Month: December 2024

Hansi Flick announced on Saturday that he intends to step down as Bayern Munich boss at the end of the campaign, bringing an end to an illustrious spell in charge of the club.

The 56-year-old succeeded Niko Kovac in November 2019, having previously worked as assistant, and has led the German giants to six major trophies in that time.

Bayern won the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Champions League in 2019-20 and have followed that up with the DFL-Supercup, UEFA Supercup and Club World Cup this season.

Another Bundesliga crown could follow with Bayern seven points clear at the top with five games to go, which would be a fitting way to bring down the curtain on Flick s tenure.

Using Opta data, we look at the extraordinary numbers behind Flick s spell in charge and…

Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas is wary of the threat posed by Newcastle United ahead of their meeting on Sunday.

Villas-Boas side welcome Newcastle to White Hart Lane needing a win to keep pace in what is gearing up to be an exciting title race.

Newcastle have not won at Tottenham since 2008, when they cruised to a 4-1 triumph under then manager Kevin Keegan.

Still, Villas-Boas believes his side will be in for a difficult game against Alan Pardew s men, who beat Chelsea 2-0 at St James Park in their last outing.

They are now picking up great results, Villas-Boas said.

They are always a team that want to be in the competition for the teams that qualify for Europe. That is probably their expectancy given the investment they do every year.

They com…

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp personally wants Jude Bellingham at Anfield, according to . The report has claimed that Klopp is leading Liverpool’s charge to sign the England international midfielder from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2023.

The report has claimed that last season’s La Liga and UEFA Champions League winners Real Madrid are also keen on Bellingham. Chelsea and Manchester City, too, are interested in the 19-year-old midfielder, who starred for England at the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Dortmund are open to selling the former Birmingham City youngster for a huge fee or extending his current contract which runs until the summer of 2025.

Bellingham is one of the best young midfielders in the world and has been superb for Dortmund, both in the Bundesliga an…

Massimiliano Allegri has revealed Milan have made an agreement with Real Madrid for Kaka after his side s 3-1 victory over Cagliari on Sunday.

The 31-year-old playmaker appears to be on the verge of a return to Milan after falling out of favour in Madrid.

Kaka left San Siro to head to Spain in 2009, but injury hampered him and he will be hoping the move back to Italy can kickstart his career should the transfer be completed.

Milan manager Allegri said: (Milan vice-president Adriano) Galliani told me before the game that we have an agreement with Real Madrid and now need to agree personal terms with Kaka.

There are another 24 hours to the transfer deadline, so we ll see what happens.

Allegri also refused to rule out the possibility of Cagliari defender Da…

Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez all did not travel for Inter Miami s 2-1 victory over Vancouver Whitecaps, leading head coach Gerardo Martino to apologise.

The former Barcelona trio were expected to feature for the Eastern Conference leaders on Sunday, but were rested as Martino s side triumphed thanks to goals from Robert Taylor and Leonardo Campana.

Vancouver s BC Place was expecting a larger than usual home crowd to greet the global superstars, though Whitecaps Axel Schuster apologised once the hosts got wind of Messi s absence.

With Martino subsequently leaving Messi and his former Blaugrana stars at home, the Miami boss felt it necessary to offer his apologies to the expectant Vancouver crowd.

Obviously it is very important for us beca…

Hamburger SV are considering a January move for CSKA Moscow winger Zoran Tosic, .

The Bundesliga side are prepared to offer around €4 million for the player s services, but the Russians are holding out for more.

CSKA Moscow chiefs are ready to cash in on the player who hasn t been performing to his potential of late, but they will not sell him on the cheap.

The Serbian winger has a contract until June 2015 in Moscow, but it looks as though his long-term future at the club is in doubt.

Zoran Tosic played for Buducnost Banatski Dvor and Partizan before completing a dream move to Manchester United in January 2009, but he only managed to make two league appearances at Old Trafford before leaving for CSKA Moscow.

He has featured in 85 Russian Premie…

Celta Vigo forward Nolito believes it is inevitable Luis Enrique would join Barcelona as head coach should he be offered the position.

Speculation in Spain has continued to mount that Barca head coach Gerardo Martino will depart Camp Nou in the close-season after just one season in charge, with the Catalans unlikely to defend their Liga title, as well as losing the Copa del Rey final and exiting the UEFA Champions League at the quarter-final stage.

Enrique s name has been touted as a possible replacement, the 43-year-old earning plaudits for a solid debut campaign at Celta, with the club currently sitting 10th, after narrowly avoiding relegation in a 17th-place finish last term.

Furthermore, Enrique enjoyed a highly successful eight-year spell as a player at Barca as w…

Youssouf Mulumbu has denied reports he wants to leave West Brom in January for a more classy club.

Quotes were attributed to the Congolese midfielder last week regarding his future at the club and the professionalism of his team-mates.

The 26-year-old was also reported as saying a move to Arsenal was on the cards.

However, Mulumbu has insisted he was misrepresented and assured fans he is fully committed to Steve Clarke s side.

I did an interview with a French journalist last week but I am not very happy about how my answers have been reported, he told West Brom s official website.

I have been here for five years now and would never refer to my team-mates that way. I just spoke about the fact we need to get better at controlling games after the points we ve …

Jack Grealish could return for Manchester City as the champions host Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Saturday.

The England midfielder has missed the treble winners’ last three games with a knee injury and was also unavailable for international duty earlier this month.

The 28-year-old is now back in training, easing manager Pep Guardiola’s injury concerns after Bernardo Silva this week joined a casualty list that also includes Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones and Mateo Kovacic.

PEP Jack is coming back, training well and could be ready. Kova is almost [ready], the last part of the recovery but now we lost Bernardo for a few days and John, KDB, they are still out.

— Manchester City (@ManCity)

Guardiola said at a press conference: “We…

Javi Martinez, Franck Ribery and James Rodriguez did the damage as Bayern Munich claimed a commendable 3-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen at the BayArena on Friday, increasing their lead at the Bundesliga summit to 14 points.

Jupp Heynckes men were the controlling force for most of the match and, although Leverkusen found some hope through a deflected Kevin Volland goal, Bayern ended their hosts 12-match unbeaten run and claim a first win at the BayArena since March 2013 despite Robert Lewandowski s absence due to a knee injury.

The entertaining first half was initially end-to-end, with the two sides having fairly equal shares of the ball, but Bayern gradually gained control and identified Leverkusen s main weaknesses; their susceptibility at set-pieces and Karim Bellarab…