The striker joined Nottingham Forest on a short-term deal in February but was released at the end of the campaign and has decided to bring his playing career to an end after 16 seasons.
Murray said on Twitter: ‘To all the clubs, players and fans that I’ve come across on this life changing journey… thank you from the bottom of my heart. It’s been a pleasure, hanging them up from 31/05/21.’
After a stint in non-league with Workingham Reds and with Wilmington Hammerheads in America during the infancy of his career, Born in Cumbria, Murray first made a name for himself after he fired Brighton to the Sky Bet League One title in 2011 with 22 goals. A move to Crystal Palace followed and he scored 30 times during the Eagles’ promotion winning season to the Premier League in 2013, which was a Championship record until Brentford’s Ivan Toney eclipsed him this term.
Glen at Palace
Murray returned to Brighton in 2016 and helped them go up to the Premier League for the first time in their history with 23 goals in the first season of his second spell with the Seagulls.
Overall, the forward found the net 111 times for Brighton to place him second on the club’s all-time scoring list, won promotion on four occasions and scored more than 200 career goals.
‘I feel as though the time is right and I wanted to retire at a good level,’ Murray, who is set to go into the media industry, told the official club website. ‘I’ve had a lot of good years in the game, but this seems the right time to call it a day.
‘Give me six months, a year and I might miss it so much that I want to give back to the club in some capacity as a coach. But at the moment that isn’t the route I am going down.’
Sergio Agüero ended his Premier League career on 275 appearances, scoring 184 goals.
This goal tally was is one more than record-scorer Alan Shearer netted (183) after the same number of matches & having played 3,922 mins more over these 275 games. Shearer played 3,922 mins more in his first 275 PL games than Agüero did.
Dupasquier, 19, was struck by another bike after falling and slid along the track at the Mugello Circuit. He was flown to a Florence hospital. “Despite the best efforts of circuit medical staff and all those subsequently attending to the Swiss rider… Dupasquier has sadly succumbed to his injuries,” MotoGP said.
“On behalf of the entire MotoGP family, we send our love to his team, his family and loved ones You will be sorely missed, Jason. Ride in peace.” The MotoGP grid held a minute’s silence before Sunday’s Grand Prix.
France’s Fabio Quartararo, who won the race, dedicated his victory to Dupasquier, while he and the other two riders to finish on the podium – Portugal’s Miguel Oliveira and Spain’s Joan Mir – held up the Swiss flag as a tribute.
Prustel GP, his team, posted: “We’re devastated, and at this time all of our thoughts are with Jason’s family. You’ll be sorely missed and never forgotten.”
The Frenchman left La Liga power house for a second time in his coaching career on 27 May after they failed to win a trophy during the 2020-21 season. He previously managed Real from 2016-2018 before returning 10 months later in March 2019. “I’m going, but I’m not jumping overboard, nor am I tired of coaching,” said the 48-year-old.
In an open letter to fans, published by Spanish media outlet AS, he added: “I’m leaving because I feel the club no longer has the faith in me I need, nor the support to build something in the medium or long term.
“I understand football and I know the demands of a club like Real Madrid. I know when you don’t win, you have to leave.
“I’m a natural-born winner and I was here to win trophies, but even more important than this are the people, their feelings, life itself and I have the sensation these things have not been taken into account.
“There has been a failure to understand that these things also keep the dynamics of a great club going. To some extent I have even been rebuked for it.”
He played for Real from 2001 to 2006, winning three consecutive Champions League titles and a La Liga title in his first period as manager.
He secured a second La Liga title during his second spell in charge in 2019-20 and had a year remaining on his contract when he left.
Zidane said his 20 years at the Bernabeu were “the most beautiful thing that’s happened” in his life and that he would “always be grateful” to Real president Florentino Perez.
“I wasn’t asking for privileges, of course not, just a little more recollection. These days the life of a coach in the dugout at a big club is two seasons, little more.
“For it to last longer the human relationships are essential, they are more important than money, more important than fame, more important than everything. They need to be nurtured.”
Colombia, who were removed on 20 May after protests in the country were to co-host the Copa America with Argentina.
The South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) said Argentina has been removed because the country is currently experiencing a surge in Covid-19 cases.
Uruguay striker Luis Suarez told reporters on Friday that priority had to be given “to the health of human beings”.
The confederation will meet on Monday to decide on the next steps for the tournament, analysing the offer of other countries that showed interest in hosting the 10-team competition, which is scheduled to run from 13 June to 10 July.
Brazil are defending champions, having won the tournament in 2019. Copa America 2021 will be played in Brazil.
Chelsea are the 2020/21 Champions league winners, as Thomas Tuchel and Chelsea celebrated. Pep Guardiola walked straight past the Champions League trophy without giving it a single glance. Manchester City were outplayed in a 1-0 Champions League final defeat, and this was the closest Guardiola would get to touching the European Cup since he last won it 10 years ago. Guardiola might as well have been a million miles away as runners-up medal in hand, the City manager kept his head down. It was probably through a mixture of anger and exasperation, but there was also likely to be a heavy dose of regret, given how not for the first time — he overthought his line-up and tactics, when simplicity would have been sensible. “I did what I thought was the best decision [with my selection],” Guardiola said after the game. But this was further evidence that, coaching genius though he undoubtedly is, the two-time Champions League winner has a habit of picking the wrong time and the wrong place to experiment.
Instead, it was Tuchel who took the spoils, having kept his approach simple and stuck to tried and tested methods. In the stadium where Guardiola’s old rival Jose Mourinho built his first Champions League-winning team with FC Porto, Chelsea used a counterattacking game, based on rapid breaks from defensive positions, to land a knockout blow on City for the third time in less than 2 months. They ended City’s hopes of a domestic treble when they triumphed in the FA Cup semi-finals in April and delayed their title celebrations with victory in Manchester.
A wild celebration 🎉
Now, in a final watched by a limited crowd of just over 14,000 fans who created a raucous atmosphere, they have denied City the first Champions League crown they and Guardiola so crave. “It was an incredibly tough fight, what a fight. Today they were determined to win this. We wanted to be the stone in their shoe,” Tuchel told BT Sport Timo Werner should have done better than shoot straight at Ederson in the 14th minute. Chelsea then suffered an injury blow as an emotional Thiago Silva was forced off hurt, Andreas Christensen taking the Brazilian’s place in central defence.
Yet it was they who opened the scoring in the 42nd minute, Mason Mount’s ball splitting the City defence, allowing Havertz a long ball dribbling pass Ederson and converted into an empty net. City now needed to break down a Chelsea defence that has been exceptional under Tuchel. But they lost De Bruyne just before the hour mark, the Belgian taken out in a collision with Antonio Ruediger that appeared to leave him concussed. He came off in tears, and Guardiola instead turned to Sergio Aguero for the latter stages, but there was to be no glorious send-off as a City player for the Argentine, as a Riyad Mahrez shot sailed just over in the sixth minute of injury time. A decade on from his last European Cup triumph, there was to be no third for Guardiola. He remains one adrift of the record for the coaches with most wins in the competition, held jointly by Bob Paisley, Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane. :Euro Next.
Manchester City will be a “completely different beast” to the side beaten twice by Chelsea in the past few weeks when the two meet in the Champions League final, says Jermaine Jenas.
Chelsea have defeated Premier League champions City in the FA Cup and the league in the past six weeks. “I don’t think Chelsea can take much from those games,” said Jenas.
Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea overcame City 1-0 in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on 17 April before coming from behind to beat Pep Guardiola’s side 2-1 at Etihad Stadium on 8 May.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live’s The Friday Football Social, former Tottenham and England midfielder Jenas said those defeats would not be weighing heavily on City’s minds.
“In the semi-final, City had Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Ferran Torres up top,” he added. “All three didn’t get a kick. They were terrible really.
“It was such a different make-up compared to what Chelsea are going to come up against on Saturday.
“This City team is a juggernaut. This is a completely different beast Chelsea are coming up against.”
“But if City put out their strongest team I think Chelsea are in big trouble.” Former Chelsea forward Chris Sutton, speaking on the same show, said he feared for his old club.
SAT 29 MAY 2021 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – FINAL Man City 20:00pm Chelsea Venue: Estádio do Dragão
Champions League final: Manchester City v Chelsea Date: Saturday, 29 May. Kick-off: 20:00 BST. Venue: Estadio do Dragao, Porto. It’s an all-English Champions League final – but will it be Manchester City or Chelsea who will be crowned champions of Europe on Saturday?
Premier League champions City are looking to win the prestigious competition for the first time. Chelsea, European champions in 2012, have beaten Pep Guardiola’s side twice in the league and FA Cup in 2020-21. Up to 16,500 people will be allowed inside Porto’s Estadio do Dragao ground to watch.
With Pep looking to win the champions league for the third time, he said “I know exactly the way we want to play, with who we’re going to play and I’m not going to bother them much,”
“It’s an incredible experience to be here. I know exactly what I’m going to tell them. The guys who are anxious and nervous, I will tell them that’s normal. “I’m pretty sure we have to suffer to win the final. It’s nice to say enjoy it but sometimes it’s not possible. You have to be resilient and adjust.” Guardiola said.
City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne said: “If you win, you’re a hero. If you lose, you’re almost a failure. Coming to this stage is incredibly well done by the team but if you don’t win it’s something you don’t want to experience.
On the other hand ahead of the game, Chelsea boss Tuchel had this to say “I have full trust that everybody wants it,” said Tuchel. “It is about hunger and always on the highest level in sport it comes down to how bad do you want it? I have felt us very concentrated, focused and disciplined in the build-up this week.
“It’s always tough to play against City, Bayern or Barcelona when Pep is on the sidelines. He creates huge belief and success and has a huge winning mentality.”Maybe in the moment they are the strongest team in Europe, in the world, and they have built a huge gap between us in the league but we closed the gap for 90 minutes in Wembley and closed the gap again in Manchester.”
The video assistant referee (VAR) system will be used, while City have been designated the ‘home’ team, which means they will play in their traditional sky blue and white colours.
This year’s final will air in over 200 countries around the world, with the opening ceremony taking place about 10 minutes before the biggest game in European club football kicks off.
The final was set to be staged at Istanbul’s Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Turkey but was switched earlier this month to the Portuguese city of Porto because of coronavirus restrictions.
The Estadio do Dragao hosted the 2019 Nations League final and was built for Euro 2004.
If City beat Chelsea, they will become the sixth different English club to be crowned champions of Europe after Liverpool, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, Chelsea and Aston Villa.
City are the ninth different English club to reach the final after Liverpool, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Leeds United, Arsenal and Tottenham.
The last English team to win their first final was Aston Villa in 1982 against Bayern Munich.
It is 51 years since Manchester City last played in a major European final – beating Gornik Zabrze 2-1 in the 1970 Cup Winners’ Cup final. In European competition, Chelsea and Manchester City’s only previous meeting came in the 1970-71 Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final – Chelsea won both legs 1-0 to progress to the final, where they beat Real Madrid after a replay. If he starts, City’s Phil Foden, who turned 21 on Friday, will become the third-youngest Englishman to start in a Champions League final, after Owen Hargreaves in 2001 for Bayern Munich (20 years 123 days) and Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold in both 2018 (19 years 231 days) and 2019 (20 years 237 days). Since featuring in a 2-1 defeat by Lyon in September 2018, City’s Bernardo Silva is unbeaten in his past 26 Champions League matches (W23 D3) – the longest unbeaten run in the history of the competition. Chelsea defender Thiago Silva featured in last season’s Champions League final for Paris St-Germain and could become the fifth player to play in the final in consecutive seasons with different teams, after Marcel Desailly (1993 Marseille, 1994 Milan), Paulo Sousa (1996 Juventus, 1997 Borussia Dortmund), Samuel Eto’o (2009 Barcelona, 2010 Inter Milan) and Alvaro Morata (2014 Real Madrid, 2015 Juventus).
Andrea Pirlo has been sacked by Juventus after a miserable season in which they lost their grip on Serie A in devastating fashion and failed to make their mark in Europe.
The news was confirmed on Friday morning with the club placing on record their thanks for Pirlo’s efforts.
Juventus:Thank you, Andrea.These are the first words that all of us need to say at the end of this special experience together.
Pirlo has just begun the first steps of what will no doubt become a brilliant career as a coach. An adventure of transformation, seeking, and often managing, to bring his ideas and his experience as a champion on the pitch from the “other side” of the fence. Juventus ended fourth in Serie A under their former player to miss out on the title for the first time since 2012.
The 41-year-old Pirlo was promoted from Under-23 coach to first-team boss last summer, taking the reins from Maurizio Sarri with Juve chiefs unhappy with the side’s style of football and European exploits under the former Chelsea coach.
Former Juventus Manager Massimiliano Allegri who left the club in 2019 was announced as replacement for Andrea Pirlo until June 2025 as the club confirms.
Allegri was in charge of Juventus from 2014-19, winning five successive league titles, four Coppa Italias and reaching the Champions League final twice.
“Now we are ready to begin again with Allegri, to build our future together with his enormous professionalism, his moral strength, with the brilliant ideas of a coach capable of shuffling the cards, both on and off the pitch,” said a Juventus statement.
Allegri, 53, had been out of football since leaving Juventus in June 2019.
The Premier League summer 2021 transfer window will open for 12 weeks from 9 June and will close at 23:00 BST on 31 August.
Clubs playing in the 2021/22 Premier League are able to announce player signings and exits outside this window.
The deals, loan or permanent, announced by clubs below may still be subject to administrative details before they can be confirmed.
All transfer fees are undisclosed unless otherwise stated.
See: January 2021 Transfers (Updated 27 May 22:20)
Arsenal Out:David Luiz (released) Details
Burnley Out : Robbie Brady (released) Details
Crystal Palace In: Jacob Montes (Georgetown University) Details
Leeds United Out: Gaetano Berardi (released) Details Ouasim Bouy (released) Details Barry Douglas (released) Details Cole Gibbon (released) Details Niklas Haugland (released) Details Eunan O’Kane (released) Details Matthew Turner (released) Details
Leicester City Out: Christian Fuchs (released) Details Matty James (released) Details Wes Morgan (retired) Details
Norwich City In: Kenny Coker (Southend) Details
Out : Alex Tettey (released) Details Mario Vrancic (released) Details Jordan Thomas (released) Details Zach Dronfield (released) Details William Hondermarck (released) Details Louis Lomas (released) Details Ethen Vaughan (released) Details
Southampton In: Theo Walcott (Everton) Details
Tottenham Hotspur Out: Danny Rose (released) Details Paulo Gazzaniga (released) Details Enock Asante (released) Details Chay Cooper (released) Details Keenan Ferguson (released) Details George Marsh (released) Details Rodel Richards (released) Details Jack Roles (released) Details Aaron Skinner (released) Details Kazaiah Sterling (released) Details Shilow Tracey (released) Details
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