The Germany international has been out of action since September with a knee injury but is now poised to make his eagerly-awaited comeback for the Viola

Fiorentina boss Vincenzo Montella has revealed that star summer signing Mario Gomez is ready to return to training.

The Germany international joined the Viola from Bayern Munich last July for a reported €20 million but has not featured for the Italian outfit since September because a knee injury.

However, Montella revealed after Tuesday night’s Coppa Italia semi-final, first-leg defeat at Udinese that Gomez is now set to make his comeback.

“The German is coming off four months of inactivity but he will return to training with the team from tomorrow [Wednesday],” the former Italy international told Rai Sport. “But his inclusion will be gradual.”

Fiorentina succumbed to a late Luis Muriel goal at the Stadio Friuli, with Juan Vargas having earlier cancelled out Antonio Di Natale’s opener.

However, Montella was pleased with his side’s performance in Udine and is in a confident frame of mind ahead of next week’s second leg.

“We left Muriel in too much space for the goal but, overall, I’m satisfied,” the ex-Roma boss stated. “The Colombian unlocked a game that seemed destined to finish in a draw.

“Congratulations to them for believing in themselves but we could have also won the game.

“The tie is still open, though. The return leg will decide everything.”

Udinese boss Francesco Guidolin was also quick to admit that the tie remains very much in the balance.

“Our dream goes on, even if everything remains open,” he mused. “It was an even game.

“I liked my Udinese, but I also loved Fiorentina. Along with Juventus and Roma, they are playing the best football in the league.

“I am very pleased with my boys, though. It will be tough in the second leg, but we can continue to dream.”

According to Goal

Brazilian midfielder Hernanes firmly believes that Inter Milan will help him reach the sort of heights that he would never be able to achieve at Lazio.

Hernanes of FC Inter Milan

Hernanes joined Inter last Friday on a permanent transfer from Lazio.
The 28-year-old, a fan favourite at the Biancoceleste club, signed a contract with the San Siro outfit until June 2018.
“When I arrived to Lazio I thought I would be able to achieve great things like win a scudetto or play in the Champions League,” Hernanes said to Gazzetta dello Sport. “However, after three-and-a-half years with the Roman outfit, I understood there would be no possibility to achieve this at Lazio.
“Inter’s project convinced me, and the Nerazzurri are the right club for me.
“It’s true that Lazio president Claudio Lotito offered me a big contract to remain at the club but I chose Inter because the Nerazzurri have high ambitions.
“It was never a question of money.”
Hernanes is expected to make his Inter debut in Sunday’s game against Sassuolo.

According to Foxsports

Darren Fletcher insists David de Gea has nothing to reproach himself for despite making the mistake that cost Manchester United a place in the Capital One Cup final.

United were less than two minutes away from securing a Wembley date with Manchester City when De Gea allowed a weak Phil Bardsley shot to slip through his fingers.
Though the hosts responded immediately through Javier Hernandez, it was only enough to send the tie into a penalty shoot-out, which ended in farce as only Fletcher was successful from United’s five kicks, allowing Sunderland to scrape through.
It was yet another dismal night for manager David Moyes.
However, for De Gea, Fletcher does not believe there is any blame attached.
“David will be fine,” the Scotland midfielder told MUTV.
“He has been fantastic for us. There has not been a better goalkeeper around for the last 18 months.
“He has been one of the most positive things about this season.
“He is disappointed but all goalkeepers make mistakes and he will show what a top goalkeeper he is.”
Fletcher believed De Gea atoned for his error by making a key shoot-out contribution, in particular denying Adam Johnson with the kick that would have won the game for Sunderland.
Unfortunately for the hosts, it just proved to be the prelude for more misery as Rafael failed from the spot, just as Danny Welbeck, Adnan Januzaj and Phil Jones had done beforehand.
“Penalties are a lottery but we should still be disappointed with our execution of them,” said Fletcher.
“We had the momentum going into the penalties but it didn’t pan out the way I thought.
“At Old Trafford, to only score one is disappointing, there is no denying that.”

According to Foxsports

Everton full-back Seamus Coleman has been ruled out of Saturday’s FA Cup fourth-round tie at Stevenage due to the injury he picked up against West Brom.

Coleman limped off in the 1-1 Barclays Premier League draw at The Hawthorns on Monday and the Toffees subsequently confirmed the Republic of Ireland international had sustained a “minor soft tissue injury”.
Giving an update on his players on Thursday at his pre-match press conference ahead of the clash with Sky Bet League One side Stevenage, Everton boss Roberto Martinez said: “The only difference from the squad on Monday is Seamus Coleman.
“He picked up a minor soft tissue injury, so he’ll miss the weekend and we’ll assess him from there.
“He adds to Steven Pienaar (groin) and Ross Barkley (broken toe) who are still unavailable, on top of the long-term injuries to Arouna Kone, Darron Gibson (both knee) and Gerard Deulofeu (hamstring).
“Antolin Alcaraz (muscle fatigue) is still recovering well but will be missing at the weekend.”
Regarding on-loan Barcelona forward Deulofeu, absent for the last seven games, Martinez added: “Gerard is not too far away.
“I will be very surprised if he is not available at the end of next week.
“That will be really positive because we knew it would be a tricky injury for the player he is. He’s a real sprinter and that injury needs to be well looked after.
“I will be delighted if we can get him back then.”
Meanwhile, Martinez hopes the injury suffered by Monaco’s Radamel Falcao does not affect the chances of Everton completing the signing of the Colombia striker’s club-mate Lacina Traore.
Everton have been granted a work permit for 6ft 8ins Ivory Coast frontman Traore, who they are looking to capture on loan for the rest of the season.
Reports have suggested Falcao is facing a long spell out of action – that could possibly include the summer’s World Cup – due to the knee problem he sustained this week, and that the setback for Monaco might mean they opt to hang on to Traore.
Martinez said: “I hope not. It is shocking news around European football when a player of the quality of Radamel Falcao gets a long-term injury.
“We hope that is not something that should affect the decision to allow Lacina to go out on loan.
“I think it would go down to what the player needs in his development and I hope that (Falcao’s injury) would have no bearing on the decision.
“We are really far down the line and it would be a real disappointment not to complete it, so we will see what today brings.
“We have got the work permit and we feel quite excited about bringing Lacina to Everton.”

According to Foxsports

Vice-presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Javier Faus visited the president at his home on Thursday morning, when he told them of his decision to leave the Catalan club.

Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has tendered his resignation and hit out at “personal attacks” against him and his family following the opening of an investigation into Neymar’s transfer to Camp Nou.

Rosell and Barca are currently under the scrutiny of the Spanish High Court over an alleged misappropriation of funds following the transfer of Neymar from Santos last summer.
The Liga champions bought the Brazil star for a fee of €57.1 million in May of last year, but only €17.1m of that went to Peixe, with third-party owners originally believed to have claimed the rest.

However, supermarket chain DIS say they never received their share and the Catalans have since admitted paying the €40m to the company co-owned by Neymar and his father, N&N.

Blaugrana vice-presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Javier Faus met with Rosell at his home on Thursday morning and joined the Barca president at a meeting this evening, along with deputy president Joanjo Castillo, general director Antoni Rossich and communications director Albert Montagut.

But the reunion will be merely to discuss plans for the future, with the 49-year-old’s mind made up following the release of a statement in which Rosell once again declares his innocence.

He said: “Me and my family for some time have suffered attacks that make me wonder if it’s worth being president.
“In recent days there have been unfair criticisms against me, coming from the national courts. I insist that everything that happened in the transfer of Neymar was correct.

“The club has always got to have an image that defends the club, there is confidentiality we have to expect, it’s important.

“If we don’t accept confidentiality it is damaging to the club. We don’t want unfair publicity to affect the image of the club.”

Rosell then reflected on his time at the club and said he was proud of the achievements of Barca during his reign.

“We’ve won the Champions League, two league titles, the other sports teams have also won a number of different trophies at home and abroad to show our power as a worldwide entity.
“If you think back to Ronaldinho’s goal in Paris, [Lionel] Messi’s goals, what happened in Rome, in London.

“We’ve reduced the debt and regained assets.

“We have the pride of knowing some of the best players in the world play for Barca.”

The president, whose current mandate runs until 2016, took charge at Camp Nou in 2010. He will be replaced by Bartomeu until the next elections.

According to Goal

AC Milan suffered a shock exit from the Coppa Italia when they lost 2-1 at home to Serie A strugglers Udinese in Clarence Seedorf’s second match in charge on Wednesday.

An individual goal by 20-year-old Uruguayan Nicolas Lopez, only two minutes after coming on as a substitute, condemned Milan to the inevitable chorus of jeers from a sparse San Siro crowd after their quarter-final defeat.
Milan had given Seedorf a winning debut by beating Hellas Verona 1-0 in Serie A on Sunday and made a flying start to the tie when Mario Balotelli tapped in from close range after six minutes.
Milan failed to build on their early goal and Udinese levelled with a penalty converted by Colombian forward Luis Muriel four minutes before halftime following Urby Emanuelson’s clumsy tackle on Silvan Widmer.
Udinese looked far more dangerous after halftime and were only prevented from going ahead by a dreadful double miss midway through the second half.
Substitute Maxi Pereira scuffed his shot in front of a gaping goal, then managed to scramble it back to Muriel who also miscued from a good scoring position.
Lopez showed them how it should be done when he collected the ball just inside the Milan half, surged forward and fired his shot into the corner.
Milan, 11th in Serie A, had no answer and trudged off after writing another chapter in a dismal season

According to Yahoo