Miguel Almirón: ‘I’m Desperate for the First Goal. I Can’t Wait for That Moment’

Miguel Almirón caught Rafa Benítez’s eye with Atlanta, here celebrating their 2018 MLS Cup triumph. Photograph: Todd Kirkland/AP
Miguel Almirón caught Rafa Benítez’s eye with Atlanta, here celebrating their 2018 MLS Cup triumph. Photograph: Todd Kirkland/AP
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Miguel Almirón: ‘I’m Desperate for the First Goal. I Can’t Wait for That Moment’

Miguel Almirón caught Rafa Benítez’s eye with Atlanta, here celebrating their 2018 MLS Cup triumph. Photograph: Todd Kirkland/AP
Miguel Almirón caught Rafa Benítez’s eye with Atlanta, here celebrating their 2018 MLS Cup triumph. Photograph: Todd Kirkland/AP

Miguel Almirón’s life has been underpinned by two constants: football and faith. He wears the latter lightly and seems almost a little shy about opening his palms to reveal the intricate ink work adorning the inside of both wrists but it explains an awful lot about his journey from steamy, sub-tropical Asunción to Tyneside.

While the Paraguay playmaker’s right arm has been inscribed with a Biblical quotation in Spanish, namely “I am the way, the truth, the life”, from John 14:6, the left bears an image of a football encircled by “El tiempo de Dios es perfecto”.

It means “God’s timing is perfect” and has helped sustain Almirón, first as a teenager told he was too frail to play professionally and, more recently, in his guise as Newcastle United’s non-scoring £21m forward.

“I’m a Christian, a believer, for sure,” says the 25-year-old as he sits chatting, through an interpreter, in a quiet corner of his club’s training ground. “I don’t go to church in England – although that’s down to the language barrier – and I don’t spend all my time studying the Bible but I do sit down and read it from time to time, just to refresh my mind.”

Perhaps a reminder that, sometimes, God moves in mysterious ways also helps reaffirm the football faith of a creator who scored freely at his previous club, Atlanta United, in the US and continues to do so for Paraguay.

His Newcastle tally of zero remains a source of frustration, yet that cold statistic is cruelly deceptive. Before Almirón’s arrival in January Rafael Benítez’s side were relegation candidates but his move from Georgia to Geordieland enabled Benítez to switch to a winning 3-4-3 formation. Once deployed alongside Ayoze Pérez and Salomón Rondón, the newcomer’s startling change of pace, sharp dribbling skills, often stunning movement and sheer hard work changed the narrative, prefacing an eventual mid-table finish.

If Benítez was unworried by the litany of near misses, deflected shots and faulty penalty area connections, Steve Bruce exhibits similar faith in a left-footed wide player still to be deployed in arguably his strongest role, as a No 10.

With Róndón and Pérez departed, the £40m Brazilian striker Joelinton struggling and the influential winger Allan Saint-Maximin injured, increased responsibility rests on Almirón’s slender shoulders but Benítez’s successor is confident he can rise to it.

“Miggy’s absolutely sensational, a top player,” says Bruce. “In 20 years of management I’ve never seen anyone cover the distances and play with the intensity he does. He’s multi-talented; once he scores one goal, he’ll score a lot.”

Ten-year-old Lucas Rochford will be among those applauding. The ballboy from South Shields touchingly consoled him following a glaring miss against Wolves courtesy of a sympathetic thumbs-up sign. Typically, Almirón implored the club to locate Lucas and invited him for a day-long reunion at the training ground.

“It was a lovely, special moment,” Almirón says. “I’m desperate for the first goal, I can’t wait for that moment … but the most important thing is that I’m helping the team create chances, results have generally been good, we’re 11th, we’re on the right track and the squad’s really together.

“It means I’m not too anxious, I’m not beating myself up about not actually scoring. I feel very much at ease at this club and in this city and I know, if I stay calm and relaxed, the goals will come. But I do think the day when I get my first one will be very happy.”

He hopes it will arrive on Saturday at home against Crystal Palace but it is not the first time Almirón has required patience. As a schoolboy in Asunción he routinely rose at 5am for a three-hour round trip across Paraguay’s capital to football training before classes.

Despite possessing abundant skill, exquisite technique and an intelligent football brain, he was small and exceptionally slight and, at 15, his club, Cerro Porteño, pronounced he would never make the professional grade.

With his mother and father earning low wages but working long hours as a supermarket worker and security guard respectively and the family home in the modest San Pablo barrio extremely cramped, Almirón felt obliged to start paying his way.

He came close to giving up football and accepting a job collecting supermarket trolleys but his parents refused to let the dream die. “I was frustrated and angry,” he concedes. “I wasn’t thinking things out properly but then I sat down and had a chat with my mum and dad. I told them that I loved football so much and I still thought I could do it for a living; happily they supported me.”

Cerro Porteño offered him a final chance and, this time, he broke into the first team. After that came a spell excelling at Argentina’s Lanús before catching Benítez’s eye in Atlanta and becoming Newcastle’s most expensive signing since Michael Owen.

Bruce has ended up the longer-term beneficiary but, if Almirón – who has bought his parents a spacious house – found his installation a culture shock, he is not letting on. “The differences between Rafa and Steve aren’t that great,” he says with a shrug. “They both have different ways of looking at the game, their own theories. Rafa’s outwardly slightly calmer and more relaxed but Steve’s very good at talking to you one to one. Essentially their message is the same; they want hard work but also for me to relax and enjoy football. If you can’t relax, you can’t play well; on the pitch you need to keep loose.”

With the thermometer plunging, that is easier said than done. “But I like the cold, I like the cold,” Almirón interjects for the first and only time in English, hallmark smile turned up to full wattage as he points, proudly, to his short-sleeved training top. “Snow won’t worry me. I’ve got five amigos from Paraguay arriving on 2 January and they want to see some snow!”

While his wife, Alexia, a former Zumba teacher, prepares a guided tour of the region for their guests – “she loves travel and sightseeing, she’s a real tourist, we’ve been to so many places,” says Almirón – much of his time is absorbed by the language lessons he began in America.

“I’m trying my hardest and I can understand a lot now,” he says. “I know speaking English will benefit me enormously but it’s difficult to loosen up enough to have the confidence to start a conversation in a new language.” What price his debut interview in English coming very shortly after that long-awaited first goal?

(The Guardian)



Man City Rising After Win over Chelsea While Liverpool Stays 6 Points Clear

Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City in action during the English Premier League match between Manchester City and Chelsea, in Manchester, Britain, 25 January 2025.  EPA/TIM KEETON
Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City in action during the English Premier League match between Manchester City and Chelsea, in Manchester, Britain, 25 January 2025. EPA/TIM KEETON
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Man City Rising After Win over Chelsea While Liverpool Stays 6 Points Clear

Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City in action during the English Premier League match between Manchester City and Chelsea, in Manchester, Britain, 25 January 2025.  EPA/TIM KEETON
Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City in action during the English Premier League match between Manchester City and Chelsea, in Manchester, Britain, 25 January 2025. EPA/TIM KEETON

Manchester City's Premier League revival gathered pace after beating Chelsea 3-1 moved Pep Guardiola's team up to fourth in the standings on Saturday.
The four-time defending champion remains 12 points behind leader Liverpool, but its unbeaten run in the league extended to six games after a stunning run of defeats at the end of last year.
Still, City had to come from behind at Etihad Stadium after a mistake from debutant Abdukodir Khusanov allowed Chelsea to go ahead inside three minutes, The Associated Press reported.
“Three points. We needed it," Guardiola said after City fought back through goals by Josko Gvardiol, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden. “Emotionally, they come back incredibly well.”
Liverpool kept up its charge towards the title by thrashing Ipswich 4-1 and staying six points clear.
Arsenal was second after winning at Wolverhampton 1-0, but third-placed Nottingham Forest was stunned by Bournemouth 5-0 on the south coast.
Fifth-placed Newcastle came back from a goal down to beat Southampton 3-1, with Alexander Isak scoring twice.
A record-extending fifth title looks beyond City but there are positive signs for Guardiola after the midseason collapse.
One win in 13 games, including nine losses from October to December, plunged City down the table in the league and the Champions League.
But victory against Chelsea lifted City back into the top four, even after a woeful start when Khusanov's weak header allowed Noni Madueke to open the scoring.
Gvardiol equalized shortly before halftime then an error from Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez — his league-leading fifth error this season leading to a goal — proved decisive in the 68th when he needlessly raced off his line and allowed Erling Haaland to fire City ahead.
“He is completely aware that he has to do better,” Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca said of Sanchez.
Foden completed City's comeback when bursting through late on, scoring in a fourth straight league game for the first time.
Chelsea looked capable of mounting a title challenge some weeks ago but a run of one win in seven has seen it drop to sixth.
Guardiola will have to hope another morale-boosting performance sets his team up well for the decisive Champions League game against Brugge on Wednesday, with City on the brink of elimination.
Liverpool coach Arne Slot called their latest win “almost a perfect performance” for 85 minutes.
Mohamed Salah scored his 100th league goal at Anfield and his 23rd overall this season.
Relegation-fighting Ipswich lost to Man City 6-0 last weekend and couldn’t cope with the power of the league leader either.
Dominik Szoboszlai opened the scoring and Salah doubled the lead in the 35th. Cody Gakpo scored in the 44th and 66th, his first league brace in nearly two years.
Jacob Greaves pulled one back late for Ipswich.
After blowing a two-goal lead against Aston Villa last week, Arsenal looked in danger of dropping more points at Wolverhampton when Myles Lewis-Skelly was sent off in the first half while the game was scoreless.
Wolves couldn’t take advantage of the extra man and were reduced to 10 when Joao Gomes was red-carded in the 70th.
It took four minutes for Arsenal to capitalize, with Riccardo Calafiori hitting the winner with left-footed volley from inside the box.
“We’re not going to give up on the title race," Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said. "We’re going to face any challenge, any situation like we have done today. Whether we win or not, that is a different question. We are going to try 100%, I guarantee we are going to be there."
Forest stunned Forest has been one of the surprise stories of the league but Bournemouth has quietly been putting together an impressive run of its own.
Still, few would have expected such a spectacular result at Vitality Stadium.
Dango Ouattara struck a second-half hat trick for Bournemouth in the 55th, 61st and 87th. Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo were also on target, and US international Tyler Adams provided two assists.
Bournemouth is unbeaten in 12 games in all competitions and plays Liverpool at home next week.
Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santos, on his 51st birthday, was stunned by the result.
“We have to realize the things we did well until now, we have to do it,” he told the BBC. “When we don't do those things we are a very fragile team.”
Isak scores again Isak took his season tally to 19 goals as Newcastle bounced back from last week’s 4-1 defeat to Bournemouth.
Southampton, Newcastle went behind to Jan Bednarek’s goal in the 10th. Isak leveled from the penalty spot in the 26th and got his second four minutes later.
Sandro Tonali scored Newcastle’s third after the break.
Moyes magic David Moyes has made a quick impact at Everton after overseeing his second win in three games since returning as manager, and climbing seven points away from the relegation places.
Iliman Ndiaye’s penalty secured a 1-0 win at Brighton, which followed a victory against Tottenham last week.
Everton won only three times in the league under former manager Sean Dyche before Moyes was hired this month, returning to the club he led from 2002-13.
“I have got to say Dychey left an awful lot of good things at this football club,” Moyes said. “Resilience, being hard to beat, tough, they had all that. We are now just trying to add a little bit more.”