Massimiliano Allegri believes Juventus improvement in recent weeks is simply down to greater familiarity and understanding between himself and the players.
Allegri returned to Juve last May after two years away, with Maurizio Sarri and Andrea Pirlo each spending a season at the helm during the intervening campaigns.
The experiment with Pirlo proved particularly ill-judged, while Sarri was shown the door despite guiding Juve to the title – his successor presided over a fourth-placed finish as the Bianconeri s Scudetto streak ended at nine.
Allegri s return did not usher in an immediate change in fortunes, with Juve taking just two points from their first four Serie A matches. That was their worst start to a season in 60 years and left them in the bottom three.…
David Luiz hopes to win the Premier League for the first time with Chelsea after re-joining the club in a surprise transfer deadline day move.
The Brazil international signed for the Blues from Benfica in January 2011, moving to Paris Saint-Germain in 2014.
The 29-year-old was lured back to west London on August 31 in an unexpected swoop by Antonio Conte s team.
A Champions League, Europa League and FA Cup winner during his first spell at Stamford Bridge, David Luiz wants to add the Premier League to his Primeira Liga and Ligue 1 titles.
It is time to do it, he told the Chelsea website.
And I hope it will be this year. I am working hard for that and this is our goal this season. We don t have the Champions League to fight for so for sure we wil…
Damien Duff s Fulham career could be over after a knee injury ended his season.
The veteran midfielder – who turned 35 last Sunday is out of contract in June and looks set to take no further part in the club s battle to remain in the Premier League.
Duff has made 173 appearances for Fulham since joining from Newcastle United in 2009, the most he has played for one club during a career that also included spells at Blackburn Rovers and Chelsea.
We have to expect that he will not play this season anymore, said Fulham manager Felix Magath.
The loss of a creative player like Duff is an undoubted blow to Fulham s chances of staving off the threat the relegation.
Magath s men prop up the rest of the Premier League and have the chance to leapfrog over Cardiff Cit…
Maribor make their first outing in the UEFA Champions League group stage for 15 years at home to Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday.
While it may seem premature to label a fixture as must-win at this early stage in the competition, it would be difficult to argue against that being the case for the Slovenian champions if they have designs on making the knockout stages.
As the team with the lowest UEFA coefficient in Group G, a home tie against the third-ranked outfit represents perhaps Maribor s best chance of picking up valuable points in a pool that also contains Chelsea and Schalke.
But Portugal-born striker Luka Zahovic, who has scored five goals in as many league matches this season, claims that he feels part of Maribor s golden generation.
Last season, I …
Borussia Dortmund plan to step up talks with Marco Reus over a new contract, according to sporting director Michael Zorc.
The Germany international has 18 months remaining on his deal at Signal Iduna Park and has yet to agree to an extension.
Reus only returned from a cruciate ligament injury in February and has scored twice in his last two Bundesliga appearances, against Borussia Monchengladbach and Augsburg.
Zorc says the 28-year-old did not want to discuss new terms while he recovered but now expects negotiations to pick up pace.
We totally understood that Marco did not want to enter contract talks during his injury, he told Sport Bild. And, of course, we will now intensify the talks.
Reus, who moved to Dortmund from Gladbach in 2012, has bee…
Giacomo Bonaventura says AC Milan s victory over Juventus in the Supercoppa Italiana makes their suffering in recent years worthwhile.
The playmaker scored in the first half, levelling Giorgio Chiellini s strike in a 1-1 draw that progressed to penalties after extra-time.
Milan beat Juve 4-3 in the shoot-out, with Gianluca Lapadula s miss going unpunished after Mario Mandzukic and Paulo Dybala failed from the spot.
Victory secured a first trophy for Milan in five-and-a-half years – their last coming in August 2011 when they won the Supercoppa against city rivals Inter.
Bonaventura has been with Milan since 2014 and experienced some of that barren spell, but now feels those struggles were worth it.
I am happy, he said to Rai. In recent years we …
Manchester United F.C. have confirmed star winger Antonio Valencia has penned a new three-year deal at Old Trafford, with an option to extend for another year.
The Ecuador international, 28, joined United from Wigan Athletic for a fee of around £16 million in the summer of 2009. He has since bagged 21 goals in 191 appearances for the Red Devils en route to securing two English Premier League titles and one League Cup.
I m really pleased Antonio has signed a new contract. His contribution to the team since he joined the club in 2009 has been fantastic, assistant manager Ryan Giggs told the club s official website, .
Antonio is a very powerful player with great speed and versatility. He is very professional in his approach to training and I…
Arkadiusz Milik has joined Marseille on loan from Napoli until 2022 and the forward s move could be made permanent for a reported €12million.
Milik, 26, heads to the Ligue 1 club after four and a half seasons at Napoli, although he has not made an appearance in 2020-21.
The Poland international scored 48 goals in 122 games in Serie A, having arrived from Ajax for a reported €35m in 2016.
Knee injuries hampered his Napoli career, and his switch to Marseille was confirmed on Thursday.
While Napoli said Marseille had an obligation to make the transfer permanent , the Ligue 1 side claimed it was an option.
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Denmark and Republic of Ireland contrived to play out another dismal goalless draw in a Nations League dead rubber on Monday.
With Age Hareide s men already assured of progression to League A and Ireland condemned to League C, two usually conservative sides were especially unimaginative in Aarhus.
The teams had served up a drab stalemate in Ireland when points and places were on the
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line earlier in the campaign, so it perhaps came as no surprise that there was little to thrill here.
Ireland barely threatened to end a scoreless run that now spans four matches, while Nicolai Jorgensen squandered a huge chance to break the deadlock at the other end.
played 45 minutes for Denmark this evening as they drew with Ireland to finish unbeaten in t…
It seems to have been a perennial rumour of recent transfer windows, Gareth Bale leaving Real Madrid to join Manchester United. It never seems to go away.
Well, here we go again, as according to, United are set to make another bid for the Welshman again this summer. However, reportedly Bale is waiting to see who will replace the outgoing boss Zinedine Zidane before deciding his future.
Mixed fortunes at the Bernabeu
When Bale joined Real Madrid in 2013 from Tottenham for a world-record fee, the Welshman should have pushed on and become one of the best players in the world.
Bale heading to the Spanish capital after the best season of his career at White Hart Lane. The 28-year-old was regarded as the next Galactico to grace the Santiago Bernabeu.
However,…