Cong Phuong has a new teacher; Man Utd's 'God of Fortune' referees the Champions League final

* Man Utd's "God of Fortune" referees the Champions League final

Damir Skomina, who blew the penalty for Man Utd in the second leg of the round of 16 against PSG, will referee the most important match at the European club level.

UEFA, yesterday (May 14), appointed Slovenian referee Damir Skomina to officiate the Champions League final on June 1 between Tottenham and Liverpool. This is the first time Skomina has officiated the most important club match in Europe.

In this season's Champions League, Skomina has been the referee four times. The 42-year-old's most memorable moment was awarding a penalty in injury time for Man Utd in the second leg of the round of 16 against PSG. At that time, through VAR technology, he determined that the ball had touched Presnel Kimpembe's hand and pointed to the 11-meter mark.

Referee Skomina has extensive experience in Europe. Photo: Reuters.

The upcoming Champions League final is Skomina's most important match to date. He previously refereed the 2016-17 Europa League final, which Man Utd beat Ajax 2-0. He also refereed the 2012 European Super Cup between Chelsea and Atletico.

In the 2018-2019 season, Skomina also refereed a Liverpool match. That was in the final round of the group stage, "The Kop" were forced to beat Napoli to advance and completed the task with a 1-0 victory.

Skomina's two assistants in the final were Jure Praprotnik and Robert Vukan, both Slovenian. The fourth official was Antonio Mateu Lahoz, a Spaniard.

* Griezmann confirms leaving Atletico, joining Barca

After being eliminated by Liverpool in the Champions League semi-finals, Barca were determined to upgrade their squad in order to win the prestigious silver cup. The star they wanted most was Griezmann, who failed to move to the Nou Camp last summer.

Griezmann has enjoyed quite a bit of success with the Rojiblanco.

During a meeting with CEO Miguel Angel Gil, Griezmann confirmed that Barca would agree to his £104 million release clause and that the two sides would sign the contract on July 1, 2019. The French striker later posted a video on social media to announce the deal.

This new move by Griezmann will be bad news for Philippe Coutinho, who moved to Barca from Liverpool a year and a half ago. Griezmann's presence will almost certainly make him lose his starting position and most likely leave.

Griezmann will play his final game for Atletico on Saturday at Levante. His current release clause remains €200m (£174m) but will drop to £104m on July 1. At that point, the Frenchman could buy out his contract and leave Atletico, as Neymar did.

His former club Real Sociedad will also benefit from the deal. They will receive 20% of the transfer fee if Griezmann moves to Barca.

* Do Duy Manh will not attend King's Cup 2019

Center back Do Duy Manh will not recover from his injury in time to join the Vietnam national team to participate in the King's Cup 2019. So who will coach Park Hang-seo choose?

Coach Chu Dinh Nghiem of Hanoi FC confirmed the bad news: “Duy Manh was injured during the warm-up before the match against Thanh Hoa on May 11. He tried to play the whole first half, but then could not bear it. Duy Manh has a fractured fibula, needs at least 3 weeks to recover, so will definitely miss the match against Tampines Rover on May 15.”

Duy Manh needs at least 3 weeks to recover.

That is with Hanoi FC. As for the Vietnam national team, the news that Duy Manh must rest for at least 3 weeks to recover clearly makes coach Park Hang-seo consider finding a replacement in the group of three central defenders. The most stable and safe option for the Korean coach will be Ngoc Hai - Dinh Trong - Tien Dung. In which, Ngoc Hai will replace Duy Manh in the role of central defender.

In addition, Coach Park Hang-seo can choose to use a left-back or a young central defender. Van Hau is capable of playing in the central defender position. In the context of Van Thanh and Xuan Manh's return, Coach Park can confidently pull Van Hau into the central defender position to choose another face to take on the role on the wing.

* Cong Phuong has a new coach: Last time to pray for luck in K-League

Cong Phuong will once again have the chance to prove himself when Incheon Utd appoints a new captain. And this is also the last time to hope for the Vietnamese striker in the K-League.

The biggest problem still lies in Cong Phuong's legs and head.

After a period of searching, Cong Phuong's team finally had an official leader when appointing coach Yoo Sang Chul right before the 12th round.

Looking at the achievements of the new captain of Incheon Utd, it is clear that he is quite famous when Mr. Yoo Sang Chul has had more than 120 matches for the Korean national team as a midfielder, so he can hope to bring about a clear change in achievements for the team that Cong Phuong is playing for.

And of course, working with a new head coach, Cong Phuong's opportunity to prove himself after failing with the old ones including Mr. Jorn Andersen and Lim Jung Yong also increased a bit.

Because it is very possible that Mr. Yoo Sang Cheol's coaching mindset will be different, as well as suitable for Cong Phuong so that the striker from the Vietnamese national team can return to the main squad more firmly, after a long time of uncertainty about the future in Korea since arriving here in February 2019.

This will be the third coach that Cong Phuong has worked with, but if he cannot compete for a position or prove himself, then I'm afraid the biggest problem lies with the HAGL striker, not the coaches.