Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu says he has “no doubt” that captain Lionel Messi will sign a new contract with the La Liga club. Messi, whose deal expires in 2021, had called his side “weak” and “inconsistent” after they lost the league title to Real Madrid. “Messi has said many times that he wants to retire here and I have no doubt that he will re-sign,” Bartomeu told Mundo Deportivo.
Paris St Germain forward Neymar has been linked with a return to Camp Nou but Bartomeu said the only way for Barcelona to sign the Brazilian would be through a player exchange. “Now we are making decisions and the players, if they do not come as part of a player exchange, it is very difficult for them to come,” Bartomeu added.
Hoffenheim appoint Sebastian Hoeness as coach
Sebastian Hoeness, reserve-team coach at Bayern Munich where his uncle Uli is honorary president, will take charge of Hoffenheim, the Bundesliga club announced yesteday. Hoffenheim said the 38-year-old, who is also the son of former Hertha Berlin boss Dieter, has signed until June 2023.
Sebastian Hoeness led Bayern’s reserves to an unexpected third division title this season. Hoeness succeeds Dutchman Alfred Schreuder, who was sacked in June after a series of poor performances for the club owned by billionaire Dietmar Hopp.
Under a six-man interim coaching staff, Hoffenheim won their last three games to grab sixth place and a place in the Europa League. Hoeness, who played three games for Hoffenheim when the club was still in the third division, will begin working with the squad when they start pre-season training on August 2.
Fans’ rage pushes Lucescu to abandon Dynamo Kiev post
Romanian football coach Mircea Lucescu said said he was giving up on plans to coach Dynamo Kiev less than a week after signing with the Ukrainian team, following a backlash from fans. “With regret I decided to give up on my possible collaboration with Dynamo Kiev,” 74-year-old Lucescu told Romania’s Gazeta Sporturilor newspaper.
“It’s impossible for me to work in the hostile environment that has been generated in particular by the ‘Ultra’ group of fans”, he added. The club’s decision to sign Lucescu sparked an uproar from fans because of the Romanian’s 12-year spell in charge of bitter rivals Shakhtar Donetsk. Lucescu won 22 trophies at Shakhtar between 2004 and 2016.
Dynamo’s website said on July 23 that Lucescu, who has been unemployed since February 2019, had signed a two-year contract with the option of extending it for one season. Over his 40-year career, Lucescu has coached the Romanian and Turkish national teams as well as clubs in Romania, Italy, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia.
Malaysia to host AFC Champions League matches in East Asia
Malaysia has been named the Asian Champions League’s centralised hub in East Asia with matches in the region due to restart in October, the continent’s football governing body said. Asia’s elite club competition was suspended in early March because of the Covid-19 pandemic and will resume in West Asia hub Qatar on Sept 14.
Malaysia will host Group G and Group H matches from Oct 17-Nov 1 and a semi-final on Nov 28. It will also host last-16 games from the two groups on Nov 4 and two quarter-finals on Nov 25.
Teams from China, Australia, South Korea, Japan and Malaysia will play in the East Asia regional hub, while teams from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and Uzbekistan will play in the West Asia hub.
The centralised venue for Groups E and F and the remaining knockout stage matches have not yet been confirmed. The AFC said this month that group games would be played in full in a round-robin format while knockouts rounds would be reduced to single games from the usual two-legged tie format. The final pitting the best teams from each region will be held on Dec. 5 in the Western hub.
Hearts lose legal fight
against relegation from
Scottish Premiership
Hearts’ relegation from the Scottish Premiership was confirmed after an arbitration panel upheld the Scottish Football Professional League (SPFL) decision to settle the curtailed season on a points-per-game basis. The panel also ratified the relegations of Partick Thistle and Stranraer, from the Championship and League One respectively, and the promotions of Dundee United, Raith Rovers and Cove Rangers.
Hearts and Thistle took legal action after being consigned to the drop as a result of the vote by clubs to end the season amid the coronavirus pandemic and a breakdown in talks over league reconstruction.The 2020/21 Scottish Premiership season will start on Saturday, but the three leagues below the top flight are not due to return until October with a shorter 27-game season designed to reduce costs for Covid-19 testing and the loss of matchday income.
Lionel Messi
