15, May 2024
Football: Aston Villa reach Champions League for first time 0
Aston Villa have qualified for the Champions League for the first time after top-four rivals Tottenham Hotspur lost to Manchester City on Tuesday.
Tottenham had been the only team who could have overtaken Villa into fourth before Tuesday, but are now five points behind Unai Emery’s side with one game remaining.
Villa have not reached Uefa’s premier club competition since it rebranded from the European Cup to the Champions League in 1991-92.
They last played in the European Cup 41 years ago in 1982-83 having won the competition the season before.
Villa did finish second and fourth in the Premier League in 1992-93 and 1995-96 respectively, but in both those seasons only first was good enough to reach the Champions League.
Source: BBC
22, May 2024
Football: Pochettino leaves Chelsea after one season 0
Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has left the club by mutual consent after one season at Stamford Bridge.
Pochettino, 52, took charge of Chelsea on 1 July, signing a two-year contract with the option of a further 12 months.
The Argentine was under pressure after an underwhelming first half of the season but a run of five successive wins to end the season ensured they finished sixth in the Premier League.
Chelsea were also runners-up in the Carabao Cup and reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup.
“Thank you to the Chelsea ownership group and sporting directors for the opportunity,” Pochettino said.
“The club is now well positioned to keep moving forward in the Premier League and Europe in the years to come.”
Chelsea will now search for a successor and have expressed recent interest in Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna, Sporting’s Ruben Amorim and Burnley’s Vincent Kompany.
BBC Sport understands Chelsea are unlikely to go for Leicester City manager Enzo Maresca, a former assistant coach with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. A return for former managers Jose Mourinho or Thomas Tuchel is not on the cards as the club targets a young head coach.
Pochettino was Chelsea’s sixth permanent manager in five years, following the sacking of Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter, which led to Frank Lampard taking charge on a temporary basis at the end of the 2022-23 season.
“On behalf of everyone at Chelsea, we would like to express our gratitude to Mauricio for his service this season,” sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley said.
“He will be welcome back to Stamford Bridge any time and we wish him all the very best in his future coaching career.”
Coaches Jesus Perez, Miguel d’Agostino, Toni Jimenez and Sebastiano Pochettino have also left.
Source: BBC