Italy: Inter Milan have clinched their 20th Scudetto, beating local rivals Milan 2-1 at the San Siro. Inter took the lead in the 18th minute through Francesco Acerbi and added a second from Marcus Thuram in the 49th. Milan pulled one back 10 minutes from time through Fikayo Tomori. The game was bad tempered at times, Milan had Theo Hernández and Davide Calabria sent off and Inter’s Denzel Dumfries was also red-carded. The victory meant Inter went 17 points clear of second-placed Milan with five games to go. They have lost just once this season in Serie A and have scored 79 goals ..read more

ITALIAN football has rarely let teams from outside the Milan-Turin axis into the title race. Not even the capital, Rome, has a lengthy list of major honours. Parma, a city known for food production rather than football, had a spell when it threatened to challenge for major honours. Between 1991 and 1996, Parma finished in the top six in Serie A in five out of six seasons. They won two European trophies and the Coppa Italia and had an exciting side that made life uncomfortable for the aristocrats of Italy. Before winning promotion in 1990, Parma had spent most of their history in Serie B and C ..read more

THE 20 Premier League clubs made a combined pre-tax loss of £ 833 million in 2022-23, with only Brighton, Manchester City, Bournemouth and Brentford in profit. The league’s revenues were up by 11% to £ 6. 1 billion, with £ 4 billion being spent on wages, representing 66% of income. Thirty years earlier, the wage-to-income ratio was 47%. In 2022-23, Premier clubs paid out a record £ 2.9 billion in the transfer market, with around 25% of that total spent by Chelsea. Around 53% of income was attributable to broadcasting, while 33% came from commercial activity. Matchday contributed 14%. There was ..read more

THE quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League produced eight exciting games, but the outcome, while very interesting, produced no seismic events. As ever, Real Madrid are there, looking ominous and sniffing around for their next trophy, joined by Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain. The only major surprise was the defeat of Manchester City, but how can you call losing at the hands of Real Madrid a shock? But there was no doubt the competition really came alive in the quarter-finals. There had certainly been something missing this season, a lack of a truly memorable 90 mi ..read more

NO MATTER what industry or company, when the chief announces he or she is leaving in several months’ time, there is a loss of power, impetus and focus. The boss will not be the boss in the near future, so human nature changes the dynamic. Those that were close to the boss are nervous because their sponsor is leaving. Those that didn’t like the boss are relieved, even excited. For everyone, the uncertainty that comes with a change of management can be destructive. From football’s perspective, revealing a coach is leaving at the end of the current season several months before it is due to happen ..read more

PSV Eindhoven need just four points to be absolutely certain of the Dutch Eredivisie title, their first since 2018. PSV beat Vitesse 6-0  to take their points total to 81, nine ahead of Feyenoord. Luuk de Jong scored twice and Hirving Lozano also got on the scoresheet. PSV may reach 100 points, they now have a goal difference of plus 78. Feyenoord, thanks to an 18th minute goal from Dávid Hancko, won 1-0 at Fortuna Sittard. Ajax, still way behind, beat third-placed Twente 2-1, coming from behind to win with a Steven Bergwijn penalty. PSV are away at Heerenveen on Thursday ..read more

THIS year’s Women’s FA Cup final will be between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. The semi-finals saw United surprisingly beat holders Chelsea 2-1 in front of just under 7,000 people. United took the lead after 60 seconds through Lucy Garcia and added a second with a Rachel Williams header on 23. Lauren James pulled one back in first half added time. England keeper Mary Earps pulled off some fine saves to keep Chelsea at bay, but United hung on to avenge their cup final defeat last season. Tottenham also won 2-1 against Leicester City at the Tottenham stadium, watched by a cr ..read more

WHO WOULD have thought Bayern Munich’s reign at the top of German football would be ended in 2024 and by a club that had never won the Bundesliga before? Bayer Leverkusen’s triumph is fully deserved and, appropriately, it was clinched with a 5-0 victory against Werder Bremen. The celebrations could continue for some time because Leverkusen have a DFB Pokal final to look forward to and they have one foot in the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League. Nobody has beaten them this season and it is difficult to see who might lower their colours for the first time. Much of the credit has been given t ..read more

MY local club could well be relegated this season. They have been in freefall for months, losing 10 of their last 12 home games and eight of their last nine away. They have won twice in 21 and their last home success was at the end of October. It has been a shambolic campaign that started with so much promise. Now, they have two fixtures remaining and they are one point ahead of the team occupying the last relegation spot. The battle to avoid the trapdoor will undoubtedly go to the final weekend of the season. Already, the gloomsters are predicting the club will fall all the way through to ste ..read more

RUSSIAN football has become a pariah; the country’s clubs and its national team are banned by UEFA/FIFA, foreign players have gone home or have joined clubs outside of Russia and nobody is paying too much attention to what’s going on. While Russia continues its onslaught on Ukraine, football seems irrelevant and frivolous.  Russian football has not been in a good place for a while, and the current situation can only make things worse in the long-term. Zenit St. Petersburg, the club owned by Gazprom, have won the Premier League for the past five years and they are currently top of the tabl ..read more