Wolfsburg s Bosnian international striker Edin Dzeko will be staying at the Bundesliga club next season, the club said Tuesday, despite strong reported interest from Manchester City.
The 24-year-old, who top-scored for the Wolves with 22 goals in 34 Bundesliga matches last season, had a get-out clause in his contract worth 40 million euros (49 million dollars) that expired at midnight on Monday.
But no club stumped up the cash required to release him. The conditions have not been met, Wolfsburg s sporting director Dieter Hoeness said.
We are very pleased that the period of uncertainty is over he is a player of huge quality who would have been very difficult for us to replace, Hoeness added in a statement.
New Wolfsburg coach Steve McClaren said last wee…
Paris Saint-Germain added the Coupe de France to their 2019/20 Ligue 1 title as they triumphed 1-0 over Saint-Etienne in the final on Friday. The only goal of the game was scored by Neymar in the 14th minute.
Saint-Etienne were forced to play two thirds of the match with 10 men after defender Loic Perrin got a straight red card for this tackle on PSG forward Kylian Mbappe, who is now likely to miss the final stages of the Champions League campaign in August.
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Unpleasant scenes of different sort followed the incident, and it seems several other players from both teams were lucky not to follow Perrin into the dressing room early.
Scenes after that horrific challenge on Mbappe
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Robin van Persie salvaged Manchester United s UEFA Champions League dream as his hat-trick beat Olympiacos 3-0 and booked a last-eight spot.
The hosts had trailed 2-0 heading into the second leg, with manager David Moyes under huge pressure to produce a result, but the Scot avoided a Greek tragedy with the help of his prolific Dutch frontman.
Penalties have become a familiar sight at Old Trafford in recent days United conceded three in the weekend Premier League mauling by Liverpool and Van Persie put the hosts ahead from 12 yards when one went their way in the 25th minute after a foul by Jose Holebas.
The Netherlands striker doubled his tally on the stroke of half-time to level the tie on aggregate, before curling home a free-kick seven minutes into the second period …
that Chelsea striker Fernando Torres has refused to rule out returning to Atletico Madrid at the end of the season.
The 30 year old, who moved to Stamford Bridge for a British record £50m back in January 2011, has struggled for consistency with the Blues despite his form improving somewhat last season.
This campaign, he has scored just four times in twenty-one league appearances, while he hasn’t featured for Spain since the Confederations Cup last summer.
Torres played with Atleti coach Diego Simeone at the La Liga club before he moved to the Premier League with Liverpool in 2007, and has been linked with a move back to the Calderon as part of a swap deal that could see Diego Costa move in the opposite direction.
Chelsea host title rivals Arsena…
Marko Arnautovic came off the bench to score the winning goal as Inter Milan defeated Atletico Madrid 1-0 at the San Siro in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
The substitute fired home on the rebound with 11 minutes to play after Lautaro Martinez had been denied when racing through on goal by goalkeeper Jan Oblak, squeezing it inside the near post as Samuel Lino tried gallantly to clear from the goal line.
Earlier, Arnautovic and Martinez had wasted the two best chances of the game for the hosts, failing to find the target from good positions, as Diego Simeone’s side threatened to make it a frustrating night for the Serie A leaders.
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For the visitors, Alvaro Morata headed wide fr…
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With the Champions League making its return in midweek, Chelsea will welcome AC Milan to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.
Chelsea
Starting with the hosts, managing to mark their return from September s international break with a last-gasp winner on the road, Chelsea will now be trying to find some stability. Eventually snatching a 2-1 win away at Crystal Palace, new boss Graham Potter will be desperate for his side to lay down a real marker on Wednesday night. Appointing the former Brighton manager last month, the Blues will know that they face a must-win showdown at Stamford Bridge here. Opening up this year s Champions League adventure with a shock 1-0 loss away at Dinamo Zagreb, the Premier League giants have collected just a sin…
Kieran Trippier says England will not be out for revenge when they take on Croatia in a repeat of the World Cup semi-final.
Friday s Nations League match sees the teams face off again after Croatia booked a place in their first World Cup final by beating England 2-1 after extra time at Russia 2018.
Trippier s brilliant early free-kick had given England the lead but goals from Ivan Perisic and Mario Mandzukic – who struck in the second period of extra time saw Zlatko Dalic s men progress.
Both teams lost their Nations League openers to Spain, England going down 2-1 at Wembley while Croatia were crushed 6-0 last month.
And Trippier feels the World Cup defeat will not be on England s minds when they travel to Rijeka ahead of facing Spain again on Monday.
Bayern Munich defender Juan Bernat said he and his team-mates have to respect Pep Guardiola s decision to leave the Bundesliga club.
Guardiola revealed he will depart the reigning champions at the end of the season, motivated by a move to the Premier League in England.
The Spaniard has been at Bayern since 2013 after five years as the coach of Barcelona, where he guided the club to 14 trophies.
Guardiola has won back-to-back Bundesliga titles with Bayern and is on track to make it three in a row with the club sitting atop the league with an eight-point advantage over second place Borussia Dortmund.
Bernat, who was brought in by Guardiola in 2014, said he was indebted to the 44-year-old.
In the end it is his decision [to leave] and we all ha…
Mark Sampson has agreed a two-year contract to remain as coach of England Women until 2019.
Sampson guided the Lionesses to third place at last year s World Cup in Canada and they are fifth in the FIFA World Rankings their highest-ever placing.
The 33-year-old, who was appointed in December 2013, will now lead England through next summer s European Championship and into the 2019 World Cup.
He told the Football Association s official website: I am delighted to have agreed to continue working with the Lionesses through to the 2019 FIFA Women s World Cup.
It is an honour and a privilege to manage such a fantastic group of people who represent their country with incredible pride and passion. We have all worked very hard over the last two years to improve b…
Favourites Netherlands seem set for a familiar task of having to pierce a massed defence when they tackle Uruguay on Tuesday in the first World Cup semi-final.
It happened against Denmark, Japan and Cameroon in the first round and Slovakia in the second before Brazil came at the Dutch and led until Wesley Sneijder struck twice to turn the tide.
Uruguay have been happy to let rivals press, confident that a well drilled defence will not wilt and they can counter-attack at pace with star Diego Forlan almost inevitably involved.
Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk is wary of the last South American contenders ahead of the Cape Town clash: They are dangerous. At the start of the tournament I used them as an example of a passionate side.
The coach says he has no pro…