Zlatan Ibrahimovic will return to Sweden’s squad after an almost five-year hiatus to play in World Cup qualifiers at the end of March, head coach Janne Andersson said on Tuesday.

The player, known for his not-so-humble ways, also announced his return himself by posting a picture of himself on Instagram in the Swedish team kit with the caption “The return of the God”.

The 39-year-old AC Milan striker retired from the Swedish squad after the 2016 European Championship after winning 116 caps and scoring 62 international goals.

Media had speculated about Ibrahimovic’s possible return to the national team, but the Swedish Football Association had refused to comment until Tuesday, when he was announced among the players selected for the qualifiers against Georgia on March 25 and Kosovo on March 28, as well as a friendly against Estonia on March 31.

Ibrahimovic has been nursing a muscle injury lately but hopes to return to the pitch on Thursday when Milan face his former club, Manchester United, in the Europa League round of 16.

The Swede has made headlines over the years with cheeky hints that he could be returning to the Swedish team.

But things took a more serious turn last autumn when he told media in the Scandinavian country that he missed playing for the team.

Ibrahimovic and coach Janne Andersson then met for talks.

Without “Ibra”, Sweden reached the 2018 World Cup quarter-finals and qualified directly for Euro 2020, which have been postponed to June-July 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Source: AFP

Germany’s World Cup-winning head coach Joachim Loew will step down after the European championships this July, the German football association said on Tuesday.

Loew will leave with a year left on his contract having signed up until the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar.

In a statement, Loew said he was “full of pride and enormous gratitude” after nearly 15 years as national coach and that he was “motivated” for his swansong at the rearranged European championships from June 11-July 11.

Fritz Keller, the president of the German football association (DFB), said Loew’s decision “gives us the necessary time to name his successor calmly”.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and Bayern Munich boss Hansi Flick, who was Loew’s assistant coach when Germany won the 2014 World Cup, have been mentioned as early frontrunners for the job.

Loew has vowed to go out on a high at the European championships but Germany face a tough task to has been drawn in the same group as world champions France and holders Portugal.

“I still feel the will, great energy and ambition,” Loew insisted.

“I will do my best to make our fans happy and be successful at this tournament.”

– ‘Great triumphs, painful defeats’ –

The 61-year-old nicknamed “Jogi” has been in charge of Germany since 2006. The 2014 triumph in Brazil, where his side beat Lionel Messi’s Argentina in the final thanks to Mario Goetze’s extra-time winner, was the highpoint of his reign.

But Loew has faced three years of criticism since holders Germany crashed out of the 2018 World Cup in Russia at the group stage.

The calls for him to resign grew louder since Germany were hammered 6-0 by Spain in the Nations League last November.

Until the 2014 debacle, the Germans had reached at least the semi-finals of every tournament under Loew.

“I have worked with the best footballers in the country and supported them in their development,” Loew said on Tuesday.

“I have had great triumphs with them and painful defeats, but above all many wonderful and magical moments – not just winning the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.”

The fallout from the debacle in Russia tainted his legacy as he struggled to rebuild the team.

His decision in March 2019 to end the international careers of veterans Thomas Mueller, Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels soon backfired.

The assured performances of Mueller and Boateng in 2019/20 helped Bayern Munich win the Champions League title and led to Loew constantly having to defend his decision to sideline them from the national setup.

Recently Loew has hinted that he may recall the exiled trio for Germany’s World Cup qualifiers at the end of March.

His record as coach is an impressive 120 wins in 189 games with Germany as well as 38 draws and 31 defeats.

“I have great respect for Joachim Loew’s decision,” German FA (DFB) president Fritz Keller in a statement.

“The DFB knows what it has in ‘Jogi’, he is one of the greatest coaches in world football.

“Jogi Loew has shaped German football like hardly anyone else over the years and has helped it achieve the highest international reputation.”

Source: AFP

The Whites need to strengthen their defense this summer. Reports in the British and Italian media claim Leeds United are keen to land Nicolas Nkoulou. The 30-year-old has been subject to interest from various European clubs.

The centre-back has banged in one goal in 13 matches for Torino this term on all fronts. The 30-year-old is considered to be one of the best centre-backs in Cameroon.

Nkoulou has also left his mark at the international stage after netting one goal in 72 senior appearances for the Cameroon national team.

The centre-back’s contract at Torino is about to expire and a number of clubs are said to be monitoring his situation, with Leeds showing the most concrete interest in an attempt to lure the player to their team.

Marcelo Bielsa wants to sign a new centre-back and Nkoulou is one of the names at the top of his wishlist.

The report claims that Leeds manager has extensively scouted Nkoulou and is considering a move for the centre-back.

The Whites are desperate to make an impact in the summer transfer window.

Nicolas Nkoulou is a very comfortable defender and has qualities which would improve the Leeds United’s backline. His arrival would give Leeds some much needed tactical flexibility.

According to the report, “Leeds United are eager to sign Torino defender Nicolas Nkoulou. The Whites are looking to establish themselves as a top half club in the Premier League next term. According to CalcioMercato, Nkoulou is interesting Marcelo Bielsa and his coaching staff. The 30-year-old is out of contract in the summer and could arrive on a free. Bielsa coached Nkoulou at Marseille a few years ago.”

Leeds United will have to come up with the right proposal to convince Nkoulou to join the club.

Good signing for Leeds United?

The 30-year-old is a good centre-back, and on a free transfer, he would not be a bad signing for Leeds.

The Cameroon international could be a very good squad player for Marcelo Bielsa over the next few years. He is at the peak of his career right now and Bielsa could bring out the best in him.

Stylistically, he would be a great fit in Leeds.

It will be interesting to see where the player ends up this summer.

Source: Eurofootballrumours

Bundesliga crisis club Schalke sacked almost their entire sporting leadership Sunday, including coach Christian Gross, after an alleged player revolt and a 16th league defeat plunged their nightmare season deeper into crisis.

“The decision had become unavoidable after results against Dortmund and Stuttgart,” said Schalke chairman Jens Buchta in a statement following Schalke’s 5-1 loss to Stuttgart on Saturday, a week after defeat to local rivals Borussia Dortmund.

“The team now owe it to the club and the fans to be as successful as possible in the last third of the season.”

Coach Gross, sporting director Jochen Schneider and team coordinator Sascha Riether were all relieved of their duties in Sunday’s mass clear out.

Gross’ assistant Rainer Widmayer and fitness coach Werner Leuthard were also fired.

The move comes with one-time giants Schalke bottom of the league and nine points adrift of safety, having won just one of their 23 league games this season.

Having been in the Champions League two seasons ago, Schalke are now hurtling towards their first relegation since 1988.

– Player revolt –

Veteran Swiss Gross, 66, had been in the job for only two months, having taken over from interim boss Huub Stevens at the end of December to become Schalke’s fourth coach this season.

Victory in his second game in charge saw Schalke narrowly avoid equalling a 54-year-old Bundesliga record of 31 games without a win, but Gross was ultimately unable to stop the rot.

The 4-0 victory over Hoffenheim remained his only win in 10 league games in charge, as Schalke remained rooted to the bottom of the table.

Reports of a player revolt against Gross’ leadership surfaced in the German media last week in the build-up to Saturday’s defeat.

Team coordinator Riether sought to play down the rumours, saying it was “normal that players are disappointed” but denying there was a “revolution” in the dressing room.

Yet on Sunday, both Gross and Riether were shown the door as Schalke made one last desperate bid to save their season.

The club have already begun to rebuild for the second division, handing over squad planning duties to loan director Mike Bueskens and youth director Peter Knaebel.

Two weeks ago, they announced that sporting director Schneider would leave at the end of the season, a decision which has now been brought forward.

Knaebel will now take on “overall responsibility”, with support from Bueskens, Norbert Elgert and Gerald Asamoah, the club said.

A replacement for Gross as head coach is yet to be announced.

Source: AFP

Ferland Mendy scored late as Real Madrid beat 10-man Atalanta 1-0 on Wednesday to close in on the Champions League quarter-finals.

The French left-back’s strike in Bergamo came four minutes from time in a last 16 first leg game which the hosts played a man down for over 70 minutes as Zinedine Zidane’s side hold the advantage heading into the second leg in Madrid on March 16.

Atalanta had attacked early but the game was transformed when Swiss midfielder Remo Freuler was harshly send off on 17 minutes for tripping Mendy at the edge of the penalty area.

Gian Piero Gasperini’s woes continued with forward Duvan Zapata limping off after half an hour with a muscular problem with midfielder Mario Pasalic coming off the bench.

Spanish midfielder Isco got a rare start up front for injury-hit Real Madrid playing alongside Marco Asensio and Vinicius.

The 13-time European champions were without striker Karim Benzema due to an ankle problem with an injury list also including Sergio Ramos, Eden Hazard and Dani Carvajal.

But Zidane’s side failed to make the most of the extra man despite coming closest to breaking through in the first half with a Casemiro header, with Nacho, Isco and Vinícius Junior also threatening and Luka Modric sending over the goal.

Zapata and in-form Luis Muriel lead the Atalanta attack in their first meeting with Real Madrid.

Atalanta continued to attack, with Muriel missing a chance to give the hosts the advantage four minutes before the break with a long-range strike that went just wide.

Atalanta goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini kept the hosts in the game keeping out a Casemiro header on a free kick before the half-time whistle.

Modric sent wide of the post after the break and sent through for Vinícius but was headed away from the Brazilian.

Josip Illicic came on in place of Muriel after 56 minutes.

The Slovenian scored five goals against Valencia at this stage of the competition last season, but was substituted off four minutes from time after a poor display.

Soon afterwards Madrid broke through thanks to Mendy, who beat Gollini with a stunning curling effort into the top corner.

Real have the advantage going into the second leg having missed out on the quarter-finals for the last two seasons.

Atalanta need a historic effort in the away leg to reach the last eight for a second successive year.

The Bergamo side won their last 16, first leg clash against Valencia 4-1 a year ago on front of 45,000 spectators in Milan’s San Siro.

That match was considered to have been one of the reasons behind the acceleration of the virus in Italy with Bergamo at the epicentre of the country’s outbreak.

The were playing their second Champions League campaign, but the first knock-out match in their home stadium which underwent renovations last season when they reached the last eight.

And thousands of fans ignored the Italian team’s plea to stay away with a party atmosphere outside the stadium with a fireworks display.

Source:  AFP

Mohamed Salah has warned Manchester City that Liverpool will “fight like champions” despite a miserable run that plunged his side’s Premier League title defence into turmoil.

Jurgen Klopp’s side are languishing 13 points behind leaders City after crashing to a 3-1 defeat at Leicester on Saturday.

Salah had given Liverpool the lead with his 17th league goal of the season, but the Reds collapsed in the closing stages.

Klopp conceded the title to City after Liverpool’s third successive defeat.

It is a remarkable decline after Liverpool romped to their first title in 30 years last term.

But, after 24 hours of painful fallout from the loss at the King Power Stadium, with Liverpool fans hanging a banner in support of the German boss on the railings outside the Kop reading ‘Jurgen Klopp YNWA’, Egypt forward Salah made a defiant statement of intent.

“It’s been a tough period for many reasons. We are champions and we will fight like champions, until the very end,” Salah wrote on Twitter.

“We will not allow this season to be defined by the recent results we’ve had. That is my promise to all of you.”

While retaining the title may now be beyond Liverpool, they are still in the Champions League.

Klopp’s team face the Bundesliga’s second-placed side Leipzig in a last-16 first-leg clash on Tuesday.

The match, which has been moved to the Puskas Arena in Hungary due to German government coronavirus regulations not allowing Liverpool to travel to the country, could be pivotal to the rest of the Reds’ campaign.

Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold hopes a different competition and scenario will provide the lift they need to get out of their current slump.

“Everyone talks about a bad spell and a dip in form and stuff, but I feel personally we’ve performed well in the last few weeks, in the last two months or six weeks or so,” he told Liverpool’s website.

“It’s just that we haven’t been getting the results and it’s a results business so there’s no excuses for that.

“But I think confidence-wise, we’re not playing badly, we’re not getting battered.

“It’s about turning those performances into results and that’s probably what we need to look at most.

“In situations like this you want the opportunity to put it right as soon as possible.

“Different competition, which always freshens it up, different mentality going into it. It’s going to be a different task for us, a Champions League night.”

Source: AFP

Chelsea announced on Monday they had sacked manager Frank Lampard after a poor run in the Premier League.

“This was a very difficult decision for the club, not least because I have an excellent personal relationship with Frank and I have the utmost respect for him,” said owner Roman Abramovich.

Chelsea are struggling in ninth place in the Premier League table, 11 points behind leaders Manchester United.

They have lost five of their past eight Premier League matches after a good start to the season.

Former Paris Saint-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel in line to take over, reports said.

Source: AFP

Paris Saint-Germain boss Mauricio Pochettino has tested positive for Covid-19, the French champions said Friday, just two weeks after taking up his job.

The 48-year-old Argentine will “respect isolation and is subject to the appropriate health protocols”, PSG said on Twitter.

His assistants Jesus Perez and Miguel D’Agostino will take charge of the team for Saturday’s trip to Angers.

Three PSG players had already tested positive for the virus in the last week — Brazilian Rafinha, Germany’s Thilo Kehrer and French youth international Colin Dagba.

Former Tottenham coach Pochettino has overseen three PSG games so far, notably winning the Champions Trophy in Lens on Wednesday thanks to a 2-1 win over bitter rivals Marseille.

Pochettino took over from Thomas Tuchel and signed a contract until June 30, 2022 with an option for an additional year.

Tuchel was sacked on December 24, reportedly for comments viewed as critical of the Qatari owners despite having led the team to a maiden appearance in the Champions League final last season.

Pochettino also played for the Parisians from 2001 to 2003.

France has reeled from more than 2.8 million Covid-19 infections and 69,313 deaths, according to official figures.

From Saturday, a nationwide curfew, starting at 6pm, will be introduced.

Meanwhile, relegation threatened Lorient’s home game against fellow strugglers Dijon was cancelled on Friday after a virus outbreak in the Breton side.

The postponement of Sunday’s game is the first in Ligue 1 since Marseille’s meeting with Nice on November 17 was called off.

“Following advice from the national Covid commission, it was decided to postpone the match due to the absence of more than 10 of 30 Lorient players after positive RT-PCR tests,” the French Football Federation announced.

Under protocols agreed at the beginning of September, matches are postponed if a team does not have 20 players with negative tests available.

Lorient also confirmed their training centre would close for a minimum of 10 days after positive tests from youth players and management.

There are fears the virus may have spread after the Lorient youngsters played a recent friendly against Nantes.

Lorient sit 19th in Ligue 1, are winless in five games, and are two points and one place behind Dijon.

Strasbourg’s match with Saint-Etienne, scheduled for Sunday at the same time as the Lorient v Dijon game, is also under threat of postponement.

Several players and members of the management team at Saint-Etienne have tested positive, said the club.

“The PCR tests carried out Tuesday and Thursday revealed many positive cases for Covid-19 among the players and members of the management of the squad,” said the club in a statement.

Saint-Etienne are currently in 16th place in the table, five points off the drop zone with Strasbourg a place and a point better off.

Source: AFP

Mauricio Pochettino celebrated his first victory as Paris Saint-Germain coach on his home debut on Saturday as Moise Kean set the reigning champions on their way to a 3-0 win over Brest, but Lyon remain top of Ligue 1 after drawing at Rennes.

Substitutes Mauro Icardi and Pablo Sarabia added late goals for PSG who would have gone top on goal difference had Lyon not recovered from 2-0 down to earn a point in Rennes and extend their unbeaten run to 16 games.

PSG are second at the season’s halfway stage, a point behind the leaders and ahead on goal difference of third-placed Lille, who triumphed 1-0 at Nimes.

With Neymar still missing, it was not a vintage performance from PSG on a freezing Parisian night in an empty stadium — supporters are still barred from games in France with a nighttime curfew in place nationwide as part of the fight against coronavirus.

That meant it was never going to be the return to the Parc des Princes that Pochettino — who was a popular player for PSG two decades ago — would have liked.

Nevertheless the Argentine will be relieved to have his first win in charge after his first game ended in a 1-1 draw at Saint-Etienne in midweek.

He could now get his first piece of silverware when PSG play Marseille on Wednesday in the Champions Trophy, the French equivalent of a Super Cup that in normal times is the curtain-raiser to the season.

It remains to be seen if Neymar, after four weeks on the sidelines, will be fit for that game, while defender Thilo Kehrer will be sidelined after news of his positive coronavirus test fell shortly before kick-off against Brest.

Pochettino again started playmaker Marco Verratti in an advanced role behind central striker Kean, with the latter opening the scoring in the 16th minute.

Captain Marquinhos headed Angel di Maria’s corner against the post and Kean was on hand to nod in the rebound from barely a metre out. It was his 11th goal, and his ninth in Ligue 1, since signing on loan from Everton in October.

– Lyon preserve unbeaten run –

Brest, who sit in mid-table and are one of the best sides to watch in France, could have scored before that but Keylor Navas clawed away Romain Faivre’s early effort for the visitors.

It was only in the final 10 minutes that PSG ran away with the game, as Kylian Mbappe set up Icardi — on in place of Kean — to get the second before Sarabia fired in to make it 3-0.

Lyon’s long unbeaten streak looked set to end as they found themselves two goals down in Rennes, with Clement Grenier and Benjamin Bourigeaud scoring for the home side.

However, Memphis Depay pulled one back with his 11th goal of the season on 79 minutes and Jason Denayer equalised shortly after.

Lille bounced back from a shock midweek home defeat by Angers to win at Nimes thanks to a first-half goal by veteran Turkish striker Burak Yilmaz.

The draw for Rennes, and a goalless draw for Marseille at Dijon, allowed Monaco to move up to fourth spot as they beat Angers 3-0 with German international Kevin Volland grabbing his ninth Ligue 1 goal in between efforts from Guillermo Maripan and Stevan Jovetic.

There were also wins for Bordeaux, Reims and Strasbourg.

Source: AFP