Victor Osimhen reached another milestone as Napoli concluded their Scudetto-winning campaign with a 2-0 victory over Serie A s bottom side Sampdoria.
Osimhen sealed the Capocannoniere with his second-half penalty taking his tally for the Serie A campaign to 26 goals, while it was also his 50th overall in the competition.
Substitute Giovanni Simeone s wonderful individual effort secured victory as the Partonopei lifted the Serie A trophy at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, where Luciano Spalletti was overseeing his final match in charge before taking a year-long sabbatical.
The Partenopei finished their memorable season on 90 points, their second-highest tally in Serie A – having collected one more under Maurizio Sarri five years ago.
17 In 2023, Victor Os…
Melbourne Victory have appointed former midfielder Grant Brebner as their head coach on a permanent basis.
Brebner, 42, took over at Victory as interim head coach in June, before leading a youthful team to one win and four losses to finish the A-League season.
A two-time championship winner with Victory as a player, Brebner was appointed permanently on Monday.
I am extremely proud to be appointed the head coach of Melbourne Victory, Brebner said in a statement.
The club has been a huge part of my life, and the experience of coaching the team over the past couple of months really fuelled my desire and belief that not only did I want the opportunity to secure the role full-time, but that I had the skills and expertise to do so, and to do it well.
Ex-Newcastle United defender Olivier Bernard thinks transfer targets like Clement Grenier will be put off by a lack of European football.
Newcastle had a bid rejected for the Lyon midfielder in January and reports have suggested that Alan Pardew has renewed his interest in the 23-year-old.
But Bernard – who started his professional career at Lyon – thinks a possible deal looks unlikely due to an apparent difference in valuation.
In addition, Bernard expects Pardew s close-season recruitment drive to be hampered by missing out on a place in either the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Europa League last term.
For the money that s been spoken about (for Grenier), it s never going to happen, Bernard told the Evening Chronicle.
I think if he goes, it ll be for …
Competition: Premier League
Market: Rooney to score anytime
Odds:
Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney is being backed to get on the scoresheet when his side travel to Upton Park to face West Ham United this weekend.
The 28-year old has netted 11 goals in the Premier League, but eight of them have been on his travels. Rooney bagged a goal in both of United’s last two away games to Crystal Palace West Brom respectively, and is being given odds of 16/11 by 888 Sport to score again away from home.
Rooney, an England international, is having a good season based on his own personal performance, but goals haven’t been flowing as he would have liked for club country.
He remains a pivotal figure under new manager David Moyes, but doesn’t hav…
Boudewijn Zenden believes Real Madrid s 4-0 Clasico loss to Barcelona will continue to hurt coach Rafael Benitez for some time.
Barcelona ran out comfortable winners at the home of their bitter rivals in November and, despite a string of emphatic wins since then at the Santiago Bernabeu, the Madrid faithful have fostered a frosty relationship towards Benitez.
Displeasure from the stands was clear at regular intervals during Sunday s match against Rayo Vallecano, despite Real coming from behind to thrash their beleaguered nine-man opponents 10-2.
Former Barcelona and Netherlands midfielder Zenden is well-versed in the impact Clasico results can have on each of the Spanish giants fortunes but believes recent matches show accusations that Benitez is an overly cauti…
Javier Zanetti has made it clear Inter are keen to hold on to Mauro Icardi amid speculation linking the prolific attacker with a move elsewhere.
Icardi has become a key figure at Inter since joining the club from Sampdoria in 2013 and helped his team to a 1-0 win over Frosinone at the weekend with his 14th Serie A goal of the season.
The 23-year-old s performances have not gone unnoticed elsewhere and clubs such as Manchester United, Arsenal and Atletico Madrid are believed to be keeping a close eye on the Argentina international.
Nevertheless, Inter have no intention of cashing in on Icardi any time soon.
Icardi is our striker and our captain, Zanetti said.
We hope that Mauro can stay with us.
Icardi has a contract with Inter until Jun…
Less than a week after director Justin Lin stepped back mid-production on Fast X to only serve as a producer, it’s now coming out that he will be replaced by Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk, Netflix’s live-action Lupin). Variety was the first to report.
According to Variety, Leterrier was Universal Picture’s “first choice” over many other unnamed candidates–as of this writing, the production schedule is “still being hammered out.” It couldn’t have come too soon for the franchise, which after Lin’s dropping out was reportedly costing the studio as much as $1 million per day Come from Sports betting site VPbet . The production delay was “costly,” particularly for holding onto newly added stars, including Brie…
Jose Mourinho does not think Manchester United duo Marcus Rashford and Luke Shaw should be in England s starting XI to begin Euro 2020.
The former United boss has been involved in media controversies around both players in the past.
Mourinho feels Chelsea defender Ben Chilwell is a better option than Shaw at left-back for England, who open their campaign against Croatia at Wembley on Sunday in a World Cup semi-final rematch.
That is despite Shaw having a fantastic season for United, which saw him recently named the Players Player of the Year at the club.
I wouldn t think twice, I d go with Chilwell, Mourinho told talkSPORT.
I know that he plays normally with Chelsea in a five, but he is intelligent, he covers the space and the diagonals inside …
Veteran striker Michael Owen is hoping his stay at Manchester United will be extended beyond this season.
Owen, 31, signed a two-year-deal when he joined the Old Trafford outfit on a free transfer from Newcastle United in 2009, but now has less than six months running on his contract.
The forward has netted 13 goals in 37 matches during an injury-plagued stint with Sir Alex Ferguson s side, but still remains hopeful of signing a new deal.
I am not sure about my future yet my contract expires at the end of this season, Owen told the club s official website.
I ve made no secret that, in an ideal world, I would extend my stay. I would love to play here for longer, but I will just wait and see what the club say. We ve not held any talks yet.
Owen …
Shakhtar Donetsk have ended Roma s Champions League campaign with a 3-0 win in their last-16 second leg in Ukraine on Tuesday.
Shakhtar, who have not lost at home in any competition since October 2008, advance to the quarter-finals 6-2 on aggregate at the expense of the Italian club, who conceded a fluky goal, missed a penalty and went down to 10 men in a torrid 23 minutes in the first half.
The visitors had the better of the early exchanges, and could have scored had Mirko Vucinic done better with his attempt to reach a terrific floated cross to the six-yard box.
But the Ukrainian champions scored against the run of play in the 18th minute through Tomas Hubschman, the Czech defender deflecting Willian s cross inside the far post with a clever heel touch.
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