Real Madrid president Florentino Perez hopes Zinedine Zidane can persuade Kylian Mbappe to join the club, while he did not rule out signing both the French sensation and Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Neymar.
Madrid are set for a squad overhaul at the end of the season following the return of head coach Zidane, who replaced Santiago Solari on Monday after the three-time reigning holders crashed out of the Champions League last week.
The LaLiga giants have struggled this season after Cristiano Ronaldo left for Serie A champions Juventus, with Madrid third and 12 points adrift of leaders Barcelona.
Madrid have long been linked with PSG star Mbappe and former Barca forward Neymar, and speculation over the pair has heightened after Zidane s return to the Santiago Bern…
Gianluca Mancini’s first-half header was enough to give Roma a slim lead in their Europa League quarter-final tie with rivals Roma.
Milan had previously won both Serie A clashes between the two sides this season but it is Roma who take a 1-0 lead into the second leg at the Stadio Olimpico next week.
Last season’s beaten Europa League finalists will fancy their chances of reaching a semi-final against either West Ham or Bayer Leverkusen after edging to victory at the San Siro.
The visitors started the quicker of the two teams but it was Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders who had the first meaningful effort of the contest as he forced a decent save out of Mile Svilar.
Take a bow, Mancini
— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague)
At the o…
Jurgen Klopp says Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez will be involved for Liverpool when they play Bologna on Thursday.
The Reds step up their preparations for the forthcoming Premier League season with two 60-minutes matches against the Serie A side.
The central defensive duo made their long-awaited returns from injury against Hertha Berlin last time out, playing the final 21 minutes of the 4-3 defeat.
Van Dijk had not played since suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury against Everton in October 2020, while Gomez played his first minutes since damaging a tendon in his left knee while on international duty with England the following month.
Klopp is pleased with the progress the pair are making and is confident they can get more minutes under their be…
Motherwell have confirmed the appointment of Ian Baraclough as the club s new manager.
The Scottish Premiership side have been searching for a new manager since Stuart McCall resigned from his post last month after a poor start to the season that saw the club take just seven points from 12 matches.
Motherwell have now turned their attention to 44-year-old Baraclough, who will attempt to guide the club away from the danger zone in Scotland s top flight.
I am delighted and find myself in a privileged position, Baraclough told the club s official website.
It will be a hard task to take over from Stuart but one I m very excited to take up.
Short term my aim is to keep this club in the Premiership. There is no easy way to go about that and it is …
De Bruyne and Alexander Arnold, standard-bearers of their craft – PFA award winners´ seasons in Opta
Kevin De Bruyne and Trent Alexander-Arnold were the unsurprising recipients of the coveted Professional Footballers Association (PFA) awards on Tuesday after truly sensational campaigns.
Manchester City star De Bruyne took home the main award as the PFA s Player of the Year, while Alexander-Arnold – a mainstay for champions Liverpool – claimed the Young Player of the Year award.
While Alexander-Arnold was in the running for both gongs, the main prize generally looked likely to be between De Bruyne and Jordan Henderson, Liverpool s captain and winner of the Football Writers Association s (FWA) Football of the Year award.
Although De Bruyne and City finished 18 points adrift of Liverpool in the table, the Belgian s individual efforts were remarkable, while Alex…
Barcelona and Argentina superstar Lionel Messi confessed he was embarrassed about having to go back on his decision to retire from international football.
The five-time Ballon d Or winner announced he would make himself unavailable to the national team after their penalty shoot-out loss to Chile in the Copa America Centenario final in 2016.
It was the fourth time Messi had missed out on glory at the last hurdle with Argentina, the Copa America escaping his grasp in 2007 and 2015, and Germany beating them to the World Cup in Brazil in 2014.
Head coach Gerardo Martino was replaced by Edgardo Bauza after the failure in the United States, and he successfully convinced the Barca forward to return to the fold despite some initial concerns.
It was a decision I …
Exactly 1616 days after his last game for Manchester United, Paul Pogba made his second debut for the Old Trafford side following his €105 million move from Juventus as Jose Mourinho s men beat Southampton 2-0 in their second Premier League game of 2016-17.
Mourinho suggested ahead of the game that the 23-year-old was unlikely to feature for the full 90 minutes, but the France international nonetheless remained on the pitch right until the final whistle as he impressed in midfield.
It was Zlatan Ibrahimovic who was the centre of attention after the final whistle following his decisive double, but Pogba had every reason to be satisfied with his homecoming.
The midfielder received a warm welcome on his comeback, but his nerves still got the best of him early on a…
Lionel Messi was at his brilliant best for Inter Miami on Saturday, scoring two goals and adding an assist en route to a 3-1 victory over Nashville SC.
After a Franco Negri own goal gave Nashville the advantage early, Messi equalised in the 11th minute and set up Sergio Busquets’ 39th minute goal to make it a 2-1 score at half-time.
Following a back-and-forth second half, the Argentinian slotted a penalty in the 81st minute to put the result out of reach.
Nuestro diez no falla desde el punto penal
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF)
Speaking after the match, Busquets said in Spanish: “Very happy that the goal helped the team win the match.
“What matters is the team and the victory. Today, I managed to score but the ultimate accompli…
The 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar kicked off on Sunday evening with the host nation taking on South American side Ecuador at Al Bayt.
It was supposed to be a tough game, with home team Qatar preparing for the match and the tournament for months.
The Qataris have a reputation of playing good and passing football, and given that they were the home team, they were expected to at least pick up a point from the encounter.
However, it was Ecuador who won the opening game at the Qatar World Cup 2-0 with ease.
Enner Valencia scored both the goals for the South American side.
The former West Ham United forward scored in the 16th minute from the penalty spot.
Qatar goalkeeper Saad Al Sheeb brought Valencia down in the box, and the 33-year-old hims…
New Norwich City manager Chris Hughton is already anticipating the new Premier League campaign after the release of the fixture list.
Hughton joined the Canaries this summer on a three-year contract, leaving Birmingham City to replace Paul Lambert who had defected to Aston Villa.
Norwich travel to Craven Cottage on the opening day of the season to take on Martin Jol s Fulham and Hughton is looking forward to getting started, although he admitted that he would have preferred a home game first.
Generally you d like a home tie on the first day of the season, I think most people would, but we do have a couple of home games in pre-season for the supporters to be there, Hughton told the club s official website.
I m sure they will be in fantastic voice at Ful…