Lionel Messi paid tribute to Diego Maradona on Sunday with a goal celebration that came as a beautiful surprise to his Barcelona team-mates.
Former Barca and Argentina great Maradona died on Wednesday at the age of 60 and has been honoured before all LaLiga matches over the weekend.
Messi scored his side s fourth goal in the 4-0 win over Osasuna and afterwards removed his Barca shirt to reveal a Newell s Old Boys jersey emblazoned with Maradona s famous number 10.
He then pointedly saluted the sky in honour of his compatriot, who spent a season at Newell s the club where Messi began his youth career.
Antoine Griezmann and Philippe Coutinho each got a goal in Barca s comfortable victory, along with striker Martin Braithwaite, who opened the scoring in the …
Tottenham Hotspur head coach Jose Mourinho has turned down the chance to sign Christian Eriksen back from Inter Milan, according to . It has been reported that the attacking midfielder has been offered to Spurs, but Mourinho is not interested in incorporating the Denmark international back into his team.
Eriksen left Spurs for Inter in January 2020 for £16.9 million and was expected to be a success at the Italian club. However, the 28-year-old has struggled to fit into manager Antonio Conte’s system and is struggling for playing time at the moment.
According to , the 28-year-old attacking midfielder has made three starts and three substitute appearances in Serie A and has made one start and two substitute appearances in the Champions League for Inter so far this seas…
Central Coast Mariners ended a run of three successive defeats on Sunday but could only stop the rot with an underwhelming 0-0 draw at home to rock-bottom Wellington Phoenix.
The visitors went into the trip without a victory in their last five games, though they looked lively in attack during the early exchanges, with Roy Krishna going close twice.
Phoenix finished the first half on top as well, seeing Krishna and Matthew Ridenton force Ben Kennedy into a pair of smart stops just before the break.
Chances became more infrequent after half-time, but things did liven up again towards the end, with Storm Roux going close for the hosts with 18 minutes left.
Ultimately there just was not enough quality in attack on either side, the result leaving Mariners t…
AS Monaco have been interested in Strahinja Pavlovic, 18-year-old Serbian centre-back, for some time now and it looks like the initial talks of the youngsters joining the Ligue 1 side are actually going to be confirmed. According to media in Serbia, Partizan defender will become Monaco player on the first day of 2020.
The story goes that Pavlovic, who has been held in high regard by quite a few European clubs, will become Monaco player, but will remain at Partizan for the entirety of the 2019-20 season, as a loaned player. AS Monaco will pay 10 million euros as a transfer fee, but that will not be all.
They could pay as much as three million euros in add-ons and 10 per cent from the next transfer of the player. Pavlovic made his Partizan debut in early 2019, when he was…
Papiss Cisse and Jack Colback boosted Newcastle United s survival hopes as the strugglers produced a brilliant second-half display to draw 2-2 with Liverpool on Rafael Benitez s latest return to Anfield.
Liverpool entered Saturday s Premier League contest in a rich vein of form, including a 4-0 battering of Merseyside rivals Everton on Wednesday, and they appeared in cruise control at half-time.
Daniel Sturridge scored in the second minute to make it four goals in as many league games, before Adam Lallana s fine effort on the half hour deservedly made it 2-0.
But Benitez knows a thing about comebacks having led Liverpool to Champions League glory in 2005 after being 3-0 down against AC Milan at half-time, and Cisse s header after the break started the revival.
Queens Park Rangers manager Harry Redknapp has insisted in-form striker Charlie Austin will not be sold during the January transfer window.
Austin, who joined QPR from Burnley in a deal reportedly worth around £4 million in August 2013, is currently the third top scorer in the English Premier League, i.e. only Diego Costa (12) and Sergio Agüero (14) have score more goals than Austin (11) in England s top flight this season.
The 25-year-old striker has 18 months left on his current deal at Loftus Road, but Rangers are preparing to double the player s wages, according to reports.
Well, he s got 18 months left, Charlie, said Redknapp ahead of Rangers Boxing Day clash at Arsenal. He s not going anywhere in January he’s here and it’s up to Charlie …
Germany keeper Jens Lehmann has announced his retirement from international football. After earning sixty-one caps over a ten year career he has decided to hang up his international gloves.
The former Arsenal player made his decision after a two-hour discussion with Germany manager Joachim Low.
Lehmann said he could not give any assurances that he would still be playing football after his one-year contract with new club Stuttgart expires.
He made his last appearance for Germany in the Euro 2008 final and didn t make any quick decisions after that defeat. But after careful consideration, Lehmann said he had made up his mind to quit.
I suggested to Low and to the goalkeeping coach, Andreas Koepke that they no longer include me in their plans for the Ge…
EnglandÂ’s football manager Fabio Capello has expressed confidence in his side ahead of Wednesday nightÂ’s friendly against the Czech Republic.
Capello said that he has been impressed by the progress that his England players have made in the four friendlies that they have had since he had taken over.
Speaking about Euro 2008 he also felt that the England team would have beaten the Spanish, that is had they been at the Championships.
He added that his biggest concern was the need for the English players to display the same self confidence when they play for their country as they do when they play for their clubs.
Capello also stated that the up – coming friendly would be an important one for many of the players who still …
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang s transfer saga became a burden to Borussia Dortmund, according to Ilkay Gundogan.
Germany midfielder Gundogan played with Aubameyang at Signal Iduna Park before joining Manchester City in 2016 and watched on from afar as the Gabon striker became Arsenal s club-record signing for £56million on transfer deadline day.
The 28-year-old scored 13 goals in 16 Bundesliga games for Dortmund this season but, as their title challenge faded amid Peter Bosz s departure as head coach, Gundogan felt persistent speculation over Aubameyang s future proved an unwelcome sideshow.
The whole hiccup was certainly not conducive to the performance of the team, he told Sport Bild.
As a player, you see that and if you read negative things in the paper…
Gabriel Barbosa says he did not get the opportunity to show what he could do at Inter or Benfica, after making a goalscoring return to Santos.
The Brazilian known as Gabigol scored in his first Santos appearance in a draw at Ferroviaria on Saturday after ending an unhappy spell in Serie A.
Inter paid a reported €25 million to sign the Brazil international in August 2016, but he scored just once in the league, never starting a Serie A game.
A loan spell at Benfica went little better, the 21-year-old appearing for only 13 minutes off the bench in his only league appearance.
And after heading back to Santos on loan in the January transfer window, Gabigol complained about his lack of chances in Europe.
Happy to be able to play again, Barbosa told …