Category: Sports

Ribery: Ancelotti wanted me at Chelsea and likes me as a playerRibery: Ancelotti wanted me at Chelsea and likes me as a player

January 13, 2016January 13, 2016

Ribery: Ancelotti wanted me at Chelsea and likes me as a player

Ribery: Ancelotti wanted me at Chelsea and likes me as a player

Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery is looking forward to working with Carlo Ancelotti next season and has revealed the Italian already attempted to sign him during his time in charge ofChelsea.

Ancelotti will replace Pep Guardiola at the Allianz Arena at the end of the 2015-16 campaign and Ribery has heard nothing but good things about the 56-year-old.

“Ancelotti already wanted to sign me in 2009 when he was with Chelsea. That means he likes me as a player and that is obviously great,” Ribery told Sport Bild.

“I think Ancelotti is a great coach and human being. Communication will not be an issue because he speaks French after his time with PSG. I have heard a lot of good things about him.

“We have already met, but we have not had extensive talks yet. But I always hear that he is very close to his players. This type of coach suits me.”

Ribery initially enjoyed a close relationship with Guardiola as well, but the Frenchman has admitted his ongoing injury problems have changed things.

“Everything was great when Pep first joined Bayern,” he added.

“But then I started picking up injuries early in 2014. I hardly played last season and was not often part of the team. It is only logical that we speak less regularly.

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Premier League – Van Gaal walks out of United press conference after five minutesPremier League – Van Gaal walks out of United press conference after five minutes

December 23, 2015December 23, 2015

Premier League – Van Gaal walks out of United press conference after five minutes

The fraught Manchester United manager’s job is in serious jeopardy following a miserable run of results, with Jose Mourinho emerging as a potential successor after Chelsea culled him last week.

Van Gaal, grimly surveying those huddled into the Carrington conference room, requested an apology from the press before reluctantly fielding two questions.

“Has anybody in this room not a feeling to apologise to me? That’s what I’m wondering,” said Van Gaal. “I think I was already sacked, I read. I have been sacked. My colleague [Mourinho] was here already.

“What do you think happens with my wife or my kids? Or with my grandchildren? Or with the fans of Manchester United? Or my friends? What do you think? They have called me a lot of times and also Arsene Wenger is saying something about that.

“So you think that I want to talk with the media now. I am here only because of the Premier League rules. I have to talk with you. But I can only see when I say something that you use my words in your context. And I want to say only I have tried to lift the confidence of my players. I have done everything this week.

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Russia set to miss World Indoor Athletics ChampionshipsRussia set to miss World Indoor Athletics Championships

November 20, 2015November 20, 2015

Russia set to miss World Indoor Athletics Championships

Russian athletes face missing the 2016 World Indoor Championships because a review of its anti-doping programme will not be finished by March.

Russia was provisionally suspended from world athletics after an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report alleged “state-sponsored doping”.

IAAF inspectors will start work next year to decide whether Russia can be re-admitted to competition.

But the World Indoors start on 17 March in Portland, Oregon.

An International Association of Athletics Federations statement announced the timetable for the inspection team, saying: “It is planned that the inspection team mission will commence the verification process no later than 1 January 2016. A first report back at the earliest to the IAAF council at their meeting in Cardiff will be on 27 March 2016.”

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