Football news

Barcelona defender Dani Alves said yesterday he hopes Pep Guardiola will stay on as coach of the Spanish champions after his contract expires at the end of next season.

Guardiola, 40, hinted he may leave the club in an interview with Italian television channel Rai this month, saying: “I think my time is ending here in Barcelona.”

In an interview in El Mundo, Alves said he and the rest of the squad want him to stay on.

“We follow him with our eyes shut. He is very intelligent, he always knows what he is doing,” Alves said. “To not follow Guardiola would be foolish.

“Everyone has their cycle and one day his will come to an end. We hope his cycle will last for a very long time because we can’t imagine Barca without Guardiola.”

No Birmingham return for Hleb

Alexander Hleb has ruled out a return to Birmingham next season but the on-loan Barcelona player wants to remain in England.

Hleb, who set up the second goal in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Sunderland, believes City’s style of football is not suited to his game.

“Before, I thought teams like Birmingham were easy to play with but it is difficult when you play in such teams, not like Arsenal or Barcelona,” Hleb said.

“Here you need to just fight and run, not too much passing, and this for me is something new. I have enjoyed it in a way because it is something new. This is a different experience although I prefer to play and to enjoy football.”

Bayern confident on securing Neuer

Bayern Munich yesterday gave the strongest hints yet that Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer will soon be moving from Schalke 04 to the Bundesliga giants.

“There is a clear tendency,” Bayern’s director of sport Christian Nerlinger told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily. “Now it’s just a question of how quickly we can find a solution.”

Club president Uli Hoeness meanwhile was reported by several newspapers as having difficulty hiding his optimism that the 25-year-old Neuer will soon be in a Bayern strip.

“I know what his decision is. We will have to see what happens,” he said.

Bari looking to keep squad intact

Guido Angelozzi, sporting director of Bari, is hoping the club will keep hold of all of their key personnel if they are relegated from Serie A this season.

But Angelozzi said Bari, bottom of the table and 13 points adrift of safety, will be looking at retaining the services of coach Bortolo Mutti.

“Right now we think we are close but we meet at the end of season to evaluate the work to be done,” he said.

“Mutti is working fine, we will decide everything in the summer, including the choice of the coach.”

Pulis targets Wembley revenge

Stoke manager Tony Pulis (picture) has set his sights on a Wembley revenge mission against Manchester City after his side stormed into the FA Cup final with a 5-0 thrashing of Bolton.

Pulis suffered one of the worst days of his career against City when he led Gillingham to the League One play-off final at Wembley in 1999.

Gillingham were 2-0 ahead with just minutes left but conceded two late goals before eventually losing to Joe Royle’s City on penalties.

“I suppose it will mean more,” he said. “We didn’t deserve to lose that game and I had never been back to Wembley for a game since because of it.

“But it made me a much stronger person. You take things out of defeat as well as victory.”

Pato out for three games

Alexandre Pato will miss a significant part of Milan’s title run-in after being ruled out of the next three games with an injury.

The Brazil forward strained his right thigh muscle in Saturday’s 3-0 win at home to Sampdoria.

Pato had a scan on Sunday and the results confirmed that he will be sidelined for between two and three weeks.

Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri will have to do without Pato for tomorrow’s Coppa Italia semi-final with Palermo as well as upcoming Serie A matches against Brescia and Bologna.

Barca ‘on track’ to win treble – Deco

Barcelona are “on the right track” to win the treble again this season, the club’s former Portuguese international Deco said.

The Catalan club are eight points ahead in the league with just six matches remaining after they held Real Madrid to a 1-1 draw on Saturday. The two sides will meet again tomorrow in the King’s Cup final. They will also face off twice in the Champions League semi-finals.

“The way they are playing, Barca are on the right track to win another treble, although reaching the final of the Champions League will be difficult and winning it as well.

“In this tournament a single detail can be decisive,” Deco told Spanish sports daily Mundo Deportivo.