Real to let Diaz duo go

Marcelo Bielsa is a real option to take charge of Lille next season, general manager Marc Ingla confirmed while presenting Franck Passi as interim coach.

Bielsa garnered plaudits for his work at Marseille during 2014-15, using unorthodox systems to promote an attacking style of football.

The fiery Argentine famously quit Lazio just two days after being appointed last year but could be set for a return to Ligue 1 with Lille, who have chosen his former assistant at the Stade Velodrome Passi to lead the struggling side for the remainder of the campaign.

Lille have lost three successive matches and sit 17th in Ligue 1, one point clear of the bottom three.

Ingla told a media conference: I thank Franck Passi for being here. He is the coach for the next four mon…

Can Toulouse s Alban Lafont really become the next big shot-stopper in Ligue 1 and in Europe? (Photo: JEAN-SEBASTIEN EVRARD/AFP/Getty Images)

In football, strikers usually get all the accolades. That s not surprising as they are the ones who score the goals and command the biggest pay-cheques. However, the men between the posts are obviously just as important if not even more so, in some instances. After all, if a striker scores three and the goalkeeper concedes four, the team still loses, regardless of how brilliant that hat-trick was. And in the even of a penalty shoot-out, the shot-stopper has the weight of his team and its supporters on its shoulders.

Given that goalkeepers tend to stay in the business for quite some time Juventus s Gianluigi Buffon is now 39, for e…

Jurgen Klopp rates Manchester City as one of the strongest teams in world football and acknowledges Liverpool will need to be at 110 per cent to beat them.

Reigning Premier League champions City travel to Anfield for a top-of-the-table clash on Sunday, with the two sides locked on 19 points at the summit.

Liverpool have won each of the teams last three meetings in all competitions, beating them 4-3 at home in the top flight before running out 3-0 and 2-1 victors in the Champions League.

But, despite that impressive run following the 5-0 defeat at the Etihad Stadium in September 2017, Klopp is adamant he has not stumbled upon a formula that guarantees a win over City.

He said: We beat City three times last season and not once after any of those games did …

Lionel Messi ended his Paris St Germain career with a 3-2 defeat to Clermont.

The Argentinian World Cup winner will quit Paris this summer having already been linked with a return to Barcelona and Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal next season.

He will leave as a Ligue 1 champion with PSG having already secured the title before blowing a 2-0 lead to lose on the final day of the season.

It s over. Already being champions for the 11th time in its history, Paris Saint-Germain lose in the last game of the season.

— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English)

Sergio Ramos, on his final appearance for the club, and Kylian Mbappe’s penalty gave the hosts control.

Johan Gastien pulled a goal back and Mehdi Zeffane levelled in first-half stoppage time. Gr…

Paris Saint-Germain are interested in signing Dusan Vlahovic from Juventus as a potential replacement for Kylian Mbappe, according to . France international forward Mbappe in the January transfer window, and the defending Ligue 1 champions want to bring in the 22-year-old Serbia international striker as his replacement.

Vlahovic has been on the books of Juventus since January 2022 when he moved from Serie A rivals Fiorentina. Much was expected of the Serbian youngster when he arrived in Turin, but the striker has failed to replicate his Fiorentina form at the former Serie A and UEFA Champions League winners.

The Serbian star has made eight appearances in Serie A for Juventus so far this season, scoring five goals and providing one assist in the process. Vlahovic has al…

Lee Tomlin has signed for Middlsbrough on a permanent basis, .

The striker moved to Teeside on loan from League One promotion hopefuls Peterborough United during the January transfer window, but has now put pen to paper on a three-and-a-half year deal with the club.

The 25 year old scored forty-one goals in one-hundred-and-fifty-one games for the Posh following his transfer from Rushden and Diamonds in 2010.

He is yet to make his debut for Aitor Karanka’s side, but he could do so at home to Leeds United on Saturday afternoon after completing a three game ban.

Tomlin was shown a red card in Peterborough’s 5-4 defeat to Oldham Athletic towards the end of January, and has not featured since.

Middlesbrough, who have not managed to score sin…

Ajax Amsterdam head coach Frank de Boer has no plans to leave the Dutch club despite rumours he will join Inter next season.

There has been plenty of speculation in the Italian media that Inter are keen on replacing Walter Mazzarri with De Boer at the end of the 2013/14 campaign but after the Milan-based club s owner Erick Thohir dismissed the rumours last week, the Dutchman said he was fine at Ajax .

De Boer, who was installed as Ajax s boss in 2010, has led the club to three straight Eredivisie titles and looks on track for a fourth, as his side lead the Dutch league by six points with seven rounds remaining.

My future? I m fine at Ajax, he told Dutch public broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting.

If there is a need to address this issue, we ll see what happe…

Everton striker Romelu Lukaku admits he could leave Goodison Park at the end of the season and says he would relish working with Jose Mourinho again.

Mourinho allowed Lukaku to join Everton from Chelsea initially on loan in 2013, after the Belgium international failed to hold down a first-team place at Stamford Bridge.

A £28million permanent switch followed in July 2014 and Lukaku has racked up 28 goals in 65 league appearances since.

Manchester United are among the clubs to have been linked with Lukaku and, with Mourinho the favourite to succeed under-pressure Louis van Gaal at Old Trafford, a reunion between the pair could be on the cards.

Some may say I need to convince him, but it is not a question of that, Lukaku told La Derniere Heure. 

…

Juventus moved another step closer to the Serie A title as they came from behind to defeat AC Milan 2-1 at San Siro on Saturday.

In a thrilling encounter, Alex gave Sinisa Mihajlovic s men a first-half lead, but Mario Mandzukic promptly equalised before Paul Pogba struck a controversial winner midway through the second half.

Juve were also indebted to a magnificent performance from captain Gianluigi Buffon, who produced stunning saves in both halves to keep out Mario Balotelli, who produced arguably his best performance since returning to Milan.

The win moves Juve nine points clear of Napoli ahead of their nearest rivals game in hand at home to Verona on Sunday, with a fifth consecutive Scudetto moving closer. 

Sixth-placed Milan have accumulated just t…

Prediction: Draw

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After five years of waiting, the European Championship is finally back in our lives as we gear up for the start of UEFA Euro 2020 tonight. There are 24 nations who will be battling it out for the right to be called European champions and while 23 will fall short, we re bound to have an awful lot of fun along the way. Today, we re going to take a look at what should prove to be a fascinating encounter between the Netherlands and Ukraine in Group C.

Netherlands

The Dutch haven t been at the races for the last few major tournaments mainly because they haven t actually been there. Now, they ve at the big dance, and there are still questions regarding the strength of their squad and whether the coaching team can do…