Inter Milan manager Simone Inzaghi has spoken of his admiration for Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone ahead of their maiden meeting as coaches.
The duo shared a dressing room at Lazio and helped the Rome club win Serie A in 2000 during a trophy-laden era under Sven-Goran Eriksson.
Tuesday will see the pair do battle in the dugout as Inter host Atletico in the first leg of a Champions League last-16 tie at the San Siro.
“It will be a pleasure to see him again,” Inzaghi told a press conference.
“He was a great team-mate. Then he went back to Spain, but we always kept in touch.
“I’ve always known he would become a great coach. He’s been 13 years with the same club and he has won a lot.
“I know how difficult it is to stay with the same club for so many years. He had great results with Atletico. He has great charisma but that’s not it, his team play great football.”
Simeone has traditionally been associated with pragmatic, defensive football during his successful period in Madrid and while Atletico have lost ground in the LaLiga title race in recent weeks, they are in the last four of the Copa del Rey.
Inzaghi revealed he had closely analysed Atletico’s last four fixtures, which includes a 5-0 thrashing of Las Palmas, defeats to Sevilla and Athletic Bilbao and a draw at Real Madrid, but knows it will be hard to predict what type of fixture will occur on Tuesday night.
He added: “Each coach has their own approach. I appreciate him a lot.
“I watched Atletico this year and I can only say they play great football but I cannot tell you what type of game it will be tomorrow because both teams will fight for it.
“Atletico have changed style, they were very aggressive in the last game they played but against Real Madrid they had a different attitude. They pass the ball a lot more than before.
“We will do our best tomorrow. There will be a great atmosphere, we are looking forward to playing this game and as usual playing our type of football.”
Inter enter this fixture in a rich vein of form and having won all eight matches in 2024.
Recent league successes over Roma and Juventus have helped open up a nine-point advantage at the Serie A summit, but Inzaghi does not feel that will impact their Champions League campaign.
View this post on InstagramInzaghi’s team were runners-up to Manchester City last season and have already secured silverware this term with Super Cup success last month.
“Having this advantage doesn’t really give us an extra advantage in the Champions League,” Inzaghi said.
“We have experienced magic nights together with our supporters and we want a repeat but we know that other clubs have the same ambitions as Inter.
“I saw Atletico in the last four games and they are always strong. We will do our best tomorrow.”
Francesco Acerbi, Stefan Sensi and Juan Cuadrado are unavailable for Inter.
Bayern Munich 2-0 Wolfsburg: Zvonarek scores on first start
Second-placed Bayern Munich beat Wolfsburg 2-0 with teenager Lovro Zvonarek scoring on his first start in their final Bundesliga home game of the season on Sunday as they eased towards the end of a trophy-less campaign.
Four days after Bayern's Champions League semi-final exit to Real Madrid confirmed their first season without any silverware in more than a decade, the Bavarians put in a solid performance against the Wolves despite a string of changes to Thomas Tuchel's team.
Zvonarek, the 19-year-old Croatian who had only made a handful of substitute appearances for the team, scored four minutes into his first start, drilling home for the lead.
Leon Goretzka doubled the advantage nine minutes later with the hosts quickly taking full control of the game.
Bayern have 72 points, two ahead of third-placed Stuttgart with one game remaining. Unbeaten champions Bayer Leverkusen, on 84, visit Bochum later on Sunday.
Data Debrief: Clean sheet for Neuer on landmark outing
Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer made his 500th Bundesliga appearance, 156 of those having come for Schalke and 344 for his current side.
The veteran stopper had two saves to make en route to becoming the fourth goalkeeper in Bundesliga history to reach that 500 mark, after Oliver Kahn (557), Eike Immel (534) and Uli Stein (512).
Manchester United Women 4-0 Tottenham Women: Garcia double secures Red Devils' first FA Cup triumph
Manchester United Women banished last year's FA Cup demons to lift the trophy for the first time in their history after smashing Tottenham Women 4-0 at Wembley Stadium.
United suffered a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea Women in the final of this competition last term but exacted revenge after Lucia Garcia scored twice in a comfortable win on Sunday.
Ella Toone's eye-catching strike in the first half set the tone before a goal for Rachel Williams and Garcia's double added gloss to a convincing scoreline, despite Beth England hitting the crossbar for Spurs.
Marc Skinner's side dominated the opening half as Millie Turner saw a header cleared off the line by Martha Thomas, while Williams headed over.
However, there was no stopping Toone on the stroke of half-time as she exchanged passes with Lisa Naalsund before arrowing a rocketed right-footed finish into the top corner from the edge of the area.
Further punishment followed for an underwhelming Tottenham after the interval when Williams headed down from Katie Zelem's free-kick to double United's lead in the 54th minute.
Goalkeeper Becky Spencer then handed Skinner's team more joy just three minutes later, mindlessly playing straight to Garcia, who slotted into an empty net.
Garcia capped the scoring after 74 minutes, receiving an offload from Turner before curling a delightful finish past the powerless Spencer as United secured their first major trophy in club history.
Data Debrief: United ease pain of last year
United fell short last year against Chelsea but continued their impressive record against Spurs here, extending to 13 games unbeaten against Tottenham since being founded in 2018.
This defeat will remain painful for Spurs in their first FA Cup final appearance, also ending a seven-game undefeated streak since losing to rivals Arsenal at the start of March.
Al Hilal crowned Saudi Pro League champions after Al Hazm hammering
Al Hilal secured their fourth straight Saudi Pro League title after Aleksandar Mitrovic starred in Saturday's 4-1 thrashing of bottom side Al Hazm.
Faiz Selemani restored parity after Mitrovic's 15th-minute opener at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium, only for Jorge Jesus' hosts to roar back and be crowned champions with three games remaining.
Ahmed Al Juwaid's own goal handed the initiative back to the dominant Al Hilal, who led 4-1 at the break after Mitrovic added another to his tally and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic was on target.
The second of Mitrovic's strikes took him to a team-leading 26 league goals this term as Al Hilal breezed to another title, moving an unassailable 12 points clear of Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr.
Jesus' side are unbeaten through all 31 games this season after securing their record-extending 19th top-flight crown in history, while Al Hazm need to win their last three matches to have any chance of staying up.
Al Hazm's relegation rivals Al Tai boosted their chances of survival in Saturday's earlier clash after a 1-1 draw away against Al Raed.
Al Tai are just a point away from 15th-placed Abha Club in their bid for top-flight safety after Ibrahim Al Nakhli's strike was cancelled out by Al Raed's Mohammed Fouzair in the second half.
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