Azzurri Some Day for Claudio Ranieri

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Claudio Ranieri has expressed an interest in managing Italy, saying he could “never rule out” taking over his country’s national team.

The 64-year-old’s remarkable success with Leicester City has significantly boosted his profile and led to Carlo Tavecchio, the president of the Italian football federation, suggesting he could one day lead Italy to World Cup glory, and even suggested Ranieri, who was born in Rome, could succeed Antonio Conte after he leaves the national team following their participation at Euro 2016 and joins Chelsea.

“I hope Ranieri can win a World Cup with Italy, that would be the best,” said Tavecchio. “I’m speaking in an abstract way, of course, and not necessarily about the next World Cup. Claudio is still young and will have time on his side.

“Have we thought about him as a replacement for Conte? It’s him who should be thinking about us!”

Ranieri’s previous experience of international management was with Greece, a post he was sacked from prior to taking over at Leicester last July.

“I’ll admit I was curious about coaching a national team, but my experience with Greece was sufficient,” Ranieri said in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport. “Of course, leading Italy would be something else. I’d never rule that out, and I’d like that very much. And Leicester, after all, have blue shirts just like the Azzurri.”

During the same interview, Ranieri admitted that he would have accepted a job in “the Football League” after being let go by Greece, such was his desire to return to England having previously managed in this country with Chelsea.

“Two other Premier clubs had contacted me but then they made other choices. Leicester convinced me because of their sense of leadership, their programs, and their facilities. They are perfectly organised,” said Ranieri. “When I met the players I told them: ‘I’ll take a bit of time to know you all because you are so many, but you will need to know a single person: me. I ask only one thing: that you give all you can for each other’. And they did.”

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Bad Kompany News for Belgium

Kompany injured in Madrid - Getty Images

Belgium suffered a blow on Saturday when skipper Vincent Kompany was ruled out of the EURO 2016 tournament with his latest in a series of muscular injuries.

"I'll miss the Euros. To me that's very sad news," the 30-year-old Manchester City captain wrote on his Facebook page.

"So I could be standing here, feeling sorry for myself. I could fear for my career, as others may do. I could give up...That is not me."

Kompany has been dogged by a series of injuries for most of the season and the defender limped out of the Champions League semi-final defeat to Real Madrid on Wednesday after just 10 minutes with a groin problem.

In Kompany's absence, it is expected that Chelsea's Eden Hazard is likely to captain Belgium at Euro 2016 which starts in France on June 10.

Belgium coach Marc Wilmots will also have a further defensive headache for the tournament as Barcelona centre-back Thomas Vermaelen is also injury prone and features little for the Spanish giants.

Recently, Belgian newspaper Le Soir calculated that in his 13-year career, Kompany has spent 1,045 days in hospital, highlighting his reputation as a player of brittle build.

At Manchester City, he has won the Premier League title on two occasions - in 2012 and 2014.

Kompany has suffered five different injuries this season, appearing in only 22 of City's 57 matches.

"So I remain calm and positive. I will continue to follow my path and I will do so with more conviction than ever," the 70-capped player wrote on Facebook.

"I trust my friends and teammates to do well and do us proud at the next European Championships in France. I am now officially their most fervent supporter and I will be there to support them.

"Written from my hospital bed. Never giving up."

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Dumoulin Wins Opening Giro Stage

Dumoulin in Apeldoorn - Getty Images

Tom Dumoulin won the opening individual time trial of the Giro d’Italia by the finest of margins in Apeldoorn on Friday. At the end of the flat 9.8km route the Dutchman beat Primoz Roglic of Slovenia by one hundredth of a second.

“It’s incredible. I can almost not describe it in words,” said Dumoulin, who added that he felt sick afterwards. “A hundredth of a second is a breath of air and that’s it.

“It’s better than I could have imagined. In front of my home crowd to get the most beautiful jersey in cycling is very special. I did no big mistakes. You always think you could have done this corner a bit better or that one … it wasn’t my best time trial but I’m wearing this jersey now. I will defend this as long as possible. I don’t think I have the level to compete in the real big mountains.”

Roglic took the lead off Dumoulin’s Giant-Alpecin team-mate, Tobias Ludvigsson, who had been in the hot seat for around 90 minutes. Ludvigsson eventually finished fourth, eight seconds behind the leading pair and two seconds behind the Costa Rican Andrey Amador.

Another time trial specialist, Fabian Cancellara, was hoping for a victory that would have handed him the first maglia rosa of his long career. But he was hampered by stomach flu and finished eighth, 14 seconds behind Dumoulin.

The overall favorite Vincenzo Nibali, the 2013 champion, was 19 seconds behind in 16th. “It was a very explosive time trial. I had to make a really big effort,” Nibali said. “It’s one stage out of the way now.

“I can be more than satisfied by what’s happened but let’s just keep our feet on the ground. One or two days before a Grand Tour you can feel nervous and I’m just happy we’re under way now.”

The Swiss rider Stefan Kung threatened to challenge Dumoulin’s lead as he was only one second slower at 4.8km but he crashed into the barriers and finished 16 seconds behind.

The 99th Giro continues in the Netherlands with two sprint stages before an early rest day and a transfer to Italy. The race ends in Turin on 29 May.

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No Blancs for Zlatan at Etihad

Zlatan

Laurent Blanc has warned Manchester City that Zlatan Ibrahimovic is determined to end their Champions League campaign at the Etihad Stadium.

Ibrahimovic is the chief obstacle standing in City’s way as they attempt to reach the Champions League semi-finals at the expense of Paris Saint-Germain.

The Sweden striker had a mixed night in the first leg of their quarter-final in France last week, scoring and hitting the bar but also missing a penalty and spurning another good chance in the 2-2 draw.

Ibrahimovic, 34, has had a fine season, scoring 30 goals in Ligue 1 for the runaway champions. He is out of contract at the end of the season and has been linked with a move to England, most recently with City’s rivals Manchester United.

Blanc expects him to be at his sharpest at the Etihad Stadium. He said: “We’re always a bit surprised when Zlatan misses a chance but when you’re a top goalscorer like him, you can miss a couple. Unfortunately for us he missed them in that game. He still scored, though, and he’s someone who is extremely demanding of himself.

“He wants to show something else tomorrow [Tuesday], he wants to be more clinical in front of goal. If we create as many chances as the first leg, I think his conversion rate will be a lot higher.”

PSG showed plenty of attacking impetus at the Parc des Princes as they recovered from a goal down to take the lead and, when Ibrahimovic hit the woodwork, it seemed they would win convincingly.

But both sides were prone to errors and Fernandinho pounced on one from PSG to equalise and keep the tie alive.

Blanc, who could have the midfielder Marco Verratti back after almost eight weeks out with a groin injury, knows improvements are necessary. He said: “We’ve analysed the first game and looked at the errors we made. There was too wide a gap between players, we were not compact enough and opened too much space for City.

“When you think of the players they’ve got, particularly going forward, they can create problems for a lot of teams, not just us. We need to perform at the highest possible level, a higher level than the first game.

“PSG are capable of qualifying but we know how difficult it will be. I would still like us to create as many chances as we created last week because I am pretty sure we would score a fair few more.”

Also hoping to make an impression will be Ángel Di María, on his first return to Manchester since his unhappy spell at United last season. United signed the former Real Madrid winger for a club-record £59.7m in 2014 but he was allowed to leave to join PSG last summer.

Blanc said: “I don’t think Ángel has anything to prove. He’s going to be under pressure, like we all will. He joined us to bring his experience in the competition – he has won the Champions League.”

Di María himself hopes PSG can get back to their best. The Argentinian told the club’s website, www.psg.fr: “We need to play the way we know how – control the ball, attack and take the chances that come our way. That’s how we’ve won our matches up until this point. It’s our style.”

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Kittel Wins Scheldeprijs in Belgium

Scheldeprijs

Marcel Kittel won the Scheldeprijs race in Belgium for a fourth time after beating Mark Cavendish in a sprint finish.

Cavendish, competing for the Dimension Data team, was also bidding for a fourth victory in the one-day race. The Briton, who won in 2007, 2008 and 2011, was well positioned on the wheel of Kittel entering the finishing straight. Cavendish attempted to round the German but the Etixx-QuickStep rider had enough to hold on and win by little more than a tyre’s-width after a photo finish.

Germany’s André Greipel was third for the Lotto-Soudal team. Kittel’s victory marked his fourth in five attempts at the event, with his run only broken by Alexander Kristoff’s victory in 2015.

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Premier League Interest - Zlatan

Zlatan Ibrahimovic says Premier League clubs are interested in signing him from French champions Paris St-Germain.

The 34-year-old, who is out of contract in the summer, has been linked with Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal.

"There has been interest and we will see where it leads," he said. "But it would have to be like a marriage, both sides have to want it as much."

Ibrahimovic has won league titles in four European countries.

After helping Ajax win two Dutch titles at the start of the century, he won two Serie A championships with Juventus - both later revoked because of the Calciopoli scandal - and three more with Inter Milan.

He then moved to Spain and claimed the La Liga title with Barcelona before returning to Italy to win the 2010-11 Serie A with AC Milan - his eighth successive league title.

After a season without silverware at Milan in 2011-12, Ibrahimovic moved to PSG, and the French side have won the past four Ligue 1 titles.

After scoring four goals in a 9-0 thrashing of Troyes earlier this month to seal this year's title, Ibrahimovic said: "For the moment, I will not be at PSG next season. I still have a month and a half left here.

"If they replace the Eiffel Tower with a statue of me, then I will stay."

Ibrahimovic has scored 62 international goals in 111 appearances, including a sensational 30-yard overhead bicycle kick in a 4-2 friendly win over England in 2012.

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Belgium Friendly Switched to Portugal

Belgium's friendly against Portugal next week has been switched from Brussels to Leiria in Portugal after Tuesday's attacks which killed more than 30 people in the Belgian capital.

Belgium had cancelled next week's friendly against Portugal in Brussels after Tuesday's attacks in the city, which killed more than 30 people. The Belgian Football Association says the city's authorities asked for Tuesday's match to be called off for "security reasons and precaution".

The national team cancelled a training session in the immediate aftermath of the suicide and bomb attacks.

Captain Vincent Kompany was "horrified and revolted" by the incidents.

"I wish for Brussels to act with dignity. We are all hurting, yet we must reject hate and its preachers. As hard as it may be," he wrote on Twitter. 

Next week's match, due to be played at the King Baudouin Stadium, is the second Belgium friendly in succession that has not gone ahead as scheduled.

In November, their match against Spain in Brussels was called off following the Paris atrocities, which killed 130 people.

Netherlands' match against France in Amsterdam - 108 miles away from Brussels - will go ahead as planned on Friday.

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van den Driessche Faces Sanctions

Femke van den Driessche faces a severe punishment by the Union Cycliste Internationale in the first case against a rider for competing on a bike allegedly containing a hidden motor.

On Monday Van den Driessche, 19, opted not to defend herself at Tuesday’s UCI disciplinary hearing in Switzerland into her use of the machine in the women’s under-23 race at the world cyclo-cross championships in Zolder in January.

She had maintained the confiscated bike belonged to an acquaintance and was in the pits because of a mix-up by a mechanic, but on Monday she said would not contest the matter and added that she had retired from cyclo-cross.

In a statement the UCI said: “The Union Cycliste Internationale confirms that the disciplinary commission hearing regarding the Femke van den Driessche case took place today at the UCI World Cycling Centre, headquarters of the international federation in Aigle, Switzerland. A decision will be rendered and announced in due course and, until then, the UCI will not be making any further comment.”

The UCI president, Brian Cookson, said in March that cycling’s world governing body would request the toughest possible sanctions. Regulations, recently strengthened, provide for a minimum suspension of six months and a fine of up to 200,000 Swiss francs (£141,000) for an offence of “technological fraud”, while coaches, mechanics and other officials could also be sanctioned.

Bikes have been scanned by the UCI at major competitions across all disciplines and events, including the Tour de France, in recent years because of speculation regarding motors hidden in bike frames. At the track world championships in London on 2-6 March 274 bikes were scanned.

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