Leonardo Bonucci s decision to leave six-time reigning Serie A champions Juventus for rivals AC Milan was not due to a falling out with head coach Massimiliano Allegri, according to his wife.
Bonucci sensationally quit Juve in the off-season, the Italy international centre-back joining Milan in a €42million deal.
The 30-year-old s departure from Turin, shortly after Juve lost to Real Madrid in the Champions League final, sparked speculation of a row with Allegri, however those claims were dismissed by Bonucci s wife Martina Maccari.
His decision wasn t due to an argument with Max Allegri, Maccari told Rai Radio 1.
In a professional setting, I think balance between all parties is fundamental. Leonardo chose to leave because of the vicissitudes within …
Competition: International friendly
Market: Poland to beat Uruguay
Odds:
Club football must take a two-week break allowing the international fixtures to once again occur. While many will be disappointed to see their local team not taking to the pitch, they will be contented with a number of very interesting international fixtures. One such game sees Poland host Uruguay on Friday.
Poland were superb in their World Cup qualifying campaign as they qualified with relative ease. Eight wins, one draw and one defeat saw them collect 25 points in total, scoring 28 times along the way. What will worry the fans going into the World Cup is the fact the conceded 14 goals in the group stages, with only Armenia and Kazakhstan (26) conceding more. It is clear…
Napoli climbed into Serie A’s top four after a deserved 2-0 win at Salernitana.
The reigning champions have endured a stuttering start to their title defence but closed the gap on the leaders on Saturday.
Giacomo Raspadori’s first-half goal and Elif Elmas’ late strike extended Napoli’s unbeaten run to four games in all competitions.
It is a mini resurgence for Rudi Garcia’s side after successive defeats to Real Madrid in the Champions League and Fiorentina in Serie A last month.
FULL TIME 0-2
— Official SSC Napoli (@en_sscnapoli)
Defeat saw the hosts slip to a 12th game without a win to set an unwanted record of their longest winless run in Serie A. They remain rock bottom of the table with four points from their o…
Bayern Munich benefited from a pair of deflected goals to secure a 2-1 away victory over Sevilla in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.
Having let slip a two-goal lead to draw with Barcelona at the weekend, Sevilla failed to build on scoring first against the Bundesliga giants to suffer their first home defeat in Europe this season.
Pablo Sarabia controlled Sergio Escudero s early cross from the left to fire the LaLiga side ahead in the 32nd minute, raising the possibility of Vincenzo Montella s side claiming a second major scalp after knocking out Manchester United in the previous round.
However, Jesus Navas attempt to block Franck Ribery s cross inside only resulted in an own goal, the former Manchester City player s untimely deflection sendi…
Manchester City have not guaranteed Champions League success by appointing Pep Guardiola, according to his former player Sylvinho.
Sylvinho, now Inter s assistant boss, won Europe s elite club competition under Guardiola at Barcelona in 2009 before going on to finish his career at City.
Sylvinho hailed the quality of the Bayern Munich head coach, who will replace Manuel Pellegrini at the Etihad Stadium from the 2016-17 season after agreeing a three-year deal.
But while he believes City have ensured they will be playing great football, the ex-Arsenal defender still thinks Guardiola has a tough ask to win the Champions League.
The Champions League is not easy at all, Sylvinho told Omnisport.
Manchester City are working in the correct way, they ha…
Monaco insist there is no truth to media reports that club president Dmitry Rybolovlev wants to sell the club and launch a takeover bid for AC Milan.
It has been claimed in Italy that the Russian billionaire, who became majority shareholder of Monaco in 2011, is considering trying to buy Milan from Yonghong Li.
However, the Ligue 1 champions say Rybolovlev is passionate about Monaco s future and has no plans to sell his stake in the Stade Louis II club.
Following rumours about AS Monaco football club in the media these last days, AS Monaco affirms that there is no current negotiation on the sale of the club or purchase of AC Milan, a statement released on Friday said.
The president Dmitry Rybolovlev is happy to develop the Monegasque project since s…
Manuel Pellegrini believes Cristiano Ronaldo remains Real Madrid s main threat ahead of the Champions League semi-final against his Manchester City.
The Portuguese superstar has 47 goals in 44 games for Madrid this season, including a phenomenal 16 in 10 Champions League outings.
Ronaldo will sit out Saturday s Liga trip to Rayo Vallecano due to a thigh problem, although coach Zinedine Zidane insists the complaint is nothing serious .
Pellegrini coached Ronaldo during his time in charge of Madrid in the 2009-10 campaign and would view the ex-Manchester United forward s absence as a considerable boost to City s cause at the Etihad Stadium in next Tuesday s first leg.
In an interview with Marca, when asked which Real Madrid player he would like to have …
Egypt will be defending a proud Africa Cup of Nations record when they kick off their 2017 campaign against Mali in Port-Gentil on Tuesday.
The Pharaohs have won the competition on each of their last three appearances in 2006, 2008 and 2010 and hold the overall record of seven titles.
Egypt have not qualified for the three editions since, but are back this time around after topping a tough qualifying group that included Nigeria.
They are fancied to go far in the tournament, boasting a squad featuring some high-profile players from European clubs and others with significant international experience.
Roma s Mohamed Salah and Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny complement Egypt stalwarts like Essam El-Hadary and Ahmed Fathy, both of whom have over 100 caps.
Manchester City have reached an agreement with the representatives of Josko Gvardiol over the personal terms for the Croatian defender, should they manage to complete his transfer from RB Leipzig, according to the ever-vigilant Fabrizio Romano.
A couple of days ago, emerged that the 2022/23 Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup winners were working hard on persuading Gvardiol to move to the Etihad, and now it seems it s finally done.
However, the transfer is still not too close to being done. Leipzig would prefer the 21-year-old to stay put, and his contract there doesn t end before the summer of 2027, which obviously puts the Bundesliga side in a very strong position. For the time being, they re maintaining the stance that they won t let Gvardiol leave this year…
Moises Caicedo has said he struggled with his confidence during his first season at Chelsea because of the pressure of his £115m price tag.
Caicedo, who completed his move to Stamford Bridge from Brighton last year, signed for an initial £100m fee but could see that rise to a British club record £115m due to performance-related add-ons.
The 22-year-old endured a difficult campaign under Mauricio Pochettino, making 49 appearances in all competitions but registering just four goal involvements (one goal, three assists).
He was often outperformed by midfield partner Conor Gallagher, who is expected to complete a move to Atletico Madrid in the coming days despite captaining the Blues to European football last season.
Gallagher won more tackles (52), cr…