Benzema beats De Bruyne and Courtois to UEFA Men´s Player of the Year award

(GSM) Chelsea will go against former manager and fan-favorite Jose Mourinho after being drawn against Inter Milan in the last 16 of the Champions League.

Mourinho led Chelsea to consecutive Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006 before leaving early in the 2007/2008 season. The Portuguese manager has won the Champions League with Porto in 2004. He also won the UEFA Cup (now Europra League) with Porto in 2003.

In Italy, Mourinho won the Serie A last season, which was his first year in charge of Inter, and will likely win the Italian league for a second consecutive time this season.

The first legs of the Champions League will be played on February 16/17 and 23/24 with the second legs scheduled for March 9/10 and 16/17.

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Ex-Germany striker Kevin Kuranyi proved his worth by sealing Schalke 04 s 1-0 win over Nuremberg on Sunday, to put the Royal Blues second in the Bundesliga, despite nearly being sold over the winter break.

The 27-year-old, who notoriously walked out on the Germany team in October 2008, struck in the 48th minute with his ninth league goal of the season to put Schalke second, a point behind leaders Leverkusen.

Before the game, Schalke coach Felix Magath admitted he had wanted to sell the striker to English side Sunderland earlier this month for a reported four million euros to ease the club s debts, but the player had scuppered the deal.

We reached an agreement with a club, but Kevin decided he wanted to stay and achieve something with Schalke this season, said M…

The late Tito Vilanova has been memorialised after former club Barcelona named one of their training pitches in his honour.

Barcelona have renamed a training pitch at their Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper facility after Tito Vilanova, who died at the age of 45 last year following a lengthy battle with throat cancer.

After succeeding Pep Guardiola, whom he had previously assisted for the 2012-13 season, Vilanova guided Barca to the Liga title with
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a club record haul of 100 points.

However, his sole campaign in charge was interrupted by illness and he was forced to step down in July 2013.

At a ceremony on Friday, Vilanova s wife Montse Chaure spoke of her pride at the tribute to her late husband.

Tito loved coming here, she said. He…

Martin Odegaard is desperate to kickstart his career at Heerenveen after failing to make his mark at Real Madrid, acknowledging the Santiago Bernabeu is not an easy place for youngsters.

The Norway international joined Madrid from Stromsgodset in January 2015 and became the youngest debutant in the club s history when he featured against Getafe in May of that year at 16 years and 157 days old.

He failed to build on that substitute cameo, though, and mainly featured for Castilla over the past two years.

The 18-year-old has now opted to continue his career at Heerenveen on an 18-month loan deal and he is keen to get started at the Eredivisie outfit.

Real Madrid are a very good club with some great players, so it is difficult to get playing time as a young…

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The Premier League is back in action once again this week with a host of entertaining fixtures as we continue to steamroll towards the last few months of the season. There are a few clear races in which the favourite is becoming clear but in equal measure, there s also a great deal of uncertainty still in the mix as we head into the month of March. Today, we re going to take a look at a clash between two teams in desperate need of a positive result Burnley and Leicester City.

Burnley

Sean Dyche is a master at finding ways to reinvent this Burnley side but many will always wonder when the wheels are going to fall off. A string of bad results in association with Fulham s resurgence means there s a chance…

Vincent Kompany ended Burnley’s title-winning season with a 3-0 home victory over Cardiff and revealed why he chose to sign a new five-year contract at the Premier League-bound club.

The former Manchester City captain led the post-match celebrations and Championship trophy presentation having steered his club back to the top flight – where he intends to have “a bit of fun”.

It marked a remarkable first season in English management for the Belgian who was appointed following the Clarets’ relegation 12 months ago.

Some day

— Burnley FC (@BurnleyOfficial)

The final-day win came 24 hours after the highly-rated 37-year-old signed a new five-year contract that could keep him in charge at Turf Moor until 2028.

Kompany’s efforts ha…

New Montpellier coach Rolland Courbis slipped to defeat in his first game in charge on Friday as Saint-Etienne earned a 1-0 win.

Courbis returned for a second stint in charge of the 2011-12 Ligue 1 champions earlier this week following the resignation of Jean Fernandez.

But the 60-year-old could not inspire the struggling hosts to victory, Montpellier succumbing to a defeat that extends their winless run to nine games.

Saint-Etienne dictated for much of the first half, with winger Franck Tabanou going close to giving them the lead on multiple occasions.

Christophe Galtier s men finally broke down the home defence in the 75th minute when former Leeds United forward Max Gradel turned home Faouzi Ghoulam s low cross at the far post.

Montpellier failed to mount…

Charlton Athletic have confirmed that the club are in takeover talks with Belgian businessman Roland Duchatelet.

The club issued a statement on Saturday announcing that dialogue has started with Duchatelet, who already owns Belgian Pro League outfit Standard Liege.

Charlton chairman Michael Slater, who has owned the club since the start of 2011 with Tony Jimenez and their company CAFC Holdings Limited, stated that negotiations are progressing in a positive manner.

Very constructive discussions are ongoing which we hope to conclude soon, he said in the statement posted on the club s official website.

Charlton and currently 19th in the Championship, four points above the relegation zone.

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Ross Barkley feels ready to impress under Maurizio Sarri at Chelsea after a nightmare first few months at Stamford Bridge.

The midfielder joined from Everton in January for a reported fee of £15million but made only two Premier League appearances under Antonio Conte.

Injuries curtailed the 24-year-old s integration into the Chelsea set-up, with Barkley having had surgery on a torn hamstring last year that led to a succession of further problems.

However, the England international is determined to kick-start his career with the London club under a boss he feels favours a style of play to which he is suited.

I arrived here with a long-term injury, he said ahead of Wednesday s International Champions Cup clash with Arsenal. 

I didn t play many ga…

Playing Champions League then going to Saudi Arabia and coming back to the Champions League again, you couldn t imagine that, Degenek, who returned to Red Star on loan in July before signing a four-year contract, told Omnisport. You dream about it and you sacrifice a lot for it to happen.

Last year it was me that helped Red Star a lot in the qualifiers against Salzburg but it wasn t just me. It s a team effort. It s never just down to one player.

The Socceroos defender – who fled the war-torn Balkan region with his family in the 1990s, relocating to Australia – added: I had the six months playing Champions League and then it was time for me to go to Saudi Arabia to Al Hilal, where I had a good stint. I played in the Asian Champions League and played with some unbe…