March 2023 – Page 10

Bayern Munich defender Matthijs de Ligt was surprised by the club’s decision to part company with head coach Julian Nagelsmann and says it has been “hard to swallow”.

German heavyweights Bayern officially called time on Nagelsmann’s 20-month reign on Friday and swiftly appointed Thomas Tuchel as his successor.

Nagelsmann won the Bundesliga in his only full season in Bavaria, but Bayern find themselves a point behind Borussia Dortmund with 25 games of this campaign played.

Bayern face leaders Dortmund in a huge clash on Saturday, while they also have DFB-Pokal and Champions League quarter-final ties to play in April.

And with the club still in the hunt for a treble, De Ligt – who has been away on international duty with the Netherlands – did not see Nagelsmann’s sacking coming.

“I was surprised,” he told Dutch TV broadcaster NOS. “We’re second in the league and in the quarter-finals of the cups. We’re still playing for everything.

“Those in charge decide who the coach is, but it was a difficult decision that is hard to swallow. But I also believe that Tuchel is a coach who suits us.”

According to a report in the German media, certain Bayern players turned against Nagelsmann and effectively forced him out of the Allianz Arena.

But De Ligt, who has played 31 times since arriving at Bayern from Juventus at the start of the season, refuted those suggestions.

“Oh, the German media. That says it all,” he said. “I had a good relationship with him and his team.

“I sent him a message and thanked him for everything he taught me.

“He really wanted me here at the club and was very important to me.

“Thanks in part to him, I have taken important steps in my development over the past few months.”

Former Spain and Barcelona coach Luis Enrique wants to work in England but has seemingly ruled out replacing Antonio Conte at Tottenham.

Enrique parted ways with Spain after the 2022 World Cup, which saw La Roja knocked out by Morocco at the last-16 stage.

He was replaced by Luis de la Fuente, who stepped up from the Under-21s, leaving Enrique back on the market.

Links to high-profile jobs have been frequent ever since, but the club he appears to have been associated with the most is Spurs, who dismissed Conte on Sunday after a week of intense speculation suggesting his time was over.

While Enrique was not directly asked about Spurs during his first major interview of the year, he did express a desire to work in the Premier League.

But the fact he does not expect to be working in England even as early as July suggests the Spurs job would be a non-starter.

“I would like to go to England to work,” he told Radio SER Gijon.

“But I don’t see myself in the Premier League in July because I would like to go to a team there that can do important things, and that is very difficult.

“I would not go to [just] any Premier League team.”

The 52-year-old has also been among the big names linked with the Brazil job, which Tite vacated following the Selecao’s unsuccessful Qatar 2022 campaign.

The coach confirmed he has received offers from national teams — Brazil not being one of them — but he seems less interested in returning to the international stage as things stand.

“I don’t see myself coaching Brazil,” he continued. “Another coach profile fits in there better than mine.

“They haven’t called me. I don’t know if my style fits the best with Brazil.

“I have had offers from national teams, but not from clubs. It would have to be a very important [national] team to take it, although it would be very difficult for me to face Spain. I don’t know if I would be ready.”

Bayern Munich will always be favourites to beat Borussia Dortmund, with Leon Goretzka suggesting no team can face Die Roten at Allianz Arena and have the upper hand.

The two teams meet in their first game back from the international break in what could be the most decisive encounter of the Bundesliga title race this season.

Dortmund hold a one-point lead over their rivals, who dismissed coach Julian Nagelsmann and replaced him with former Black and Yellow boss Thomas Tuchel last week.

Speaking ahead of the crunch clash though, Goretzka insisted the visitors’ advantage in the league table means nothing when they go to Allianz Arena, given the hosts’ pedigree.

“We are ready,” he told SportBILD. “We want the 11th championship in a row. To quote Kylian Mbappe, we are always favourites.

“When we play at home, there isn’t a team we don’t go into the game against as favourites. I think [the pressure] is great.

“I really enjoy these games. As a player, you don’t want to be part of the team that can break this series [and miss out on another title win].”

Nagelsmann’s departure, despite guiding Bayern to the title last term and the Champions League quarter-finals this year, is a gamble for the Bavarian giants.

But in Tuchel, they have a former Champions League-winning coach from his time at Chelsea, and Goretzka hopes he can help retain their Bundesliga crown.

“We all know and appreciate his successes,” he added. “[We] have great respect for his achievements and experience.”

Emma Hayes has urged Chelsea to impose themselves when they host Women’s Champions League holders Lyon at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues go into the European showdown on Thursday with a 1-0 advantage thanks to Guro Reiten’s winner in the first leg of their quarter-final.

And Hayes has reiterated the strength of her team’s mentality as they continue to chase glory on three fronts, with retaining the Women’s Super League title and FA Cup also still on the agenda.

The Blues boss said: “We want these situations. We want to be in a position where we can impose ourselves and our game in our stadium the way we want to.

“We have a lot of experience and I think it’s important for the team as a whole to demonstrate that, particularly in the right moments.

“We have to have the right mentality to begin with and we have to be brave.

“It’s important for us as a team to be aggressive in the right moments, be positive in everything we do on and off the ball.

“We will seek the opportunity that’s in front of us and I know the entire dressing room is very much looking forward to it.

“We know what to expect. It’s the champions of Europe over a long period of time for a very good reason, so it’s not like we’re playing a team that’s not used to being in that position.

“We know the threat but we have worked hard over a long period of time.”

Aleksandar Mitrovic and Marco Silva have issued apologies over their dismissals during Fulham’s FA Cup loss to Manchester United earlier this month.

The pair were both shown red cards by referee Chris Kavanagh during a seismic passage of play in the Cottagers’ 3-1 quarter-final exit at Old Trafford.

Having been called over to the pitchside monitor to check for a handball offence by Willian, who was subsequently sent off, the match official also dismissed Silva for dissent before showing red to Mitrovic after the forward pushed him, reducing them to nine men.

Bruno Fernandes then scored the resulting penalty as Fulham swiftly collapsed from holding a 1-0 lead going into the closing stages.

On Wednesday, both player and manager revealed they had spoken to Kavanagh to apologise, and stressed they will accept the punishments handed down against them.

“I have been away with my national team and have had some time to reflect on the Manchester United match,” Mitrovic told the club’s website.

“As everyone knows, it was a very emotional one, in which the team gave absolutely everything on the pitch to try to reach the semi-final of the FA Cup.

“On a personal level, I regret my actions that led to me being sent off. I allowed my frustration to get the better of me, and how I reacted was wrong.

“I have accepted the three-match ban for my red card, I have spoken to Chris Kavanagh to apologise, and I have volunteered to accept a club fine.

“I now want to do what I can to put this incident behind me and get back to helping my teammates on the pitch as soon as possible.”

Silva echoed his player’s sentiments, adding: “Emotions were high at Old Trafford and, as I said in my press conference after the game, I should have controlled my own emotions better.

“It was a very difficult moment, in a match that we had dominated, but I could have handled the situation better.

“I regret what happened, and I have spoken to Chris Kavanagh to apologise.

“He knows that I respect him and the job he has to do. I am sorry that I was not on the pitch to try to lead the team to Wembley, but I am thankful for all the support I have received from Fulham fans over the last few days.”

The FA will review issuing a longer ban than the traditional three games for Mitrovic’s actions, while Silva is likely to face a touchline suspension too.

Fulham return to action with a trip to Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday.

Manchester City will hope Kevin De Bruyne’s impressive international break can spark the Belgian back to his brilliant best for the domestic season’s final weeks.

The midfielder was instrumental in his nation’s 3-2 friendly win over Germany on Tuesday, assisting the first two goals before scoring the third himself.

Yet the 31-year-old has not reached his usual high standards for City this season — even finding himself in the unfamiliar position of receiving public criticism from his manager.

Ahead of a crunch clash against Liverpool on Saturday which could have a big impact on the Premier League title race, we examine De Bruyne’s mixed campaign.

Pep talk

Before the second leg of Manchester City’s Champions League last-16 clash with RB Leipzig, Pep Guardiola spoke out about De Bruyne’s performance levels.

The Spaniard, 52, said: “What I’d like, I spoke many times to him, is to go to the easy principles and do it well.

“He has an incredible ability to make an assist, to score goals and see passes like no one else. But I always have the belief that they will increase and get better when the simple things are done well.

“Like don’t lose the ball, the mobility, the incredible capacity to be active in the movement.

“When the simple things are done perfectly, we are in the right moment to move outside, inside, and when we have to attack the channels or whatever you do, or feel in that moment.

“The actions to create incredible passes that he — only he — can find, it will be easier, it will be better.”

Pragmatic play

Erling Haaland would go on to grab the headlines that night after scoring five goals in the 7-0 thrashing of Leipzig but De Bruyne rounded off the rout with a glorious curling strike.

Despite the occasion, that contest was surprisingly open and the Belgian made the most of the space afforded to him by City’s Bundesliga opponents.

Guardiola’s previous criticism seems to relate more to when sides sit back against the English champions and look to make quick transitions on the break.

To protect his defence, he is asking De Bruyne and his attacking colleagues to play pragmatically and retain possession, rather than attempting risky passes.

The trouble is, with Haaland leading the attack, the early ball often looks to be on — especially for a midfield maestro with such an impressive range of passing.

Assist king

Interestingly, Guardiola has started with De Bruyne on the bench in four of City’s last nine Premier League games.

The manager surely needs his most creative player on the pitch as much as possible during the run-in, with Arsenal currently eight points ahead in the Premier League and both the FA Cup and Champions League still up for grabs.

Though it has not been the creator’s best campaign, statistics suggest he still has much to offer.

The fact he has scored only six times compared to 19 in his previous campaign, for example, can easily be explained by new arrival Haaland now shouldering most of City’s goalscoring burden.

Conversely, De Bruyne has already supplied 21 goals for his colleagues, putting him on course to have his best ever season for the club in terms of assists.

With Haaland ready to finish off any chances created for him, Guardiola’s quest for more defensive solidity should not lead to De Bruyne losing his starting spot.

Dietmar Hamann worries it is “too late” for this Germany team as he called again for coach Hansi Flick to be sacked following Tuesday’s defeat to Belgium.

Hamann was a vocal critic of Flick following the 2022 World Cup, where Germany exited at the group stage for the second consecutive finals.

Former midfielder Hamann wanted the coach to go then, and his stance was not softened by the March internationals.

With Germany hosting Euro 2024 and therefore absent from the qualification process, they played friendlies against Peru and Belgium.

A 2-0 win over Peru in Mainz was followed by a 3-2 defeat to Belgium in Cologne, in which Hamann suggested “it could have been 0-3, 0-4 or 1-5 in the first half”.

Speaking to Sky Sport, the pundit said: “Nothing has changed at all.

“The team that started yesterday included eight World Cup players. [Florian] Wirtz and [Timo] Werner were also in the starting line-up, who were not there in Qatar due to injury.

“Marius Wolf was the only one who played against Belgium who wasn’t at the World Cup. He did an excellent job in Dortmund in the last few weeks and months.

“So, it felt like there were 10 World Cup players in the line-up, and then I can’t speak of a change.

“If [Flick] had let youngsters play and they had gotten under the wheels in the first half, then I would have understood because they would have learned something from it.

“But the way it was yesterday, that they play with the same players and we get served the same c*** as at the World Cup, sooner or later people will turn their backs on the national team.”

Hamann felt that performance backed up his argument following a World Cup exit he had described as “pathetic”.

“It’s too late for me,” he said. “I spoke after the World Cup, where it was clear to me that it’s difficult to continue working with the coach when you’re eliminated from the group for the second time in a row.

“I couldn’t imagine it because you need a new impetus.

“They hid in Qatar, they let the team down, they didn’t take responsibility. And if the coach doesn’t take responsibility, then I can’t expect the players to take responsibility.

“That’s why I don’t think the discussion [around Flick’s future] comes too early. It’s too late, for me, and they decided to continue with it.

“I have big, big concerns about whether things will get better in the coming weeks, months and then at the European Championships next year.”

Domestic football returns this weekend following the international break and the beginning of the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.

Saturday, 2pm

Bet 1: Back Atalanta to beat Cremonese at 5/8

Cremonese have struggled to adapt to life in Serie A and look destined for an immediate return to Serie B as they prop up the table and are 11 points from safety.

They have picked up just six points at home and only managed to register one victory from 13 outings, losing nine times.

Atalanta, who sit sixth and are chasing a Champions League spot, are the latest visitors and they head to the Stadio Giovanni Zini with the third-best away record in the division.

Saturday, 2.30pm

Bet 2: Back Union Berlin to beat Stuttgart at 21/20

Union Berlin sit third in the Bundesliga and have their sights set on league leaders Borussia Dortmund, who travel to second placed Bayern Munich later on Saturday.

Urs Fischer’s side will be extremely confident of adding three points to their tally when bottom club Stuttgart head to the Stadion An der Alten Forsterei.

Stuttgart are yet to taste victory on their travels this campaign, losing seven and drawing five, and Union look great value to come out on top.

Saturday, 3pm

Bet 3: Back Peterborough to beat Oxford at 10/13

Peterborough are firmly in the hunt for a playoff spot and are not showing any signs of slowing after winning each of their last three.

Oxford head to the Weston Homes Stadium on Saturday eager to boost their hopes of beating relegation but they have not won in six on the road.

Posh sealed a 2-1 victory in October’s reverse fixture and another triumph looks on the cards.

Sunday, 1pm

Bet 4: Celta Vigo to beat Almeria at 11/20

Only Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have picked up more points than Celta Vigo over the last 10 games in La Liga.

Celta could still make a late push for a European berth but they must maintain momentum and a return to action against relegation-threatened Almeria on Sunday gives them that chance.

Almeria have picked up a league-low three points on their travels this season, failing to win a single match, and the Galicians should get the job done.

Sunday, 2pm

Bet 5: Nice to beat Angers at 8/15

Nice are unbeaten in 13 games across all competitions as they gear up for a trip to bottom club Angers on Sunday.

Angers have lost their last five fixtures in Ligue 1 and have only recorded one home victory this campaign.

Their last win in the league came at Nice in September and Les Aiglons will be seeking revenge in this reverse.

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Rasmus Hojlund has announced himself on the world stage after impressing for both Denmark and Atalanta this season.

The 20-year-old forward scored five times in two games during the international break and currently has more goals than caps for the Danes.

His emergence has caught the eye of several European giants, including Arsenal and Manchester United, suggesting a move could be on the cards this summer.

As Atalanta prepare for a Serie A clash with Cremonese on Saturday, we turn the spotlight on red-hot Hojlund.

Danish delight

Hojlund has proven to be a revelation since arriving in Italy from Sturm Graz last summer, netting 14 times in 33 appearances across all competitions.

Though the 6ft 2in marksman did not receive glowing reviews during his stint in Austria, he has recently been dubbed the new Erling Haaland — thanks largely to his impressive pace and physicality.

His style of play is similar to the Norwegian sensation, who has scored an impressive range of strikes on his way to a mind-boggling 42-goal haul for Manchester City this term.

Hojlund boasts a similarly broad catalogue of finishes but most have come from him speeding past defenders before smashing home.

Mad for Manchester

Until this season, it had been a frustrating few years for Hojlund, who came through the ranks at Copenhagen before being offloaded to Sturm Graz.

But his current trajectory could help him secure a third transfer in less than two years at the end of the campaign.

As a self-proclaimed United fan, Hojlund presents the Red Devils with a viable alternative to top targets Harry Kane and Victor Osimhen, who are expected to cost at least £100million each.

On a potential move, he said: “Now that you ask, I will not hide the fact that I am a huge Manchester United fan.

“So personally, it would be one of the biggest things for me, but of course that doesn’t mean I would turn down other big clubs if the offers come at some point.”

Fetching a fortune

Hojlund signed a five-year deal when joining Atalanta, which puts the Italians firmly in the driving seat should clubs start sniffing around their star striker.

The four-cap international made headlines with a hat-trick on his full Denmark debut against Finland last week, which will only have driven his value up.

Hojlund has a supreme goalscoring instinct and can often be seen throwing himself at crosses and sprinting to close down opposition players.

And with bags of time on his side, the Copenhagen-born ace may find himself at the centre of a bidding war in the months ahead.

Untapped potential

Several clubs are set to be in the market for a proven goalscorer at the end of the season — but one man who will be desperate for Hojlund to stick around is Gian Piero Gasperini.

The Atalanta boss has hailed his No17 and could not help but draw comparisons with the world-class Haaland.

Following the 2-0 win over Lazio in February, Gasperini said: “Hojlund has this spirit, energy, intensity, but also technical quality that is just remarkable.

“He has very similar characteristics to Haaland — and not just his face. He is so quick, he’s under 11 seconds over 100m and that’s not even trying very hard.

“He still has so much margin for improvement, too. I am convinced he’ll have a great career, he just gets stronger every day.”

Francesco Totti has lauded Napoli and “great coach” Luciano Spalletti but suggests the runaway Serie A leaders have been “lucky” this season.

Napoli are on course for their first Scudetto since 1990, when Diego Maradona was still at the club.

The Partenopei are a mammoth 19 points clear with only 11 games remaining, making a title triumph almost an inevitability.

Yet Roma great Totti, while praising their work under ex-Giallorossi boss Spalletti, believes they have benefitted from the absence of a genuine competitor.

Legend Totti won only one title with Roma, although they finished as runners-up on a further nine occasions across his remarkable career, missing out to Juventus, Milan and Inter.

“I honestly didn’t expect it like this,” Totti told Sky Sport of Napoli. “I knew it was a good team with a great coach – it was a well-made combination.

“They expressed themselves to the fullest in everything and were also lucky because they didn’t have an opponent behind them who can keep up with their pace.

“When we were there, there was always Juve, Inter, Milan who always clung there.

“If you won 20 games, they won 19. Napoli doesn’t have a second team like that.”

Lazio are Napoli’s nearest rivals, but Juve would be second if not for a 15-point deduction. Even then, the Bianconeri would be 15 points off the pace.