Veteran defender Giorgio Chiellini is in line to return to action on Wednesday, when Juventus travel to Hungary to face Ferencvaros. Chiellini has featured just three times for Juventus this season, most recently going off injured against Dynamo Kyiv. The Italian subsequently suffered muscular problems which kept him out of action for two weeks. In that time, the Old Lady suffered a defeat to Catalan giants Barcelona, as well as dropping points at home to Verona. Chiellini is set to return to action However, Italian site Tuttomercatoweb recently reported via their Twitter account that the veteran had returned to first-team training ahead of Juventus’ midweek fixture against Ferencvaros. And now, Sky Sports Italia are saying that the captain will go straight back into the starting XI (via F...
Bayern Munich have withdrawn their contract offer to David Alaba, after failing to reach an agreement with the defender. The club’s president, Herbert Hainer, has revealed a deadline of 31 October was set to reach an agreement. Negotiations have now ended, after Alaba’s agent indicated their latest offer was not acceptable. The Austria international’s current deal expires at the end of the season and he will be free to discuss terms with rival clubs from January. A host of sides have been linked with a move for the defender, most notably Serie A champions Juventus. “We presented him with a really, very good very fair, competitive offer – especially during these times,” Hainer told BR24Sport. “We told David’s agent during the last meeting that we wanted clarity and an answer by the end of O...
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored an acrobatic late winner as AC Milan consolidated top spot in Serie A with a 2-1 win over Udinese on Udinese. The 39-year-old has scored seven goals in four league games played having missed the other two after contracting coronavirus. Stefano Pioli’s side are top of the table with 16 points from six games, four points ahead of Atalanta. Champions Juventus are sixth — seven points behind AC Milan — before Sunday’s game against promoted Spezia where Cristiano Ronaldo starts on the bench after testing negative for Covid-19. Magic from Zlatan Ibrahimović! 🙌 Just when his team needed it, he came up with an acrobatic finish which will likely seal the win for Milan 🔥 pic.twitter.com/oNPtU0KCdo — Premier Sports 📺 (@PremierSportsTV) November 1, 202...
Juventus are in talks to renew Paulo Dybala’s contract, but managing director Fabio Paratici revealed the club’s coronavirus scare made negotiations difficult. Dybala has two years remaining on his existing deal in Turin but an extension has long been mooted, with the Bianconeri said to be discussing an agreement until 2025. But no clarity has been forthcoming in the opening weeks of the 2020-21 season. Paratici is not overly concerned, though, explaining the reason for the delay. “We’re in talks to extend Paulo’s contract,” he told Sky Sport Italia . “He wants to stay and we want to keep him – he’s part of our future. “It has been a tricky period because we were locked in the hotel for two weeks due to the Covid scare and not allowed to meet anyone. “But we’ll continue the negotiations to...
Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has surprisingly hinted that he mismanaged Paul Pogba, particularly at the start of this season. The French midfielder was a shadow of himself when the league began but was handed minutes nonetheless and so he continued to struggle. In fairness, United were performing poorly overall so Pogba wasn’t the only one who looked out of sorts. However, Solskjaer would soon exclude him from the starting XI and use him as an impact substitute, which he did remarkably well. Pogba’s lack of form was put down to a lack of a pre-season but perhaps fans have been a little dismissive that he also had to recover from Covid-19. According to the club’s official website, Solskjaer said: “You see, when you have got good players, it is a nice challenge and a nice deci...
Juventus have won the Scudetto for the past nine seasons, and smart money would be on the Bianconeri to make it 10 in a row. After all, the Turin giants have a very strong squad, and Cristiano Ronaldo is still banging in the goals for fun despite being 35 years of age. However, there are signs that Juventus may not have it all their way this season. Andrea Pirlo’s side have not made a great start, and AC Milan seem to have turned on the style in the opening weeks of the season. Heading into this weekend’s round of matches, the Turin giants find themselves as low as fifth in the Serie A table with eight points from four matches, while the Rossoneri have picked up maximum points from their four games and are sitting at the top of the standings. Both Juventus and Milan are in action over the ...
Andrea Pirlo has explained his tactical adjustments to Juventus after a 2-0 victory at Dynamo Kiev, including the versatility of Federico Chiesa and Dejan Kulusevski. The Bianconeri got off to an ideal Champions League start, winning 2-0 away to Dynamo Kiev thanks to a pair of Alvaro Morata goals. “It was important to put in a more solid performance compared to Crotone,” the coach told Sky Sport Italia, referring to Saturday’s 1-1 Serie A draw. “We were able to try a few things on Monday and were more organised this evening. We could’ve made more of some of the first half chances, but controlled the game well after taking the lead.” There was one intriguing tactical experiment that only lasted 18 minutes due to Giorgio Chiellini’s injury. It had Chiellini in the centre of a three-man defen...
Genoa have announced that 14 members of their match squad, believed to include 8-10 players, tested positive for COVID-19 after the game with Napoli. So far, only goalkeeper Mattia Perin and midfielder Lasse Schone have been confirmed to have Coronavirus. According to Sportitalia, the latest round of swabs following Sunday’s 6-0 defeat to Napoli found the virus had spread throughout the matchday group. It was confirmed with a statement from Genoa, who acknowledged that there are now 14 members of the matchday group – which includes members of staff – who tested positive. Sportitalia and the Gazzetta dello Sport claim the figure is divided into eight players who tested positive – so that could well be 10 in total including Perin and Schone. “Genoa CFC announce that after the tests, the numb...
Cristiano Ronaldo twice netted an equaliser to give Juventus a 2-2 draw away at Roma on Sunday evening. A cagey opening period to the game was finally blown open on 31 minutes when the home side scored from the penalty spot. It was Jordan Veretout who netted from 12 yards to give Paulo Fonseca’s men the lead. But just before half time the Old Lady were back level, Cristiano Ronaldo scoring his own penalty after a handball inside the area. Immediately after that though, Roma got themselves back in front after a stunning counter-attack that was finished by Veretout. Andrea Pirlo’s side then went down to 10 men as Adrien Rabiot was sent off for a late challenge which saw him earn a second yellow card. As has become customary for the Bianconeri though, it was Ronaldo who saved the day, towerin...