Madrid- Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane hopes to have Gareth Bale back before the second leg of his side’s Champions League last-16 clash with Napoli.
The postponement of Madrid’s visit to Celta Vigo last weekend due to storm damage caused to Celta’s Balaidos stadium has allowed Zidane to recover a fully-fit squad bar Bale, who is still working his way back from ankle ligament damage.
The Welshman hasn’t featured since late November and whilst Wednesday’s first leg against the Italians is likely to come too early, Zidane is confident of having Bale back well before the return in Naples on March 7.
“The return isn’t till March 7 so hopefully he is with us before then,” Zidane said on Friday.
“He is back on the field and the only step he has left is to train with the rest of the team.
“He is working very hard and I can see the desire he has.”
The suspended Toni Kroos is Madrid’s only other absentee for Saturday’s visit to rock bottom Osasuna.
Marcelo, Luka Modric and Dani Carvajal are among those to return from injury
However, Madrid has only won one of its past six league meetings away at Osasuna and Zidane is not expecting an easy ride despite the fact the Navarrans are yet to win at home in La Liga this season.
“We have had time to work, physically we are good and ready to play,” added Zidane.
“It is a very difficult place to go and we know that it is top against bottom, which I don’t like at all.
“It has always been difficult for us at El Sadar and that isn’t going to change.”
FRISCO, Texas – The dire reports happen every year: The Dallas Cowboys are in salary-cap hell and won’t be able to do anything in free agency.
Yet somehow they get under the cap and sign a free agent or three.
It’s not necessarily “fake news,” but it is “incomplete news.”
The Cowboys are anywhere from $11 million to $13 million over the projected 2017 salary cap. Gulp.
The Cowboys easily could save about $10 million in cap space by restructuring center Travis Frederick’s deal. Andrew Dieb/Icon Sportswire
With an email that will take quicker to read than this sentence, the Cowboys will go from over the cap to under the cap.
Through the magical world of contract restructuring and a release or two, the Cowboys can go from being well over the cap to more than $40 million under the cap, and that does not include doing anything with Tony Romo.
Before you let yourself get carried away about the highest of high-end free agents, you should know the Cowboys won’t create that much room. The Cowboys do not believe free agency is an effective way to build a roster. Over the last few years, they have used it as a supplemental tool, getting players at their prices while others pay big – too big, in the mind of the Cowboys – to get better.
A cynic will say the Cowboys operate this way because they always have to restructure contracts and have done a poor job planning. Maybe, but having cap room doesn’t solve all of the problems.
Let’s not digress.
The point of this column is to point out how easily (and likely) the Cowboys can get under the cap and create room to sign players.
The first two moves are the easiest: Restructure the deals of Tyron Smith and Travis Frederick.
Frederick’s deal, which was signed in August, was designed in a way to be restructured. He has a cap figure of $14.871 million. A simple restructuring can gain the Cowboys a little more than $10 million in room. With Smith, the Cowboys can create roughly $7 million in room.
That puts the Cowboys under the cap with $17 million in savings.
(And just to clear this up: The Cowboys rarely create the maximum available to them on restructured deals.)
Is there a worry about pushing out larger cap figures on Smith and Frederick? Sure, but Smith doesn’t turn 27 until December; Frederick turns 26 in March. Age matters.
Sean Lee hit on his escalator by playing in more than 80 percent of the snaps in 2016, which will take his base salary from $7 million to $9 million. As a result his cap figure stands at $12.45 million. A simple restructure with Lee would save the Cowboys a little more than $5 million.
Name
Age
Cap figure
Tony Romo
36
$24.7M
Dez Bryant
28
$17M
Tyron Smith
26
$15.8M
Travis Frederick
25
$14.871M
Sean Lee
30
$12.45M
Jason Witten
34
$12.262M
Tyrone Crawford
27
$10.35M
Doug Free
33
$7.5M
Ezekiel Elliott
21
$5.671M
Orlando Scandrick
30
$5.281M
What about age? Lee turns 31 in July. In the salary-cap world there is no such thing as black and white. It’s always shades of gray.
Now let’s talk about Romo’s deal and how that could affect what the Cowboys do with the contracts of Tyrone Crawford and Dez Bryant.
If the Cowboys release or trade Romo, he will count $19.6 million against the cap in 2017, saving them $5.1 million.
(We’re now over $30 million in savings.)
If the Cowboys designate Romo a June 1 release, they will save $14 million against the cap in 2017. Instead of counting $19.6 million, Romo will count $10.7 million against the 2017 cap and $8.9 million against the 2018 cap. The one caveat is the Cowboys don’t get the cap credit until June 2, so that won’t help them land free agents in March. It would, however, give them room to sign their draft picks and enough room to deal with in-season issues (injuries or signings) as well as carry over money to the 2018 cap.
Is it better to have Romo’s dead money count against the cap in 2017 and ’18 or restructure the contracts of Crawford and Bryant and add to their salary-cap figures on the back end of their deals? My argument would be to spread the Romo hit over two years and don’t touch the contracts of Crawford and Bryant unless absolutely necessary. Crawford is coming off a second straight offseason in which he needed surgery, and Bryant has missed games the last two years with leg injuries.
If they want to redo Crawford and Bryant, while designating Romo a June 1 release, then you’re looking at $26 million more in savings. Instead of $40 million, you’re talking more than $50 million in savings, albeit with $14 million coming to them in June.
(We’re up to $56 million in savings with the June caveat.)
Lost in all of this talk of releases, however, is you would like to have a replacement ready to go before you make those moves. The Cowboys don’t have a ready-made replacement for Free at right tackle. Chaz Green hasn’t shown he can stay healthy. With Darren McFadden and Lance Dunbar set to be free agents, they don’t have a veteran option behind Ezekiel Elliott.
The salary cap is a shell game.
The Cowboys know how to manage it.
The “cap hell” myth won’t be the reason why they don’t sign your favorite free agent.
Madrid – Paris Saint-Germain should have no fear of another Champions League clash with Barcelona despite a poor record against the Spanish champions ahead of its last-16 meeting Tuesday, insists winger Angel Di Maria.
Barca has held the upper hand in six previous meetings over the past five seasons, losing just once and progressing to the semi-finals from its two quarterfinal clashes in 2013 and 2015.
However, ahead of Barca’s latest trip to the French capital, Di Maria, who experienced plenty of El Clasico highs and lows against the Catalans in four seasons with Real Madrid, believes PSG now has the quality to compete with the Spanish giants for a first ever European crown.
“PSG have players of enormous quality. People like Marco Verratti, who is wanted by Real Madrid and Barcelona, give the team something extra,” Di Maria told Madrid sports daily Marca on Friday.
“When he isn’t there, the team feels (his absence). I think that PSG can easily compete with Madrid or Barcelona.”
However, to make the last eight, PSG faces the daunting task of restricting Barca’s fearsome ‘MSN’ front three of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar.
Suarez and Neymar did the damage in the last tie between the sides, scoring all five of Barca’s goals in a 5-1 aggregate rout, but it is his Argentine international teammate Di Maria fears most.
“Barca have great players. The MSN is the best attack right now,” he added.
“Leo is different from the rest.
“I think to stop him it requires the whole team because when he doesn’t do something magical he leaves a teammate free.”
Atlanta Falcons secondary coach/senior defensive assistant Marquand Manuel will be named the team’s defensive coordinator, a source told ESPN.
Manuel was considered the front-runner after the Falcons decided not to keep Richard Smith in that role. Smith could remain on staff in an advisory position, but he is exploring other options.
Manuel, 37, has the most familiarity with head coach Dan Quinn’s scheme. He was the assistant secondary coach for the Seattle Seahawks when Quinn was the defensive coordinator there. Manuel then followed Quinn to Atlanta in 2015.
Manuel played eight NFL seasons at strong safety from 2002 to 2009 after entering the NFL as a sixth-round draft pick of the Cincinnati Bengals. He also played for the Green Bay Packers, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions and Seahawks.
Manuel’s hands-on coaching style was key in the improvement of the Falcons’ defense toward the end of the 2016 season and leading into the Super Bowl.
He helped put Jalen Collins in position to fill the void left when Pro Bowl cornerback Desmond Trufant needed surgery for a season-ending pectoral injury. Manuel also helped develop free safety Ricardo Allen, rookie strong safety Keanu Neal, rookie nickelback Brian Poole and cornerback Robert Alford, who had an 82-yard interception return for a touchdown in Super Bowl LI.
Marquand Manuel, 37, will be named the Falcons’ defensive coordinator, a source told ESPN. Manuel played eight NFL seasons at strong safety from 2002 to 2009. Isaiah J. Downing/USA TODAY Sports
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Quinn took over the defensive playcalling from Smith during the season, starting with the game against the Kansas City Chiefs (Dec. 4). Quinn is sure to have his stamp on the defense moving forward, but Manuel likely will have an opportunity to call the plays despite not having any coordinator experience. He interviewed for the defensive coordinator position with the Jacksonville Jaguars last offseason before the team promoted Todd Wash.
The Falcons will enter the 2017 with two new coordinators in Manuel and offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, who replaced new San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan.
The Falcons also parted ways with defensive line coach Bryan Cox. Quinn is expected to hire one of his former players, Bryant Young, to replace Cox.
During the regular season, the Falcons ranked 27th in scoring defense in allowing 25.4 points per game and ranked 25th in total defense in surrendering 371.2 yards per contest.
The Falcons primarily started four rookies and three second-year players, and the unit showed vast improvement at the end of the season and into the playoffs as Quinn mixed in more man-to-man with his Cover 3 scheme.
After a fast start in Super Bowl LI, which included helping the Falcons to a 28-3 lead, the defense ended up surrendering 466 passing yards to Tom Brady and 31 points after halftime in a 34-28 overtime loss to the New England Patriots.
