Gian Piero Gasperini is relishing the fact Atalanta have a packed schedule heading into the final months of the season as his side chase success in three competitions.

La Dea can reach the Coppa Italia final with victory over Fiorentina in the semi-finals, while Champions League qualification is within their capabilities as the top four in Serie A is only seven points away, and only Liverpool stand between them and making progress in the Europa League later this month.

First up is Wednesday’s away leg of a Coppa semi match-up which head coach Gasperini is “thrilled” to be involved in.

He told La Gazzetta dello Sport: “Going into the end of the season with three goals to chase is really exciting.

“I’m expecting a balanced match, we’ll need to be very focused and trust each other. It’s a thrill to be able to experience this time and I’m very happy to have such a united and high-quality team at my disposal.

“The Coppa Italia is our most realistic target because I never really thought we could compete for the Scudetto with teams that are now chasing about 90 or 100 points. The cup, however, is possible. It’s the fourth semi we’ve reached since I’ve been here.”

Unfortunately for Gasperini, he will observe the match at the Stadio Artemio Franchi from the stands as he serves a touchline ban.

He joked: “It’s a shame, but at least I’ll have a better view.”

Wednesday’s hosts Fiorentina are still in a period of mourning following the death of their general manager Joe Barone last month.

Boss Vincenzo Italiano, who is keen to dismiss speculation suggesting he will leave the Florence club at the end of the season, wants to “throw all the passion” expressed by supporters to the late Barone into their cup tie.

“The future of Fiorentina is far more important than any individual, whether it’s me or the players,” he told Sky Sport Italia.

“We have to throw all the passion, love and determination that Barone showed us during these years and put those elements into our performances for the rest of the season.

“I am not trying to avoid answering (questions about his future), but I insist we must try to concentrate on these remaining 13 matches this season and keep everyone focused.

“This sort of talk does not help anyone, in my view, it can actually make us lose our concentration.”

Manchester United defender Raphael Varane believes his body has been “damaged” due to effects of continually heading the ball.

Varane says that he advises his seven-year-old son not to head the ball when he plays.

The 30-year-old also revealed that he finished a World Cup last-16 game for France against Nigeria in 2014 on “autopilot” after suffering concussion.

“Personally, I don’t know if I’ll live to be 100, but I do know that I’ve damaged my body,” Varane told L’Equipe.

“The dangers of headers need to be taught on all amateur football pitches and to young people.

“My seven-year-old son plays football, and I advise him not to head the ball. For me, that’s essential.

“Even if it doesn’t cause any immediate trauma, we know that in the long term, repeated shocks can have harmful effects.”

Speaking about the Nigeria match, Varane added: “I finished the match, but I was in autopilot mode. The staff wondered if I was fit (to play in France’s quarter-final against Germany). I was weakened, but ultimately I played and rather well.

“What we’ll never know is what would have happened if I had taken another knock to the head.

“As footballers playing at the highest level, we are used to pain, we are a bit like soldiers, tough guys, symbols of physical strength, but these symptoms are almost invisible.

“If your leg hurts and you limp, everyone sees it. But with head injuries, it immediately feels weak to say that you are tired, that you have migraines or eye fatigue, so at first, we tell ourselves that it will pass.”

Football lawmakers the International Football Association Board (IFAB) announced law changes in March that include an option for competitions to introduce additional permanent concussion substitutions – something which has been trialled in the Premier League since the 2020-21 season.

But calls from leagues and players’ unions for temporary subs to allow for head injury assessments were not taken up.

Elegant Man has the Lockinge and Coronation Cup as options after his Good Friday triumph was followed by a boost from the Middle East.

The Amo Racing-owned four-year-old ran three times through the winter, winning twice at Dundalk and coming home second behind Rebel’s Romance in the Listed Wild Flower Stakes at Kempton.

The impression he made in those runs left him carrying top-weight at Newcastle, where he ran in the BetUK All-Weather Easter Classic Middle Distance from a wide draw in stall 14.

Neither factor was a hindrance to him in the 10-furlong contest, however, and under David Egan he was an impressive winner when crossing the line a length and a half ahead of Mick Appleby’s Penzance.

“It was a big run, but we were expecting a big run and he didn’t fail to deliver – he’s a right nice horse,” said trainer Adrian Murray.

A son of the late American superstar Arrogate, Elegant Man’s form was quickly boosted the following day when Rebel’s Romance struck at Group One level to take the Sheema Classic at the Dubai World Cup meeting, a two-length victory that reflects very well on Elegant Man after their meeting at Kempton.

“It’s huge, a huge boost. The day when we met that horse we were very, very green, it was only the second time he’d ever seen a racecourse,” Murray added.

Elegant Man is entered in the Alleged Stakes at the Curragh on Saturday but will not run, and is instead likely to be aimed at either the Coronation Cup or the Lockinge.

“I entered him this morning for the Coronation Cup and he’s entered at Newbury over a mile, too,” said his trainer.

“He’s entered in the Curragh on Saturday but he won’t go there, the race will come up a bit quick for him so we’ll freshen him up again.”

Murray also trains Bucanero Fuerte for Amo Racing, a Wootton Bassett colt who won the Railway and the Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh last year and was third in both the Coventry and the National Stakes.

He holds an entry for the English and the Irish Guineas, but may head to Ascot for the Commonwealth Cup Trial in preparation for the Commonwealth Cup itself at the Royal meeting in June.

“He’s getting on great, we’re very happy with him,” Murray said.

“He’ll go for the Guineas or he’ll go for a race at Ascot, a prep race for Royal Ascot over six furlongs.”

Nico de Boinville paid Constitution Hill a visit on Tuesday and said the former champion hurdler is feeling “a bit sorry for himself”.

Nicky Henderson’s stable star has had no end of health trouble this season, scoping dirty in January and then being laid low with an infection which ruled him out of the defence of his Champion Hurdle title.

Just when connections had hoped for some light at the end of the tunnel and a possible run at Punchestown, he was then struck down by suspected colic and spent a few nights at the vets.

It was a relieved Henderson that informed everyone on Monday he was now back at Seven Barrows and De Boinville was keen to check in on him.

“Everyone has been kept in the loop. I went to see him this morning and hopefully he picks up in the next couple of weeks,” he told Racing TV.

“He’s certainly feeling a bit sorry for himself and I can see why.”

England seamer Saqib Mahmood has revealed he considered taking a break from red-ball cricket after a second stress fracture in as many years threatened to derail his career.

A serious back injury struck him down soon after a promising debut Test tour of the West Indies in March 2022 and hit again at the start of last summer, when the problem reoccurred just as he was hoping to put his name in the Ashes frame.

During the long and lonely months of rehabilitation he told Lancashire he planned to step away from the first-class game this season and ease himself back in as a T20 specialist.

He has since banished the idea, enthused by the arrival of new head coach Dale Benkenstein and by his own love of the longer format, and although he will miss this week’s Vitality County Championship curtain-raiser he is working towards a full comeback in the next month.

“It’s quite overwhelming to think that two years of my career have just sort of gone. I don’t want to have a third year like that,” he said.

“Initially I didn’t want to play any red ball cricket at the start of this season. At the back end of last summer I had a chat to the guys here because I was nervous about my body.

“I was asking for a little bit of empathy from the guys. I just want to be on the park contributing, not on the sides. I don’t want to be chasing Test cricket at the start of the season, breaking down and then not be any good to anyone. I want to do it properly.

“We left it as a question mark and when Benky (Benkenstein) came in he sort of filled me with that excitement again – a new coach telling me how important I was.

“So you have more chats and you try to find a way of doing it in as safe a way as possible. I’ve gone from not wanting to play it this year to trying to get ready for it.”

While Lancashire certainly took Mahmood’s concerns seriously, those even closer to him were more sceptical that he would be able to commit exclusively to the limitations of the limited-overs game.

“My brother told me ‘I knew you’d never do that. No way would you would sit on the side watching the guys play’. That’s not who I am,” he admitted.

“I still watch Test cricket more than I watch white-ball cricket, I still focus on it. As soon as I’ve got a red ball in hand I really love the things that come with it: trying to work batters out, the craft of bowling, things I pride myself on.

“Even the short experience I had in Test cricket, I didn’t want to give that up. It might feel like I’ve put a tick in the box by playing Test cricket but I feel I’ve got more to give in that format.

“My mindset is just to be fit. If I stay fit and do the right things I like to think the England stuff should take care of itself. Last year I was really trying to push myself to get ready for the Ashes and in the end I did too much, too soon by trying to look for something that wasn’t quite there.

“I don’t expect to be bowling at 90mph tomorrow, ready to play in an England shirt, it’s a process.
Hopefully by the time I start I’ll peak at the right time.”

Micky Hammond was grateful for Aiden Brookes’ claim after landing round one of the Pontefract Stayers’ Championship with Justus at the opening meeting of the season at the West Yorkshire track.

Justus looked beaten down the stretch of the two-and-a-quarter mile Jamaican Flight Handicap under 5lb claimer Brookes, with Maxident and Robert Johnson apparently fighting out the finish.

But Justus (9-2) responded to Brookes’ urgings and got up close home to land victory by three-quarters of a length.

Hammond felt Brookes’ claim proved vital on ground the horse loves as he took advantage of carrying nearly a stone less than all four of his rivals.

Hammond told Racing TV: “The horse has had a good winter with us. Obviously Aiden has been with us now for a good few years now since leaving school and he’s well worth his claim.

“(The ground is) very important for the horse. Lightest-weighted in the race which has suited. When they quickened up a little bit they actually left us a bit flat footed.

“All we’ve done is just stay which has won the day for us really. Absolutely delighted.”

Hammond has a smaller army of runners on the Flat but is hoping for a drying up of the ground for his jumpers.

He added: “Surely it’s going to dry up very soon. Maybe for the winter jumpers this festival weekend we have in the north might be the last time that we get the soft or heavy ground.

“And then hopefully we might get some sort of a spring, although having said that it’s actually quite spring like here today.

“Hopefully the racing will go ahead through the rest of the week because the forecast isn’t too promising.

“We haven’t got a lot of Flat horses, we’re not going to have a lot of summer jumpers but the jumpers we’ve got we’ll keep them going until Cartmel at the end of May. The winter jumpers have done really well.”

The Bell Conductor (10-1) made all to land the feature William Hill Extra Place Races Every Day Handicap for Craig Lidster and William Pyle.

The seven-year-old was pressured in the final furlong but held off Glorious Angel to triumph by one and a quarter lengths.

Favourite Wen Moon was a further length and a half back in third.

Manchester United have made an official approach to hire Southampton director of football Jason Wilcox as part of their off-field overhaul following Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s arrival.

Here, the PA news agency takes a closer look at the former England winger and the current state of affairs.

What is Wilcox’s background?

He joined Blackburn in 1987 at the age of 16 following a trial, broke into the first team two years later and remained at Ewood Park for the next decade, making 238 appearances. He was a key player in Rovers’ 1995 Premier League title-winning side. Wilcox left for Leeds in 1999 and helped the Yorkshire club reach UEFA Cup and Champions League semi-finals in consecutive seasons before a spell with Leicester and then finishing his career at Blackpool aged 35.

What has he been up to in recent years?

Wilcox took up an academy coaching role with Manchester City in 2012, guiding the under-18s to the national title as well as two FA Youth Cup finals, and was appointed academy director in October 2017. It was announced in January 2023 that he would move to Saints in the summer to oversee all football departments.

Why is he in demand?

Wilcox developed a reputation for nurturing young talent in the blue half of Manchester, as well as recruiting some of the best prospects in the game. He is understood to have a good relationship with incoming United chief executive Omar Berrada from their time together at City and has been targeted to be the next piece of United’s off-field jigsaw puzzle. Ineos recently took charge of football operations at Old Trafford as part of the deal that saw Ratcliffe become minority owner, and United are looking for a resolution to hire Newcastle sporting director Dan Ashworth, who has been placed on garden leave.

What will it take to get the deal done?

The Red Devils have offered compensation commensurate to a year’s salary, but Southampton want a bigger package. United want Wilcox in place for the summer and are hoping for an amicable outcome. A report emerged during Southampton’s match against Ipswich on Monday evening that Wilcox had resigned, which would mean him serving a 12-month notice period before he could take up a new role.

Spirit Dancer is set for a well-earned break after finishing lame in his bid for further international honours in Saturday’s Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan.

Richard Fahey’s charge has enjoyed a hugely productive winter on foreign soil, carrying the red and white silks of part-owner and breeder Sir Alex Ferguson to victory in the Bahrain International Trophy before claiming an even more lucrative success in the Neom Turf Cup in Riyadh.

The seven-year-old was unable to land a blow when stepped up in class on Dubai World Cup night, finishing 11th of 12 runners, but was subsequently found to have sustained an injury.

“He has a chip in his joint I’m afraid, so he did pull up lame,” Fahey said on Tuesday.

“It (injury) won’t have helped. It was a messy sort of race as he sort of dropped in and never got back into it, but that can’t have helped.

“He was due for a holiday anyway and he’ll get it now. He’s fit enough to travel and we’ll sort him out when we get him home.

“It’s been a fantastic winter with him and he’s got the money in the bank to prove it!”

While Fahey is keen to get his charge back to his North Yorkshire base before committing to future targets, there is every chance Spirit Dancer will be stamping his passport again later in the year.

The trainer added: “I’d be keen to go back there (Dubai) again next year, so all roads and plans will lead to go there.

“I’ve got Hong Kong in my mind as well, so we’ll see. He could have a couple of runs over here and then head back over there.”

Clive Cox can justifiably target all the major sprints on home soil this summer with Diligent Harry following a fine effort in defeat on Dubai World Cup night at Meydan on Saturday.

Following successive Listed wins on the all-weather in February, the six-year-old faced a step up to Group One level for the Al Quoz Sprint and emerged with plenty of credit after passing the post in third place behind Hong Kong speedster California Spangle and Charlie Appleby’s Star Of Mystery.

An appearance at Royal Ascot looks likely to be on Diligent Harry’s agenda, with next month’s 1895 Duke of York Stakes at the Dante meeting a potential port of call along the way.

“I was thrilled with how he ran on Saturday – very, very pleased,” said Cox.

“He’d always promised at home that we had a big performance in him and to justify that with that run, on the back of two Listed wins this year, was absolutely wonderful. I’m really proud that he’d produced what we always hoped and believed was there.

“He appears to have come out of the race well and travels back home later in the week. He’s effective at five and six (furlongs), which is great, and ground is more suitable drier than wetter for him.

“We’ll see how he comes back. He has got an entry in the Duke of York, but we’ll see how he comes home first and gather our thoughts.”

Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso expects a “big challenge” as his side prepare to face second-tier Fortuna Dusseldorf in the DFB-Pokal semi-final.

The 42-year-old, who won the DFB-Pokal with Bayern Munich as a player in 2016, is now looking to do the same as a manager, with his team also top of the Bundesliga and into the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

And Alonso insists Leverkusen will not be looking to take their foot off the gas on Tuesday as they aim to lift the trophy for just the second time.

“It’ll be a big challenge tomorrow,” he told his club’s official website. “We’re definitely not going to take the game easy.

“Being in the final is the greatest thing for a footballer. For the club as well, it would be something we haven’t had too often. That’s why we want to take this final step tomorrow.

“It’ll be very intense. They’ve very flexible, can play with possession but can also be compact and look to counter. They’ll come here very excited, but same with us.”

Leverkusen are yet to be beaten in the league this term and a comeback victory over Hoffenheim mixed with Bayern Munich’s defeat to Dortmund at the weekend leaves them 13 points in front at the top of the table.

“We need the support of our fans tomorrow to take this big chance,” he added. “We can feel their excitement. It’s in the air.

“The fans want to go to Berlin, and so do we. We’ll give our all for that tomorrow.

“The cup final in Berlin is special. I have fond memories of it. The atmosphere is really special, almost comparable with a Champions League final. The players want that and we all want to experience it.”

Leverkusen will be boosted by the return of Exequiel Palacios and Victor Boniface.

Alonso said: “It’s a super situation. Everyone except Arthur is in.

“Boni has trained very hard and has proven a strong mentality to come back. He can hardly wait to be back on the pitch.”

Oisin Murphy has announced he will miss the Craven Meeting after breaking the whip rules at Newcastle on Good Friday.

The rider said he was found to have used his whip once more than the permitted six strikes when beaten just over five lengths in fifth aboard Vaguely Royal in the BetUK All-Weather Championships Marathon Handicap.

Murphy’s initial penalty was four days, but the value of the race means it is doubled to eight days, although he had two days deducted in recognition of his previous good conduct.

In a post on X, Murphy said: “I’ve picked up a six-day suspension for one strike too many on Vaguely Royal on Good Friday when finishing fifth in the Marathon.

“This was a genuine mistake and I didn’t purposely use my whip once more than permitted. As the race was worth £150k total prize money, my suspension should’ve been eight days but the fact I’ve not been suspended for a whip breach in over 200 rides, it’s been reduced by two days.

“Had I committed the same breach in the Listed Burradon Stakes on the card when finishing a narrowly-beaten second, I would be facing a two-day ban. I will miss April 12,13,15,16,17,18. The entire Craven meeting.

“I will endeavour not to fall foul of these whip rules as the penalties are costly.”

The three-day fixture at Newmarket features the first Classic trials of the season in the Nell Gwyn and Craven Stakes.

Luis Enrique has urged his Paris St Germain team to “give something extra” and secure their place in the Coupe de France final.

PSG’s recent form has seen them move 12 points clear of second-placed Brest in Ligue 1 and could see them advance in another competition on Wednesday if they can overcome Rennes.

And Enrique believes the Parisians are in a “perfect” moment after the weekend’s 2-0 victory at Marseille.

“After eight months, we’re at the perfect moment,” he said.

“We need to give something extra to play in a Coupe de France final. It’s motivating and attractive to feel that with the players. It’s time to get that extra bit of motivation.”

PSG are looking to win the Coupe de France for the first time since 2021.

Enrique highlighted the prospect of a cup final as a key motivation for him and his players going into the tie at Parc des Princes.

“It’s a great motivator because of the competition, but also because of the proximity of the final,” Enrique added.

“One more step and we’ll be in the final. It’s a very powerful incentive and it’s more than enough for us to see a very good version of our team.

“It could be positive, it’s a 90-minute match, with no extra-time. That means it could be like a UEFA Champions League return leg, when you’re playing for qualification.

“But we’ve been ready to play important matches since the start of the season. We did it in the UEFA Champions League group matches and in Marseille.”

The Spanish manager revealed Marquinhos and Nuno Mendes have recently returned from injury but admitted he does not like taking risks when bringing players back.

He said: “As a staff, we make decisions. Marquinhos and Nuno Mendes have already recovered. Recovering for training is one thing, taking part in a match is another. We don’t like taking risks, and I don’t take risks with any player, even if it’s tempting with important players.”