Chelsea’s Diego Costa will not face retrospective FA action after appearing to kick out at Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany on Wednesday evening.
There had been suggestions Costa could miss a chunk of the Premier League run-in after appearing to kick out at City defender Kompany, but the striker will not face any sanction.
Referee Mike Dean saw the second-half incident and dealt with it at the time, meaning there will not be any retrospective FA action.
Neither Chelsea boss Antonio Conte nor City counterpart Pep Guardiola saw Costa catch Kompany with his studs in midfield.
“I didn’t see it, but during the game it’s very difficult,” Conte said.
City owners buy Uruguay club
The owners of Manchester City have expanded their portfolio of clubs by purchasing Uruguayan second division outfit Atletico Torque.
The City Football Group has announced the Montevideo-based side will become part of a network of clubs that already includes Manchester City, New York City, Melbourne City and Yokohama F Marinos.
CFG has also entered into a “collaboration agreement” with Atletico Venezuela of the Venezuelan Primera Division.
The two deals will give CFG a foothold in South America that will help it develop players while the scouting presence available to City in that continent will also be doubled.
Chung to launch CAS appeal
Chung Mong-joon is taking his fight against a lengthy ban from football to the Court of Arbitration for Sport as part of a decades-long battle to reform the game’s governing body, the former FIFA vice-president said yesterday.
The South Korean’s bid to replace Sepp Blatter as FIFA president was torpedoed in 2015 when the governing body banned him from all football-related activities for six years and fined him 100,000 Swiss francs ($99,800) following a probe into corruption.
Chung, a billionaire scion of South Korea’s Hyundai industrial conglomerate, denied all wrongdoing and vowed to take the case to sport’s highest tribunal but had to wait to receive a ‘reasoned decision’ from FIFA, which arrived last month.
Inter linked with Sevilla’s Sampaoli
Inter are considering a move for Sevilla’s Jorge Sampaoli after current coach Stefano Pioli failed to convince the new owners he could lead the side to success in future, Sky Sports said yesterday.
Inter lifted their game by several notches after Pioli came in for Frank de Boer but the 2-1 upset at home to Sampdoria on Monday all but dashed their top-three place hopes.
Owners Suning Group have already made approaches for Antonio Conte or Diego Simeone but with the two coaches likely to stay where they are at Chelsea and Atletico Madrid respectively, Inter have now turned their sights on Sampaoli.
Irish women drop boycott threat
Members of Ireland’s women’s team have dropped a threat to boycott their next international match after they reached an agreement with the country’s football association to improve what they had called “humiliating” working conditions.
On Tuesday, 14 players urged the association to begin paying match fees and to allow them to keep tracksuits after they were forced to change in and out of a shared kit at the public toilets of an airport.
Among their requests, the players asked that they be paid a match fee of €300, receive gym membership and stay in hotels that had “at the very least” a working and reliable Wi-Fi connection.
Hodgson to work at Melbourne City
Former England manager Roy Hodgson is to work with Manchester City’s sister club in Australia for the next month.
Hodgson, who has been out of the game since leaving his England role after Euro 2016, will advise coaches at Melbourne City in the coming weeks, PA Sport reported.
The arrangement is purely on a consultancy basis, with Hodgson not in consideration for the manager’s position at the A-League outfit.
Michael Valkanis is coaching the side in a caretaker capacity having been appointed following the departure of John van ‘t Schip in January.