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Pellegrini heading to West Ham from China
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manuel pellegrini favourite to succeed david moyes at west ham appeared closer to a return to the premier league saturday after his chinese club released him1 the chilean manager who led manchester city to the title in 2014 has been heavily linked with the hammers job as the london club tries to reassure supporters with a high-calibre appointment following a turbulent season1 pellegrini joined chinese super league club hebei china fortune in 2016 after he was replaced at city by pep guardiola1 we feel thankful for pellegrinis contribution to our club and wish him good luck in the future hebei said in a statement posted on weibo chinas twitter-like social media platform1 west ham finished 13th in the premier league after a slump early in the season saw them drop into the relegation zone1 slaven bilic was sacked in november and replaced by moyes who helped them avoid the drop but still departed at the end of the campaign1 i would like to reassure our supporters that we have left no stone unturned in selecting the individual we believe is the right man to take west ham united forward joint chairman david sullivan had said in a statement on thursday1 despite top-flight survival west ham struggled with problems on and off the pitch throughout the 2017-18 season1 discontent among supporters had been bubbling for months over the teams performance and teething problems at the london stadium the clubs home since 20161 -
Frankfurt ruin Bayern season, winning German Cup
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the croatia striker dodged the challenges of bayern centre-backs niklas suele and mats hummels to plant his shot past bayern keeper sven ulreich with 11 minutes gone1 eintracht frankfurt claimed an upset 3-1 win in the german cup final on saturday beating bayern munich1 but the obverse was the case for heynckes. frankfurts ante rebic brace and substitute mijat gacinovic goal ruined jupp heynckes farewell as bayern munich coach1 after rebics opening goal robert lewandowski equalised for munich early in the second half1 however rebic added his late second before gacinovic tapped into an empty net just before the whistle to delight frankfurt fans and break bayerns hearts1 this was supposed to be heynckes farewell party with bayern sending their 73-year-old head coach into retirement with the german cup and league double having wrapped up a sixth straight bundesliga title1 instead rebic and frankfurt grabbed the glory at berlins olympic stadium1 bayern made a bright start in the capital when lewandowski hit the underside of the frankfurt bar with just eight minutes gone1 however frankfurt scored from their first clear chance1 when bayern midfielder james rodriguez was robbed of possession in midfield kevin-prince boateng threaded a pass through to rebic1 the victory gave frankfurt boss niko kovac his first trophy as a coach in his final match before leaving to take over from heynckes at bayern1 the shock goal sent a ripple of panic through the bayern ranks as it was the third straight game they have fallen behind1 bayern went close with 25 minutes gone when lewandowski fired wide of the empty goal after franck ribery and thomas mueller had already opened up the eintracht defence1 it should have been 2-0 to eintracht eight minutes before half-time when rebic squared for jonathan de guzman who was unmarked but the midfielder stumbled with the goal at his mercy1 tempers started to fray as frankfurt defender jetro willems was booked for body-checking joshua kimmich but it stayed 1-0 at the break1 bayern drew level on 53 minutes when suele combined with kimmich who picked out lewandowski near the penalty spot to slot home the equaliser1 however frankfurt and rebic were not to be denied1 the croatia international burst in between suele and hummels and brilliantly lifted the ball over ulreich1 the referee checked the replay on advice of the video assistant referee but the goal stood to make it 2-1 on 82 minutes1 bayern had calls for a penalty after a foul on javi martinez deep into added time turned down1
