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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Juventus Win Scudetto

Paul Pogba - Getty Images

Roma’s Radja Nainggolan scored the only goal in the final minute against Napoli to end Maurizio Sarri’s team’s slim hopes of catching Serie A leaders Juventus.

Napoli needed to win in Rome to stand any chance of catching Juve, who overcame a poor start to the campaign to win 24 of their 25 next games. Juve lead Napoli by 12 points with three games to go, while Roma’s win sees them move just two points behind second and seven clear of fourth-placed Internazionale.

Juventus say they have no intention of selling their top players and are determined to assert themselves as a major force in Europe next season after wrapping a fifth successive Serie A title.

Despite their domestic dominance, Juve’s European form has been patchy over the past few seasons with one group stage elimination and two defeats to Bayern Munich – in the quarter-finals and this season in the round of 16. Even when they reached the final last season, they were seen as upstarts rather than equals of teams such as Real Madrid and Barcelona.

The Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri, who has been in charge for the last two seasons, wants that to change and is determined to strengthen the squad still further in the close season.

“The club will focus on improving the squad, as it did last summer, bringing in young players with great technique. Next year we must focus on winning the Champions League. It’s somewhat narrow-minded just to focus just on Serie A,” he said. “It was hard to digest this year. We got knocked out this year on the final cross of the game against Bayern Munich but we need to do better next year.”

Serie A clubs often have trouble holding onto their players in the face of the greater financial power of their English and Spanish counterparts. However, Juventus have already stated that they intend to keep Paulo Dybala and Paul Pogba, their two most precocious talents.

Pogba, 23, has come on hugely this season after being given more responsibility after the departure of the veteran playmaker Andrea Pirlo. A player who combines finesse and physical power, Pogba could fetch more than £100m if sold, Juventus estimate. Allegri, however, said jokingly last week that he would rather keep the Frenchman than have the money to spend in the transfer market.

Dybala, one year younger, has also shone in his first season following his move from Palermo, scoring 16 goals.

“Over the course of our history, Juventus have very rarely let our best players go. Paul, as well as Dybala, is part of the core of this team and we do not intend to put them on the market,” said the chief executive, Giuseppe Marotta. “We want to go out and get great players while keeping our most valuable pieces. We will only sell players who have told us they want to leave, but that is not the case with Pogba or Dybala or any of the others.”

In many ways, this year’s title has been the most unexpected of the last five. Juventus got off to a miserable start after losing Pirlo as well as top scorer Carlos Tevez to his native Argentina and tireless midfielder Arturo Vidal to Bayern Munich, and were 11 points off the pace by the end of October. But after taking 73 points out of a possible 75, they clinched another title with five games to spare.

“To win this season would be really crazy and unbelievable,” said the goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon after the 2-1 win at Fiorentina on Sunday. “We’ve shown the technical and moral strength of the group, the determination not to give in and our ability to astonish.”

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