By Tim Stannard

1) Montella jettisoned from Milan

After another uptown flunk in San Siro that saw Milan plodding towards a goalless draw with Torino, our beIN SPORTS Serie A experts were opining whether Vincenzo Montella was going to last until the festive period as the coach of the struggling Serie A side.

Actually, they were musing over this possibility just two weeks into what has been a sorry season for Milan. As it turns out, Montella will not even last until December having been fired on Monday morning in Italy.  

For those not paying too much attention before, this is Milan 101. Club sold to Chinese ownership group over summer. Ownership group may or may not exist. Club borrow quarter of a billion dollars. Club spends a quarter of a billion dollars. Club in seventh spot in Serie A, 11 points from Champions League places where they need to be to pay back the interest on the loan. Leonardo Bonucci playing as if he has never seen a football before. Or felt grass.

The lucky stooge charged with managing Milan now is former player and youth team coach, Gennaro Gattuso, who will hope that a cool beard and reputation for toughness will work. However, it is not yet known if the gig is on a short or long-term basis.

Tune into the Locker Room at 7:30PM ET / 4:30PM PT to see what Christian Vieri makes of all this.

Oh, hang on. Sassoulo have fired their boss. Cristian Bucchi is gone leaving his old club just a point from the relegation zone. And while we are on a struggling Serie A sides theme, tune into beIN SPORTS AT 2:40PM ET / 11:40AM to find out of Benevento can avoid making it 14 defeats from 14 in an away trip to Atalanta.

2) Bale back for Madrid after two months malaise

A laboring win against Malaga puts Gareth Bale in the unusual situation of Real Madrid supporters actually missing the Welsh wounded winger. So, it was with a happy heart that the words of Coach Zizou rang out on Monday announcing that Bale was back in business and would play in Tuesday’s Copa del Rey second leg against lower league Fuenlabrada after two months out. The BBC could be back, baby.

“I do want to see all three, Cristiano, Bale and Benzema, playing together, because I haven't seen them play together for a long time.”

The squad has yet to be announced but could even include Sergio Ramos going all Phantom of the Opera with a face mask to protect his very broken nose. Real Madrid are currently 2-0 up from the first leg and the match will be a run out largely for Dani Ceballos. That game will be live on beIN SPORTS on Tuesday from 3:25PM ET / 12:25PM PT. But remember to tune into the XTRA from 7PM ET / 4PM PT to find out who won this week’s Team Messi v Team Ronaldo.

Oh, hang on again. The weekend’s La Liga action hasn’t quite finished yet. The mighty Getafe are taking on Espanyol over on beIN SPORTS Espanyol from 2:50PM ET / 11:50AM PT.

3) No goal-line tech after Messi mess-up in Mestalla

La Liga’s laudable policy of adding extra excitement into its already vibrant games by referees ruling out perfectly good goals is set to continue until the end of the season. From that point, all the fun will be removed with VAR being introduced into Spain.

Monday saw a report from Marca that even a basic version – goal-line technology – will not be rolled out this season to avoid a repeat of the incident of Leo Messi having a perfectly good goal ruled out for no good reason against Valencia in Sunday’s big game.

Unsurprisingly, the Blaugrana half of the media were full of fury on Monday with Mundo Deportivo blasting the non-decision as a ‘scandal’ in the 1-1 draw with Valencia. ‘A robbery’ yelled Sport.

4) Texans in late play-off chase

The NFL wraps up a heck of a weekend on Monday, a weekend which saw the Philadelphia Eagles (10-1) as very much the prime selection for the Super Bowl crown. The Baltimore Ravens are hosting the Houston Texans, who still have a chance of making the AFC play-offs.

Monday night on NBA is Disney on Ice with Clippers, Magic, Kings and Warriors all taking to the court across the US of A.

WHAT IS SPORTS BURST?

The life philosophy of Sports Burst is that if you are not upsetting someone, then you are not trying hard enough. SB is a daily trawl and troll through the morning's sports news to bring you fact-nuggets to make you both smile and swear. Hopefully at the same time.