Bonucci thrilled to extend Juve deal

Atletico Madrid travel to Valencia in their all-Spanish Europa League semi-final on Thursday in a second successive Iberian last four.

Marcelo Bielsa s Athletic Bilbao trek to Portugal to do battle with Sporting Lisbon in the other tie in a reversal of last season s semi-finalists where three Portuguese and one Spanish side locked horns.

Valencia boss Unai Emery said his side was fully focussed on the tie having put memories of their 2010 exit from the competition to Atletico at the same stage behind them.

We could look back on (a controversial non-penalty against Atletico at the same stage in 2010) to try to motivate the players but we won t do it, Emery said.

We put that incident behind us as soon as it happened and you have to look forward and wait …

Jordi Alba is the most notable omission from Luis de la Fuente s first Spain squad, joining Barcelona team-mates Ferran Torres, Ansu Fati and Eric Garcia in missing their Euro 2024 qualifiers against Norway and Scotland.

Former under-21 boss De la Fuente took charge of the senior team after last year s World Cup, with Luis Enrique leaving the role after a surprise last-16 exit against Morocco.

Senior players Sergio Busquets and Sergio Ramos have stepped away from international football since that tournament, with the latter doing so after being overlooked for La Roja s trip to Qatar.

Alba – who started three of Spain s four games at the World Cup – is the biggest name to be left out by De la Fuente, with fellow Barcelona left-back Alejandro Balde getting the …

Inter coach Andrea Stramaccioni has declared Sunday s final Serie A game of the season against Lazio a prelude to a rebirth for the club.

Inter have endured a difficult campaign and even with victory this weekend versus Edy Reja s men, the Giuseppe Meazza outfit will be relying on results elsewhere in their search for Champions League qualification.

Speaking ahead of what could be his final game in charge of the 2010 Champions League winners, Stramaccioni placed great importance on the Lazio encounter in light of Inter s future.

I think this is a prelude to a rebirth. The season remains negative, but this is the prelude to Lazio-Inter and also the hunger of the Nerazzurri people to become great again in Italy and Europe, he said on Saturday.

If his team…

Prediction: Manchester City win

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The Premier League is back once again this weekend as we enter the always-crazy month of December. There are so many teams up and down the top flight who are in desperate need of some points on the board now that we re in the midst of the busy winter schedule, mainly because momentum can be such a vital piece of the puzzle during this time of the year. Today, we re going to be taking a look at what could be a fascinating David vs Goliath encounter: Manchester City vs Fulham.

Manchester City

Manchester City find themselves in a unique position right now, because while they may still be one of the best teams in world football, they re starting to really fly under the radar as contenders both domest…

Pep Guardiola said victory over Fulham was the perfect way to celebrate 250 games in charge of Manchester City and 700 overall in management.

The Spaniard s glittering career in has seen him ply his coaching trade in three countries, winning top-flight titles in Spain, Germany and England.

His pursuit of a third Premier League continued with a 2-0 win over Fulham, thanks to a goal from Raheem Sterling and a Kevin De Bruyne penalty.

In his 700 matches to date, Guardiola has tasted victory 507 times and lost just 82 of those, leaving him with a superb win percentage of 72.4.

Well, important first, of course, is being in the present – the present is the victory, of course, he told City s website.

You know, my 250 games here at the same time w…

Manchester City F.C. boss Manuel Pellegrini has played down reports linking the English champions with a January move for Swansea City striker Wilfried Bony.

The Côte d Ivoire international, 26, joined the Swans from Dutch Eredivisie side Vitesse Arnhem for a club record fee of £12 million in the summer of 2013, and has been worth every penny for the Welsh club.

With Edin Dzeko, Sergio Aguero, and Stevan Jovetic all sidelined due to injury, recent reports in the English media are suggesting is lining up a move to bring in a new striker in the New Year.

However, a move for Bony would require additional changes, as City must comply with the European Financial Fair Play rules.

I think that is just one of the 20 or 30 names I have read fro…

Juanfran says Atletico Madrid s La Liga disappointment will only serve to reinforce their determination to end the season with some silverware in the Champions League final.

Atletico lost 2-1 at relegated Levante on Sunday – a defeat which, combined with Barcelona s 5-0 thrashing of Espanyol – saw their hopes of regaining the title they won in 2014 come to an end.

It is now left to Barca and Real Madrid to battle it out on the final weekend of the season, with the Catalan giants leading by a point ahead of a trip to Granada, while Real visit Deportivo La Coruna.

But Atletico still have one major prize to play for as they take on Real in Milan on May 28 in a repeat of the 2014 Champions League final.

The Levante defeat hurt a lot, that s …

Callum Wilson revealed being dropped by both Newcastle and England fuelled his determination to fight back.

The striker’s post-World Cup slump saw him confined to the bench at Newcastle as he scored just once in 13 appearances.

It also saw him left out of the opening Euro 2024 qualifying wins over Ukraine and Italy in March.

However, Wilson is back to face Malta on Friday before Monday’s visit of North Macedonia to Old Trafford after scoring 11 goals across his final 12 games for Newcastle to fire them to fourth place in the Premier League.

He said: “I was finding myself on the bench and was used to playing week in, week out. All of a sudden, I was watching from the sidelines and coming on for 10 minutes at the end of the game.

“I didn’t…

Victor Osimhen believes Napoli are good enough to win the Champions League after they reached the competition s quarter-finals for the first time with an emphatic win over Eintracht Frankfurt.

Osimhen scored twice as Napoli ran out 3-0 winners in Wednesday s last-16 second leg at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, securing a 5-0 aggregate success over last season s Europa League winners.

Piotr Zielinski also netted from the penalty spot as Napoli posted their fourth win in as many home Champions League games this season – the Partenopei have scored three or more goals in each of those victories.

With Napoli s tally of 26 Champions League goals unmatched by any other team this campaign, Osimhen believes the runaway Serie A leaders are capable of delivering Europ…

Michael Laudrup believes his former clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid deserve to be considered as favourites for the Champions League.

The LaLiga giants face tough tasks in the last 16, with Barca taking on Chelsea and double defending champions Madrid meeting Paris Saint-Germain.

While Laudrup was most impressed by PSG and Manchester City in the group stage, the Dane said Madrid and Barca s experience gave them a huge advantage.

With my experience, I will still put my money on the people who are used to getting there, the Al-Rayyan coach told Omnisport.

That means my two ex-clubs from Spain, Real Madrid and Barcelona, and then my outsider would be Manchester City.

They [City] can almost make two teams. I think it s one of the few clubs in footb…