Antonio Conte tempting Roman Abramovich to pull the trigger at Chelsea - but he won't jump ship

Chelsea Manager;Antonio Conte.

It started as an if, slipped quickly into when but now it’s turned more to how. Antonio Conte won’t be in charge of Chelsea next season. That much we know.

Even those with a restricted view at Stamford Bridge can see it. Football’s worst kept secret has been blindingly obvious for months and now it’s about how the Italian hatches his escape plan.

It had been expected the summer would bring to a close two years in west London, ultimately a success returning the Premier League trophy to the capital last season but now it appears he may not see out the next four months.

It’s apparent the club’s board and manager are getting sick and tired of the sight of each other. The sensible thing to do would be to end it amicably, but this is Chelsea after all.

It’s also becoming clear that Conte, via his now weekly unprovoked digs at lack of support in the transfer market and public ill-advised mud-slinging with Jose Mourinho, the Manchester United

Zidane hails historic Real Madrid win, vows to stay at Bernabeu

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane accepted that his team had “made history” by beating Juventus 4-1 in Saturday night’s final in Cardiff to become the first team to retain the Champions League title in its modern, expanded format.
Two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo as well as further strikes from Casemiro and Marco Asensio were more than enough as Madrid powered past Juventus with a superb second-half performance, with Mario Mandzukic’s excellent, acrobatic equaliser before the break not even much of a consolation for the well-beaten Italian champions.
Speaking at the postgame news conference at the Principality Stadium, Zidane said his players had deserved to complete the club’s first La Liga and European Cup double since 1958.
“They have made history, for sure,” Zidane, whose club won their third UCL title in four seasons, said. “Nobody has done it, and now we have. Today is a historic day for all Madridistas, for the players, for me,

Griezmann confirms Atletico stay after transfer ban upheld

Antoine Griezmann

Antoine Griezmann has told Telefoot that he now plans to stay at Atletico Madrid after the club were handed a transfer ban until January 2018.
ESPN FC reported that Manchester United have cooled their interest in the France striker and Griezmann had given mixed messages over his plans over recent months but expressed his support for Atletico shortly after it was confirmed that they will not be able to make any new signings until 2018 as the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected their appeal over a transfer ban.
Last week Griezmann, who had said this week he was happy at Atletico and that his future will be decided

It all went wrong for us against Real Madrid – Buffon

Gianluigi Buffon

Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon said he was hugely disappointed after his side crumbled in the second half to lose 4-1 to Real Madrid in the Champions League final.
Buffon failed to beat Paolo Maldini’s record as the oldest player to win the UEFA Champions League (39 years, 126 days old) as his side fell to defeat, thanks to a Cristiano Ronaldo brace.
Juventus had conceded just three goals in 12 games before the final and were unlucky as two of Madrid’s goals came from deflections.
“It’s a big disappointment, because we thought that we’d done everything necessary to play this final and finally win it,” Buffon, who has never won the Champions League, told Mediaset Premium.
“We had an excellent first half, where we caused Real Madrid huge problems, so it leaves you open-mouthed in shock that incidents never go our way. That’s disappointing. Evidently in order to win a