Juventus midfielder Rolando Mandragora is hoping to be fit for selection before the end of the year after undergoing successful surgery on a fractured metatarsal.
The 19-year-old midfielder has yet to feature for the Bianconeri following his move from Genoa in January, and the club sent him for surgery on the fifth metatarsal of his right foot after it was judged not to be healing properly.
The club paid €6 million to bring Mandragora to Juventus Stadium, but allowed him to complete a loan spell with Pescara in Serie B that had begun in July 2015 while he was still a Genoa player.
The talented youngster is highly rated by Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri, and club doctor Claudio Riga was present as he was operated on successfully by a specialist in Porto.
Bayern Munich boss Jupp Heynckes feels Arjen Robben could be vital in the UEFA Champions League final against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.
Robben suffered several disappointments at the end of the 2011-12 season, including missing in Bayern s penalty shoot-out loss to Chelsea in the Champions League final and a poor Euro 2012 with the Netherlands.
An injury at the start of the season hampered the winger but the Dutchman has bounced back in impressive fashion, contributing two goals in his side s 7-0 aggregate victory over Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final.
It is not a surprise. Arjen was very motivated after the European Championships last summer, Heynckes said.
But he got injured and lost time. He is still driven by ambition. He has a professional approach…
Stuart Pearce slammed his side s efforts in their 1-0 loss to Italy, as England made a poor start to the European Under-21 Championships.
Despite having a Craig Dawson header ruled out in the first half, which would have given them a lead, Pearce was angered by his players failure to fire on the big stage in Tel Aviv.
Lorenzo Insigne scored from a set-piece in the 79th minute to give Italy all three points and see them to the top of Group A a result that left the English coach frustrated.
The performance was very poor. The players know that it wasn t good enough, the better team won, he said.
The positive is we played that badly and only lost 1-0. We were awful.
The result ended England s nine-game unbeaten run that dated back to 2011, although…
Germany captain Michael Ballack on Thursday urged the Euro 2008 finalists to raise their game for Saturday s World Cup qualifier against Liechtenstein to banish the memories of their recent defeats.
The 32-year-old Chelsea star is demanding a raised effort in Leipzig from his side who have lost their last two home games: a 2-1 defeat to England last November and a 1-0 defeat to Norway in February.
Germany have not suffered back-to-back home defeats since 1956 and Ballack says only a convincing win over Liechenstein, ranked 151st in the world, will suffice.
We simply have to play better and put in a better performance, Ballack told sports magazine Kicker.
And it will happen.
Germany are top of their qualifying group and are unbeaten with three …
Former German international goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has been banned from driving for four weeks and fined 127 euros (165 US dollars) after being caught speeding in Munich, German tabloid Bild reported on Saturday.
The Stuttgart goalkeeper, who made the last of his 61 appearances for Germany in the Euro 2008 final, hit the headlines here last year for using a helicopter to get from his Starnberg home near Munich to Stuttgart s training base 250 kilometres away.
The ex-Arsenal keeper may again resort to the elaborate mode of transport after he was caught driving 102km per hour along Munich s Landshuter Allee at 2am on September 3 2008 in an area which has a top speed of 60km/h.
Lehmann is under contract at Stuttgart until 2010 and has said he wants to play for the…
Martin Peters, who was part of the England team that won the 1966 World Cup on home soil, has died aged 76.
The midfielder scored England s second in a 4-2 final win over West Germany at Wembley, joining West Ham team-mate Geoff Hurst – who famously grabbed a hat-trick in a thrilling game that went to extra time – on the scoresheet.
Peters had helped the Hammers lift the European Cup Winners Cup the previous year and spent over a decade with the London club, eventually leaving in 1970 after over 300 appearances.
His departure to Tottenham made transfer history, as he became Britain s first £200,000 player in a deal that also saw Jimmy Greaves move in the opposite direction.
Nicknamed The Ghost for his ability to get into scoring positions unnotice…
Lionel Messi s future has been the subject of much speculation but a reunion with Pep Guardiola is still very much in Manchester City s plans.
Messi has been disgruntled with his situation at Barcelona since the end of last season, despite head coach Ronald Koeman s insistence that his superstar captain is happy.
Four-time Champions League winner Messi unsuccessfully tried to force an exit in August, however there will be no legal clauses to stop him when his contract expires in June 2021.
TOP STORY – MESSI WANTED ON FIVE-YEAR DEAL
The City Football Group (CFG) is eyeing a 2021 swoop that will see Lionel Messi split time between their Premier League powerhouse Manchester City and MLS franchise New York City, according to the Telegraph.
Brad Guzan was sent off as 10-man Atlanta United were beaten 2-0 by Sporting Kansas City in a battle between the MLS Eastern and Western Conference leaders.
Atlanta goalkeeper Guzan was red carded in the first half and Western Conference pacesetters Sporting KC made the most of their numerical advantage, scoring two unanswered goals to reign supreme away from home on Wednesday.
Unbeaten in eight matches and riding a three-game winning streak, Atlanta dominated the opening 45 minutes and thought they had taken an early lead at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Atlanta star Josef Martinez scored in the sixth minute but it was overturned by the video assistant referee (VAR) for offside.
After Video Review, the goal for Josef Martinez has been disallowed for offside. …
AS Roma hosted Juventus at the Stadio Olimpico in the round before last of the 2017/18 Serie A season. The game had been set to bear far more importance for the home side than for the visitors, with Juventus’ seventh consecutive league title all but confirmed and Roma fighting to take part in next season’s Champions League, but Inter’s defeat to Sassuolo at home changed everything. The Nerazzurri lost all chances of finishing above Roma and took all the pressure off the shoulders of the Romans. Juventus, however, still needed to get something in Rome in order for their triumph to be mathematically certain.
Team News
Roma manager Eusebio Di Francesco had a few injury problems in his team for this game. The hero of the recent Champions League quarterfinal against Barcelona…
Inter Milan are stepping up their efforts to recruit Croatian winger Ivan Perisic from Wolfsburg, .
The Nerazzurri will see a number of attack-minded footballers leave this summer, with Xherdan Shaqiri and Lukas Podolski already gone, and they see the Croatia hotshot as a good addition to the squad.
It is believed that Wolfsburg would consider offers in the region of €18 million for their prized asset, and that is clearly within Inter s price range.
While they are also trying to bring Stevan Jovetic to Giuseppe Meazza, the Nerazzurri are already in talks with the Wolves and they appear to be closing in on Perisic.
The 26-year-old joined Wolfsburg from Borussia Dortmund in January 2013 for €7.5 million, so it is clear that the Bundesliga side are set …