Javi Martinez will leave Bayern Munich at the end of this season, the Bundesliga champions have confirmed.
Martinez joined Bayern from Athletic Bilbao in 2012 and straight away went about repaying what was then a club-record outlay of €40million, becoming a key member of their treble-winning squad under Jupp Heynckes.
Should Bayern complete the formalities of winning a ninth consecutive Bundesliga title – one that will in all probability be wrapped up this coming weekend – defensive midfielder Martinez will become the only player in Bundesliga history to have won as many as nine titles without failing to win the championship in any season.
Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer, David Alaba and Jerome Boateng have also been part of all nine of those successive success…
Lionel Messi has set a new club record for Barcelona, after making his 768th appearance for the Spanish giants.
Messi matched his former team-mate and fellow Blaugrana legend Xavi when he played against Huesca last Monday, taking him to 767 games for the club he first joined as a 12-year-old.
The 33-year-old and former midfielder Xavi are the only players in the club s history to have surpassed 700 games for the Catalans, with Andres Iniesta next on the all-time appearance list on 674.
Messi already boasts the record for the most trophies won (34) and highest goal tally (658) for Barca, and marked the record-equalling appearance in typical style, netting a sensational opener before laying on an assist and then rounding off the scoring himself in a 4-1 victory.…
Luciano Spalletti declared even Diego Maradona will have been proud after Napoli thrashed Ajax 6-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Despite falling behind to Mohammed Kudus ninth-minute opener in Amsterdam, Spalletti s side responded with goals from Giacomo Raspadori, Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Piotr Zielinski putting them 3-1 up at the break.
The visitors task was made easier after Dusan Tadic s second-half dismissal; Raspadori and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia increasing the advantage, before Giovanni Simeone sealed an emphatic victory.
Spalletti referenced the late Maradona after Napoli scored six times in a European game for the first time in their history, while Ajax suffered their heaviest defeat in all competitions since November 1964.
When you go into a …
Juventus elimination from the Champions League spelled the end for Maurizio Sarri and the start of a new era under Andrea Pirlo.
Despite leading the Bianconeri to a ninth straight Scudetto in 2019-20, Sarri was fired after Juve crashed out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage to Lyon on Friday.
Pirlo was at the heart of Juve s brilliant midfield during the start of their Serie A dominance, winning four Scudetti, the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana twice during a four-year stint that ended when he moved to New York City in 2015.
A week after returning to Juve as their Under-23 boss, Pirlo was handed the reins of the first team ahead of the 2020-21 campaign.
He is not the first club legend to go back and manage a team they played for, thoug…
Second-half goals from Ryan Christie and Che Adams secured a 2-0 victory over Gibraltar in a pre-Euro 2024 friendly, ending a seven-game winless run.
Adams added some gloss to the scoreline late on, latching onto John McGinn s cross to rifle into the top corner after Ryan Christie had put them ahead in the 58th minute.
In the first half, it looked like it was not going to be Scotland s day, as they wastefully spurned a host of chances, with Grant Hanley failing to convert a hat-trick of opportunities.
Though they ended their winless run, there was still cause for concern for Steve Clarke as Liam Cooper, on as a half-time substitute, was forced off injured in the 77th minute.
FULL TIME: Gibraltar 0-2 Scotland.
Goals from Ryan Christie and Ché Ada…
Atletico Madrid star Luis Suarez said he and his team-mates are confident the team can achieve big things this season.
Suarez swapped Barca for Atletico at the start of the 2020-21 campaign and the Uruguayan has helped the capital club remain the only undefeated side in LaLiga this term.
Atletico have won five of their opening seven matches to be three points behind surprise leaders Real Sociedad, who have played two matches more – while they are 23 matches unbeaten in LaLiga, their best undefeated streak in league history and the best current run of any team in the top five European divisions.
Diego Simeone s Atletico – runners-up in 2014 and 2016 – are also second in Champions League Group A following three matchdays, five points adrift of titleholders Ba…
Inter strikers Mehdi Taremi and Marko Arnautovic took their opportunity to impress in a 4-0 Champions League victory over Red Star Belgrade, says Simone Inzaghi.
Taremi converted a penalty and provided two assists, including one for Arnautovic, as Inter overwhelmed the visitors and forced them into costly errors at the back.
Their success came through an energetic pressing game from Taremi in particular, with Inzaghi keen to give the pair an opportunity to start ahead of Lautaro Martínez, who came off the bench to score, and Marcus Thuram.
The lads were good, they played a serious game against a team that came to play a purely defensive game, Inzaghi told Sky Sport.
Apart from a couple of counter-attacks that we could have read better and the first fiv…
Mauricio Pochettino urged his Chelsea players to free themselves of the burden of needing to reach the Carabao Cup final and instead prioritise enjoying Tuesday’s semi-final first leg against Middlesbrough.
The game at the Riverside could see Pochettino’s team put one foot in the club’s first major final since 2021 and place them on course to crown the manager’s first season in charge with silverware.
Chelsea have endured a disjointed six months since the Argentinian was appointed, with an expensively-assembled squad taking longer than hoped to acclimatise to new surroundings.
An update on Nkunku and Badiashile ahead of our semi-final.
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC)
Pochettino fielded the club’s youngest-ever Premier League starting XI d…
Mauricio Pochettino hopes that Neymar has not sustained a serious injury, though conceded the images he has seen of the incident do not look good.
Neymar had to be taken off on a stretcher late on after suffering an ankle injury in Paris Saint-Germain s win over Saint-Etienne on Sunday, shortly after Angel Di Maria had made it 2-1 to the Ligue 1 leaders.
Marquinhos then headed in his second goal of the game to round off a difficult 3-1 victory, though focus was on Neymar s injury in Pochettino s post-match media duties.
Neymar was pictured leaving the ground on crutches and while hopeful the forward will make a swift recovery, Pochettino explained PSG must wait for a full diagnosis on Monday.
There is nothing more to say for the moment, it is the pain he…
Real Madrid dramatically rescued a result against Elche for the second time in four days as Eder Militao s stoppage-time header snatched a 2-2 LaLiga draw.
The league leaders recovered from a goal down in Thursday s Copa del Rey defeat of the same side and this time trailed by two, as Lucas Boye and Pere Milla – sent off in midweek – looked set to condemn Madrid to a first home loss in 21 league matches.
Karim Benzema had missed a first-half penalty for the hosts, too, but Luka Modric pulled a goal back from 12 yards with eight minutes remaining when Milla was punished for handball.
Militao then headed home a dramatic equaliser in the 92nd minute to deny Elche a first win in this fixture since March 1978 and restore a four-point gap to second-placed Sev…