Chelsea’s German midfielder Michael Ballack, only a substitute for Saturday’s 2-1 FA Cup final win over Everton, has agreed to a one-year contract extension, the BBC reported on Sunday.
“I haven’t signed yet but I have agreed for another year,” the 32-year-old said, adding he expected AC Milan’s Carlo Ancelotti to succeed Guus Hiddink as coach next season at Stamford Bridge.
“I haven’t worked under him and I don’t know him very well, but you can see from the work he has done at Milan that he is a successful manager,” Ballack told BBC Sport. “It’s not done yet but it looks like he will be coach.”
PHOTO: EPA
Ancelotti was set to reveal if he is to take charge after the Serie A season ended yesterday evening as interim manager Hiddink, who replaced the sacked Luiz Felipe in February, returns to his job as Russia coach following four months in London.
Signed by Jose Mourinho in 2006, Ballack has seen Chelsea win two FA Cups since but insisted that next season he wants to target bigger prizes, with Manchester United having dominated the Premiership since his arrival.
“What we need at Chelsea is consistency,” he insisted. “There is not much that we need to change to win the Premier League next season. We have a great team, which is the most important thing, but we have to change the manager again and we will need a bit of time to adapt.”
“Every coach works with different methods and the players have to get to know him — hopefully we won’t need too much time because if we do we will be a little bit behind,” he said, adding he did not think the team needed to go on a spending spree.
“I don’t think we need to buy anybody because we already have a lot of good players on the bench,” he said. “That is for the club to decide but, if you look at the performances over the last couple of years in reaching finals, we have a really good squad and are heading in the right direction.”
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
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Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
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