Robert Lewandowski could not hope to win more trophies at Barcelona and should therefore stay at Bayern Munich, as uncertainty over his future persists.
That is the message from former Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who has implored the Bundesliga giants to keep talisman Lewandowski at the club despite interest from the Blaugrana.
The Poland international has enjoyed another remarkable season, scoring 35 goals in 34 top-flight games – no player has scored more across Europe's top five leagues.
But Lewandowski, whose contract expires in June 2023, has been widely linked with Barca after enjoying another fine personal campaign to help Bayern to a record 10th consecutive league title.
Questions remain over his future after Lewandowski and his agent suggested they had received no new contract offer, while Bayern, on the other hand, insisted a "concrete offer" was on the table.
And Rummenigge believes his former side must do everything in their power to keep the 33-year-old.
"I see things much more relaxed. There is one decisive factor: Robert Lewandowski has a contract that does not expire this year, but next year," he told BILD.
"That means the club can decide what to do, whether they sell him or not. I think [Bayern CEO] Oliver Kahn used the words 'Lewandowski stays, that's that' to show the door is closed, we're not selling him!
"I can't imagine that Bayern Munich will now give up Robert with these statements. I've experienced that myself.
"In 2013 [the year before the Poland international joined from Borussia Dortmund] we prepared a lot of things with Lewandowski but [BVB CEO Hans-Joachim] Watzke said categorically, 'we won't sell him a year before, for any money in the world'. It all happened peacefully.
"I don't know Robert as a rioter either. He is irreplaceable for FC Bayern. Since he's here, he scores between 40 and 50 goals every year. You need a player like that, even if he's about to turn 34. That's a guarantee that doesn't exist anywhere in Europe. He is extra class.
"He is a very intelligent person who has to be involved. He's someone who wants to win. But I don't think you can currently win more in Barcelona than at Bayern.
"I have to say openly and honestly, what more can Barcelona offer than Bayern Munich? I can't think of anything at the moment.
"He's a goal machine who has set records in all competitions. I wouldn't give up a player like that voluntarily. You have to fight for it, have conversations and cuddle with advisors, even if it's not that easy."
St Louis' perfect start ended by Minnesota, Bernardeschi nets Olimpico for Toronto
Expansion franchise St Louis City's perfect start to their inaugural MLS season was ended by Minnesota United who triumphed 1-0 after Luis Amarilla's 78th-minute penalty on Saturday.
City had made MLS history by winning their first five games but that was ended by the Loons with Amarilla drilling home the spot kick after a needless challenge by Kyle Hiebert.
Hiebert brought down Amarilla just inside the box with a rash tackle when Jakob Nerwinski appeared to have Kervin Arriaga's wayward pass under control.
Substitute Samuel Adeniran came closest to equalising for St Louis, with a 95th-minute shot going over the bar after a great first touch from Klauss' right-wing cut back.
St Louis remain top of the table with 15 points from six games, but unbeaten Minnesota climb up to fourth in the Western Conference.
Cincinnati continued their impressive start to the season with a 1-0 home triumph over Inter Miami who slumped to their fourth straight defeat.
Yerson Mosquera scored the 45th-minute winner for Cincy, who are top of the Eastern Conference.
Giorgos Giakoumakis scored an early winner as Atlanta United moved up to second in the East with a 1-0 home win over New York Red Bulls, who are down in 12th in that conference.
Jordan Morris and Leo Chu scored first-half goals as Seattle Sounders stayed second in the West with a 2-1 victory at LA Galaxy, who are without a win and have only three points from five games.
LAFC remained unbeaten and third in the West despite a 0-0 draw at the winless Colorado Rapids, while SJ Earthquakes climbed to fifth with a 2-1 victory over Houston Dynamo with all three goals coming from penalties.
Vancouver Whitecaps snapped a run of three straight draws with a resounding 5-0 win over 10-man Montreal with Simon Becher scoring a double. Becher is the fastest player (87 minutes) in MLS history to score his first four goals.
Franck Boli rescued a 1-1 draw for Portland Timbers at Dallas, Chicago Fire and DC United drew 0-0 and Nashville triumphed 2-0 at Orlando City.
Federico Bernardeschi netted another spectacular goal with a strike straight from a corner in Toronto's 2-2 home draw with Charlotte.
Sporting KC remained winless after a 0-0 draw at Philadelphia Union, New England drew 1-1 with New York City and Real Salt Lake suffered their fourth straight loss, going down 4-0 to Columbus Crew.
Allegri storms out of Juventus win before final whistle - 'We didn't play very well'
Juventus head coach Massimiliano Allegri says his side "didn’t play very well" leading to him storming down the tunnel before full-time in their 1-0 home win over Verona.
The Bianconeri secured their fifth straight win in all competitions with Moise Kean's 55th-minute strike the difference.
But Allegri was unimpressed with his side and stormed down the post-side tunnel before the full-time whistle.
"We didn't play very well and I think in the last five minutes we had to go and score a second goal, keep pushing them and maintain the pressure," Allegri told Sky Sport Italia.
"It doesn't seem like much five minutes, but all Verona needed was a long ball into the box and anything could happen. We could've been here licking our wounds if they had equalised.
"It was a complicated match, as they always are after the international break. It was a tough game and we knew it was going to be because Verona make you play badly, they press all over the pitch.
"That's why we were blocked in the opening minutes, then we managed to move the ball around and create chances.
"We could have done better once we had taken the lead and double our advantage, without giving them a chance to get near our area. It's something we need to improve on."
The win keeps Juventus in the hunt for European qualification, although their 15-point deduction, means they are seventh on 44 points. Juve (44) are behind fourth-placed Milan (48), Atalanta (48) and Roma (47) in the race for Europe, with all but Atalanta having a game in hand.
Allegri was quick to point out if not for that deduction they would be on 59 points and subsequently second in Serie A. Juve will have their appeal against that penalty heard on April 19.
"This result means we have earned 59 points on the field, closing the gap on Inter and momentarily on Milan and Lazio," he said.
"We've got Inter on Tuesday in the Coppa Italia and then Lazio on Saturday, so we’ve got to be ready.
"In football if you have a good run of results, that allows you to catch up pretty quickly. We have to take it one step at a time.
"The 'real' table that we see there shows we are still four points off the Champions League spots and that is a lot."
Lukaku's profligacy frustrates Inter coach Inzaghi
Simone Inzaghi did not hide his frustration at Romelu Lukaku's struggles in front of goal after Inter lost 1-0 to Fiorentina on Saturday.
Inter's losing streak in Serie A was extended to their worst in six years as Giacomo Bonaventura's second-half header proved decisive at San Siro.
The Nerazzurri have now lost three straight top flight matches, with Bonaventura's winner coming shortly after a woeful miss from Lukaku.
Having rediscovered his goalscoring touch while on international duty with Belgium, Lukaku was unable to transfer that form across to his club side as he failed to hit the target from close range with the goal gaping.
No Inter player had more shots than his three, with Lukaku not managing to get any of them on target, despite accumulating 1.2 expected goals.
While not pinning the blame entirely on Lukaku – who is reported to have confronted Inzaghi about a lack of opportunities while he has been fit this season – Inter's coach was quick to point out the importance of those misses.
Speaking to DAZN, Inzaghi said: "If he had scored those chances, Lukaku's performance would be judged in a very different way.
"His role is to create the opportunities, make the movements that the team needs.
"He wasn't the only one who had chances today, so I wouldn't focus only on Romelu."
Inzaghi also stressed he is ultimately responsible for turning Inter's fortunes around.
"There is great disappointment, we lost two consecutive home matches," he said. "We need to work more, starting with me.
"At the moment, we need to be more determined, because we had so many chances to score and we should have done.
"I cannot ask for more in terms of effort, as the players did everything I asked of them."
Inzaghi is not wrong. While Fiorentina had more shots (19 to 16) and got the same number of attempts on target (three each), Inter finished with a 2.8 xG compared to the visitors' 1.2, suggesting the quality of opportunities that went their way was far greater.
Lukaku's glaring miss came from by far the best opportunity of the match, with Opta's model estimating the chance would be converted 92 per cent of the time (0.92 xG).
The 29-year-old's future is uncertain. He is on loan at Inter, but due to return to parent club Chelsea at the end of the season.
Before the match, Inter chief Giuseppe Marotta told DAZN: "[Lukaku's] love for the Inter jersey is 10 out of 10, we'll evaluate the prospects with Chelsea."
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