Zinedine Zidane joked his Real Madrid side would have no issues beating last season s winners Liverpool in the last 16 of the Champions League.
The LaLiga giants had already secured their knockout berth before their 3-1 win over Club Brugge on Wednesday and can now turn their attention to the draw for the next stage, which takes place on Monday.
Hans Vanaken cancelled out Rodrygo Goes opener within the space of two second-half minutes, but a first Champions League goal for Vinicius Junior and a sublime strike from Luka Modric sealed all three points for Zidane s side.
Madrid finished second in Group A, five points behind Paris Saint-Germain, which means they will be drawn against the winners of another group, potentially Jurgen Klopp s Premier League leader…
Diogo Jota came off the bench to score an 11-minute hat-trick as Wolves cruised to a 4-0 home victory over Besiktas, wrapping up Group K of the Europa League in style.
Nuno Espirito Santo rested Jota at Molineux on Thursday with Wolves already qualified and facing a home game against top-six rivals Tottenham in the Premier League at the weekend.
However, after his 56th-minute introduction, Jota netted three times in quick succession as the hosts cut loose.
Leander Dendoncker was also on target but, after finishing second behind Braga, Nuno s side will not be seeded for Monday s last-32 draw, meaning they could face Ajax or Inter, who have dropped into the tournament via the Champions League.
— Wolves (@Wolves)
Wolves thought they had …
Sami Khedira claims it does not matter who captains Germany at Euro 2016 as regular skipper Bastian Schweinsteiger battles to prove his fitness.
Khedira wore the armband as Die Mannschaft surprisingly lost a friendly 3-1 to Slovakia last Sunday.
Manchester United midfielder Schweinsteiger has spent much of 2016 on the sidelines with a knee ligament injury and appears unlikely to start when Germany s European Championship campaign begins with a match against Ukraine in Lille next weekend.
But Khedira has sought to play down questions about on-field leadership, insisting the 31-year-old former Bayern Munich star will remain the squad s figurehead.
I m getting tired of questions about the captaincy, he said.
Bastian is our captain. It doesn t c…
Jonny Evans is in line to make his first international appearance since November 2013 after being named in Michael O Neill s Northern Ireland squad.
The Manchester United defender has not featured for his country since a 1-0 defeat to Turkey, sitting out their recent resurgence in Euro 2016 qualifying, which sees Northern Ireland sat second in Group F after three wins from their first four fixtures.
He has been in fine form for United, but will have little match practice after recently being handed a six-game suspension for spitting.
But that has not deterred O Neill from restoring Evans to a 27-man selection for a friendly with Scotland, followed by a qualifier at home to Finland next week.
Shane Ferguson, Stuart Dallas and Ryan McLaughlin also return to…
Khadija Bunny Shaw has already prompted comparisons to Erling Haaland for her goalscoring exploits, and a Manchester City team-mate believes she can be the world s best player.
Jamaica striker Shaw has scored 26 goals in 23 games in all competitions for City this season, including 15 in 15 in the Women s Super League.
The 26-year-old has averaged a goal every 86 minutes in the league – not quite on par with men s star Haaland, who has scored every 76 minutes in the Premier League, but close enough for onlookers to note the similarities.
City manager Gareth Taylor did not shy away from comparisons between the pretty remarkable pair last week, explaining how both are so mentally strong .
Shaw goals
Bunny has been directly involved in 31 goals in 3…
Denmark threw away a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 at Kazakhstan and suffer an early blow in Euro 2024 qualifying.
Kasper Hjulmand s side were semi-finalists at the last Euros and were handed a relatively kind draw for this qualifying campaign, beating Finland 3-1 in Thursday s opener.
Atalanta sensation Rasmus Hojlund scored a hat-trick in that game and then grabbed another two goals in the first half on Sunday, seemingly setting up another routine win.
But Baktiyor Zainutdinov pulled one back from the penalty spot with 17 minutes to play, and Kazakhstan were back level through captain Askhat Tagybergen s spectacular long-range strike four minutes from time.
That was not the end of the scoring as substitute Abat Aimbetov nodded the winner, although he was sent of…
England need to eradicate their inconsistency if they are to reach their potential at the World Cup, according to former Spain coach Javier Clemente.
Gareth Southgate s side cruised through qualification for Russia 2018, winning eight and drawing two of their 10 matches to finish eight points ahead of second-placed Slovakia.
But such a scenario is nothing new for England, who have often made light work of the preliminary phase before ultimately falling well short at major tournaments, with Euro 2016 – when they were eliminated by unfancied Iceland in the last 16 – the most recent example.
And Clemente, who coached Spain to the 1994 and 1998 World Cups, believes that inconsistency is England s biggest issue heading into this year s tournament, arguing they …
Poor man’s Ibrahimovic was how Gabrielle Marcotti described the Austrian striker Marko Arnautovic following his empathic display against Southampton this last weekend.
A Dip and A Dig
Former Stoke City forward hit a brace against Mark Hughes’ Saints to push them deeper into the relegation struggle following a Joao Mario struck a powerful shot to open the proceeding after 13 minutes whereas Arnautovic added two more goals to send a clear message to his former boss.
West Ham striker did not only make headlines for his fantastic goalscoring exploits but for his celebration as well, during which he appeared to have aimed a dig at in a response to their touchline spat back in December.
Arnautovic was particularly motivated to show his true worth following sent…
Fernando Torres has signed a one-year contract with Atletico Madrid following the expiration of his deal with AC Milan.
I m delighted to continue at home, the only place where I ever wanted to be, and it has finally come true, Torres told Atletico s official website.
[I am] happy to be here, I ve never had doubts about where I wanted to be during all this process in which we didn t know what was going to happen and, in the end, what matters is that I have achieved what I was expecting.
Torres joined Atletico on an 18-month loan from AC Milan in January 2015, but scored just six times in 27 appearances before the end of the 2014-15 campaign.
The striker s difficulties continued the following season, but, after a drought of more than four months, he scor…
Real Madrid have parted company with coach Carlo Ancelotti, president Florentino Perez has confirmed.
Reports had been widespread that Ancelotti was due to be sacked, and following a board meeting, Perez held a media conference on Monday to confirm as much.
Perez also said Ancelotti s successor will be announced next week, with Napoli boss Rafael Benitez expected to take over.
Next week we will know the name of the new coach of Real Madrid, the president commented.
It s not time to talk about the new coach. But it would be good for the new coach to speak Spanish, of course.
This position [president] is not an easy one, but if we have the view a change is needed, we have responsibility to make it.
We reflect every year, after season e…