Bastia will play their next home match at a neutral stadium behind closed doors after their ground was closed by the French league on Thursday following the abandonment of their game against Olympique Lyon.

Officials called a halt to Sunday’s match after Lyon’s goalkeeper Anthony Lopes was attacked by a group of home fans as he left the pitch at halftime of the Ligue 1 clash.

The start of the match had already been delayed by nearly an hour when the Bastia supporters charged the visiting team during their warm-up, forcing Lyon’s players to flee the pitch.

Monchi’s move to Roma close

Outgoing Sevilla director of sport Monchi says he is destined for Roma “unless there is a twist”.

The 48-year-old is leaving Sevilla after almost three decades with the LaLiga club, and he has been heavily linked with a switch to the Italian capital.

When asked about the Giallorossi job, he told Spanish newspaper AS: “It is not finalised but it is close to being finalised. If everything goes as planned then I’ll join Roma, unless there is a twist.

“I remember when Marcelo arrived on a plane to sign for Sevilla but ended up at Real Madrid. That’s why I don’t want the bells to ring out until everything has been tied up.”

Clement defends striker Llorente

Swansea City manager Paul Clement has defended his leading scorer Fernando Llorente after the striker was criticised following their 1-0 Premier League defeat at Watford last weekend.

Data showed Llorente had sprinted less than 20 metres at Vicarage Road during the 81 minutes he was at the ground.

“We do look at the stats and believe it or not that is 20 metres more than he (Llorente) has done in other games,” Clement told reporters.

“At Liverpool (in January) – where he scored twice – he sprinted zero metres, it was the same against Watford.

“That figure would not have been mentioned if we had won at Watford, or played differently.”

I’m staying at Watford – Mazzarri

Walter Mazzarri is “100 per cent” certain he will be still be the manager at Watford next season after all-but securing the club’s Premier League status for another year.

Mazzarri, the Italian in his first campaign in charge of the Hertfordshire club, faced an uncertain future following a string of poor results.

But his Watford side reached the magic 40-point mark with victory against Swansea last weekend and will head to Hull 10th in the table following three victories from their last four games.

“As far as I am concerned I will be here 100 per cent next season,” Mazzarri said.

“I have a three-year contract here and something terrible must happen for me to leave.”

Mbappe release clause is high

Kylian Mbappe has a release clause in his Monaco contract that will cost “a lot of money” to trigger, sporting director Antonio Cordon has told Cadena Cope.

Forward Mbappe, 18, has produced a string of outstanding performances to help Monaco top Ligue 1 and reach the Champions League semifinals.

Real Madrid, Manchester City and Manchester United are among the clubs tracking Mbappe, with reports in the Spanish media suggesting Madrid could offer in the region of €100 million for him.

Mbappe signed his first professional contract just over a year ago, and Cordon said that deal included a release clause.

“Yes, he has one – but it’s a lot, a lot of money,” he said. “I didn’t do Mbappe’s contract and I can’t tell you the details of the clause, but it’s a lot of money.”

Gabigol to go out on loan

Inter forward Gabriel Barbosa will go out on loan next season if he does not get more regular playing time, his agent has told Fox Sports Brazil.

Barbosa, nicknamed Gabigol, has made only seven Serie A appearances and scored one goal since joining from Santos last summer.

His most recent appearance, in February, was 15 minutes as a substitute and agent Wagner Ribeiro said: “I’ve just got back from Milan, where I spoke to Inter directors.

“We will resolve the issue in that if he does not play, or rather he is not given a chance – and I don’t mean necessarily in the starting XI – we will send him out on loan to another European club.”

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