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• Dundee consider appeal against six-figure fine for postponements over poor pitch

  Dundee are considering an appeal after being handed a six-figure fine – most of which is suspended – following a disciplinary hearing over their troublesome pitch.

  The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) announced that a fine of £186,000 had been handed down.

  However, £120,000 of the punishment is suspended until the end of next season and will only be triggered by a further breach of rules.

  Dundee disagreed with the wording of the SPFL press release, claiming they had been fined £150,000 in total with an additional £36,429.60 fee payable as compensation to the SPFL for television and pitch specialist costs.

  The cinch Premiership club say the additional £120,000 fine would be “automatically triggered in the event of a single waterlogged pitch postponement next season”.

  A statement added: “Dundee Football Club are deeply disappointed with the severity of the punishment and are currently seeking legal advice with regards to an appeal.

  “The club will be making no further comment on the outcome while we seek legal advice.”

  The league said that Dundee had admitted five separate breaches of SPFL rules relating to their Dens Park pitch following five postponements of league matches this season.

  An SPFL spokesman said: “SPFL rules on pitch condition are an integral part of maintaining a fair league competition.”

  Two of the postponements – against Rangers and Aberdeen – came within 90 minutes of kick-off and a recent game against Motherwell only went ahead following a late pitch inspection, with visiting manager Stuart Kettlewell subsequently arguing that areas were unplayable.

  The rearranged match against Rangers was postponed again last week and a contingency plan was made to play the game at St Johnstone’s McDiarmid Park before the game finally went ahead at Dundee’s home ground on Wednesday, with the match ending goalless.

• Massimiliano Allegri taking nothing for granted at resurgent strugglers Cagliari

  Cagliari’s record at home means Juventus head coach Massimiliano Allegri is not taking the trip to the Sardinian capital lightly.

  Juventus are well positioned to secure Champions League qualification for next season, while Cagliari are just four points above the drop zone ahead of Thursday’s contest at the Unipol Domus.

  The Bianconeri next take on Lazio in the Coppa Italia semi-final on Tuesday, holding a 2-0 lead from the first leg.

  But Allegri is wary of Claudio Ranieri’s Cagliari, who scored twice in the last quarter of an hour to secure a 2-2 draw at runaway league leaders Inter Milan last time out.

  “Of their eight wins this season, six have come at home and 23 of the 31 points they’ve got have been picked up at home,” Allegri told a press conference.

  “They’re a team who score a lot of goals in the last 15 minutes of games and particularly with players who come off the bench, they have scored more goals with substitutes than anybody else.

  “We know it will be a tough game, so our very best version will have to show up. We won’t be rotating ahead of the Italian Cup, the most important game is Cagliari, then we’ll focus on the cup.

  “It would be a mistake to not focus on Cagliari, and a win in Sardinia would allow us to take a big step towards our goals.”

  Juventus still have clashes against top-four rivals AC Milan, Roma and Bologna ahead of them in the next few weeks.

  “It’s important to stay focused on the next month or so,” Allegri added. “We have a lot of difficult games to come. A win at this stage is almost worth double.”

  Cagliari have lost just once in their last eight matches to ease relegation fears and twice hit back from a goal down to claim a surprise point at Inter Milan on Sunday.

  “I told the guys that they are doing well, but we have new pitfalls ahead of us,” Ranieri told a press conference.

  “The team is focused, we have to keep the right balance. We have to keep pushing without fear, the salvation fight is very tight. There are no foregone conclusions, you go out there and fight.”

• I saw only one team – Rodri bemoans Real Madrid’s tactics after City’s Euro exit

  Rodri claims he “saw only one team” trying to win as he bemoaned Real Madrid’s tactics following Manchester City’s heartbreaking Champions League quarter-final loss.

  City’s European title defence ended in agonising fashion at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday as the Spanish giants prevailed 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw on the night meant the tie ended 4-4 on aggregate.

  It was a clash the holders completely dominated, racking up 33 attempts on goal to the visitors’ eight, but Real defended deep to frustrate them and ultimately ended their hopes of a second successive treble.

  City midfielder Rodri said: “To be honest, I saw only one team. In terms of defending, they defended (well). They knew how to suffer and we know how tough Real Madrid are.

  “But in my opinion we should go through with that amount of chances but this is the trick of this competition. They know how to play it. We congratulate them.

  “We gave everything, there is nothing to regret. This is football sometimes. This shows how difficult it is to win it, as we did last season. It was very frustrating and sometimes it is difficult to explain.”

  City’s exit from the competition they won with a Rodri goal in Istanbul last year, coupled with Arsenal’s loss to Bayern Munich, means there are no English semi-finalists for the first time since 2020.

  City had to chase the tie after Rodrgyo pounced to put Real ahead after 12 minutes.

  They created a plethora of chances in a storming response, with Erling Haaland going the closest in the first half when he headed against the bar.

  Further opportunities came and went after the break and it was not until the 76th minute that Kevin De Bruyne finally broke through to net a deserved equaliser.

  But De Bruyne spurned a good chance to win it when he fired over soon after and, with extra-time failing to separate the sides, it came down to spot-kicks.

  Ederson saved from Luka Modric but Bernardo Silva’s attempted Panenka was too easy for Andriy Lunin, who also denied Mateo Kovavic as Real went through.

  The Premier League leaders now have little time to pick themselves up before heading to Wembley for an FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea on Saturday.

  Rodri said: “We will have to digest the loss but we will have to wake up, stand up. We still have two more competitions to play for.

  “We need the mentality (to be) positive, to find any ambition that right now is difficult to find. Tomorrow we will find it and go against Chelsea, try to be in another final and fight for the Premier League.”

  City will need to assess key pair Haaland and De Bruyne who, along with Manuel Akanji, were substituted before the penalty shoot-out.

  Haaland was removed at the end of the regulation 90 minutes with the influential De Bruyne leaving the action in the second period of extra-time.

  Manager Pep Guardiola said: “Erling and Kevin asked me to go out – they could not continue, like Manu. The game we were playing, they were amazing, but they could not continue.”