Pep Guardiola revealed Manchester City s medical staff are optimistic on Ilkay Gundogan s fitness, after the midfielder sustained a knee injury in the defeat at Brighton and Hove Albion.
Gundogan trudged off 56 minutes into Tuesday s contest, with City leading 2-1 at the time – the Germany international having opened the scoring early on, before Phil Foden netted a sensational second and Leandro Trossard replied for Brighton.
The 30-year-old, who has scored 17 goals across all competitions this season, was the recipient of a reckless challenge from Alireza Jahanbakhsh in the first half, and Guardiola cited this as the reason for his eventual departure.
Gundogan had an ice pack strapped to his left knee as he watched on from the sidelines, with City going on…
Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen is likely to be out until November following an operation on his knee, the club have confirmed.
The Germany international underwent successful surgery on his right patella tendon on Tuesday.
Barca confirmed in a statement that the procedure had been a success and Ter Stegen is now facing a recovery period of two and a half months.
Ter Stegen played 46 times in all competitions in 2019-20, keeping 15 clean sheets.
Barca signed Brazilian keeper Neto as a back-up to Ter Stegen last year, but the 31-year-old has played only two LaLiga matches for the Catalans.
The news is a further blow during a difficult time for Barca, who are expected to announce Ronald Koeman as their new head coach.
Koema…
(GSM) Hamburger SV striker Ruud van Nistelrooy is set for a recall to the Netherlands national squad for their Euro 2012 qualifiers after his blistering start to the Bundesliga season.
The 34-year-old, who last played for his country in the finals of Euro 2008 after which he announced his international retirement, could feature for the Oranje against either San Marino or Finland.
He reversed that decision in the hope of getting a call-up to the 2010 World Cup squad only to be overlooked by Oranje boss Bert van Marwijk.
But with Arsenal s Robin van Persie ruled out with an ankle injury, the former Manchester United striker has now been handed a recall.
A KNVB statement on Monday afternoon revealed Van Persie will be out for at least a few weeks .
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Speaking to the press ahead of his team s clash with Rangers in Glasgow on Wednesday, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was asked for a comment on the words of former midfielder Didi Hamann about the Merseysiders losing their spark this season.
Hamann has been known to criticize Klopp and his decisions in the past, even when Liverpool were winning continuously on all fronts, and most of that criticism has been proven completely unfounded. It s fair to say that the Liverpool boss wasn t impressed with the journalist using Hamann s phrase.
Oh great, he s a fantastic source, well respected everywhere. Do me a favour and ask your own question.
Jurgen Klopp was not happy with the question about Dietmar Hamann saying Liverpool have lost their spark
— Football D…
Chelsea defender Tomas Kalas will join newly promoted FC Cologne on a season-long loan on July 1.
The Czech, who has a solitary international cap to his name, spent two seasons on loan at Dutch outfit Vitesse Arnhem before returning to Stamford Bridge for the 2013-14 campaign.
After being handed his Chelsea debut as a late substitute in a 2-0 League Cup win at Arsenal in October, Kalas made his European bow in a last-16 home triumph over Galatasaray.
Kalas first start for the club came in the huge 2-0 Premier League victory at Liverpool in April, and he was among the starting XI once again on the last day of the Premier League season at relegated Cardiff City.
The 21-year-old will now be hoping to pick up more first-team experience as Cologne adjust to life back …
Fabio Cannavaro has declared his interest in becoming Italy coach and claimed he is ready for the job.
Cesare Prandelli resigned after the 2006 world cup champions exit from the FIFA World Cup on Tuesday and Cannavaro has been linked with the role.
The 40-year-old, who captained Italy to their aforementioned triumph in Germany, retired from playing in 2011 and has since been employed as an assistant coach at UAE Pro-League outfit Al Ahli.
And the former centre-back would relish the opportunity to take charge of his country.
It would be a great honour for me to be the manager of my national team, he said in his role as a pundit on ITV.
But the federation wants to change the president and the coach. It would be difficult but I am ready. We will wa…
Juventus star Paul Pogba would command a world-record fee if he decided to leave the Serie A club, according to Andrea Pirlo.
The 23-year-old France international is in demand after several impressive campaigns with the Italian giants.
He has been linked to numerous clubs, but his agent Mino Raiola has said he is ready to sign a new contract.
Pirlo believes any outfit wanting Pogba would need to pay more than €100million, the fee Real Madrid gave Tottenham for Gareth Bale in 2013.
Of course, Juventus will want to keep him, he told The Mirror.
But sometimes you can get to a transfer fee that you can rebuild an entire team with and he would get to that fee.
At his age, you can build a team around him for the next years. If he does decid…
Though Sunderland s hopes of Premier League survival have evaporated, they had their say in the battle to beat the drop by securing a 2-0 win at Hull City on Saturday.
The Black Cats were relegated in defeat to Bournemouth last week, but they played with the renewed vigour often associated with teams put out of their misery as goals from Billy Jones and Jermain Defoe backed up Jordan Pickford s heroics to secure just a sixth win of the season for David Moyes men.
Marco Silva had overseen six wins and a draw in seven matches at the KCOM Stadium as Tigers head coach, but the Portuguese s first home defeat since 2014 leaves Hull looking over their shoulder.
Kicking off before third-bottom Swansea City s fixture against Everton later in the day, Hull could have gone …
According to a new report, a Red Faction sequel was in development at one point before the project was canceled during Embracer’s months-long period of layoffs. While this new game in the series was pitched to higher-ups shortly after original Red Faction studio Volition had shut down, developer Fishlabs felt that it had the necessary experience to resurrect the series.
As reported by Rock Paper Shotgun, Fishlabs put together an elevator pitch in trailer form to sell Embracer-owned publisher Plaion on the idea. The visual prototype was built in Unreal Engine 5 and the plan was to create a game similar to 2009’s Red Faction: Guerrilla, but it was never greenlit and the project was canceled by November 2023 Come from Sports betti…
Jurgen Klopp expects to be on the Liverpool bench for the visit of West Ham on Wednesday, which is just where David Moyes wants him.
Hammers boss Moyes said he would want a fair fight at Anfield by being pitched head to head against the Liverpool boss, who is facing a touchline ban.
Klopp raged so hard at assistant referee Gary Beswick in Liverpool s 1-0 win against Manchester City on Sunday that he was sent off by Anthony Taylor.
He had been furious when no foul was given against Bernardo Silva for a challenge on Mohamed Salah, after finding fault with a number of earlier decisions.
According to Moyes, a former Everton boss, referees would do well to understand that managers sometimes lose our heads here or there .
Moyes also said that Klopp had …