Fortunebets

RB Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann says he is fully focused on their Champions League quarter-final despite two detected cases of coronavirus in the squad of Thursday’s opponents Atletico Madrid.

Atletico’s Angel Correa and Sime Vrsaljko, who tested positive for COVID-19 at the weekend, have been isolated and left at home but the match in Lisbon is due to go ahead as planned.

Atletico breathed a sigh of relief on Monday as their players and staff all returned negative results in a further round of testing before the team flew to Portugal.

“We know that there are clear UEFA protocols for such cases. If it remains two cases, it won’t have much effect,” said Nagelsmann.

“We are concentrating entirely on our preparation and won’t let it get to us.”

RB Leipzig, who were only founded in 2009, had never got to the knockout stages in Europe’s top club competition before this season, and having beaten Tottenham in the last 16, they are eager to claim another big-name scalp.

Nagelsmann’s biggest concern is trying to replace the firepower of Timo Werner, who netted 34 times this term, including four goals in the Champions League, before the Germany striker joined Chelsea last month.

Denmark striker Yussuf Poulsen is set to partner Czech Republic forward Patrik Schick, who is on loan from Roma, up front on Thursday.

“Once you’re there, you must have the determination to go all the way to the final and the title,” Poulsen told newsmen.

The German side are fully aware of what to expect against Diego Simeone’s Atletico, who have plenty of experience at this stage of the competition.

“Atletico are a strong team, they show it every year in the Champions League,” said Leipzig’s Dani Olmo, with Atletico finishing runners-up in both 2014 and 2016.

“We have trained very well and we are ready for this big task,” he added.

David Beckham’s Inter Miami are set to announce the signing of French midfielder Blaise Matuidi from Juventus, according to transfer insider Fabrizio Romano.

A deal has been agreed between the two clubs, with just the player’s medical remaining to conclude the transfer. He is expected to sign a three-year contract with the MLS team.

Matuidi will become Inter Miami’s first high profile signing from Europe, with the current squad mostly comprised of American players and a few south Americans who qualify through the designated player rule.

Throughout his time at Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus, Matuidi won seven league titles and a World Cup with France to boot.

The dynamic midfielder will bring experience to a side whose first ever game was played this year, but unlike many previous MLS arrivals, he has plenty left in the tank.

Atlético Madrid said Monday that players Ángel Correa and Sime Vrsaljko have tested positive for the coronavirus but the rest of the squad has been cleared to make the trip to Portugal for the Champions League quarterfinals.

The new negative results came as a relief for the Spanish club and UEFA just two days before the start of the final stage of Europe’s top club competition. An outbreak within one of the clubs in the final eight could have hurt UEFA’s hopes of successfully finishing the tournament amid the pandemic.

Atlético announced the two positive tests in its group on Sunday but had not identified who was infected.

It said the entire squad was re-tested and on Monday the results came back negative for everyone else set to travel to Lisbon.

Correa was a regular starter for Atlético and led the team in assists this season, while Vrsaljko had not been playing recently as he recovered from injury. Neither player showed symptoms for COVID-19 and both would remain isolated at their homes in Spain.

Atlético said earlier tests had showed that Vrsaljko had already previously developed antibodies for the new virus and that health authorities considered his case solved.

Atlético said 21 first-team players and four from its youth squads would make the trip for Thursday’s match against Leipzig. The team will travel on Tuesday, a day after previously scheduled.

The last eight is set to begin in Lisbon on Wednesday amid tight health safety protocols to prevent a coronavirus outbreak from derailing the competition’s finale. The semifinals and Aug. 23 final will also be played in Lisbon.

Other clubs involved in the quarterfinals have not reported any positive tests among their players recently.

The other one-game series feature Atalanta vs. Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, Barcelona vs. Bayern Munich on Friday and Manchester City vs. Lyon on Saturday.

Atlético is seeking its first title in Europe’s most lucrative club competition. It lost the 2014 and 2016 Champions League finals to city rival Real Madrid. It was also runner-up in 1974, losing to Bayern Munich. Diego Simeone’s team was eliminated by Juventus in the round of 16 last season.

Bruno Fernandes’ extra-time penalty sent Manchester United into the Europa League semi-finals as they fought past FC Copenhagen on a sweltering night in Cologne.

United were frustrated for much of the evening by a combination of the woodwork, disallowed goals and the brilliance of Copenhagen goalkeeper Karl-Johan Johnsson as normal time finished goalless.

In 30-degree-plus heat, an extra half hour was the last thing anyone needed, but Fernandes’ spot-kick eventually earned a 1-0 win to ensure United’s stay in Germany for this novel mini-tournament goes on.

Having rotated for the formality of last week’s last-16 second leg against LASK, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer returned to the bulk of his first-choice XI, making six changes.

They were sluggish out of the blocks, though, and haad some good defending from Eric Bailly to thank for denying Mohamed Daramy the chance to open the scoring, before Harry Maguire blocked from the same player and Paul Pogba also made a crucial intervention.

They did have a penalty briefly awarded for a foul on Anthony Martial in the six-yard box, only for VAR to spot Maguire offside in the build-up and overturn the decision.

Before the half was out they saw a goal chalked off for the same reason, this time Mason Greenwood the man flagged after he’d whipped home a terrific finish via the upright.

The ball was in the net again after the restart, Greenwood once more striking against the upright and this time the ball ricocheting back to Marcus Rashford, who tapped home but well aware that he was clearly offside.

Bruno Fernandes crashed a wicked striker off the far post from range but the Danish side were still a threat on the counter attack, substitute Bryan Oviedo thwarted by Bailly’s latest block after outrageous skill from Rasmus Falk.

Martial must’ve thought he’d won it with a right-footed striker six minutes from the end of normal time but Johnsson produced a stunning one-handed save to set up extra-time.

Martial was again kept out by the Copenhagen ‘keeper at the beginning of extra-time but within moments he was felled by Andreas Bjelland and this time when the referee pointed to the spot there would be no reprieve for the Danes, as the decision stood and Fernandes lashed home a clinical effort.