A season is a long time in football.

Rewind to 2018-19 and Inter pipped Milan to the fourth and final Champions League spot by a solitary point.

Fast forward to this season and Milan find themselves ninth and 19 points adrift of their title-chasing Serie A neighbours in February.

As Milan and Inter prepare for Sunday s latest instalment of the Derby della Madonnina, we look at why the Rossoneri have fallen so far behind the Nerazzurri this term.

COACHING APPOINTMENTS

Inter brought in a winner. The Suning Holdings Group were determined to sign former Juventus and Chelsea boss Antonio Conte and they got their man. 

games played.
wins.
Our best start to ever.

The Antonio effect.

— Inter (@Inter_en)

…

Angola beat Namibia 3-0 to reach the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations after both sides finished with 10 men in Bouake.

The Black Antelopes, who won Group D, looked to have made the worst possible start when goalkeeper Neblu was shown a red card for handball outside the area in the 17th minute.

Angola, though, took the lead in the 38th minute through Gelson Dala.

FULL-TIME!

Gelson Dala Mabululu star again as Angola beat Namibia with 3 goals to none. |

— CAF (@CAF_Online)

Namibia, through to the knockout stages for the first time after finishing among the best third-placed teams, then found themselves also down to 10 men when defender Lubeni Haukongo was sent off for a second caution five minutes before half-time.

D…

Harry Maguire s dominant display in Manchester United s 3-1 win over Everton drew praise from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who also lauded Fred and Scott McTominay s midfield partnership.

United bounced back from successive defeats to Arsenal and Istanbul Basaksehir by claiming a vital win at Goodison Park, relieving some of the mounting pressure on Solskjaer.

Bernard put Everton ahead, but a quickfire double from Bruno Fernandes turned matters around before the break.

Everton toiled for an equaliser in the second half, but the contest was settled in added time when Fernandes, who has now been involved in a Premier League record 15 goals (10 scored, five assisted) in his first 10 away games in the competition, teed up Edinson Cavani for his maiden United goal.

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When you are taking on the Premier League champions, being without your all-time leading goalscorer is a frustrating situation to find yourself in. Imagine if his usual back-up was only just returning from injury as well…

Such circumstances are certainly not ideal, and they have befallen Pep Guardiola as Manchester City prepare to host Liverpool in a clash of the two Premier League title favourites at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

Sergio Aguero will not be ready to return from the hamstring injury that has kept him out of action since the 1-1 draw with West Ham two weeks ago, while Gabriel Jesus only came back from six weeks out on Tuesday – though he did manage to score in his 21 minutes on the pitch during a 3-0 victory over Olympiacos in the Champions League.

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Real Madrid shot-stopper Thibaut Courtois is the best goalkeeper in the world, according to Belgium coach Roberto Martinez.

Courtois was dropped to the bench for Real Madrid s 2-1 win over Deportivo Alaves in LaLiga on Saturday amid criticism of his performances.

However, his international boss Martinez labelled the 27-year-old the world s best despite admitting the goalkeeper was going through a difficult period .

Thibaut is for me the best goalkeeper in the world, as he showed at the [2018] World Cup, Martinez said on Saturday.

From there, he is the best person for me to defend Real Madrid s goal.

It has been a difficult period, but I think that the opportunity to return with the national team has helped him to regain the good feelings, in th…

LeBron James and Patrick Mahomes were among the stars to wax lyrical over DeVonta Smith, who said Alabama finished writing our story in the College Football Playoff National Championship.

Heisman trophy winner Smith was in sensational form at Hard Rock Stadium in top-ranked Alabama s (13-0) 52-24 rout of Ohio State (7-1) on Monday.

The exciting wide receiver, who is NFL bound for the 2021 season, had 12 catches for 215 yards and three touchdowns, all in the first half as Alabama claimed a 35-17 lead at the interval.

The 22-year-old recorded 200-plus receiving yards and three or more touchdown catches for the third time this season, tying Davante Adams (2013) for the most such games by any FBS player in the last 25 seasons, according to Stats Perform.

Sm…

Sadio Mane pledged Liverpool will fight for a dream quadruple after scoring twice in the Reds thrilling FA Cup semi-final win over Manchester City.

Mane added to Ibrahima Konate s opener with a first-half double, closing down stand-in City goalkeeper Zack Steffen to score in bizarre fashion before netting a brilliant volley on the stroke of half-time to make it 3-0.

Goals at either end of the second half from Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva hauled City back into the contest, but Liverpool held firm.

Having scored in a thrilling 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium last week, Mane has now netted 10 goals against City in all competitions, only finding the net more often against Crystal Palace (12) amongst Premier League teams.

After becoming the first Liverp…

Diego Simeone has been taking his Atletico Madrid tenure game by game for nine years and now, 500 games in, is keen to ensure standards do not slip in 2021.

Atletico head coach Simeone oversaw a 1-0 LaLiga win over Getafe on Wednesday to mark his 500th match in charge of the club in all competitions, trailing only Luis Aragones (611).

Luis Suarez s eighth league goal for Atletico secured maximum points midweek that ensured Simeone s high-flying side would head into the new year top of the table.

But reflecting on his approach when returning to Atleti as coach in December 2011, Simeone explained he has rarely looked beyond the next game – for now Deportivo Alaves on Sunday.

Since I arrived when I got together with Miguel [Angel Gil Marin, CEO] and Enriq…

Lucas Moura will leave Tottenham at the end of the season.

The Brazilian forward has struggled for fitness and form this campaign with no goals in his 17 appearances.

Moura missed a large chunk of the first half of the campaign with a tendon injury and since his return after the World Cup has been involved in several difficult moments for Spurs, being sent off in a 1-1 draw at Everton before his error resulted in Liverpool scoring a stoppage-time winner last month.

Arguably his best moment in a Spurs shirt was when he netted a hat-trick in 2019 at Ajax that sent Tottenham through to a first Champions League final in the most dramatic fashion.

Spurs have now confirmed this term will be Moura’s last and he will get the chance to bid farewell to the Totten…

Mauritania v Gambia (16:00)

Gambia, along with the Comoros, are one of two nations debuting at the AFCON this year and will be eager to produce a positive showing.

In theory, they begin with arguably the most winnable of their three Group F games, with Mauritania coach Didier Gomes Da Rosa likening the match to a semi-final .

His counterpart Tom Saintfiet has a better-travelled squad, however, his selection made up mostly of Europe-based players – Sampdoria, Gent, Spezia, Real Valladolid and even Roma are among the clubs represented.

The west-African nation may be the lowest-ranked team in the competition (150th), but they reached Cameroon as the only side to come through both the preliminary and group stages of qualifying, shocking Gabon, the Democrat…