Stuttgart´s Lehmann confirms retirement

Massimiliano Allegri felt Juventus inability to sustain their strong start was the reason for dropping points against Sampdoria on Sunday.

The Serie A leaders appeared on track to extend their 25-match winning run of home league games when Patrice Evra s first goal for the club gave them a 12th-minute lead.

But the three-time defending champions failed to make the most of their first-half dominance and were made to pay just six minutes after the break.

Manolo Gabbiadini, co-owned by the Turin club, came off the bench to equalise with a curling left-foot shot and ensure Juve were held to a draw for the second consecutive league game.

Gabbiadini almost snatched all three points for Sinisa Mihajlovic s men late on, but Gianluigi Buffon produced a fantastic …

Arsenal defender Nuno Tavares has joined Marseille on a season-long loan deal.

The left-back was signed by the Gunners from Benfica on a long-term contract last July.

Tavares is on the move again just over a year later, making the switch to Ligue 1 club Marseille for the 2022-23 campaign.

Arsenal confirmed the move on Saturday, although it was reported there is no buy option in the deal, meaning Tavares will return to Emirates Stadium next season.

The 22-year-old Portuguese made 28 appearances in his first season for Mikel Arteta s side, scoring one and providing two assists.

With first-choice left-back Kieran Tierney returning from a knee injury, the versatile Oleksandr Zinchenko signed and Takehiro Tomiyasu able to provide cover, Tavares has be…

Moussa Dembele admits the prospect of playing in the Champions League  along with the words of Brendan Rodgers convinced him to sign for Celtic.

The forward penned a four-year deal with the Scottish champions on Tuesday, in the process becoming Rodgers first signing since taking charge.

Dembele, who was out of contract at Fulham, is excited about the opportunity to appear in Europe s premier club competition with his new side, even if they do have to negotiate three rounds of qualifying to make the group stages.

Celtic have been drawn to face either Flora Tallinn or Lincoln Red Imps in the second qualifying round, with the first leg of that tie to take place on July 12 or 13.

I had a few offers but I didn t have the same one I had with Celtic …

UEFA have announced the refereeing teams to take charge of the Euro 2012 semi-finals.

The first semi-final between defending champions Spain and Portugal is set to take place in Donetsk on Wednesday.

Turkish referee Cuneyt Cak?r will officiate the game, with the help of compatriots Bahattin Duran and Tarik Ongun as his assistants.

Slovenian Damir Skomina will act as the fourth official.

The second semi-final between Germany and Italy sees Frenchman Stephane Lannoy appointed to oversee the game, with Frederic Cano and Michael Annonier as his assistants.

England s Howard Webb will be the fourth official, very much keeping his hopes alive of refereeing the final, just as he did at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

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Virgil van Dijk insists Lionel Messi should win the Ballon d Or despite his own star turn in a victorious Champions League final for Liverpool.

Centre-back Van Dijk was named man of the match as Jurgen Klopp s side claimed the trophy with a 2-0 win over Tottenham at the Wanda Metropolitano.

Liverpool went ahead inside two minutes through a Mohamed Salah penalty and were grateful to Van Dijk and goalkeeper Alisson for keeping Spurs at bay before Divock Origi sealed the win with a late second.

Van Dijk won the PFA Players Player of the Year for his performances in the Premier League in 2018-19 and is likely to be among the favourites for the next Ballon d Or after his display on Saturday.

However, the Netherlands international said there should only be one …

Alou Diarra claimed on Tuesday he wasted two years at West Ham but remains positive he can kick-start his career this season.

Diarra cancelled the final year of his contract with West Ham earlier this month after just six Premier League appearances in two seasons under manager Sam Allardyce.

The defensive midfielder believes he was ill-advised when he decided to move to Upton Park from Marseille before the 2012-13 campaign.

I feel I have lost two years in a career, it counts, Diarra said in an interview with L Equipe.

There was no solution. I was very ill-advised.

Me, I left Marseilles very determined, with an international status, to bring my experience of the [UEFA] Champions League, the big games.

I arrived at a club that came from …

Mohamed Aboutrika of Al Ahly and Egypt has been crowned the 2008 BBC African footballer of the year.

Aboutrika, who scored the winning goal for Egypt in the Pharaohs triumph at the Nations Cup in Ghana, beat the 2007 winner Emmanuel Adebayor, Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto o and Amr Zaki to the title.

2008 was a tremendous year, Aboutrika told the BBC s African sports programme Fast Track. It was an opportunity for me and my team-mates to be a showcase for Egyptian football, across the world.

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Barcelona midfielder Arturo Vidal added weight to the growing reports linking Neymar with a move back to Camp Nou, saying it would be very nice to have the Brazil forward back at the club.

Vidal arrived at Barcelona in August 2018, a year after Neymar s €222m transfer to Paris Saint-Germain brought his four-year spell with the Blaugrana to an end.

Despite not having played alongside Neymar, Vidal is aware of the high regard in which the 27-year-old is held at the club.

Asked about the possibility of Neymar arriving in Barcelona ahead of the 2019-20 season, Vidal told reporters: It would be very nice. He is dearly liked there.

— Neymar Jr (@neymarjr)

Vidal is hoping to help Chile to a successful defence of the Copa America before tu…

Sinisa Mihajlovic said his Sampdoria future will become clear via a statement from the club on Monday.

Mihajlovic took over as head coach at Sampdoria, a team he represented during his playing career, in November 2013 and led the club to safety from Serie A in his first season.

Sampdoria have continued to improve this term and, although they stumbled to a disappointing 2-2 draw in their season finale against Parma on Sunday, they finished seventh a position that could yet be enough for a Europa League place if Genoa are not granted a UEFA license.

But it remains to be seen if Mihajlovic will still be in charge at Stadio Luigi Ferraris next term, with speculation mounting that he will replace Rafael Benitez at Napoli.

There will be an announcement tomor…

UEFA are to investigate seven clubs, including Liverpool and Inter, over possible breaches of Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.

The news was announced on Thursday, as European football s governing body attempts to crack down on clubs living beyond their financial means.

As well as the likes of Inter and Liverpool, Monaco and Roma are also under investigation from the UEFA Club Financial Control Body (CFCB), after they failed to break even in their latest financial reports.

The CFCB has opened formal investigations into seven clubs (AS Monaco, AS Roma, Besiktas JK, FC Internazionale Milano, FC Krasnodar, Liverpool FC and Sporting Clube de Portugal) as they disclosed a break-even deficit on the basis of their financial reporting periods ending in 2012 and 201…