by Tim Stannard

Mourinho spars with media ahead of Burnley battle

Well somebody has been borrowing a few tricks off someone else occasionally referred to in this column as He Who Must Not be Named.

Friday saw a whole raft of nifty techniques – defiant claim of general brilliance despite all evidence to the contrary and accusations of an agenda-lead media ignoring his wider achievements. Yep, it’s Friday and Jose Mourinho has been back in action with his bi-weekly sparring session with the media.

Last time on the Mou-show, the Manchester United boss demanded ‘respect’ from an uppity journalist who failed to show enough deference to the three Premier League titles won in the Special One’s career. And with a must-win match against Burnley on Sunday, Mourinho wanted to make it quite clear that he will be “one of the greatest managers in the world” even if he does not win another EPL title. "I'm the only manager to win eight titles in Italy, Spain and England - not small titles,” noted the former Inter, Real Madrid and Chelsea boss.

Mourinho added – as well he might – that finishing last season in second place behind Manchester City and ahead of defending champions, Chelsea, and Champions League finalists Liverpool was his best achievement as a coach - "I had great success last season and that's probably what you don't want to admit.”

Find out if Mourinho really does deserve some R.E.S.P.E.C.T on the Locker Room live at 7:30PM ET / 4:30PM PT.

PSG’s power moves and Real Madrid’s unwanted

TRANSFER DEADLINE DAY! GET EXCITED!

PSG has been taking care of a bit of late business on transfer deadline day with some typically cool, French insouciance. 

Goalkeeper Kevin Trapp has moved on loan to Eintracht Frankfurt having had his spot nicked by Gigi Buffon. Promising Argentinean international midfielder, Giovani Lo Celso, is set for a loan spell with La Liga side, Betis, after no deal could be struck with Barcelona for Rafinha. 

There are two medicals going on at PSG for players coming in. One is Bayern Munich fullback, Juan Bernat, and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting from Stoke City.

Down in La Liga and Sevilla has snapped up the wonderfully named Quincy Promes from Spartak Moscow. The Dutch winger is set to join for a fee of around $20 million. Sevilla plays Betis on Sunday, incidentally.

And Real Madrid manager, Julen Lopetgui, confirmed on Friday that the club would be looking for a late loan deal to let striker, Borja Mayoral, go to pastures new. 

The Europa League draw and more to come from UEFA

The Europa League draw has taken place – the competition to find Europe’s best sixth-placed finishing team, the participation trophy of football. 64 sides – yep, 64 have been divided into 12 groups. Chelsea has PAOK, BATE and Vidi FC…and…nope can’t do this anymore. Have a look for yourself. Knock yourself out.

We are not yet done with football thrill-fests. According to German outlet, Bild, UEFA has decided that the world needs not one, not two, but three European club competitions. 

Champions League, Europa League and a third to start from 2021 season. No details have been firmed up as yet, but Sports Burst knows that there will be some sleepless nights of anticipation and excitement over what footballing dreams may come. 

Milan face must-win match already

Games! Games! Games!

A load of them on Friday in the final weekend before an international break. Milan has ended up in crisis after just the one match. The loss to Napoli sees a home clash in San Siro as a must-win already.

Over in France and Lyon is already playing catch-up with PSG and has a huge clash against a Nice side, whose manager, Patrick Viera, has had a less than rocking time of it in Ligue Un with just the one point from three games, to leave his team third-from-bottom of the table.

That clash is live on beIN SPORTS from 2:30PM ET / 11:30AM PT. La Liga has three games that are on our CONNECT service. Getafe plays Real Valladolid, and there is a Basque derby between The Mighty Eibar and Real Sociedad. Villarreal is also hosting Girona in another tasty affair. The action gets underway at 2PM ET / 11AM PT.

The Bundesliga is serving up a feisty-looking Borussia Dortmund taking on Hannover 96.

The XTRA is the place to be for all of the day’s best action at 7PM ET / 4PM PT.

WHAT IS SPORTS BURST?

The life philosophy of Sports Burst is that if you are not upsetting someone, then you are not trying hard enough. Sports Burst is a daily trawl and troll through the morning's sports news to bring you fact-nuggets to make you both smile and swear. Hopefully at the same time.