Chelsea, Manchester United alerted as Atletico Madrid star indicates intention to leave

Jan Oblak is ready to quit Atletico Madrid this summer, with Manchester United and Chelsea interested in the Slovenia goalkeeper, according to Todofichajes.

Oblak is desperate to win the Champions League and is increasingly of the opinion that he will need to move on from Atletico to do so.

The 28-year-old has a €120 million (£103m/$143m) release clause in his contract which may prove prohibitve, though Chelsea and United may look to offer players in exchange in order to push through a deal.

Barcelona to embark on crucial measures to beat Chelsea, Man United, Real Madrid, others to Erling Haaland

Barcelona ‘must slash players’ wages and sell stars’ if they want to sign Manchester United target Erling Haaland this summer.

The 20-year-old Norwegian has been linked with a move to the Nou Camp after a remarkable campaign with Borussia Dortmund.

Haaland’s contract with Dortmund has a release clause of £66million.

But it is being reported that the Bundesliga side will not accept any fee less than £130m for the world class goalscorer.

Therefore, if Barcelona were to pay that amount for Haaland he would come within touching distance of the club’s record transfer fee which was £145m for Philippe Coutinho in 2018.

Champions League quarter-finals and semi-finals drawn: Chelsea vs Porto, Liverpool vs Real Madrid, others (Details here)

The Champions League quarter-finals have been drawn, with Liverpool facing Real Madrid and Chelsea taking on Porto.

There is hope and optimism at Real Madrid that the club will be able to host Liverpool in the Spanish capital for their Champions League quarter final next month.

Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium will not be available to stage the game due to ongoing construction work but their Alfredo Di Stefano stadium – traditionally the home of the club’s Castilla side – could host the game.

There is currently a travel ban in place from the Spanish government on UK arrivals but that is set to expire on 30 March, with the first leg of tie set to be staged on 6 April.

It remains unclear if that ban will be extended but there is hope that it will be eased in order to allow teams from the UK to arrive in Spain and stage the matches there.

Meanwhile Manchester City go head to head with Borussia Dortmund, while Bayern face PSG in a repeat of last season’s final.

The first leg will be played on April 6 and 7, the second leg is scheduled for the following week.

Both Chelsea and PSG will play the first leg away.

The winner of Bayern-PSG will face either Manchester City or Borussia Dortmund in the semis.

The other semi-final is between the winners of Real Madrid-Liverpool and Porto-Chelsea.

Quarter-finals:

Chelsea vs Porto

Liverpool vs Real Madrid

Manchester City vs Borussia Dortmund

Bayern Munich vs Paris Saint-Germain

Thomas Tuchel heaps praise on Chelsea star, says “the guy suffers all the time from my decision”

Thomas Tuchel has praised Emerson Palmieri for shelving his personal ambitions to help foster a new squad spirit at Chelsea.

Blues boss Tuchel conceded he sent Emerson into the closing stages of Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Atletico Madrid mainly as a “thank you” for his positive attitude.

The Italy left-back quickly returned the favour, scoring Chelsea’s second goal as they secured a first Champions League quarter-final in seven years. Emerson was mobbed by his team-mates after sealing the Blues’ 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge and 3-0 aggregate victory over Atletico in the last-16 tie.

And Tuchel praised the former Roma defender for never once letting his head drop, despite being behind Ben Chilwell and Marcos Alonso in Chelsea’s left-back pecking order.

“I’m so happy for him, the guy suffers all the time from my decision,” said Tuchel. “We have three players for one position with Marcos Alonso, Ben Chilwell and Emerson. So we started to play with a back three and chose different players so he only had the chance to show up in one cup game, which he did.

“After some days where he needed to settle to new information and a new style, he is training with an unbelievable effort. He is one of the nicest guys you can imagine.

“He’s always friendly, with unbelievable qualities. It was necessary to give him a reward and give him some minutes as a thank you for his attitude.

“It is the perfect example. You see what comes back, we get such a big reward, everybody celebrating and everybody happy for him because I truly believe everybody in the group feels what he is doing for the group.”