to build situations that suit him. Instead, Portugal kept circulating possession without purpose. They had one of the greatest penalty-box finishers football has ever seen, yet they hardly gave him the service he lives on. That’s not on Ronaldo. That’s on the team around him. Spain deserve enormous credit. They played with a clear identity from the first minute until the last. Every player knew his role. Every movement had purpose. Portugal, on the other hand, looked like eleven talented footballers trying to solve the game individually rather than collectively. That’s why Spain are still in this World Cup. And that’s why Portugal are going home. Not because they had worse players… But because they never played like a better team.”

🚨 Reporter asks Ronaldinho which country he would support to win the FIFA World Cup apart from Brazil: 🎙️ Reporter: “Ronaldinho, if Brazil don’t win the FIFA World Cup, who would you like to see become champions?” 🗣️ Ronaldinho: “First of all, I hope Brazil wins it. That’s my country and that will never change. But if Brazil can’t do it, I’d probably choose Portugal.” 🎙️ Reporter: “Why Portugal?” 🗣️ Ronaldinho: “Because I think they have a fantastic generation of players and they have been competing at the highest level for many years. They’ve won major trophies and they’ve built a very strong football culture. I also think they’ve been very close to achieving something special on several occasions.” 🎙️ Reporter: “Is Cristiano Ronaldo part of the reason?” 🗣️ Ronaldinho: “Of course. Cristiano is one of the greatest players football has ever seen. What he has achieved throughout his career is incredible. His dedication, discipline and consistency over so many years deserve enormous respect. Every player understands how difficult it is to stay at the top for that long. Cristiano has done it better than almost anyone.” 🎙️ Reporter: “So you would like to see Ronaldo win the FIFA World Cup?” 🗣️ Ronaldinho: “Yes. Brazil comes first for me, always. But if Brazil doesn’t win it, seeing Portugal lift the FIFA World Cup and Cristiano complete his football story on the biggest stage would be something very special for football.” {@beINSPORTS_EN }