Donnarumma dreaming of Milan captaincy as he eyes long-term stay

Massimiliano Allegri is confident Juventus will settle on a great coach as his successor at Allianz Stadium.

After five Serie A titles in as many seasons, Allegri will leave his post following the final game of 2018-19 with Sampdoria next Sunday.

Juve made the surprise announcement on Friday and are now beginning the process of appointing a replacement capable of continuing their incredible run of domestic dominance.

Lazio s Simone Inzaghi, France boss Didier Deschamps, Chelsea head coach Maurizio Sarri and the unemployed Antonio Conte are among the names linked to the post.

I don t know who [will take over], Allegri told Italian television programme Striscia la Notizia when asked about his potential replacement.

Someone needs to sit on the benc…

that Manchester City are the latest club to have joined the race for Barcelona forward Alexis Sanchez.

The Citizens were among the clubs trying to sign the Chilean in the summer of 2011, but he ultimately opted to join Barcelona instead.

That proved to be a poor decision as Sanchez has since failed to establish himself as a first team regular at Camp Nou, and was heavily criticized for his disappointing showings this season.

He could, therefore, decide to bail out at the end of the season, with Juventus, Manchester City and Liverpool all keen.

Roberto Mancini looks set to remain without Edin Dzeko in the summer transfer window and he is confident Sanchez would be a decent replacement for the Bosnian.

Sanchez is still just 24 and many believe he …

Arsenal exited the Champions League at the last-16 stage for the third consecutive year despite beating Bayern Munich 2-0 in the second leg.

Olivier Giroud stunned the 68,000 sell-out Allianz Arena with a third-minute goal to give the visitors hope of pulling off a Munich miracle.

Despite Bayern dominating for most of the match, Arsenal held firm at the back and Laurent Koscielny s 84th-minute header equalled scores on aggregate.

This set up a pulsating finale but Arsenal were unable to score the goal required to overturn the 3-1 first-leg deficit and exited by account of the away goals rule.

The two-legged defeat means that Bayern become the third European powerhouse in three years to knock Arsenal out at the last-16 juncture, following Barcelona in 2011…

Levi Colwill will not be leaving Chelsea this summer in spite of continued interest from Liverpool and Brighton, the PA news agency understands.

The club are not willing to entertain offers for the 20-year-old defender, who starred for England Under-21s as they beat Israel 3-0 on Wednesday to advance to the European Championship final in Georgia.

He is currently contracted to Chelsea until the summer of 2024 with an option of another year if certain criteria are met.

Our are finalists!

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Real Madrid president Florentino Perez ruled out further additions following Los Blancos Super Cup win over Eintracht Frankfurt, as he backed the team s ability to cover for talismanic striker Karim Benzema. 

Goals from David Alaba and Benzema – who moved above Raul in Madrid s all-time goalscoring charts – sealed a deserved win for the Champions League holders on Wednesday.

The triumph represented the ideal start to Madrid s 2022-23 campaign and meant the Spanish giants have now won 17 of their last 19 one-legged finals. 

Since winning the Champions League and LaLiga last season, Madrid have added highly rated midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni and powerful defender Antonio Rudiger, both of whom appeared from the bench in Helsinki.

And Perez is satisf…

Competition: Champions League
Market: AS Monaco to win against Fenerbahce
Odds:

French Ligue 1 side AS Monaco welcome Turkish Super Lig outfit Fenerbahce to the Stade Louis II in the second leg of the third round of tonight’s Champions League qualifier, and are favourites to come out on top to reach the playoffs of the competition.

Monaco suffered a 2-1 defeat in the first leg at the Şükrü Saracoğlu last month, but they will reach the Champions League playoffs with a win and a clean sheet this evening. Should they concede, however, the home side will need a two-goal margin to progress without penalties.

On home soil, Monaco lost only three of 19 games at the Stade Louis II last season, and will fancy their chances against a Fenerbahce side who…

A couple of days ago I was writing an article about the biggest winners and losers of 2008 in preparation for the end of the year. Amongst the biggest losers I included Juande Ramos. I wrote that he had gone from hero to villain over a very short space of time during the year and was definitely one of the biggest losers.

Losers

Now, the fifty-four year old manager has been appointed the boss of Real Madrid. That’s hardly the role of a loser now is it? I’ll have to rewrite my other article, although as I also had Real Madrid as one of the biggest losers of the year (falling so far behind Barcelona, failing in Europe, not getting Cristiano Ronaldo, etc) maybe the appointment might not turn out to be all that it should be.

So why, …

Rafael Benitez has suggested he will resist the temptation to add to his squad this month by emphasising his belief that his current squad can deliver a first league title in 19 years.The Spanish manager has been linked with a move to bring former Liverpool striker Emile Heskey back to Anfield but there has been no movement on that front since the transfer window opened at the start of January.With Fernando Torres, Martin Skrtel, Fabio Aurelio and Alvaro Arbeloa all back from injury, Benitez believes Liverpool are in good shape for the battle with Manchester United and Chelsea over the second half of the season. We finished 2008 very well, we played with style and have scored a lot of goals, Benitez said. I am very pleased and happy with the situation and hope it will be the same in th…

Fabinho has admitted he found it tough early on in his Liverpool career but he is satisfied with his first season at the club.

The Brazil international had to wait until October to make his Premier League debut after joining from Monaco for a reported £39million in the off-season.

But Reds manager Jurgen Klopp eventually came to rely on the 25-year-old as a regular starter in a campaign that concluded with a Champions League final triumph over Tottenham in Madrid.

In my first season I knew there would be a learning and settling-in period. I went through this, Fabinho told the club s official website.

It didn t last that long but I remember it wasn t easy starting afresh, I was left out for a few matches.

FABinho.

Boss.

— L…

Thomas Tuchel declared himself pleased after Paris Saint-Germain were drawn against Saint-Etienne in the quarter-finals of the Coupe de la Ligue.

PSG saw off second-tier opponents Le Mans 4-1 in Wednesday s last-16 tie at MMArena to remain on course for a record-extending ninth success in the competition.

The Ligue 1 champions thrashed Saint-Etienne 4-0 in last weekend s league clash and head coach Tuchel had no complaints about being paired with Claude Puel s men in the domestic cup.

It s a good draw because the match will be played at home, he told Canal+. It s good that we don t have to travel.

The main thing is playing at home, which is easier to organise and easier for the players. We have a lot of travelling in January and February so it s good to…