La Liga
CLEAN SWEEP IN BARCA KOEMAN SET TO BECOME NEW MANAGER
At least seven players of the disgraced Barcelona team in the Champions League are for the chop.
This is coming amidst speculations that Ronald Koeman is set to become the new manager of the club.
Even as Barcelona is renewing interest in Neymar, one of their former players, the following have been penciled down for the axe: Ivan Rakitic, Ousmane Dembele, Arturo Vidal, Arthur Melo, Junior Firpo, Martin Braithwaite and Samuel Umtiti.
Melo has already agreed a deal to join Juventus, while Rakitic and Vidal has also been linked to clubs in Italy.
The hope is that Barcelona can raise around £90m from this firesale to overhaul a team that was outclassed by Bayern and suffered their first trophyless season since 2007-08.
The fall-out from Barcelona‘s seismic defeat to Bayern Munich rumbles on with Monday’s Spanish papers concentrating on Quique Setien’s replacement and a potential return for Neymar.
Several of the papers report that Holland manager Ronald Koeman is set to replace Setien, whose sacking after only eight months in charge is a mere formality.
Mundo Deportivo lead on former Barcelona player Koeman’s return to the Nou Camp, saying that the details of his contract are being finalised following negotiations with the Dutch Football Association.
Koeman will reportedly sign a two year contract though any longer-term stay is likely to depend on the outcome of the club’s presidential elections next year.
Sport’s front page leads on Setien’s sacking following that humiliating 8-2 defeat in the Champions League quarter-final on Friday night.
They say that Koeman and the former Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino are the two favourites for the manager’s job.
But intriguingly, Sport also report a potential return for Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain during the coming weeks.
The Brazilian star has long been linked with a return to the Nou Camp and Sport suggest that is a possibility as they look to rebuild their reputation.
In order to afford PSG’s high asking price for Neymar, Barcelona are reportedly prepared to send Antoine Griezmann in the opposite direction, valuing the France striker at around £55million.
Diario AS, meanwhile, also name Koeman was the replacement for Setien and say that one of his first acts will be to conduct a purge of the underachieving Barcelona squad.
It was mission accomplished, said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti after his side fought back from two-goals behind to snatch a rip-roaring 4-4 draw on Tuesday for a 5-4 aggregate win that put them through to the Copa del Rey final.
Ancelotti brushed off questions about a sub-par performance by his side and praised his players’ effort in what he considered a highly entertaining encounter.
“We have achieved our goal today which was to reach the final and there is not much time to think about it,” Ancelotti told a press conference.
“It was an entertaining game with some mistakes and a lot of good things. It was fun and we are in the final.
“I never saw ourselves out of it because anything can happen at the Bernabeu. When we have to come from behind, we never give up. We never give up, especially at home, with the fans by our side.”
Ancelotti said David Alaba was not to blame after he deflected two balls into his own goal, calling it “bad luck” by the Austrian defender, but urged his defence to play with better focus moving forward.
“It’s not good to concede four goals in a game,” Ancelotti said.
“Right now we are a team that has a lot of effectiveness up-front, but little balance.
“However, we can’t ignore what we did in attack, scoring four goals against Real is not that easy. I think we are doing quite well.”
Real Madrid, who have won the Spanish Cup only once in over a decade, will play either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid in a mouth-watering final in Seville next month.
Atletico fought back to hold Barca to a thrilling 4-4 draw ahead of Wednesday’s second-leg in Madrid.
-Reuters
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Real Madrid’s legendary coach Carlo Ancelotti will go on trial next week for allegedly failing to declare income to Spain’s tax office, the Madrid court which will hear the case has said.
Prosecutors are seeking a jail term of four years and nine months for the 65-year-old Italian, accusing him of having cost Spain’s treasury more than one million euros ($1.1 million) in undeclared earnings from image rights in 2014 and 2015.
The trial will begin on Wednesday and it is expected to last two days, a spokesman for the court said.
Ancelotti, who as a coach has won a record five Champions League trophies including three with Real, must be present for the hearings, he added.
Prosecutors accuse him of only declaring in his tax returns the personal remuneration received from Real Madrid during those two years even though he himself declared himself to be a tax resident in Spain and indicated his home was in Madrid.
They accuse Ancelotti of allegedly setting up a “confusing” and “complex” system of shell companies to hide his extra earnings from his image rights as well as from other sources such as real estate.
A Spanish court in 2023 ordered Ancelotti to stand trial over the affair, but did not set a date.
Ancelotti dismissed the affair last year as “an old story that I hope will be resolved soon” when he was asked about the case.
He took over at Real Madrid in 2013, leaving in May 2015, before being appointed at Bayern Munich the following year.
The former Italy international midfielder, who as a player won the European Cup twice with AC Milan, later managed Napoli and Everton before returning to Real Madrid in 2021.
Aside from his success in the Champions League he has won domestic league titles with Madrid and Milan, in England with Chelsea, in Germany with Bayern Munich and in France with Paris Saint-Germain.
-AFP
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Spain’s former soccer chief Luis Rubiales told Reuters on Thursday he would appeal a court ruling which found him guilty of sexual assault for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent.-
-Reuters
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