Chelsea: Sancho ‘problem’, Maresca ignores ‘situation change’ as Blues pair make full PL debuts

Inter secured Champions League qualification in their penultimate game of the Serie A season, dealing a fatal blow to Atalanta s own top-four hopes with a 3-2 win at San Siro.

The Nerazzurri – finalists in Europe s premier club competition this term – stormed into a two-goal lead within just two minutes and 49 seconds after Romelu Lukaku and Nicolo Barella were on target.

Atalanta needed a result to keep their slim hopes of a top-four finish alive, and they were handed a lifeline by Mario Pasalic before the interval on Saturday.

Yet Inter added a deserved third through Lautaro Martinez after the break, making Andre Onana s late own goal a mere Atalanta consolation, as the Nerazzurri moved eight points clear of their fifth-placed visitors.

Lu-La photo…

Napoli s relentless charge to the Scudetto continued with a straightforward 2-0 win at Sassuolo on Friday, their key men at the fore yet again.

Victory at Mapei Stadium made it seven Serie A wins in a row since a 1-0 defeat to Inter in their first game back after the World Cup, extending the Partenopei s lead at the summit to 18 points.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia put Napoli in front early on with a wonderful solo effort, before their other talisman, Victor Osimhen, made it 2-0 just after the half-hour mark to become the club s first player to net in seven successive top-flight games in the three-points-for-a-win era.

Sassuolo somewhat contentiously had a goal chalked off late in the first half, but thereafter Napoli s game management was exceptional, with the only sha…

Chelsea have announced that club legend John Terry is to return to Stamford Bridge to take up a coaching consultancy role at the Academy.

Terry has been out of work since leaving his role as assistant head coach of Aston Villa under then boss Dean Smith in July.

The 41-year-old played for the Blues for almost 19 years before leaving for Villa Park in 2017 and will now begin a part-time role at Chelsea s Cobham training ground, which according to an announcement on the club s official website will include delivering on-field coaching, contributing to coaching discussions with colleagues, mentoring Academy players and supporting parent dialogue.

Terry will begin his new position at the start of January, and head of youth development at Chelsea, Neil Bath, said of…

According to Italian outlet , a swap deal between Chelsea and Juventus, involving strikers Dusan Vlahovic and Romelu Lukaku, could take place in 2024.

Chelsea have been struggling to score goals this season. Obviously lacking satisfactory input from summer signing Nicolas Jackson, their lack of another option in the centre-forward position has become notoriously clear. Lukaku is still on their books, but he simply hasn t been able to play at his best at Stamford Bridge and is currently on loan at AS Roma, with the Serie A clearly better suited for his qualities. This term, he has scored 13 goals in 20 matches across all competitions.

On the other hand, Vlahovic is Juventus top goalscorer this season, with six goals in 15 appearances in the Italian top flight. At the age…

Drey Wright and Chris Kane were both on target as St Johnstone signed off on their cinch Premiership season with a 2-0 win over Livingston to end the visitors’ hopes of a seventh-placed finish.

Saints, who confirmed on Saturday that Steven MacLean will continue as manager on a permanent basis after a successful interim spell, had little to play for with safety guaranteed, but put in a stellar performance on the day Steve Brown emotionally stepped down as chairman after 11 years at the helm.

Wright opened the scoring after 17 minutes when he capitalised on some slack Livingston defending to score, before fit-again forward Kane climbed off the St Johnstone bench to net his first goal since December 26, 2021 from the penalty spot.

Boss MacLean made just one change…

Prediction: PSG to win and both teams to score

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Reigning European giants Bayern Munich need a stunning turnaround against Paris Saint Germain on Tuesday evening at the Parc des Princes.

The French giants won the first leg of the two club s UEFA Champions League quarter-final meeting 3-2 in what was a thrilling clash at the Allianz Arena. An equally fantastic match should be in store in Paris.

Paris Saint Germain

The first leg in Bavaria really did show how far PSG had come since their final defeat to Bayern in August. It was a thoroughly emphatic performance from Mauricio Pochettino s men, with Kylian Mbappe once again starring. The victory in Germany also made it six victories in PSG s last seven away matches in the UEFA Champi…

Former Real Madrid and Spain goalkeeper Miguel Angel Gonzalez has died at the age of 76.

Miguel Angel played for Madrid for 18 seasons between 1968 and 1986, winning two UEFA Cups, eight Spanish league titles, five Spanish Cups and one League Cup.

He was also capped 18 times by Spain, and played in both the 1978 and 1982 World Cups.

Comunicado Oficial: fallecimiento de Miguel Ángel.

— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid)

Following his playing career Miguel Angel held various roles at Real Madrid, including working as goalkeeper coach and director of the former training complex Ciudad Deportiva.

Miguel Angel was diagnosed with ALS, a form of motor neurone disease, in December 2022.

In a statement on Tuesday morning, the club said: “…

Putting in yet another worrying performance at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon, Manchester United slumped to a toothless 1-0 defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace.

Set to come under even more scrutiny and crashing back down to earth here, it was Danish defender Joachim Andersen who powered home midway through the first-half following a small deflection off of a helpless Diego Dalot.

With the frustration palpable around Old Trafford, the Red Devils are set to come under even more scrutiny as they slumped to their fourth Premier League defeat from their opening seven appearances.

Failing to find any kind of fluidity on either side of the half-time break, Erik ten Hag faces another public backlash.

While Saturday’s 1-0 win at Old Trafford might have be…

A group of unnamed Chile players have been fined following a breach of the Copa America s strict coronavirus protocols, the Football Federation of Chile (FFC) announced on Sunday.

Chile s preparations for Monday s clash with Uruguay have been thrown into disarray after a number of players were sanctioned for inviting a barber into their team bubble in Brazil amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, Spanish news outlet Marca reported there was a further breach, with at least five players allegedly inviting several women to the team hotel.

The FFC did not confirm or address the claims in the statement released amid doubts over the future of head coach Martin Lasarte.

The Chilean Football Federation and the coaching staff of the Chilean men s national team rec…

Nottingham Forest are interested in signing Raphael Onyedika from Club Brugge in the summer transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that Forest are among a number of clubs who are keen on Onyedika, and that Belgian side Brugge could sell him.

Onyedika has been on the books of Club Brugge since the summer of 2022 when he joined from Midtjylland. The Nigeria international midfielder has been superb for the Belgian side and has established himself as one of the best and most important players in the team. The 22-year-old has made 17 starts and two substitute appearances in the Jupiler Pro League this season.

Club Brugge are third in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League table at the moment with 45 points from 27 matches, as many as 20 points behind leaders Royale U…