European Football Thread

[DavidMarrio]

That is a wonderfully dickish move.  

[Lineker]

Villarreal are 2-0 up against Real!

[Lineker]

...lol, Real won 3-2.

[Baddar]

Such a shit 3rd goal to concede, too.

[Lineker]

Wolfsburg have confirmed that Arsenal’s academy manager, Andries Jonker, will take over as their new coach.

Jonker, who replaced Liam Brady at Arsenal in 2014, previously served as an assistant at the Bundesliga club having also worked under Louis van Gaal with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Holland. The 54-year-old Dutchman has signed a contract until the end of next season will replace former Crystal Palace defender Valérien Ismaël, who was sacked following the 2-1 home defeat to Werder Bremen that left Wolfsburg only two points outside the relegation zone.

At a press conference, Jonker revealed that former Arsenal and Sweden midfielder Freddie Ljungberg, who worked with him at the Gunners academy, would be joining him as an assistant coach.

[Lineker]

Luis Enrique is leaving Barcelona at the end of the season, citing exhaustion. 

[MDK]

Been a tough three years. 

[Lineker]

First major summer signing...

Borussia Dortmund have confirmed that Mahmoud Dahoud will join the club in the summer from Borussia Mönchengladbach as Thomas Tuchel’s side continue to recruit some of Europe’s most promising young players.

A number of clubs including Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Juventus had registered an interest in signing the midfielder, who has impressed for Gladbach this season despite their struggles in the Bundesliga. The 20-year-old had refused to sign a new contract, with his representatives making clear that he was interesting in leaving at the end of the season with only one year remaining on his deal.

However, Dortmund were always confident that he would choose them having held negotiations since the turn of the year and their sporting director, Michael Zorc, confirmed on Thursday that Dahoud will move to the Westfalenstadion on a five-year deal.

“Mo Dahoud is a highly talented and exciting player for the central midfield, who we have been watching intensively for several years,” he said. “He has already demonstrated that he can play at the top level.”

The fee for Dahoud, who was born in Syria, is understood to be in the region of £10.3m (€12m), with Gladbach also confirming the news on their website. “It was a very tough decision for Mo. It’s a shame that we’re losing a talent like him, but we have always managed to compensate for departures in the past,” said the sporting director, Max Eberl. “It was important for the player and the club that a decision was reached. Now it’s off our minds and we can move on.”

Dahoud was only 10 months old when his family fled the largely Kurdish town of Amuda on Syria’s northern border with Turkey. He was considered as a potential member of Joachim Löw’s Euro 2016 squad and has represented Germany at various youth levels.

The signing can be considered as something of a coup for Dortmund. In January, they beat Real Madrid to the Swedish teenager Alexander Isak and have also recruited Ousmane Dembélé from the French club Rennes and the Turkey winger Emre Mor from FC Nordsjaelland in the past 12 months.

[Baddar]

This Ajax-Feyenoord match has been thoroughly entertaining up to now. 

And Ajax have gone 2-0 up. Not great for Lars so far.

[EddieG]

4 hours ago, Baddar said:

This Ajax-Feyenoord match has been thoroughly entertaining up to now. 

And Ajax have gone 2-0 up. Not great for Lars so far.

Just forget about me, then.  

[Baddar]

Wasn't even aware you were still here!

[MDK]

7 hours ago, Baddar said:

This Ajax-Feyenoord match has been thoroughly entertaining up to now. 

And Ajax have gone 2-0 up. Not great for Lars so far.

Oh, you should have been here to see his face

[Baddar]

I hope you got pics.

[MDK]

4 minutes ago, Baddar said:

I hope you got pics.

Someone did, I think.

[Lineker]

[Lineker]

Tony Adams has been confirmed as Granada’s manager until the end of the season after Lucas Alcaraz was sacked on Monday.

The former Arsenal captain, 50, was appointed as the Spanish side’s sporting director by Chinese owner Jiang Lizhang last week but will now take charge of the club of its final seven matches of the league campaign as they attempt to avoid relegation. Adams, whose last managerial post was in charge of Azerbaijani club Gabala FC in 2011, is a close confidante of Lizhang and also acts as vice-president of his DDMC Football Club Management Company.

“After assessing the situation in the team is in, Granada CF has decided to part company with Lucas Alcaraz and his coaching staff,” read a club statement.

“In his place, the club has total confidence in Tony Adams, vice-president of DDMC, as head coach of Granada CF until the end of the season.”

Adams, who retired in August 2002 having led Arsenal to four championship and three FA Cups, began his managerial career at Wycombe in 2003 before taking over at Portsmouth in 2009.

Granada are currently seven points adrift of safety with only seven games to go and have failed to win in the league since 1 March.

[Cymbols]

That's...a really weird appointment. There's something a bit off about Adams, and who he knows. He was involved with the Azerbaijani group that tried to buy Villa a while back, was all a bit strange. 

[Colly]

Bastia v Lyon is getting a bit silly. Massive delay at the start when Bastia fans attacked Lyon players in the warmup, and now another delay as the stewards are doing it now. Scenes.

[MDK]

25 minutes ago, Colly said:

Bastia v Lyon is getting a bit silly. Massive delay at the start when Bastia fans attacked Lyon players in the warmup, and now another delay as the stewards are doing it now. Scenes.

Its been abandoned, apparently?

[MDK]

Crikey, what an El Classico this has been