31 May 2005 Trap Steps Down After guiding Benfica to their first league title in 11 years Giovanni Trapattoni has resigned citing personal issues : "I need to return to Italy to be with my family and I have other problems to resolve after that. I want to thank this very famous club, the team, the president (Luis Filipe Vieira) and all the people that have worked with me this past year." Benfica failed to win the double after losing the cup final 2-1 to Vitoria on Sunday. Del Neri Makes Return At Palermo Former Chievo, Porto and Roma coach Luigi Del Neri has been announced as Francesco Guidolin's replacement as Palermo coach. Palermo's president Maurizio Zamparini said : "We reached an agreement this afternoon. We lost a very good coach but we found the perfect replacement." Francesco Guidolin resigned following the last league match of the season on Sunday : "This has been a great day of festivities for the team, the club and the city. I spoke with President Maurizio Zamparini in a relaxed manner and we found some common ground. I told him that it is perhaps the right time for me to take a break. Aside from anything else, I can't really do much better than what I've achieved here. I do worry that I'll never encounter such a wonderful fanbase again." Irureta Leaves Deportivo Javier Irureta has resigned as coach of Deportivo after a seven years stint during which the club won their first and only La Liga title in 2000, the Spanish Cup in 2002 and two Spanish Super Cups in 2000 and 2002. This season Depor suffered the ignominy of being the first club in the history of the champions league to not score a goal during the group stages and finished a disappointing 9th in the league. Irureta had no regrets : "Now is not the time for being bitter. I have spent seven magnificent years here and leave a satisfied and contented man." Bayern Open Allianz Arena With Victory Bayern Munich beat the German national team 4-2 in the official opening of the €340 million, 66,000 all seater stadium. Deisler opened the scoring for Bayern after 5 minutes, Chelsea's Robert Huth, playing for Germany, put past his own 'keeper (Lehmann) after 36 minutes, Sagnol (74) and Salihamidzic (87) scored Bayern's other goals. Germany replied through a Borowski penalty on 56 minutes and Klose scored four minutes from time. Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer hailed the stadium as the best in the World : "It is the first time the stadium has had 66,000 fans inside and the atmosphere was incredible. I have seen almost all stadia in the world but this is the best but I guess it is a matter of taste. Totti Extends Contract In a surprise move Roma captain Francesco Totti has signed a new deal which will earn him a massive €10.40 million a season until June 2010. Totti has been with Roma for 13 years, joining them for a reported seven figure fee in 1992. 30 May 2005 Ronaldo Dropped After Separation Ronaldo has been dropped from Brazil's Confederations Cup squad at his own request following his separation with fiancee Daniella Cicarelli. Ronaldo and Daniella were due to wed on Valentine's day in a French chateua for fortunately for him the couple failed to submit the correct paperwork. Valencia Take Chance on Flores Valencia have named Quique Flores named as their new coach. Flores spent a decade as a player with Valencia between 1984 - 1994 before spells with Real Madrid and Zaragoza. He was in charge of Real Madrid's youth team before coaching Getafe to 13th place in the season just ended. 29 May 2005 Lyon Appoint Houllier In a bewildering move Lyon have appointed former Liverpool coach Gerard Houllier as the replacement to Paul Le Guen. The defensive minded Houllier will inherit one of the most spectacular attacking teams in Europe. EPL to Discuss 4 Points For An Away Win In a move to combat a drop in attendances and falling television ratings Premiership clubs are considering awarding 4 points for an away win in order to encourage attacking football. Playing 100 mph crash, bang, wallop football, which I expect is what will happen if this gets the go ahead, isn't going to help the chances of English clubs in Europe. 27 May 2005 Capello Reveals Next Season's Objectives "We already have some clear ideas. Bringing back the European Cup to Turin is our principal objective for next season. We are looking for players who can make a 10% difference to the side rather than just 2%. Seeing as we are not starting from the bottom, this will be very difficult to do. I've asked the club for a rich squad even if we know that the money box is closed and we can't violate the books. We'll do our very best." - Fabio Capello Koeman Senior Takes Charge at Feyenoord Erwin Koeman, the older brother of Ronaldo Koeman, has succeeded Ruud Gullit as coach of Feyenoord. Koeman guided RKC to 9th place in the Eredivisie his first coaching job earlier this season. 26 May 2005 Champions League Final Post Match Comments "Even the Brazil team that won the 1970 World Cup could not have staged a comeback with Milan leading 3-0. I am disappointed as anyone who has played in Italy would be. At 3-0 Milan were convinced that no-one could come back but what has happened has happened. Milan never stopped playing and Shevchenko could have won it in extra-time. I have seen comebacks like that in football but never against a team that so clearly was superior as Milan were." - Maradona "I think it will go down in history - people will be talking about it in 20-30 years time. I honestly haven't seen a game like that I don't think." - Jamie Carragher "Fantastic. After losing 3-0, losing players and with injury problems at the end, it's fantastic. If the players believe, you can do it. It's good for us. When the captain scores all the team play the same. It's been a really good match. a good game." Rafael Benitez "I said at half-time we had to go for it - we didn't want to be beaten 4 or 5-0, then we got the first goal. The save Jerzy Dudek made from Shevchenko at the end was unbelievable. I can't believe we've just won." - Jamie Carragher “The match was well contested. We had six minutes of madness. It's inexplicable because the team played well for all 120 minutes. That's the way it went and we must go forward. We recognise it, we are displeased and disappointed. It's not the time to blame anything or anyone, we are sad and sorry for what happened but this is football. Congratulations to Liverpool for hanging on and winning the cup. Now we must play our last match of the season and then we will start thinking about next season." - Carlo Ancelotti "Football is like politics: one thinks they have won and then you don't. Liverpool's three goals were very strange. They had three chances and took them while we had plenty at the end. Milan played really well. As for Carlo Ancelotti leaving, I don't think so. I don't sack anyone." - Silvio Berlusconi "It was too much. It was too beautiful to be true. It is hard, but this is football. 3-0 at half time, with me scoring two goals. I repeat it was too beautiful to be good. I cannot understand how it happened, I cannot find a reason, however we will try again next season, we will take our revenge. Liverpool did very well, they also risked much, but when things must go the wrong way in football, they just do it. We had many chances, it went like this, the save on Sheva was incredible at the end but we gave our best. I congratulate them." - Hernan Crespo UEFA Won't Change Rules for Liverpool UEFA spokesman William Gaillard insists that Liverpool will not be allowed to defend the European Cup because the FA had already decided that the top four teams in England would compete in the Champions League : "The rules are what they are. They were used already once when Real Madrid won and actually were not among the qualifiers in the Spanish league. The Spanish FA told us they would replace the fourth-placed team - Real Zaragoza - with Real Madrid. It is a tough decision to make but it is not for us to make, it is for the FA and they told us Everton would be the fourth English club. Rules are rules and they were passed for a very good reason." 25 May 2005 O'Neill to Step Down Celtic have confirmed that manager Martin O'Neill will resign as coach at the end of the week. A statement read : "It is with great reluctance that Celtic plc today announce that manager Martin O'Neill is leaving the club for family reasons (to look after his wife) after five years in charge." Chairman Brian Quinn added : "Martin's contribution to Celtic has been quite immense. He has played a central role in the club's enormous success over the past five seasons and he goes with sincere best wishes from everyone associated with the club." Gordon Strachan will be O'Neill's replacement. Ferdinand Gets Another Ban Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has been banned for driving for 28 days and fined €2180 after he was caught speeding at 105 mph. It was the players fourth driving conviction following one for drink driving in 1997 and for speeding in 2002 2003. Judge Ashley Howells said : "This court views speeding on local highways most seriously, particularly when the speed is more than 100 mph, and our view is that Mr Ferdinand must be disqualified. He is a role model and should be a positive role model for young people in society and this does not give out the right message." No More Charity From Mourinho "The time of Chelsea making life easy for other clubs has finished. So, for example, if AC Milan want a good striker on loan they have to knock on another door because easy deals for other clubs just finished with Chelsea. So if somebody wants a very good Chelsea player, you have to pay the same way you pay to everybody else" Jose Mourinho 24 May 2005 Eto'o Fined €12,000 For Real Insults Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o has been fined €12,000 for saying "Madrid, cabron, saluda al campeon" (Madrid, bastards, hail the champions) during Barca's La Liga victory speech at the Nou Camp on Sunday. The fine is four times the amount Spain's racist national team coach Luis Aragones was fined for calling Thierry Henry a black shit and shows how arse backwards the Spanish Football Federation is. Eto'o later apologised for his comments. Le Saux Retires 36 year old Southampton defender Graham Le Saux has announced his retirement from football : "I decided at the beginning of the season that this would probably be my last. I would much rather have retired seeing Southampton stay in the Premiership but it was just not meant to be. Having constant and intensive treatment ahead of every game, my body knows how hard I've tried this season." Le Saux won a league championship with Blackburn in 1995 and also played for Chelsea and made 36 appearances for England. Le Saux will continue his excellent work as a pundit for the BBC. Co Adriaanse New Porto Coach AZ Alkmaar's Co Adriaanse has signed a two year contract to replace Jose Couceiro who resigned on Sunday after Porto finished runner-up to Benfica. AZ Alkmaar were leading the Dutch league before the strain of competing domestically and in Europe (they reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup) saw them slip to third place. Co Adriaanse said : "Porto is one of the best clubs in the world, for me it is a big step to go from AZ Alkmaar to FC Porto." Porto president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa explained his decision for appointing the outspoken former Ajax coach, who claims he will learn Portuguese within four months : "I chose him because of his technical profile, because of the way his team played, because of the discipline he imposes and for the rigour that I know he has for everything to do with our team." Real Dismiss Ibrahimovic Rumours In a statement on their website Real dismissed Swedish newspaper reports that they were preparing a €70 million bid for Juventus striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic : "Real Madrid would like to make it clear that no one from the club, either directly or indirectly, has opened negotiations of any sort with the player's agent, nor the Italian club, nor with the player himself." Ibrahimovic's agent Mino Raiola was quoted as saying the following in Swedish daily Goeteborgs-Posten on Saturday : "Zlatan is currently the best player in the world and that's why Real want him."