Seedorf Gets AC Milan Job
Sports Briefs
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CLARENCE Seedorf is the new AC Milan manager after the Italian giants moved swiftly to install a replacement following Massimiliano Allegri’s exit on Monday, January 13. The former Holland star played in Brazil for Botafogo after leaving Italy in 2011, but he is set to be the new boss at the San Siro, charged with improving the club’s fortunes.
Allegri won the Serie A title in his first season at the San Siro back in 2011 but the Italian giants have been on the slide ever since, and are 11th in the table, 30 points adrift of table-toppers Juventus.
Allegri, 46, was to leave the club at the end of the season, but was told to go earlier in the wake of Sunday’s 4-3 loss to minnows Sassuolo. In a statement on Monday, AC Milan announced they have dismissed the coach of the first team with immediate effect, adding, “AC Milan would like to thank Mr Allegri and his staff for the work done and their best professional achievements.”
The loss to Sassuolo proved to be the final straw for Milan’s hierarchy, with Allegri undone by one of his former clubs. That loss alone was not the trigger, though, with Milan woefully off the pace in Serie A and actually just six points clear of the drop zone.
Allegri left the San Siro after the league finishes of first, second and third, with the Supercopa added to his 2011 title win.
Honour for Ibrahimovic
ZLATAN Ibrahimovic’s incredible ‘propellor kick’ goal against England won him the FIFA Puskas Award for Goal of the Year at the Ballon d’Or ceremony. The Sweden and PSG star’s strike saw off competition from Nemanja Matic’s volley for Benfica against Porto and Neymar’s effort for Brazil against Japan in the Confederations Cup.
The stunning volley capped off a breathtaking friendly display against Roy Hodgson’s men in November 2012 – it was the target man’s fourth goal to help Sweden win the game with 4-2 goal margin.
Deep in injury time and with Sweden leading 3-2, Joe Hart headed a clearance up rather than away and Ibrahimovic followed it through the air before springing to apply an overhead kick from 30 yards out, wide on the right, which arched over the stranded goalkeeper and into the open goal. The magical strike was included in the shortlist for the 2013 award because it was scored after the voting began for the 2012 prize.
It was also the second time the Swedish icon was honoured – he was named in the FIFPro team of the year alongside Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo and runner up Lionel Messi.
Suarez Tips Liverpool for Champions Leagues
LIVERPOOL striker Luis Suarez is in no doubt the club are now playing football worthy of the Champions League. The Brendan Rodgers’ men moved back into the top four of the Barclays Premier League, where they have spent most of the season so far, after Sunday’s 5-3 win at Stoke.
And Suarez — who scored a double at the Britannia — feels things are looking good in terms of Liverpool’s prospects of staying there and going on to make a return to the Champions League, in which they have not featured in since 2009.
Last summer, Suarez claimed his contract had a clause that allowed him to leave Anfield if the club failed to qualify for Europe’s premier competition. But that proved not to be the case and he has hit the ground running since returning from a ban for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic last season.
“We know that in the last two years we haven’t demonstrated that Liverpool can play in the Champions League,” he told the club’s official website. “Now we are playing very well and we have the level to play in the Champions League. We have really good players and if we continue at this level, we can do it.”
Suarez’s double at the Britannia Stadium took him to 22 goals for the campaign – scored in only 16 league matches. The 26-year-old forward has been at the centre of various controversies during his career but, of late, the headlines about him have tended to be positive and he is being placed among the best players in the world.
Suarez himself says he is a changed man and that the praise he is getting is ‘unbelievable’ but he has also stressed that his main concern is the progress of the Liverpool team. He said: “When you are a child, you imagine a lot. Now many people or players speak about that and it’s unbelievable for me. It is also for Liverpool, because in the last two or three years we have not played very well and not demonstrated our level. Now we are back to that.”
— Jan. 27, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
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