European Football Thread

[Lineker]

Milan have handed Stefano Pioli a two-year extension to his contract as head coach after the team went 10 games unbeaten. The club had already offered the job to Ralf Rangnick, who had agreed to take over for the 2020-21 season, and are likely to have to pay the former RB Leipzig manager compensation.

[gunnar hendershow]

Ah yes that's certainly good for morale over in Leipzig.

[Cymbols]

1 hour ago, damsher hatfield said:

Ah yes that's certainly good for morale over in Leipzig.

He’s not the current Leipzig manager to be fair. He’s got a job with Red Bull in sport development, but isn’t involved with any specific team.

[Lineker]

Unai Emery is back in football - he's been appointed as the new head coach of Villarreal.

[gunnar hendershow]

First match in France in over 4 months did not disappoint.

Loic Perrin is a St Etienne legend I am told and this was his final match for the club.

[Colly]

What we in the business call "doing a Shola".

[Benjamin]

"The Zizou Special". 

[Lineker]

Quote

Austrian second-tier side Floridsdorfer AC have apologised for a 9-0 defeat which allowed opponents Ried to win promotion on goal difference, but denied that they behaved improperly.

Ried finished top of Austria’s Second League above Austria Klagenfurt, who beat Wacker Innsbruck 6-1 in the final matches on Friday. Ried’s goal difference was 34 to Klagenfurt’s 29. Only the champions are promoted to the top flight.

“Yesterday’s defeat at SV Ried still causes us headaches and consternation,” Floridsdorfer said in a statement on Saturday. “We are aware that we disappointed many people with yesterday’s performance. We would like to apologise on behalf of the entire Floridsdorfer Sports Club for the desolate and unprofessional performance of our team.”

However, the statement added: “We vehemently defend ourselves against various accusations that are circulating. In the coming days and weeks, we will intensively analyse and process yesterday’s events.”

Klagenfurt coach Robert Micheu complained that Floridsdorfer had allowed five players to go on holiday and added: “We scored a goal, then Ried scored again - very interesting.”

There was no immediate comment from the Austrian league.

[Lineker]

Quote

Coronavirus travel bans could force clubs to drop out of European competition, according to Uefa.

With the final stages of the 2019-20 Europa League and Champions League set to be played out over the coming weeks, largely at neutral venues, the European governing body has been setting out protocols for what would happen in the event of a resurgence of Covid-19.

A new regulation, which will apply to the qualifying rounds and play-offs of next season’s competitions, would involve a club forfeiting a tie if their national or local government applied travel restrictions that affected their opponents.

The rule requires clubs to inform Uefa of travel restrictions 48 hours before any draw. If they are drawn against a club from a banned country, they must find a neutral venue for their home tie.

If a travel ban is imposed after the 48-hour deadline, the home club could face severe consequences.

“In such cases, the club whose national/local authorities have imposed restrictions preventing the match from taking place as scheduled will be held responsible and the match will be declared by the Uefa Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body to be forfeited by such club, which will be considered to have lost it 3-0,” the text of the rules explains.

Tottenham are set to be drawn in the second qualifying round of the Europa League, the draw for which is to take place at the end of this month. English clubs are not at risk of being affected by Uefa’s rule because government guidance provides travel exemptions to elite athletes coming from countries which might otherwise be expected to quarantine.

[The Lusophone]

Pirlo was only made Juve U23 manager 9 days ago and now...

Andrea Pirlo is going to be the new Juventus manager. He has been choosen by the president Andrea Agnelli. Last details to be completed... and here we go ⚪️⚫️ @SkySport @DiMarzio #Juventus

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 8, 2020

[The Lusophone]

Here we go!

UFFICIALE ✍️ Andrea Pirlo nuovo allenatore della Prima Squadra ➡️ https://t.co/gFxYuC28cj#CoachPirlo pic.twitter.com/6xWUAJ5u19

— JuventusFC (#Stron9er 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆) (@juventusfc) August 8, 2020

OFFICIAL. Andrea Pirlo is the new Juventus manager. Confirmed. ⚪️⚫️🤝 @juventusfc #Pirlo

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 8, 2020

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Italian football is wild.

[DavidMarrio]

Tbf to Pirlo he was unbeaten in those 9 days in charge of the U23s

[Lineker]

Robin van Persie has joined Feyenoord is a coach. Here's a quote: 

Coach Dick Advocaat is trying to persuade the 37-year-old to join his staff on a more permanent basis. The pair previously worked together at Turkish club Fenerbahçe. “I was supposed to join last season, but that didn’t happen. Dick called me and asked if I wanted to come. And you can’t say no to Dick.”

[DavidMarrio]

 

[Colly]

3 months too late but I've found my Bundesliga team.

[Twist]

I don’t wear football kits much anymore but might fork out for that to support the stance.

[Baddar]

Fabrizio says Ronald Koeman has been chosen to take over at Barca. Announcement coming this week.

[Szumi]

Abidal is the next head to be axed by Barca, unsurprisingly

[Bobfoc]

Koeman would be the fourth Dutch ex-Barcelona player to become manager.