Schalke: Schalke have announced the appointment of Christian Heidel as their director of sport from next season. Heidel will arrive after 24 years in a similar position with Mainz and will take the place of Horst Heldt, whose contract will not be renewed when it expires in June. Heidel was in Gelsenkirchen to present his vision to the board members before they took a vote on his appointment.

Neville: Valencia secured their third straight win in a week under head coach Gary Neville, this time in the shape of a 2-1 Primera Division victory at Granada. Midfielder Daniel Parejo broke the deadlock early in the second half and substitute Santi Mina added a late second before Granada pulled one back through Edgar Mendez deep into stoppagetime.

Clean sheet: A third successive clean sheet proved the high point of Saturday’s win in the Dutch league for PSV Eindhoven coach Philip Cocu as his team prepare to host Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday. PSV extended their lead at the top of the domestic standings by beating Heracles Almelo 2-0 in a performance that pleased Cocu as he looked ahead to the first leg of the Champions League last 16 clash.

Arrested: A man has been arrested after allegedly throwing a lighter on to the pitch at Stamford Bridge during Chelsea’s 5-1 FA Cup fifth-round win over Manchester City yesterday, the Metropolitan Police said. Chelsea vowed to support any criminal prosecution and ban any supporter found responsible after it appeared objects were thrown from the lower section of the Matthew Harding Stand as City celebrated David Faupala’s equaliser after 37 minutes of the match. And an individual was swiftly identified and taken into police custody.

Olympiakos: Runaway Super League leaders Olympiakos Piraeus are just one win away from sealing a 43rd Greek title after recording a powerful 4-0 home win over Atromitos yesterday. Marco Silva’s reigning champions, now on 64 points, extended their lead to 18 points over second-placed AEK, and the Red and Whites can, mathematically, wrap up the title with three points from next week’s home match against strugglers Veria.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.