Having launched a spectacular comeback in the Serie A title race—going on an undefeated run in the league that stretches back to October—March proved to be a tumultuous month for Juventus.

The Bianconeri started out with a 3-0 loss to Inter Milan in the Coppa Italia, only emerging from the second leg of that semi-final clash via a penalty shootout, while also enduring a 4-2 loss to Bayern Munich that saw them eliminated from the UEFA Champions League.

Their Serie A form was much better, however, recording victories over Atalanta, Sassuolo and cross-town rivals Torino before the most recent international break. Clearly taking in some enjoyable highs and saddening lows, head coach Massimiliano Allegri’s men will still hope to end the campaign with a repeat of last year’s domestic double.

What follows is a look at Juve’s five best players over that period, ranking them in order of impact on those aforementioned results and looking at what each man brought to the side over the calendar month.

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Jose Mourinho is reportedly ready to take on the manager’s job at Manchester United this summer, snubbing interest from both Real Madrid and Valencia, although it’s been stated the club will have to give the coach a final decision before May.

According to an exclusive piece from David Woods in the Daily Star, the Portuguese has told both of the La Liga sides he is “not interested” in positions. Instead, he looks to have won over those at Old Trafford who were unsure about his appointment and is poised to take over from Louis van Gaal.

“There were understood to have been concerns at United over Mourinho’s perceived failure to give chances to young talent at his previous clubs,” added Woods. “But the 53-year-old appears to have persuaded United’s powerbrokers behind the scenes that the opposite is true.” 

Jamie Jackson of the Guardian claimed United have “until the start of May” to let Mourinho know of their intentions, however. “The former Chelsea manager continues to listen to job offers but has so far refused these as he would seriously consider taking over at United,” he added. “… He wants a new position lined up in time to start planning for next season.”

Valencia are currently without a manager after they parted company with Gary Neville earlier this week, while Real, even though they appointed club icon Zinedine Zidane this year, are concerned that their boss has been “struggling to make an impact since taking charge at the start of the year,” per Woods.

Sky Sports’ Spanish football expert Guillem Balague is convinced the former Inter Milan and Porto boss will not be at the Mestalla next term, suggesting United is his most likely destination:

Mourinho was sacked by Chelsea in December with his side toiling in the Premier League. The 53-year-old had steered the Blues to the Premier League title in 2014-15.

While Van Gaal has given the supporters some great moments this season—1-0 wins away at Liverpool and Manchester City stand out—on the whole the team has underachieved and failed to entertain the supporters.

While Mourinho’s approach to football may not make Old Trafford a venue for thrilling attacking play, he’s a proven winner and would ensure this team is at least challenging for honours again. The chance to manage a side of United’s calibre is something he’d surely relish, too, as World Soccer Talk’s Amadi Tidiane Thiam notes here:

United would be a completely different job to any Mourinho has taken on before. Challenging would be enough to win a portion of the fanbase over after a spell without silverware following the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson.

But this a club where winning has long been done in a particular style; the natives want entertaining football played by bright young stars.

The Red Devils have deep-rooted ways of doing things and with the job now seemingly his for the taking, it’ll be fascinating to see just how stringently the Portuguese falls in line with that blueprint.

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AC Milan are one of the most storied clubs in the history of European soccer. And for the most part, the last 15 years have been good to them.

The Rossoneri have won a pair of Scudetti and two UEFA Champions Leagues during that time, and until the last three or four years, they consistently finished in the mix at the top of the Serie A table.

Many countries, Italy in particular, have been criticized in recent years over the proportion of foreign players featuring in their top leagues. Milan’s crosstown rivals, Inter Milan, have a recent history of hardly fielding Italians at all.

Milan has tended to strike a balance in this regard, getting key contributions from a core of Italian players supplemented by high-impact foreigners.

That raises the question: What if, one day in training, AC Milan’s Italian and foreign players divided and had a match?

That’s the hypothetical situation we will be taking a look at in this article. We’ve combed through Milan’s squads from the 2001-02 season to the current one, looking for the best players to fit into a 4-3-1-2 formation. We’ll grade the players at each position against each other, and then evaluate which lineup would triumph in a one-off game.

Who wins, Italy or the world? Let’s find out.

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The Paris Saint-Germain players are back together after the recent international break, and manager Laurent Blanc has the chance to assess the damage to done to his stars over the past fortnight.

Of those selected by their national teams, only Angel Di Maria will be of any real concern.

However, the Argentina international’s tibia problem, picked up in Tuesday’s 2-0 home win over Bolivia in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying, is not actually thought to be that serious.

PSG are entering into the busiest month of their season, and they will play at least nine times across all competitions—Ligue 1, UEFA Champions League, Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue—before the end of April.

Les Parisiens have key fixtures against the likes of Manchester City, FC Lorient and Lille OSC coming up on the European and domestic fronts, as well as five regular fixtures in Le Championnat.

With one match approximately every three days until the start of May, Blanc will need every bit of squad depth he has available to him.

There are a number of players in Le President’s preferred starting XI—and on the fringes—who need to do more over the final two months of the season. Those figures will have to raise their games if PSG are to advance on all fronts.

David Luiz is enduring a poor run of form, and some shaky recent performances for the French champions was followed by a chaotic showing in Brazil’s 2-2 World Cup qualifying draw with Uruguay in Recife on Friday.

The 28-year-old was arguably at fault for the goal scored by PSG team-mate Edinson Cavani to get La Celeste back into it at 2-1 after 31 minutes, and he contributed toward a wobbly defensive display for the full 90 minutes, capping it with an 82nd-minute booking.

Less than one week earlier, the former Chelsea and Benfica man was guilty of conceding an unnecessary penalty in an equally nightmarish outing in the 2-0 home defeat to AS Monaco.

With fellow Brazilian Marquinhos desperate for regular game time in the French capital, Blanc should be seriously considering swapping the two South Americans for at least a few games.

Unless Luiz’s form improves, he will be a significant concern going into the Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City.

Like Luiz, Thiago Motta is also suffering. Lost in the PSG midfield without partner in crime Marco Verratti, the 33-year-old was poor on his recent return for Italy at international level.

Booked in the 1-1 friendly draw against Spain in Udine, the Azzurri man was woeful in the 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Germany in Munich on Tuesday.

Overall, it was not a particularly impressive international break for Motta, and the pair of disappointing performances added to the growing concern in Paris that the former Inter Milan and Barcelona man is a declining force.

The return of Verratti from his pubalgia troubles would obviously be of great help for the 33-year-old, but he needs to raise his game regardless of whether Gufetto is back in action anytime soon. PSG’s No. 8 must arrest his alarming recent slump in form.

Unlike Luiz and Motta, Cavani enjoyed a productive international break. The Uruguayan scored twice—once in each—to help Oscar Tabarez’s men to a draw away at Brazil and a home win over Peru in World Cup qualifying.

Taking into account his two goals in the 9-0 title-clinching win away at ESTAC Troyes earlier in March, Cavani has four goals from his last four appearances for club and country.

No doubt buoyed by his latest exploits for Uruguay, El Matador needs to replicate that clinical form back in Paris at a crucial point in the season.

With Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s future still seemingly up in the air, Cavani is essentially auditioning to be the super Swede’s full-time replacement at Parc des Princes.

The 29-year-old has largely failed to do that since pitching up in Paris back in 2013, but he does have a habit of hitting hot streaks of form toward the end of the season.

If he could do similar over the next few months, he could help Blanc’s men realise an immensely successful campaign and secure his PSG future.

Luiz and Motta are two key figures in Le President’s preferred starting XI, while Cavani is on the fringes after being displaced by Lucas Moura.

All three must hit form now the international break is over—otherwise it makes the Ligue 1 giants’ job of achieving their ambitious goals a bit more difficult.

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Jose Mourinho reportedly has an “agreement” in place with Valencia should he wish to take on the vacant managerial post, with the club said to be trying to convince him to join them over Manchester United.

The Liga side parted ways with toiling head coach Gary Neville on Wednesday after a torrid spell, and according to Shaun Custis of the Sun, “serious discussions have been ongoing for more than a month about Mourinho becoming the master of the Mestalla.” Custis added that “it is understood agreement has been reached on a deal.”

It’s stated in the report that the Red Devils are still Mourinho’s preferred club, with Custis having suggested that his agent, Jorge Mendes, has staged talks with the club about taking over from Louis van Gaal this summer.

However, it now appears the Old Trafford outfit have significant competition for the former Chelsea boss, with Valencia owner Peter Lim a big fan of the Portuguese. “The billionaire is prepared to pay Mourinho around £15 million-a-year with a £100 million transfer kitty,” Custis reported.

While Valencia are one of the biggest clubs in European football, landing Mourinho would be something of a coup for them. At the moment, the Liga side are languishing in 14th place—just six points clear of the relegation zone.

As we can see here courtesy of Squawka Football, Neville found things tough at the Mestalla during his brief tenure:

Aside from the promise of a massive salary and a lot of money to throw around in the summer, the prospect of working with some talented footballers may also be enough to tempt Mourinho to the club.

While they didn’t thrive under Neville, Valencia have an exciting core of young players, especially Jose Gaya, Shkodran Mustafi, Andre Gomes and Paco Alcacer.

Still, there are clearly big problems at Valencia that extend beyond Neville’s own issues, especially in terms of squad balance and motivation.

Goal’s Spanish football reporter Ben Hayward thinks the new manager has some deep-rooted problems to stem when he takes over:

On the face of things, this doesn’t seem like the kind of role which Mourinho is suited for. Typically during his managerial career he’s added gloss to teams that are close to something special, as he did in both stints at Chelsea and in inspiring Real Madrid and Inter Milan to major silverware.

So while United are in need of an overhaul at the end of the campaign, there’s much less work for him to do at Old Trafford than at Valencia.

Moving to La Liga again and taking on this sizeable challenge may be appealing, but Mourinho’s career to date has shown us that if it’s a straight choice between the Red Devils and Los Che, the former will surely be his favoured option.

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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has reportedly drawn up a shortlist of four defenders he wants the club to chase during the summer transfer window, while rumours suggest Valencia winger Sofiane Feghouli is close to a move to Fenerbahce.

According to Football Insider (h/t Daily Star‘s Alex Wood), Klopp wants one of Leicester City‘s Ben Chilwell, Lorient‘s Raphael Guerreiro, PSV Eindhoven’s Jetro Willems and Cologne’s Jonas Hector to join the club to provide cover for Alberto Moreno at left-back.

Moreno is expected to continue as the starter, but Klopp wants to add a talented youngster to push him and potentially pass him in the pecking order.

Of the four, Hector is the oldest, and English fans got a good look at the Cologne star during Germany’s loss against the Three Lions in an international friendly.

The 25-year-old also played against Italy, and per WhoScored.com, he put on quite a show:

Hector is doing everything to establish himself as Germany’s first-choice starter at the position for UEFA Euro 2016, and a move to a big club seems imminent. Per Alex Richards of the Daily Mirror, he has already admitted Klopp could persuade him to join the Reds.

Per Wood, Chilwell is being watched by Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur after flashing tantalising potential during the 2015-16 campaign. The 19-year-old has received limited minutes with the Foxes but made the most out of them, and he too could be in line for a big move.

Christian Fuchs currently blocks his path to the first team, so he’s viewed as a long-term prospect by his current club. Things wouldn’t be any different at Anfield, per Jack Lusby of This is Anfield:

Chilwell is a well-rounded left-back in the mould of former Reds trainee Aaron Cresswell, with pace and a great left foot.

However, whether he would provide immediate competition for Moreno’s starting spot is questionable.

Likely one for the future, Chilwell would flesh out Klopp’s squad ranks, and could develop into an accomplished Premier League left-back, but with Liverpool needing experience, he is far from the most suitable option.

Willems has been touted as a top prospect for years, making his PSV debut all the way back in 2011. Still just 22 years old, the Netherlands’ international didn’t develop as some might have hoped, but he showed plenty of promise last season.

Unfortunately, he has missed the bulk of the 2015-16 campaign with a serious injury, and he’s unlikely to leave Eindhoven during the summer.

And then there’s Guerreiro, the Portugal international who has been drawing rave reviews for his performances with Lorient. The 22-year-old was one of the standout performers in the 2-1 win over Belgium in a friendly on Tuesday, showing both his defensive prowess and attacking potential.

Per WhoScored.com, he loves to show his skills in the attacking third:

Guerreiro may not be a well-known prospect just yet, but that’s bound to change very soon. Per Wood, Arsenal are also tracking the youngster, who could be in line to start for Portugal during Euro 2016.

Meanwhile, Turkish publication AMK Spor (h/t Daily Star‘s Alex Harris) claimed Fenerbahce have moved ahead of Liverpool and Inter Milan in the race for out-of-contract winger Feghouli, who is set to leave Valencia and could sign a three-year deal with the Turks.

Per the report, the Algerian previously said he wanted to stay in Spain, but it seems he has changed his mind.

Feghouli was one of the breakout stars of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and has only improved since, establishing himself as one of the most powerful wingers in La Liga.

Here’s a look at some of his highlights:

Liverpool have lacked consistent play out wide all season long and should be in the market for a top winger this summer. As a free agent, Feghouli presents a perfect target, but the race for his signature may already be over if these latest reports are to be believed.

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