Pep Guardiola has been named February’s EPL Manager of the Month after consecutive victories over West Ham, Swansea and Bournemouth, whoo! Perhaps it was because City had been held to a scoreless draw against Stoke on Wednesday, but Guardiola was in no mood to be rewarded for his nine-point haul in the shortest month of the year.
After a disappointing Bundesliga campaign that finds them in 10th, Bayer Leverkusen have decided to relieve Roger Schmidt of his coaching duties. Schmidt was in his third season with the club before getting the sack.
The final straw was a devastating 6-2 loss to Borussia Dortmund. It was Leverkusen's fourth loss in six Bundesliga games.
Barcelona’s historic comeback on Wednesday night will serve as a landmark for Champions League football for as long as the competition exists. After that horrific performance in Paris that saw the Catalan side thrashed 4-0, it’s safe to say that nobody outside of Barcelona thought they could mount a comeback. Yet somehow they managed to pull through to the quarters, even with giving up the away goal that many expected to be their demise.
Losing three league matches in a row is not a thing you are allowed to do if you are the manager of Olympiakos. Paulo Bento found that out when he was fired after losing three league matches in a row, even though he has only lost four this season and his Olympiakos squad is leading the Greek Super League by seven points.
Bento was Olympiakos' second manager this season. His predecessor was fired after the club was eliminated from Champions League qualifying (they are still alive in the Europa League round of 16).
After wrapping up his second preseason as manager of New York City FC, Patrick Vieira is looking ahead to today’s match against Orlando City. There is optimism in the air for the Frenchman. After all, his first season in the Big Apple was considered a success. He guided the second-year franchise to a second place finish in the Eastern Conference and the conference semifinals of the playoffs – albeit the embarrassing aggregate loss at the hands of Toronto (0-7).
Brazil will travel to Montevideo, Uruguay for a clash between the top two sides in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying without David Luiz, the Chelsea center half and captain of Brazil’s 7-1 capitulation to Germany once again omitted from Tite’s latest squad announcement.
Luiz has been in great form for club this season, helping Chelsea to the top of the Premier League table with a defense that’s allowed only 19 goals in 26 matches. However, Luiz hasn’t appeared for Brazil since last March, and Tite has ignored him since being placed in charge of the Seleção last June.
Luis Enrique has confirmed that he will step down as Barcelona manager at the conclusion of this season, bringing an end to three highly successful years as Barca’s coach. Enrique signed an extension to manage Barcelona until the end of the 2017 season after he’d sealed a treble in his first season at the helm, but questions regarding whether or not that contract would be further extended have been extinguished by Enrique’s announcement.