Transfers:

Alessandro Gamberini (Fiorentina to Napoli)

Gamberini will play in UEFA Europe League after he has signed for Napoli, one of the biggest clubs in Italy. The central defender was at a great level during last season with Fiorentina, where he played 29 games and scored a goal. His strength in defense has given him the chance to take a step forward in his career, which will give him the chance to fight for a Champions League spot. Playing in Europe with Napoli will maybe give him the chance to play back with Italian national team, where he already has played 8 games.

Fiorenitina has sold Gamberini in an operation where midfield Behrami is also going to the Neapolitan team. According to Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport, Napoles has paid € 8,5 millions for both players.

Valon Behrami (Fiorentina to Napoli)

Swedish right wing midfield has packed again and moved to Napoli, after playing in Lugano, Genoa, Hellas Verona, Lazio, West Ham and Fiorentina. At 27 years old he starts a new challenge in the Coppa Italia holders Napoli. Now the question is will he be able to stay for a longer time than on the other teams that he has played for. Behrami is moving to the south Italian team with his fellow Gamberini, both moving from Fiorentina. Napoli has paid € 8,5 millions for the two players. It seems like Napoli has bought him to play in the center midfield instead of in his natural wing position.

Glenn Loovens (Celtic to Zaragoza)

Former Celtic Glasgow defense has moved to Spanish La Liga, where he will defend Real Zaragoza’s colors, a team that stayed during the entire last season on relegation positions, but saved themselves in the last date of the league. The Dutch, age 27, is moving to Spain in a no cost operation, since his contract ended up with the Scottish team. He has signed for two seasons, but there is a chance of staying a third one if he accomplishes some objectives. Loovens won two Scottish leagues and one Cup, and now will play in a more competitive league, where the target will be to save Zaragoza from relegation to the Second Division.

Rumours:

Micah Richards (Manchester City to Madrid)

Real Madrid is looking for a right wing defense. The first choice was Maicon, but negotiations have recently stopped. Spanish League winners have a new name in their list: Micah Richards, who can play in both wing and center positions in defense. It seems that City is asking for €10 millions, same as Inter for Maicon. The difference is that Richards is seven years younger and can play in more positions, so the British player’s name has been underlined in Madrid list of possibilities.

Robinho (Milan to Santos)

Santos intends to begin negotiations with Italian AC Milan to recruit the player Robinho de Souza, who according to sources cited today Brasilian site Globoesporte expressed interest in returning to Brazil.

According to Globoesporte, Santos is willing to pay €4 millions for the striker as well as a loan of the international goalkeeper Rafael Cabral Barbosa. If the operation went well, Robinho will be going back to the team where he started playing professionally.

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AC Milan put on a clinic at San Siro on Wednesday during a 4-0 win against the English Premier League’s Arsenal, in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League’s round of 16. Arsenal’s inability to setup scoring chances led to the Italian side attacking throughout the entire match, giving AC Milan a comfortable lead going into the second leg of the round.

“We were never in the game, and it was a big shock,” said Arsenal head coach Arsene Wenger in a postgame interview.

Tomas Rosicky gave the first scoring attempt to Arsenal, but was unable to make good contact with the shot leading to him missing the net widely. Kevin-Prince Boateng started off the scoring for AC Milan after volleying the ball underneath the crossbar on his first touch in the fifteenth minute of play.

Twenty minutes later, Zlatan Ibrahimovic walked the ball in from the left side of the field and easily crossed the ball to Robinho, who nodded the ball into the bottom right corner to increase AC Milan’s lead to 2-0.

Early substitutions by Arsene Wenger led to Johan Djourou and Thierry Henry coming into the match for Arsenal for the start of the second half. But the changes in the line-up would not effect Arsenal’s attacking ability, leading to Robinho scoring his second goal of the night for AC Milan four minutes into the second half.

Robin van Persie gave Arsenal their only close chance at getting a goal in the match, but AC Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati was able to sprawl out and make the save and protect his clean sheet. Arsenal prevented any chance of coming back from behind when Ibrahimovic was brought down in the box and rewarded a penalty. This led to AC Milan’s fourth and final goal of the night in the 79^th minute of play.

“Our defense was slow to read the game and slow to respond,” said Wenger, “we must regroup and prepare ourselves for the next game.” Arsenal will be hosting AC Milan at the Emirates Stadium on March 6, in the second leg of the tournament between the two teams.

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In a shocking result, Belarusian side BATE Borisov held Italian giants AC Milan to a 1-1 draw in Belarus tonight. While BATE still need a highly unlikely victory from Plzen over Barcelona to keep their hopes of qualifying for the next stage of the tournament alive. The result will have done wonders for morale at BATE, who are the only Belarusian side to ever qualify for the group stages of the Champions League.

Milan made the perfect start to the game, pressuring BATE into several mistakes, and striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic came close to breaking the deadlock with several attempts on goal. Aleksandr Gutor, the BATE goalkeeper, did well to deny Ibrahimovic for the first 20 minutes, but was helpless to prevent Ibrahimovic giving Milan the lead in the 22nd minute.

The Swedish striker dispossessed defender Marko Simic, giving the ball to Robinho in the process. The Brazilian then progressed down the flank before returning the ball to Ibrahimovic , which the striker controlled and slotted past the advancing Gutor.

The goal seemed to bolster Milan’s confidence, with the visitors dictating the tempo of the game, and looking to extend their control over the game further. Although it seemed only a matter of time before they extended their lead, BATE was still a threat, and were posing a danger on the counter-attack.

One counter in particular caused anxiety for Milan fans, as Maksim Skavysh almost equalized for his side just a minute after Milan had taken the lead, but his header was saved well by Christian Abbiati. BATE were fortunate to enter the half-time break just one goal behind, as minutes before the interval, Robinho rounded Gutor, but was only able to hit the post with his effort.

With the home fans counting their blessings to have not conceded another goal, BATE manager Viktor Goncharenko had his work cut out instilling some self-belief back into his team before the second half. Whatever Goncharenko said to his side during the break, it seemed to work. With the home side looking in control of the game and pushing hard for an equalizer right from the kick-off.

The encouraged home fans did not have to wait long for their teams effort to be rewarded, and Renan Bressan stroked home a penalty in the 55th minute, after a clumsy foul by Ignazio Abate. With their passionate fans spurring them on, BATE looked to keep control of the game as it entered the final 30 minutes.

All seemed to go to plan for BATE, as they defended well, and even came close to taking the lead in what would have been an extraordinary victory for the Belarusian side. Despite being unable to take all three points, they will congratulate themselves on one of the greatest results in the club’s relatively short history.

Matt Trommer / Shutterstock.com

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