Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez is determined to seize the moment as he looks to follow up his World Cup triumph with Champions League success.
The Italian side take on favourites Manchester City for Europe’s top prize in Istanbul on Saturday and Martinez is hoping to round off a memorable campaign that also saw him help Argentina to international success in December.
Martinez said at a press conference at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium: “These are the two major finals a footballer can play.
“It has certainly been a very positive season for me. I am pleased with how it has gone and how I have done. Now we hope to finish off in the best possible way.
“If you want to achieve your goal this is the very last step and we must be ready to take it. It will be a very important game for everyone at Inter and the club.”
Saturday’s match will see Martinez come up against his Argentina team-mate Julian Alvarez, with whom he shared glory in Qatar.
Martinez said: “I have not been in contact with Julian. I got married recently and invited him but he was unable to attend.”
Inter, who finished third in Serie A, are rated as the underdogs against a City side bidding to complete a treble.
Coach Simeone Inzaghi said: “After reaching the final we didn’t have time to think about it as we still had games to play.
“Only now are we realising what we have achieved but we are not relaxed. We are concentrating very much and we will fight for every inch of the pitch against an excellent team.
“We must be fully focused and make no mistakes.”
Stopping the prolific Erling Haaland, who has scored 52 goals for City this season, will be key to Inter’s hopes.
Inzaghi said: “We know who we have to play. We know Manchester City are probably the best in the world. They have proved that, they have been defeated very few times.
“We know what a player Haaland is. Clearly we will have a special eye on him.
“I have prepared something but it will be all of Inter that have to defend, trying to limit not only Haaland but all of City.”
Inter midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu, the Turkey international, hopes to have the locals in the crowd on his side even though City captain Ilkay Gundogan also has a proud Turkish heritage.
Calhanoglu said: “I think it will be a very special game for me. It is special for a Turk to play in Istanbul.
“I want to enjoy this moment and I don’t know if I will play another final. We will give it our very best shot.
“I know Turks will support me. Gundogan is on the other team but he plays for Germany, so for our people it is perhaps more important I win. That is my dream.”
Former Manchester United forward Henrikh Mkhitaryan has returned to training for Inter after a thigh injury but remains a doubt.
Inzaghi said: “We have a positive feeling but he is not 100 per cent. I will have to decide whether to field him from the beginning or send him on during the match.”
Curtin sacked by Philadelphia Union, Arena new San Jose head coach
The Philadelphia Union have parted ways with head coach Jim Curtin, the club announced on Thursday.
Curtin was the second-longest serving coach in the MLS, only behind Sporting Kansas City's Peter Vermes, but his 10-year stint at Subaru Park has finally come to an end.
During the 45-year-old's tenure, the Union won the 2020 Supporters' Shield and made the 2022 MLS Cup final.
But Philadelphia struggled this season, finishing 12th in the Eastern Conference standings and therefore missing the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2017.
Curtin oversaw 394 matches in all competitions, winning 170 (D90 L134), ending with a win percentage of 41.9%.
"We want to extend our heartfelt appreciation to Jim for his passion and dedication to this club over the last 10 seasons," sporting director Ernst Tanner said in a statement.
"He greatly contributed to the success the club has achieved in recent years and for that, we are extremely grateful.
"We thank Jim for the significant impact he made both on the field and in the community. Following the 2024 season, we recognise the need for change.
"We'll continue to evaluate our sporting strategy and make the necessary changes this offseason to best set the team up for success."
In the Western Conference, the San Jose Earthquakes named Bruce Arena as their new head coach and sporting director after a poor 2024 season.
They conceded an MLS-record 78 goals and finished bottom of the overall league standings, parting ways with Luchi Gonzalez before being led by interim coach Ian Russell.
Arena takes charge of his fifth club in the MLS and his first since resigning from his position with the New England Revolution in 2023.
The 73-year-old is the most accomplished coach in MLS history, leading the league in regular-season wins (262) and Audi MLS Cup Playoffs victories (35).
Additionally, Arena led the United States at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups and won three CONCACAF Gold Cup titles.
"I am extremely excited for the opportunity to come to San Jose," said Arena.
"I coached my first ever professional game at Spartan Stadium in 1996 – the first game in MLS history – and my first international game with the U.S. in 1998 was in San Jose.
"The Earthquakes and Northern California have a proud soccer tradition.
"There’s a lot of potential with the club, and I am looking forward to working with everyone here to unlock that potential and get back to winning ways."
England handed World Cup final reunion with Spain in Women's Nations League
England will face a re-run of the Women's 2023 World Cup final after being drawn in the same group as Spain in the 2025 Women's Nations League.
Sarina Wiegman's side will face the world and Nations League champions for the first time since the August 2023 World Cup final, where they lost 1-0 in Australia.
The Lionesses are joined in Group A3 by Belgium, who stunned England in the previous edition of the tournament with a 3-2 win in Leuven last October, and Portugal.
During the October international break, England were beaten 4-3 by Germany, but responded with a 2-1 triumph over South Africa.
They face Emma Hayes' United States at Wembley in an international friendly at the end of this month before taking on Switzerland in December before the tournament starts.
“It’s an exciting draw. We have Spain – a top, world-class team – which I think is exciting because it’s another opportunity to play at that level," Wiegman said.
“It’s really good that we play Belgium because in the last Nations League we lost when we played them away, and we really underperformed.
"We can prove to ourselves now that we can do much better than that in the two games. I’m happy with that one, they’re tough.
“Portugal are a very talented team. We played them before we went to the World Cup, and we drew with them.
"We had a lot of the ball, but we couldn’t score, and they were very dangerous on the counter-attack. They have a lot of technical players.
“There are different opponents, and I’m really looking forward to it because we’ll be challenged in different areas of the game. And of course we’ll give them challenges too.”
Germany give surprise maiden call up to Ortega
Julian Nagelsmann has handed a maiden Germany call-up to goalkeeper Stefan Ortega in his squad for the upcoming Nations League games.
The 32-year-old has only made four appearances for Manchester City this season, two in the Champions League and two in the EFL Cup, and was a surprise inclusion in the squad.
Ortega, who joined City in 2022, is the second-choice goalkeeper behind Ederson but received plaudits after filling in at the end of last season when the Brazilian suffered an eye injury.
There is also a return for Borussia Dortmund's Felix Nmecha, who is called up for the first time since September 2023. He has scored two goals and registered two assists in 14 appearances in all competitions this season.
Kai Havertz is also in the squad, having pulled out of their games in the October international break due to a knee injury.
Germany have already qualified for the quarter-finals of the Nations League, having collected 10 points from their opening four games.
Nagelsmann is not ready to ease up on the pressure when they face Bosnia-Herzegovina and Hungary, with the first of those matches on November 16.
"After making sure of a spot in the quarter-finals, we now want to seal top spot in the group," said Nagelsmann.
"Reaching the Nations League final four next year is an important milestone on our way to the 2026 World Cup."
Germany squad in full:
Oliver Baumann (Hoffenheim), Alexander Nubel (Stuttgart), Stefan Ortega (Manchester City), Robin Gosens (Fiorentina), Benjamin Henrichs (RB Leipzig), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Robin Koch (Eintracht Frankfurt), Maximilian Mittelstadt (Stuttgart), Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid), Nico Schlotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund), Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen), Robert Andrich (Bayer Leverkusen), Julian Brandt (Borussia Dortmund), Chris Fuhrich (Stuttgart), Pascal Gross (Borussia Dortmund), Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich), Felix Nmecha (Borussia Dortmund), Angelo Stiller (Stuttgart), Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen), Serge Gnabry (Bayern Munich), Kai Havertz (Arsenal), Tim Kleindienst (Borussia Monchengladbach), Deniz Undav (Stuttgart).
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