Month: November 2024

Wales entertain Finland in a Euro 2024 play-off semi-final on Thursday.

The winners will progress to a home final against Estonia or Poland five days later for a place at Euro 2024 this summer.

Here, the PA news agency studies some of the main talking points surrounding the Cardiff City Stadium clash.

Here we go again

Wales have fond play-off memories after reaching the 2022 World Cup through football’s version of the last-chance saloon. Austria and Ukraine were both beaten in Cardiff as Wales made the most of home advantage – and the Dragons have again been dealt a kind hand to qualify for Euro 2024. On those occasions, however, Gareth Bale was the difference and Wales can no longer call on their retired superstar. It is time for the post-Bale generation to…

Roberto Martinez is confident Romelu Lukaku will be able to feature in Belgium s upcoming matches, despite concerns raised by Inter over the striker s fitness.

Lukaku sat out Inter s 2-2 Serie A draw with Parma and 3-2 loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League because of a thigh injury sustained against Shakhtar Donetsk.

The 27-year-old is being monitored by Inter on a daily basis and remains doubtful for Sunday s league trip to Atalanta.

Speaking earlier this week, CEO Beppe Marotta said common sense must prevail when it comes to international sides calling up players.

However, Lukaku has been included in Belgium s squad for the upcoming friendly with Switzerland and the Nations League games against England and Denmark.

We have been in close …

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is ready to go through the gears as he attempts to steer Milan to their first Scudetto in a decade.

Ten goals in seven games from Ibrahimovic, at a rate of one every 53.4 minutes, has been a vital spur in the first half of the season that has taken the Rossoneri to the Serie A summit.

Today I feel like a leader. I drive, the team follows me, the 39-year-old striker told Corriere dello Sport.

Fit again after a seven-week injury lay-off, Milan head coach Stefano Pioli will hope Ibrahimovic can resume leading the attacking line with his familiar panache as the season nears its halfway mark.

A scintillating start to the campaign will count for little if Milan tail off over the coming months, which Ibrahimovic acknowledged when he considere…

So now it is official: Willian is an Arsenal player.

A deal long rumoured was finally confirmed on Friday, the Brazilian signing a three-year contract at Emirates Stadium after opting not to extend his stay at Chelsea, where he became a two-time Premier League winner. 

However, Willian, 32, is by no means the first player to represent both sides of the fierce London rivalry in England s top flight. 

Some famous names have featured in both the red and white of Arsenal and the blue of Chelsea. 

The famous red and white suits you, Willian

— Arsenal (@Arsenal)

NICOLAS ANELKA

The much-travelled Frenchman, the feature of a new Netflix film, arrived at Arsenal as a prodigious teenager in February 1997 and won a Premier Leag…

Hansi Flick believes everyone is clamouring to play for Germany after he continued his fine start to life as head coach with a crushing 9-0 win over 10-man Liechtenstein in World Cup qualifying on Thursday.

Germany were in cruise control following Jens Hofer s early red card, with Ilkay Gundogan, Leroy Sane and Marco Reus adding to a Daniel Kaufmann own goal to put Die Mannschaft 4-0 up at half-time.

Sane added a fifth early in the second period, while a brace from Thomas Muller, a fine Ridle Baku strike and an own goal from Maximilian Goppel sealed the rout late on.

The result meant Flick became the first Germany head coach to win his first six matches in charge, taking the record outright from former boss Joachim Low.

And former Bayern Munich coach…

Best Odds: 4/6

Bookmaker:

Two sides who find themselves battling it out at opposite ends of the Brazil Serie A standings, Internacional will welcome Coritiba to the Estádio Beira-Rio in the early hours of Saturday.

Internacional

Starting with the hosts, throwing away their lead and eventually getting hit with an action-packed 3-2 defeat at home against Botafogo last weekend, there is no doubt that Internacional will be looking to prove that was just a minor blip. However, despite coming under some scrutiny for their extraordinary collapse last time out, Mano Menezes side still find themselves firmly battling it out at the top of the Serie A table. Making a host of improvements since opening the 2022 campaign, the Reds currently sit just outside of the top-four…

Mikel Arteta hailed Gabriel Jesus for raising standards at Arsenal after the Brazilian scored two goals and registered two assists in a thrilling win over Leicester City.

Arsenal made it two wins from two Premier League matches with a 4-2 victory over the Foxes at Emirates Stadium on Saturday as Jesus recorded his first competitive goals since arriving from Manchester City for £45million in July.  

In doing so, Jesus became the first player to score more than once on his home Premier League debut for the Gunners, while the 25-year-old is also the first Arsenal player to double up for goals and assists in a league game since Theo Walcott against Newcastle United in December 2012 (three goals and two assists).

The signing of Jesus, a four-time Premier Leagu…

Inter Milan are interested in signing Keylor Navas from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that Inter could be on the hunt for a new goalkeeper due to uncertainty over the future of Andre Onana, and PSG star Navas is on their radar as a potential replacement.

Navas has been on the books of PSG since the summer of 2019 when he moved to the French club since leaving Real Madrid. The 36-year-old Costa Rica international goalkeeper spent the second half of last season on loan at Nottingham Forest. PSG do not plan to keep Navas in their squad for next season.

The Costa Rican is one of the best goalkeepers around and is still at the top of his game at the age of 36. Onana is one of the goalkeepers in the world, and if he l…

Sergio Busquets is back in the Spain squad after returning a negative coronavirus test.

The Barcelona midfielder had been isolating since testing positive for the virus on June 7, which prompted concern of a possible outbreak in the camp prior to the start of Euro 2020.

Coach Luis Enrique summoned players to train in a parallel bubble in case of further infections, but only Diego Llorente returned what was later suspected to be a false positive test.

On Friday, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) said Busquets would be returning to the squad after testing negative for COVID-19 and travel with his team-mates for Saturday s match with Poland in Seville.

In Busquets absence, Spain drew 0-0 with Sweden in their opening Euro 2020 Group E game, a match…