Best Odds: 8/5
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Knowing that three points will be enough to officially punch a top-four return, Lille will travel to the Stade de l Aube on Saturday night when they meet Troyes.
Troyes
Starting with the hosts, while Troyes might just about clung to their Ligue 1 status last season, it has been another nightmare campaign for Patrick Kisnorbo’s men. Free-falling their way out of France’s top-flight and with it their relegation long since confirmed, the Blues are certainly limping their way over the finish line. Last seen putting in yet another downbeat display as they slumped to a 2-1 loss away at Troyes, the former Melbourne City boss has found growing pressure on his shoulders. In what has quickly transformed into a record-breaking rut, Saturday�…
Atletico Madrid have confirmed the permanent signing of Antoine Griezmann from Barcelona, with the forward signing a deal that runs through until June 2026.
Griezmann returned to Atleti on a two-year loan deal at the start of last season after a couple of relatively underwhelming campaigns at Camp Nou.
Diego Simeone s side reportedly had an obligation to pay Barcelona €40million if Griezmann played a certain number of minutes, which has restricted his playing time this term.
The France international has appeared in all eight of his side s LaLiga games, but he has played 30 minutes or under in six of those contests.
However, Atletico announced on their official website on Monday that an agreement has been reached for Griezmann to officially become their …
Werder Bremen captain Torsten Frings is expected to be out for the next ten days after an operation for a hip injury and will miss Wednesday s Champions League clash with Inter Milan.
The 33-year-old defensive midfielder won the last of his 79 caps for Germany in February 2009 and is expected to sit out the game against defending champions Inter and Sunday s Bundesliga match against Leverkusen.
The doctors have taken the crap out of the hip, so I feel better now, said Frings on Tuesday.
Bremen will also be without injury-victim striker Claudio Pizarro and defender Clemens Fritz for the trip to Milan.
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Serbia s national football coach Radomir Antic could be sacked from his post on Wednesday due to poor results at the World Cup and qualifiers for Euro 2012, local media reported.
The Serbian Football Federation (FSS) has already decided to break Antic s contract after Serbia s failure at the World Cup and bad start in qualifiers for Euro 2012, Belgrade radio B92 reported.
Serbia won 3-0 in a qualifier with the Faroe Islands, but managed only a draw against Slovenia.
Antic might be replaced with Vladimir Petrovic, the former Red Star Belgrade striker who also played for English Premier League giants Arsenal and French outfit Nancy, the report said.
Petrovic, who has previously headed Serbia s under-21 national squad, is currently coaching Romanian side F…
Newcastle United have appointed Rafael Benitez as their new manager on a three-year contract.
The Spaniard succeeds Steve McClaren, who was sacked earlier on Friday after nine months in the job, and is tasked with preserving Newcastle s top-flight status with the club 19th, one point adrift of safety.
Benitez has been itching to return to the Premier League after a six-year spell at Liverpool, with whom he won the Champions League in 2005 and the FA Cup a year later, and a six-month interim role at Chelsea, which resulted in him landing the 2013 Europa League title.
Since leaving Stamford Bridge three years ago, he spent two seasons with Napoli before being named Real Madrid boss in June 2015. The 55-year-old struggled for acceptance at the Santiago Bernabeu,…
Liverpool and Arsenal are set to battle for the signature of Bayern Munich midfielder Mario Gotze, .
The twenty-three year old has barely featured for the Bundesliga champions this season, racking up just eight league appearances so far and his only goal coming in the 5-1 win over Borussia Dortmund back in October.
He has however struggled with injury and made his return to the fold as an unused substitute in Bayern’s 1-0 win over Koln last Saturday.
Since moving signing from Dortmund in the summer of 2013, Gotze has played over a hundred times, scoring thirty-four times while he has been part of the squads that won the league title in both 2014 and 2015.
Internationally, he has been capped forty-eight times for Germany, scoring sixteen times with …
Verdict: Away win
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The 3-0 hammering of Hungary must have served as a major confidence boost for Russia, who now hope to win their final warm-up game for the 2017 Confederations Cup. Chile began their preparations for said tournament with a comfortable triumph over Burkina Faso, but they will have much bigger fish to fry in Moscow.
Russia
Russia have experienced all sorts of problems in the build up to the 2018 World Cup that will be held on home soil, and it remains to be seen whether there is enough time to address all the issues. New coach Stanislav Cherchesov has struggled to get his ideas across after the Euro 2016 failure, but he finally had some more time to work with the squad ahead of the Hungary friendly and that proved…
Leonardo Bonucci wants the Italy fans who whistled him during Saturday s 0-0 Nations League draw against European champions Portugal to show maturity.
The stalemate assured Fernando Santos side of top spot in Group A3, with the Azzurri s finishing letting them down at San Siro.
Bonucci was targeted by a contingent of AC Milan supporters inside their home stadium, following his solitary season with the Rossoneri in 2017-18 before returning to Juventus.
Speaking to Rai Sport after the match, the centre-back labelled his detractors as imbeciles but, in quotes reported by Corriere dello Sport, he struck a more conciliatory tone.
The national team should unite under one flag, leaving out the club stories, he said.
I support [the fans] but this time …
Bolton Wanderers may be set to show Manchester City the attacking football that has been in short supply at Eastlands this season.
With City spending in excess of 100 million pounds to recruit the likes of Mario Balotelli, Yaya Toure and David Silva in the close season, few would have predicted Bolton to be billed as the entertainers in this match when the fixture list was released.
City may be fourth on the table, just five points behind leaders Manchester United, but they have struggled to produce the type of free-flowing performances one would expect from the English Premier League s most expensively assembled team.
Bolton, meanwhile, a constant if unfashionable presence in the Premier League since 2001, have been transformed in their first full season under …
VVV Venlo coach Jan van Dijk has been sacked after leading the Dutch strugglers to second-bottom on the Eredivisie table.
The 54-year-old was handed his marching orders on Monday, with club management losing patience as the threat of relegation continues to grow.
A short statement on the club s official website confirmed Van Dijk s departure, though a replacement has yet to be named.
The board of VVV Venlo has terminated collaboration with coach Jan van Dijk with immediate effect, the club s statement read.
The reason lies in the continued poor performance of the club during the calendar year 2010, and the associated low ranking of the team.
VVV have secured just 10 points from 18 fixtures this term, eight points adrift of escaping the drop zo…