‘He was brilliant’
Buveur D’Air retains Champion Hurdle title
the price for Southampton’s dismal form after he was sacked as manager just nine months into his reign at the Premier League club.
Pellegrino managed only five wins in his 30 league games with Southampton following his arrival in June.
The 46-year-old arrived at St Mary’s as the replacement for Claude Puel, who was sacked despite guiding Southampton to an eighth-place finish and the League Cup final.
A 3-0 defeat at relegation rivals Newcastle over the weekend left Southampton just one place and one point above the bottom three.
With Southampton supporters calling for his dismissal, the Argentine coach’s exit was confirmed on Monday and he accepted it was inevitable given his failure to halt the slide.
AC Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma insisted Tuesday he was “calm and happy” with the Serie A club despite talk he wants to leave.
The 19-year-old’s agent Mino Raiola has been pushing the Italian international to leave the San Siro with reports that Manchester United, Chelsea and Real Madrid are interested in signing the teenager.
Spanish goalkeeper Pepe Reina’s reported move to Milan from Napoli when his contract runs out next season has intensified speculation. “I’m calm and happy, I go forward with serenity,” Donnarumma told Sky Sport Italia.
“We’re a good group, the celebrations (after Sunday’s 1-0 win at Genoa) are proof of that. We got a result we really wanted and it allowed us to forget about Thursday’s game with Arsenal.
“We succeeded and now we hope to continue like this.”
AC Milan trail Arsenal 2-0 going into the second leg of their Europa League last-16 tie at the Emirates Stadium in London on Thursday.
LONDON, March 13, (AFP): Buveur D’Air joined an elite group of horses by winning a second successive Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival on Tuesday.
Sent off as the 4/6 odds-on favourite, Buveur D’Air held off a strong challenge from 7/1 shot Melon before pulling clear in sight of the winning post under Irish jockey Barry Geraghty.
Mick Jazz, a 25/1 outsider, was third in the two mile and 87 yardslong (3.29 kilometres) race, one of the showpiece events during southwest course Cheltenham’s annual Festival week — English horseracing’s premier jumps meeting.
“He was brilliant,” said Geraghty of Buveur D’Air in an interview with BBC Radio. “It was a war out there.
“I thought Melon was going to beat me. He dug deep thankfully, what a buzz.”
Buveur D’Air’s win saw English trainer Nicky Henderson and Irish owner JP McManus extend their existing Champion Hurdle race-records to seven wins apiece.
“The second horse is a good horse,” said veteran handler Henderson after sending out yet another winner from his Seven Barrows yard near Lambourn, southern England.
“Buveur D’Air has been winning races by large margins all season and that was the first race he has been in. He has not had to knuckle down so far.
“But that is job done. That was a big relief. We were expected to collect and he did,” added Henderson, echoing the thoughts of cheering spectators who had backed his horse despite an uninviting starting price.
Buveur D’Air joined the likes of Night Nurse (1976 and 1977) and Sea Pigeon (1980 and 1981) in winning back-to-back Champion Hurdles.