Football news

English club Brighton, which lost its head coach Roberto De Zerbi at the end of the season, is leading the race for former Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper, the Daily Mail reports.

According to the source, Brighton are looking for a manager and Steve Cooper is one of the main candidates. Burnley and Sheffield United are actively interested in the 44-year-old coach, but the prospect of working in the Premier League again prevails for Steve Cooper. So far, Brighton and Steve Cooper have held superficial talks.

As a reminder, Nottingham Forest sacked Steve Cooper in December 2023.

In Spain, the story that Real Madrid goalkeeper Andrey Lunin fell ill before the Champions League final, where the cream of the crop will play Borussia Dortmund is not very credible.

The Spanish newspaper Vozpopuli called Lunin's absence a "very strange loss". The journalists noted that many fans of the Royal Club were sceptical about the information that the Ukrainian goalkeeper had contracted type B flu.

"A viral infection at a crucial moment does not convince many people, and for some it sounds like a Chinese letter. As if it were not true. It's as if Ancelotti told him that Thibaut Courtois would play, and Lunin is not happy with that at all. There are many dark spots around this notable absence. A very strange loss that leaves many Madrid fans dissatisfied," the newspaper said.

Girona sporting director Kike Carcelle is hoping to find a balance this summer between earning money on transfers and maintaining a strong team for the Champions League.

- Our goal is to keep as many players as possible, but we are open to offers. And I'm not sure that many players want to leave our team. They are happy at Girona, and money does not always solve all issues. We will play in the Champions League, but we want to make sure that the results in La Liga do not suffer. If we play badly in the league, there will be no European competitions," said Carcelle As.

It is known that other clubs are interested in Ukrainians Viktor Tsygankov and Artem Dovbyk.

Roberto Morales, a well-known Ukrainian journalist and commentator, shared his expectations from today's Champions League final match between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid.

- The London final will be the last match in the "cream" for Toni Kroos. He was not a media superstar, but in terms of playing, the German gave a lot to the team. He can make his farewell to club football brilliant if he takes another trophy.

Many also point out that if Real Madrid wins and its young stars play well, it will largely be the match at Wembley that will determine the fate of the Ballon d'Or, whether it goes to Jude Bellingham or Vinicius Junior. Before the match, Carlo Ancelotti described his team's current squad as follows: "Very little ego, that's an important aspect. Ego in itself is not bad, but it needs to go only with a great personality." So Real Madrid is the favourite by all accounts.

It is also possible to find arguments in favour of the Germans. They have shown extraordinary resilience in their confrontations with Atletico Madrid and PSG. Yet even in those matches, the opponent helped Borussia with their low realisation of the opportunities they had already created.

Edin Terzic's team can set a very high tempo, but will Real Madrid want to compete in speed for the entire match? Most likely, the answer is no. Madrid are used to a ragged rhythm. At Borussia, Marco Royce, a very extraordinary midfielder, is coming to the end of his outstanding career. The bet is on Real Madrid to win and the total is over 2.5," Morales said.

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Former Shakhtar player Oleg Matveyev summed up the results of the Ukrainian league season.

- "The fight for the European Cups was particularly interesting. I agree that the level of play has dropped significantly. The teams are not very strong, but they compensated for their poor qualifications with their desire - they fought on the pitch, and that's a plus. The Ukrainian Championship was significantly weakened by the departure of Artem Dovbyk. Artem moved to Spain and there was no one to impress with his performance. 14 goals is a very weak indicator. Teams that claim to participate in European competitions must have forwards who are able to hit the opposition's goal at least 20 times a season," the expert said.

The well-known commentator Ihor Tsyhanyk spoke about the call-up of Polissya left-back Bohdan Mykhaychenko to the Ukrainian national team for Euro 2024 Bohdan Mykhailychenko.

"Mykhailychenko is such an option... I don't really understand it. Why he was taken is strange to me. He didn't play at Shakhtar, Anderlecht or Dinamo Zagreb. It seems that he is being pulled and pulled somewhere, well, maybe he is a good guy and plays well. But the matches he played for the national team were not very successful. Why is he selected and not Sobol? I don't know. Sobol hasn't played much, okay, then take Dubinchak or Vivcharenko. I don't understand Mykhailychenko," Tsyganik said.

Andriy Lunin had a breakthrough season in 2023/2024. He won a place in Real Madrid's first team after Thibaut Courtois was injured, demonstrating his quality to the world.

"Real Madrid is not ready to let the 25-year-old goalkeeper go as a free agent, so they offered two options - an extension of the agreement or a transfer, with the first of them being a priority for Madrid. Andriy Lunin has been thinking about the future for a long time and has decided on the option that is best for his career.

It is reported that the cream of the crop are already aware of the goalkeeper's decision to continue his career elsewhere. The Ukrainian's agent, Jorge Mendes, has now started working on the transfer of Andriy Lunin.

It is noted that the goalkeeper can continue his career at Manchester United. The English club has already contacted Real Madrid, and both the Red Devils and Andriy Lunin are interested in such cooperation.

The parties have agreed to start concrete negotiations on the Ukrainian's transfer after the Champions League final on 1 June.

It will be recalled that in the current campaign, Andriy Lunin played 31 matches for Real Madrid in all competitions, in which he conceded 32 goals and scored 12 goals.

Shakhtar's sporting director Dario Srna has revealed which players from Dynamo Kyiv he would invite to join the Donetsk club.

"Shaparenko, Vanat and Brazhko. Don't let Yarmolenko be offended," Srna said in an interview with the TaToTake YouTube channel.

Earlier, Srna confirmed the information that Feyenoord is interested in Shakhtar's coach Pushic.

As Sport.ua has learned, Pavlo Taran, who was Karpaty's physical training coach this season, has accepted an offer from Chernivtsi and is returning to Bukovyna, where he will join Valeriy Kryventsov's staff.

For the 35-year-old specialist, this will be his third visit to the Chernivtsi club. In the spring part of the 2020/21 season, and then throughout the 2022/23 season, Pavlo Taran (son of the famous Ukrainian coach Oleh Taran) worked at Bukovyna as an assistant head coach.

Taran Jr. also worked at Chornomorets-2 (as a coach), Peremoha (as an assistant and head coach) and VPK-Agro (as an assistant and then a fitness coach).

By the way, one of the candidates to replace Pavlo Taran at Karpaty is Yevhen Baryshnikov, who has been working as a physical training coach at Dnipro-1 since 2017.

Earlier, Myron Markevych's coaching staff was left by his son Ostap, who went to live with his family in Spain.

British journalist Ben Jacobs has named the English Premier League club that is most interested in the services of Shakhtar midfielder Georgy Sudakov and is currently considered the main contender for his signature.

According to the journalist, Sudakov is keen to continue his career in the Premier League, and it is in one of the London clubs that actively offered him some time ago.

Today, Tottenham is the main contender for Sudakov, where they are actively studying the possibility of signing the Ukrainian. But the interest from Chelsea and Arsenal, which was also reported by the media earlier, seems to Jacobs to be overly exaggerated.

"Georgii Sudakov can be one example of a player who is sent to London clubs. At the moment, I've been told that only Spurs have a specific interest in Sudakov. The Chelsea rumours are mostly coming from Mudryk, Arsenal are not involved in this conversation at the moment," Jacobs said.

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois commented on the situation with the team's goalkeepers ahead of the Champions League final.

"It's amazing for me to be able to play in the final, but I feel very sorry for Lunin," Real Madrid Exclusivo quoted Courtois as saying.

As a reminder, the Champions League final will take place today in London at Wembley Stadium. The match starts at 21:45 Kyiv time.

Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes may leave the club this summer.

According to journalist Fabrizio Romano, the player's agent Miguel Pinho is exploring other options for his client to continue his career.

"Bruno Fernandes' agent Miguel Pinho met with several top clubs in Europe this week. Bruno is fully focused on United, but a final decision on his future is yet to be made," Romano wrote on his Twitter page.

As a reminder, Fernandes has 2 years left on his current deal with Manchester United.