Legia Warsaw have been fined €80,000 for crowd disturbances and their supporters banned from the club’s next Champions League game at Borussia Dortmund on Nov. 22, UEFA said yesterday.
The incidents occurred during the 5-1 defeat at Real Madrid on October 18.
UEFA added that the Polish team’s fans were also provisionally banned for two more away matches in European competition, deferring that additional sanction for a probationary period of one year.
Poyet set to lose Real Betis job
Gustavo Poyet is facing the sack as Real Betis coach after less than four months in charge of the Spanish top-flight club, media reports said yesterday.
According to the Seville daily ABC, the former Brighton and Hove Albion, Sunderland and AEK Athens coach flew to London on Thursday after taking his last training session with the struggling Andalusian side.
Betis have taken 11 points from 11 games under the Uruguayan and are 14th in La Liga, two points above the relegation zone.
Former Levante and Getafe coach Luis Garcia Plaza is the favourite to replace Poyet if his sacking is confirmed.
Smalling ‘broken toe’ reports denied
Manchester United have denied reports that defender Chris Smalling has a broken toe and could be absent until late December.
“The manager (Jose Mourinho) says it is not true,” a club representative told Reuters yesterday.
Mourinho appeared to question the commitment of Smalling and left-back Luke Shaw after the England internationals missed Sunday’s 3-1 win over Swansea City.
The Portuguese manager said that Smalling “doesn’t feel that he can play 100 per cent without pain. Both Smalling and Shaw were overlooked for England’s World Cup qualifier against Scotland last night.
Lukaku comments taken ‘out of context’
Manager Ronald Koeman’s comments that striker Romelu Lukaku might need to leave Everton to realise his potential have been completely “taken out of context”, the club’s majority shareholder and co-owner Farhad Moshiri has said.
Koeman was quoted as saying that “his (Lukaku’s) potential is greater and higher than Everton as a final destination” by Belgian newspaper HLN on Wednesday.
“It has been taken out of context,” Moshiri told talkSPORT.
Lukaku, who has scored seven of Everton’s 15 Premier League goals this season, was linked in the British media with a move away from Goodison Park during the close season but Koeman convinced the 23-year-old to withdraw his transfer request.
Wenger hopes Chile avoid Sanchez risk
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says Chile will be taking a “suicidal” risk if they select Alexis Sanchez for Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier against Uruguay as playing the winger could aggravate his hamstring injury.
Chile claim Sanchez picked up a “minor muscle injury” during training and subsequently missed Thursday’s World Cup qualifier goalless draw with Colombia.
“I got a text last night (to say) that he has a hamstring injury,” Wenger told beIN Sports.
“With a hamstring injury, we have to get access for our medical staff to the MRI scan to see what grade it is, how bad it is and make absolutely sure they don’t make any suicidal decision that could harm his future for two or three months.”
New deal for ’Pool academy director
Liverpool academy director Alex Inglethorpe has been rewarded with a new multi-year contract after overseeing the development of a number of youngsters for first-team duty.
Inglethorpe was promoted to his current role in August 2014 and has overseen significant changes which – combined with the influence of manager Jurgen Klopp – has helped accelerate the careers of several promising talents from the club’s Kirkby base.
This season has seen the likes of 18-year-olds Ovie Ejaria and Trent Alexander-Arnold make their first-team debuts.
Juventus’s De Sciglio rumours resurface
Juventus are lining up a bid for Milan full-back Mattia De Sciglio as a replacement for Stephan Lichtsteiner.
The 24-year-old has been repeatedly linked with a move to the Bianconeri, as he is familiar with current Juve boss Massimiliano Allegri who gave him his first senior appearance whilst at Milan.
According to Tuttosport, the Italian international is the preferred candidate to step in for Lichtsteiner who is widely expected to leave the Serie A champions by the end of this season.
De Sciglio’s contract with the Rossoneri runs until 2018.