Franco Di Santo

Franco Di Santo had missed out on the TSG Hoffenheim because of his performance. Revierderby is going to miss Franco Di because of an injury. The striker from FC Schalke is likely to be fit to play against Bayer Leverkusen on 19th December is the last game played at home this year.

Franco Di Santo had been absent for the starting of the Schalke Team Training Week to prepare for the Revierderby. Domenico Tedesco, the coach has said that the striker is surely going to miss the match Borussia Dortmund because of an injury.

Schalke 04 manager Domenico Tedesco believes his team lacked the cutting edge during the recent Revierderby against Borussia Dortmund. Schalke had come into the game with a 19-point gap over the runaway leaders and they could not prevent the deficit from increasing after suffering a 2-1 defeat at the hands of their cross-town rivals.

Speaking after the game, Tedesco highlighted that Dortmund were the better team during the game and his side should have defended much better before the goals conceded in either half, he said: “Well done to Dortmund. We started the game well enough and had some control – but then we were suddenly behind. We should have defended both of their goals much better. We had more possession in the first half and had a decent pass completion rate. Our biggest problem at the moment is our lack of cutting edge. We need to be more dangerous, our crosses aren’t good enough as they just aren’t finding anybody in the box.”

Argentina president Claudio Tapia has indicated that he is confident of Lionel Messi returning to national team duty despite excluding himself from recent call-ups. The Barcelona superstar was heavily criticised after the country’s poor showing at the summer World Cup and since then, he has decided to make himself unavailable indefinitelyfor national team duty.

As a result, there have been plenty of question marks where Messi would consider a return to international football but Tapia has stressed that the country need to be patient regarding the forward’s position, he said: "I have no doubts that he will return to play [with the national team]. We have to let him be and give him the time he needs. We have to continue the way we are. "I'm completely calm, knowing that he, more than anyone, loves the national team jersey. I don't put a time to his return. We have to let things flow and it will happen when it has to happen. We cannot be hasty."

Argentina FA chief Claudio Tapia has confirmed that the country have failed with their effort to lure Pep Guardiola from Manchester City. The South American nation are on the search for a new head coach after the recent dismissal of Jorge Sampaoli but it appears Guardiola will certainty not be succeeding at the helm.

Speaking to TyC Sports, Tapia admitted that Argentina enquired over the availability of the Citizens boss but they were put off by his wage demands, he said: “We enquired, it was a possibility, but we enquired. You have to have a big wallet, a large backing. It's a lot [Guardiola's salary] and we have to get loans for everything. We made consultations but it is very difficult, I am telling you the truth. We made an enquiry but we did not think it was so much. We tried to speak, but he stayed there.”

Landon Donovan has decided to end his association with Club Leon by ending his contract. The former LA Galaxy star surprised many by coming out of retirement back in January in order to join the Mexican club. However, he was not a regular fixture for Club Leon and featured in just a handful of matches as a regular starter. The club ended up finishing 13th in the Mexican league and it appeared that the partnership was not expected to continue for long. It has proven to be the case, as the two parties have decided to end of the contract a couple of months before it was scheduled to expire. Donovan was set to leave Club Leon at the end of 2018 but this announcement has accelerated his departure.

Club Leon announced that they would like to thank Landon Donovan for the commitment and leadership skills shown during the period. Regarded as one of the greatest MLS players, Donovan has had a difficult time in the last few years. His troubled spell with Jurgen Klinsmann with the United States national team was the start of the issues and he announced his retirement from the game after winning the MLS cup with LA Galaxy back in 2014. However, he came back from retirement in 2016 to once again represent LA Galaxy.

Argentina are fearing the worst for midfielder Lucas Biglia after he fractured two vertebrae during AC Milan’s league meeting versus Benevento. The Rossoneri suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to the bottom club on Sunday and manager Gennaro Gattuso was not pleased with the nature of the embarrassing loss.

Schalke manager Domenico Tedesco says that he is extremely delighted with the narrow victory over Mainz 05. Despite playing against the relegation threatened opponent, Schalke were only able to come away with a narrow victory. The team managed to take all three points thanks to the only goal of the game from Daniel Caligiuri. However, the match was all about three points and reaping the full rewards mean that Schalke will be able to occupy the second spot ahead of Borussia Dortmund and Frankfurt.

Argentina manager Jorge Sampaoli is open to handing a recall to veteran striker Carlos Tevez ahead of this summer's World Cup finals in Russia. The 33-year-old returned to Boca Juniors for a third stint from Shanghai Shenhua in January, and he made his debut during the 2-0 triumph over Colon last weekend.

Schalke striker Franco di Santo has spoken about his continued love for the game of football and how much he is looking forward to the Revier derby on Saturday against their hated rivals Borussia Dortmund.

The Argentine international had been enduring a nightmare run where he hadn’t scored since March 2016 but he put things right in the last game finally scoring against Hamburg in a 2-0 win that sent his side up into second place in the Bundesliga.

Franco di Santo recently made the switch to Schalke from Werder Bremen.

The Argentine came to European football with Chelsea, but he is best known for his time with Werder Bremen. He spent two years with the club and made just under 50 appearances in the league. After having not been regarded as a prolific goal scorer up until that point, di Santo came up with19 goals in his 48 appearances for the club. A bulk of his goals and appearances came in the Bundesliga. His struggles in front of goal have once again returned to Schalke in the 2015-16 season.