Manuel Neuer will not be rushed back to the Bayern Munich team after his latest injury blow, says Niko Kovac.
Neuer was ruled out for two weeks after sustaining a calf injury in Bayern s last game, a Bundesliga win over Fortuna Dusseldorf.
He is therefore out for Saturday s home league game against Werder Bremen, as well as the DFB-Pokal semi-final away to the same opposition four days later.
Sven Ulreich is in line to deputise for Neuer, as he did throughout last season when the Bayern captain was sidelined long-term with a foot injury.
Kovac plans to give Neuer plenty of time to recover, while Mats Hummels and James Rodriguez are also injury doubts for the first Werder game.
We will take no chances with Manuel, let him come back slowly, Kovac t…
Mathieu Debuchy put pen to paper on a three-year contract with Saint-Etienne on Monday.
Former France right-back Debuchy joined Saint-Etienne on a free transfer from Arsenal in January, agreeing a deal for the remainder of the 2017-18 season.
The 32-year-old made 15 appearances as ASSE finished seventh in Ligue 1, scoring four goals to earn a prolonged stay at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.
I have really enjoyed these four months with Saint-Etienne, said Debuchy in a statement.
Playing at home in such an atmosphere with the good results we have achieved in recent months reinforced my choice to extend with ASSE.
The presence of [head coach] Jean-Louis Gasset also played a role in my decision.
Se queda.
— AS Saint-Etienne (@ASSEoffi…
According to a recent report from AS, Real Madrid are considering cutting the loan spell of Jesus Vallejo short after concerns that he isn’t getting enough game time with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Vallejo has made occasional appearances in the first team for Wolves since the season began but Nuno Espirito Santo has, for the most part, stuck with the players that got his club to the dance in the first place – which seems to be a trend that will continue over the course of the next few months.
Vallejo almost certainly wouldn’t receive any notable time in the starting XI if he made the jump back over to Real, but even with that being the case, the European giants have a tendency to pull the trigger on decisions regardless of how it’s going to impact other clubs.…
Lucas Torreira will be fit to face Peru in a boost to Uruguay s hopes of winning Saturday s Copa America quarter-final.
The tenacious Arsenal midfielder has re-joined his team-mates in training in El Salvador following an illness that involved vomiting and weight loss.
Torreira, 23, played no part in the 1-0 win over Chile as Uruguay finished top of Group C on seven points.
Edinson Cavani s late goal secured a crucial three points and the 2011 champions remain unbeaten following a 4-0 crushing of Ecuador and 2-2 draw against Japan.
I ve been able to train normally with part of the team and I m feeling better, Torreira said ahead of the weekend encounter at Arena Fonte Nova.
[I spent] two days in bed with a fever, headache, vomiting. I m recover…
Roma head coach Paulo Fonseca said the club will discuss the error made in the Coppa Italia upset against Spezia after the club used six substitutes.
Spezia shocked Roma 4-2 after extra time in the Italian capital, where Fonseca s side capitulated and sensationally made one substitution too many in the last 16 on Tuesday.
Roma would have been eliminated by default even if they won at home to Spezia after Fonseca introduced Ibanez for Pedro in extra time, having already made five changes to his line-up.
Fonseca s Roma believed they could use six substitutes – an additional change in extra time as seen in cup competitions – but that was not the case in the Coppa Italia.
Asked about the mistake at Stadio Olimpico, under-fire boss Fonseca – who oversaw …
According to a recent report from Sport, Manchester United are contemplating a move for Ivan Rakitic in the wake of the news that Barcelona told him they’re open to letting the midfielder leave.
United are willing to hear the offers of clubs if they’re able to put forward at least €20 million as a first time offer, which could wind up being a bit of a steal for anyone who is lucky enough to get a deal over the finish line.
Rakitic clearly hasn’t been happy with his time at the Nou Camp as of late and, in many ways, it’s somewhat surprising to see that he’s still hanging around and hasn’t left already.
Manchester United have been keen admirers of Rakitic’s work for a long time, and now, it’ll seemingly come down to whether or not Ol…
In what will long be remembered as one of the World Cup s most iconic nights, Argentina lifted the Jules Rimet trophy for a third time as they edged past France in a remarkable penalty shootout.
While the South American heavyweights might have been in cruise control as and Angel Di Maria placed them to a 2-0 lead at half-time, we were then treated to one of football s most famous battles at the Lusail Stadium.
Although Les Bleus might have drastically failed to find any kind of clinical edge heading into the final 10 minutes, it was their record-breaking talisman who almost completed what would have been the World Cup s greatest comeback.
With bagging a pair of late strikes that were separated by just one minute and 35 seconds, it appeared that Lionel Scaloni …
We could well be talking about Saturday s FA Cup showdown between Arsenal and Chelsea as the Olivier Giroud final.
The France striker will likely start for the Blues against his old club at Wembley after scoring twice in the semi-final win over Manchester United to take his tally in the competition to 16, a number only Sergio Aguero (19) can better since Giroud s debut.
Giroud has gone from a bit-part back-up looking for an exit to a crucial element of Frank Lampard s plans in 2020, particularly since the restart of football in England. As well as firing his side into the FA Cup final, he scored six Premier League goals including vital ones against Aston Villa and Norwich City to help his side secure a top-four finish.
Now he is getting the absolute credit he …
Paul Pogba has opened up on suffering from bouts of depression during his playing career.
The World Cup winner became the most expensive footballer on the planet for a period when Manchester United re-signed him from Juventus back in August 2016.
Pogba has bore the brunt of criticism at time for the Red Devils inconsistent performances, with the 29-year-old having not won a major honour with United since collecting winners medals in the EFL Cup and Europa League in 2017.
Speaking to La Figaro while on international duty with France, Pogba revealed he has had to contend with personal issues away from the pitch.
I ve had depression in my career, but we don t talk about it, he said.
Sometimes you don t know you are, you just want to isolate yoursel…
Inter completed a remarkable second-half turnaround with two goals in three minutes to defeat Fiorentina 3-1 in Tuesday s Serie A clash.
Riccardo Sottil deservedly opened the scoring after wonderful play down the left flank by Nicolas Gonzalez to edge Fiorentina into a deserved lead at the Artemio Franchi.
However, Matteo Darmian s driven strike restored parity after the interval and equalled a club-record 24-match scoring run in league games, only previously achieved way back in 1949-50.
Edin Dzeko and Ivan Perisic then netted either side of Gonzalez s needless two yellow cards in the space of a minute as defending champions Inter consolidated their position at the summit.
Samir Handanovic produced two early stops in a frantic opening 10 minutes, firs…