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• Rumour Has It: Bayern Munich turning to Tuchel

  Bayern Munich have sensationally sacked Julian Nagelsmann, and Thomas Tuchel is in line to take over.

  While not officially confirmed by the German club, widespread reports on Thursday suggested Nagelsmann had been dismissed.

  Bayern sit second in the Bundesliga, one point behind Borussia Dortmund, and it is one of their rivals' former coaches who is favourite to replace Nagelsmann.

   

  TOP STORY – TUCHEL SIGNS BAYERN DEAL

  According to Fabrizio Romano, Tuchel – who was sacked by Chelsea in September – has already agreed to become Bayern's new coach.

  Tuchel's first game would be against his former team Dortmund on April 1.

  Bayern face Manchester City in the Champions League quarter-finals. Nagelsmann, meanwhile, is sure to be linked with plenty of high-profile job opportunities.

  ROUND UP

  - The Sun, citing a Sport Bild report, claim that Eintracht Frankfurt have placed an £88million (€99.7m) price tag on Manchester United target Randal Kolo Muani.

  - The father of Brighton and Hove Albion's Alexis Mac Allister has informed ESPN no clubs are in concrete talks with his son, but that there are interested parties.

  - According to 90min, Chelsea, Newcastle United and Manchester City are all scouting Juventus winger Samuel Iling-Junior.

  - Fabrizio Romano says that Barcelona, Real Madrid and Liverpool are interested in Florian Wirtz, though Bayer Leverkusen are confident of keeping hold of the youngster.

• Messi scores 800th career goal – Opta numbers behind the GOAT's latest landmark

  Another week, another landmark for Lionel Messi as the Argentina superstar scored his 800th career goal in Thursday's friendly against Panama.

  It's been an almighty journey for the all-time great, who has basically won everything on offer and claimed a record haul of seven Ballons d'Or along the way.

  The player regarded by many as the greatest ever, Messi reached his latest milestone with a picture-perfect free kick in the 89th minute against Panama, curling one into the top corner after crashing two prior free kicks into the crossbar.

  Although Messi hits new landmarks so frequently, at the age of 35 he is approaching a point where such achievements will become a little rarer.

  With that in mind, it's worth celebrating Messi and his feats while we still can – therefore, Stats Perform has delved into the Opta data behind his latest accomplishment.

  On the receiving end

  It's nearly 18 years since Messi's first goal in professional football. Then a floppy-haired 17-year-old, he latched on to a Ronaldinho pass before lifting a clever lob over Albacete goalkeeper Raul Valbuena on May 1, 2005.

  That goal has since become famous given its significance in marking the arrival of Messi – it also left a mark on the career of Valbuena.

  "The press calls me every time he's broken a record or achieved something important, especially press from Catalonia," he told Marca nine years later. "To me, it's a funny anecdote in my career as a goalkeeper."

  Well, it's all right for some. Many goalkeepers have had to contend with Messi smashing past them a few more times than Valbuena's single concession.

  In total, 232 goalkeepers had let in a goal against Messi before Thursday. No one conceded more than Diego Alves, however, with the Brazilian beaten 21 times. Iker Casillas is a close second (19).

  Returning the favour

  Of course, over his career Messi has also become synonymous with creativity, routinely setting up goals for his team-mates.

  But, given how many he's scored, he's also had to benefit from plenty of service from his colleagues as well – when he's not doing it all himself.

  There are several players with whom he's struck up particularly effective on-pitch relationships.

  For years, his combination with Dani Alves was unrivalled, the Brazilian setting up 42 of Messi's goals, but then along came Luis Suarez.

  Suarez, Messi and Neymar were a revered and feared front three, their understanding on the pitch so deadly. The Uruguayan ended up assisting 47 goals for Messi across their six years together, with no one else teeing him up more often.

  Messi also has his favourite clubs to score against. Impressively, Real Madrid (26) are right up there – but there are four teams he has punished more.

  Athletic Bilbao (29), Valencia (31) and Atletico Madrid (32) all struggled against him, but if there has been one team who have resembled lambs to the slaughter when facing Messi, it's Sevilla (38).

  Heights few have reached

  The world of football numbers can be a little muddy. What constitutes an official goal? What's an official competition?

  As such, there has been lots of confusion regarding the 'official' goals hauls of players down the years – we're looking at you, Pele and Romario.

  The International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) considers Cristiano Ronaldo to be the world record holder, stating in December 2021 that the Portugal forward was the first player to reach 800 official career goals.

  This makes Messi the second to reach that figure, with Opta corroborating his career record. There remains a possibility he will eventually reach 1,000. No one is expecting him to get there soon, though.

  After all, as good as he remains, achievements like scoring 91 times in a calendar year – as he managed in 2012 – appear to be beyond him these days.

  That was his best ever year, which – perhaps unsurprisingly – coincided with his most prolific season (2011-12), when he scored 82 goals.

  Still, the 35 goals he plundered in 2022 wasn't a bad return, especially given that haul included seven en route to World Cup success with Argentina.

  Still to come?

  There aren't many records at Barcelona that don't already belong to Messi. Top scorer? Done. Most appearances? Completed it. The most-photographed person at Camp Nou? Probably.

  It seems unlikely Messi will be around at PSG long enough to have the same kind of impact there, but he certainly still has career targets in sight.

  There's the aforementioned 1,000 goals landmark, though before then he will have his eyes on more international achievements.

  Messi's free kick to seal Thursday's 2-0 win left him just one from reaching 100 with Argentina, and after that he'll perhaps have designs on usurping both Ali Daei (109) and Ronaldo (120), the two highest-scoring players in men's international football.

  Similarly, with Ronaldo now out of the way in Saudi Arabia, Messi could also take his record for the most Champions League goals (140) – Messi is on 129.

  But regardless of what else he does or doesn't go on to achieve, Thursday's milestone is just another reminder of how fortunate we've been to witness Messi's truly remarkable career.

• Mancini hopeful Italy can tackle 'uphill climb' to Euro 2024 following England defeat

  Roberto Mancini knows Italy face an "uphill climb" to qualify for Euro 2024 after they were beaten 2-1 by England but took heart from their second-half display.

  Declan Rice opened the scoring and Harry Kane become England's outright record goalscorer with his 54th strike for his country from the penalty spot just before half-time in Thursday's Group C opener at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

  Argentina-born Mateo Retegui marked his debut with a goal to get the European champions back in the game and there was further hope for Italy when Luke Shaw was sent off in the 80th minute.

  England held on to gain a measure of revenge for a defeat in the Euro 2020 final, securing their first away win over Italy since May 1961.

  Gareth Southgate's side ended Italy's run of 40 European Championship qualifying matches without defeat, leaving the holders with work to do in order to return to a major tournament in Germany next year after missing out on the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

  Azzurri head coach Mancini said: "We knew it was going to be a difficult game, then we conceded two goals from two set-pieces; we should have been more careful. 

  "We dominated in the second half and probably deserved a draw. We're disappointed with the result but we still have a long way to go."

  He added: "In the second half we managed to press better, higher and I saw a great team again: this gives us hope. England are always dangerous from set-pieces, but we shouldn't have conceded those two goals.

  "We still managed to roll up our sleeves and play better. The road is a bit of an uphill climb now, but maybe it will finish more smoothly."

  Mancini was encouraged by the impact Retegui made in the second half in Naples after the striker became the first player to open his Italy account while playing for a club based outside of Europe.

  "Retegui has yet to get to know his team-mates and our movements as a team," Mancini said of the Tigre forward.

  "In the first half, he had difficulties against the English defenders who are very strong physically, but he did better in the second half. He's young and I think he just needs a little time."