TheDailySoccerNews.com

Bayern Munich and Germany legend Franz Beckenbauer has offered a stark assessment of the state of Italian football, claiming the stadiums are not good enough and that players are no longer attracted by the prospect of playing in Serie A.
From the 2012-13 season, Serie A will have just three Champions League places, while the Bundesliga will have four, after Germany took an insurmountable lead over Italy in the UEFA co-efficients rankings that decide the number of spots allocated to each country in European competition.

This comes despite Italy boasting the current European champions in Inter Milan, though the Nerazzurri face an uphill battle to retain their trophy after losing at home to Bayern in their last-16 first leg.

Serie A leaders AC Milan were eliminated from the Champions League at the hands of Tottenham last week, as were Roma after falling to Shakhtar Donetsk. There are no Italian teams in the last-16 of the Europa League.

“Before, everybody wanted to play in Serie A, but this is clearly no longer the case,” Beckenbauer said on Calcio Mercato. (continue reading…)

Ac Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has revealed he turned down a lucrative move to Manchester City.
The 29-year-old instead moved to Italian giants Ac Milan from Barcelona on-loan last summer and does not regret the decision at all.
He claims to have rejected a big money offer from the Manchester club as he wanted to win trophies and he feels City are still a few years away from winning trophies.
Ibrahimovic, the Serie A leaders’ top scorer with 17, said: “I had a couple of talks with City and they had a fantastic project going on but I’m not one of those players who plays for money.
“For me it’s important to see what kind of future there is and what kind of possibilities there are. For me, the project of City is not for now.
“I think in a couple of years City will come top but Milan are at the top now and I want to be playing at the top when I’m 29 rather than 32.
“City have made some good investments and are playing well.
“But it was not about money. If you are a great player, there is money everywhere.

Inter Milan have named Leonardo as their new coach in succession to the sacked Rafael Benitez.

The appointment was confirmed in a statement on the Italian club’s official website.

“Leonardo has just signed a contract with Inter until June 30, 2012,” it read.

“Everybody at Inter wishes to welcome Leonardo. He will take charge from December 29 when training resumes. The club will make an announcement over the next few days regarding his official presentation.

“We are sure that with his class, experience and winning mentality the club and the team can achieve the results that everyone at Inter and all the Inter fans want to see.”
Leonardo, 41, was a member of Brazil’s 1994 World Cup winning squad, but spent a season in charge of Inter’s bitter city rivals AC Milan after taking over from Carlo Ancelotti, who went to English Premier League Chelsea.

He spent four years with Milan as a player and then seven as part of the coaching staff, before succeeding Ancelotti. (continue reading…)

Milan would be seeking to get a win over Roma and in the process extend their lead over Roma to a 13 point gap when they break for the winter break.

Claudio Ranieri’s side has a lot to make up after a poor start to their season. A defeat to Milan for Roma would all but surely end their chances of landing the scudetto for them.

Roma would be hoping to extend their good run against Milan as they have won three of their last five trips to Milan in all competitions. But last Sunday they displayed a very poor show against bottom club Bari and going by that form they will struggle this season.

Francesco Totti saw a penalty saved and Roma?s winning goal, scored by Juan, came from an offside position.

Meanwhile, Milan a six point lead over their rivals going into the weekend fixtures. Last weekend they beat Bologna 3-0 was impressive especially the showing by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. (continue reading…)

Both of these teams have one target in mind and that is to challenge A.C Milan for the scudetto title. Neither side would be happy with the draw as it would do them no good here.

Juventus were not too bothered about being eliminated from the Europa League as they can now concentrate fully on Serie A. They beat Catania 3-1 in their last match and showed no signs of mourning from the exit from Europe. It has also been almost two months since they last tasted defeat.

Simone Pepe would be back for this clash after recovering froma flu bug. Up front Vincenzo Iaquinta will partner the inspired Fabio Quagliarella for the home side.

For Lazio their problem reveolves around the left back position. Stefan Radu has undergone an operation on his right meniscus and will be out until January. Luis Cavanda is expected to start in that position instead.

In central midfielder, coach Edy Reja must consider three names for two spots. It seems very likely that Cristian Ledesma will be on the bench in favour of the greater experience of Cristian Brocchi and Francelino Matuzalem. (continue reading…)

This is an early kickoff on Friday night and both sides having suffered a drop in form will want to get the better of each other here when they clash at the Olimpico Stadium.

Lazio will welcome the visit of Inter Milan whom they have failed to beat in 13 attempts. Lazio could only draw with Catania in their last match and that could have been far more worse if Catania’s strikers took their chances well on the night.

Lazio only managed to collect 5 points from their last 15 points available to them and the likes of the likes of Stefano Mauri, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Cristian Ledesma and Cristian Brocchi have not been performing to their true abilities. Sergio Floccari is also a striker who have not been getting the goals and is a cause for concern despite scoring five goals. Meanwhile, Mauro Zarate and Hernanes are averaging one shot on target roughly every 60 minutes. (continue reading…)

Match of the week as Inter Milan faces A.C Milan in the Milan derby with everything to play for as Milan are top of the table, Inter in crisis and Zlatan Ibrahimovic returning to face his former club.

A.C Milan have reinforced their squad and brought in former Inter hero Ibrahimovic, who will be guaranteed a hot reception here no doubt. All eyes will be on him as he only scored twice for Inter in the derby. He will shoulder more burden here as Alexandre Pato and Pippo Inzaghi are out of action. Both limped off on Wednesday evening and the veteran?s season is effectively over after knee ligament surgery.

Ronaldinho could return to the team after he was dropped for the wins over Bari and Palermo. If he does not return, Clarence Seedorf another ex-Inter star can keep his place in the side. Robinho scored in midweek but missed several open chances that came his way. Andrea Pirlo also joined Milan from Inter many years ago but he is rated doubtful for this clash after picking up a thigh problem before the Palermo game. (continue reading…)

Clash of the heavyweights as Juventus welcomes Roma to the Stadio Olimpico clash. It will be several interesting reunions as Claudio Ranieri, Gigi Del Neri and Alberto Aquilani face their former clubs here.

Both sides started the season in poor form but have did remarkably well and are only a point apart going into the Stadio Olimpico tonight. Juventus have the upper hand in fifth place despite an extraordinary injury crisis that has ruled out Gianluigi Buffon, Milos Krasic, Nicola Legrottaglie, Leandro Rinaudo, Zdenek Grygera, Paolo De Ceglie, Jorge Martinez and Alex Manninger out of this clash.

Meanwhile former Roma defender Marco Motta is also suspended, but Amauri and Felipe Melo are fit again after missing the midweek 1-1 draw with Brescia. In defence Del Neri has had to rely on Hasan Salihamidzic and Fabio Grosso, who were frozen out while they awaited a January sale, but had to be used as they are short of players.

In the new look Juventus side, there is still a lot of Roma in it. That also includes youth academy products Aquilani and Simone Pepe. Coach Del Neri had a brief spell on the Giallorossi bench in 2004-05, stepping in for Rudi Voller in September only to resign after 24 games in charge. (continue reading…)

Inter are believed to be tending towards making a move for Liverpool defender Daniel Agger, as Walter Samuel is sidelined for the remainder of the season.

The 32-year-old sustained ligament damage to his knee during the recent 1-1 draw with Brescia, and scans later revealed that he will not play any part in the club’s plans for the rest of the season.

Rafael Benitez now has one less defender in his pool of choices, and The Mirror reports that the Dane appears to be his first-choice as a replacement for the injured defender.

But for his part, the left-footed Red has himself missed a significant part of this term owing to a calf injury, but it has been reported that Benitez believes that the player will recover from his problem before January.

Agger has made six league appearances for Liverpool this season.