Stefano Pioli is paying no attention to his poor record against Massimiliano Allegri ahead of Milan s crunch clash with Juventus at San Siro on Sunday.

Milan boss Pioli has lost 11 and drawn four of his 15 meetings with Allegri in Serie A – the longest winless run for one head coach against another in the three-points-per-win era 

That includes a 1-1 draw in their most recent meeting four months ago when Ante Rebic cancelled out an early Alvaro Morata opener.

The Rossoneri are seven points better off than Juve with 22 games played, however, and Pioli is looking to end his disappointing run against Allegri in this latest encounter.

I don t like to look back too much, he said at Saturday s pre-match news conference. The past doesn t count, only tomorrow…

Pep Guardiola bemoaned Manchester City s lack of precision as they were held to a 1-1 Premier League draw by Aston Villa on Saturday.

City looked to be heading to the top of the table when Erling Haaland prodded home from close range five minutes into the second half.

The former Borussia Dortmund striker has now scored 10 goals in his first six Premier League games – the joint-fastest a player has reached that total, along with Mick Quinn in December 1992.

He is also just the fifth player to score in each of their first three away appearances in the Premier League, after Peter Beardsley, Jurgen Klinsmann, Francesco Baiano and Alen Boksic.

However, Leon Bailey s first Premier League goal since September 2021 ensured the spoils were shared, as the Jamaica…

Market: Norwich win

Odds: 19/20 @

Hoping to extend on their unbeaten run when they return from the international break, Norwich will make the trip to Blackpool on Saturday afternoon.

Starting with the hosts, while Blackpool might have opened September with a much-needed victory away at Huddersfield, it appears that was just a minor blip for Michael Appleton s side. Last seen heading into the international break with another downbeat display as they were hit with a 2-1 loss away at Millwall, the Orangers have now lost three of their last four Championship outings. With that run highlighted by a dreadful 3-0 drumming away at Rotherham, the former Portsmouth boss does find some pressure on his shoulders at Bloomfield Road. Marking their return to action this weeken…

Avoiding what would have been another World Cup banana skin on Saturday night, Argentina booked their World Cup quarter-final ticket with a 2-1 victory against Australia.

While the South American giants might have opened their Qatar quest with an infamous 2-1 loss at the hands of Saudi Arabia last month, La Albiceleste have come roaring back over the past fortnight.

With attacking icon Lionel Messi stealing all of the headlines on a record-breaking night for the seven-time Ballon d Or winner, the PSG superstar opened the scoring 10 minutes before the interval with a sublime solo strike.

Watching Manchester City s Julian Alvarez double Argentina s lead before Australia mounted a late surge following Enzo Fernandez s unfortunate own goal, Lionel Scaloni s men were…

Ryan Gravenberch has impressed with his performances for Liverpool so far this season, and he says it is a result of the trust shown to him by Arne Slot.

The midfielder joined Liverpool from Bayern Munich last September and made 26 Premier League appearances under Jurgen Klopp, but only started 12 of those games.

Gravenberch has played in all but one of the Reds games in all competitions so far this season, only missing their EFL Cup win over West Ham, and has become an integral part of Slot s set-up in the deeper-lying midfield role.

The Dutchman has won possession 42 times, more than anyone in the team, and has also won the most duels (41) and made the second-most interceptions (12), only behind Virgil van Dijk (17).

Liverpool sit top of the Premier Lea…

Luuk de Jong scored the only goal of the game as a severely depleted Barcelona edged past Real Mallorca 1-0 in LaLiga on Sunday.

Xavi described the decision to force the Blaugrana to play as crazy  after they were hit with a spate of COVID-19 cases during the mid-season break, but his makeshift side coped admirably against Luis Garcia s men.

De Jong – who had already hit the woodwork twice – headed in his second league goal of the campaign in the 44th minute to seal just a second win in Barca s last six games across all competitions.

The result moved the Catalan giants up to fifth – one point behind fourth-placed Atletico Madrid – while Mallorca remained in 15th.

H A P P Y N E W Y E A R !

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona)

Barca…

Netherlands head coach Ronald Koeman was left perplexed by Virgil van Dijk s frustrating red card in his side s 1-1 draw with Hungary on Friday.

Van Dijk, making his 77th appearance for his country, received the first dismissal of his international career with two yellow cards in the space of three minutes in the second half.

The first booking stemmed from his protests to referee Lukas Fahndric after a foul on Donyell Malen, before committing a foul soon after to receive his marching orders.

Van Dijk s dismissal looked to have settled the contest after Roland Sallai had smashed home Zsolt Nagy s cross to hand Hungary a goal advantage in the first half.

But the Netherlands drew level four minutes after going down to 10 men when Denzel Dumfries headed Cod…

Son Heung-min returned to scoring form to help Tottenham claim a 2-0 victory over West Ham, propelling them into the Premier League s top four.

With Antonio Conte back in Italy recovering from emergency gallbladder surgery earlier this month, stand-in head coach Cristian Stellini was again charged with leading Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Stellini made it two wins from two games in temporary charge as substitute Son sealed the points with his first league goal since January 4 after Emerson nosed Spurs ahead in the 56th minute.

West Ham s defeat leaves them in the bottom three while Spurs, who lost heavily to Leicester City last week then went down to Milan in the Champions League, leapfrogged Newcastle United into fourth place.

There were warni…

England Under-21s’ match-winner Anthony Gordon was frustrated not to have taken more chances to make their 1-0 European Championship quarter-final victory over Portugal more comfortable.

However, he praised the resilience of the side after a fourth successive clean sheet at the tournament. England’s youngsters came under late pressure from their opponents, who came closest to equalising when Henrique Araujo’s header rebounded off the crossbar.

“You’re going to get chances and it’s up to me to finish them,” Newcastle winger Gordon, playing as a central striker, said in his post-match press conference after sweeping home in the 34th minute.

“I probably should have had one or two more, which I’m a bit gutted about.

“I’m extremely tired …

Paris St Germain have granted superstar striker Kylian Mbappe permission to talk to Al Hilal after the Saudi Arabian club submitted a world-record £259million offer, the PA news agency understands.

The 24-year-old has not signed a one-year extension to his existing PSG deal, meaning he will be a free agent next summer and able to walk away for nothing.

The player, who starred in France’s 2018 World Cup success and again as Les Bleus reached the final in Qatar last year, was left out of PSG’s squad for a pre-season tour of Japan.

That move by PSG made it clear to other clubs the player was available for sale this summer, sparking Al Hilal’s gigantic 300m euro bid.

Sources close to the French club say there has also been interest in the player from o…