“I am writing this post to announce that after a career of 18 years, I am retiring from professional football,” Fellaini said on Instagram.
“What an incredible journey it has been! I am so grateful to have played the sport I love at the highest level.
“I am proud to have represented Standard in Belgium, Everton and Manchester United in the UK, and Shandong Taishan in China. It was an honor (sic) to have played for the Belgian national team at the Olympics of 2008, Euro 2016 and the World Cups of 2014 and 2018.
“I have played in front of the best fans in the world, and I want to take this moment to thank all of them for their unwavering support throughout my career. Your encouragement and passion have been a constant source of inspiration for me.
Defending champions Spain are just one win away from securing their place in Euro 2012 when they tackle Liechtenstein in Logrono on Tuesday.
With three matches to play in Group I, Spain hold a five-point lead over the second-placed Czech Republic, who have only two games left, meaning a win against bottom side Liechtenstein would give the Spaniards an unassailable eight-point lead.
The reigning world and European champions had the ideal preparation for the fixture on Friday, when they came from 2-0 down at half-time in a friendly against Chile to claim a stirring 3-2 win.
Vicente del Bosque s side found themselves staring down the barrel of an upset defeat when goals to Mauricio Isla and Eduardo Vargas had Chile cruising.
But a goal from substitute Andre…
Italy extended their unbeaten run with a frustrating 0-0 draw against Turkiye on Tuesday, though potentially suffered another injury blow in the process.
Luca Pellegrini was taken off in the 68th minute and was seen on the bench with an icepack strapped to his knee, following Francesco Acerbi and Giorgio Scalvini s withdrawals from the squad in the last week.
In the first of their two warm-ups ahead of Euro 2024, Italy came closest to breaking the deadlock on the stroke of half-time when Bryan Cristante thumped a header against the post.
Guglielmo Vicario denied Merih Demiral on the half-volley in a bright second half for Turkiye, while Giacomo Raspadori s tame shot was held by Altay Bayindir in the final seconds as both sides failed to find a way through.
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Best odds: 11/5
Bookmaker:
After securing their long-awaited first home victory of the season in their previous match, Udinese will host Lazio at the Bluenergy Arena in a Serie A clash on Sunday afternoon.
This encounter comes as another challenge against a team vying for a spot in the Champions League.
Udinese
Udinese managed to secure a significant victory against Bologna in their last outing at the Bluenergy Arena, breaking their streak of draws at home. This win was crucial, especially considering their knack for gaining points against teams in similar positions, which could be vital in their battle against relegation this season.
While they have shown resilience against mid-table and lower-ranked teams, Udinese s struggles have mostly been …
Antonio Rudiger was shocked to learn the consequences of his bodycheck on Kevin De Bruyne in the Champions League final after the Belgian suffered a broken nose and fractured eye socket.
Chelsea defender Rudiger said he was really sorry about the consequences of the challenge, which resulted in him being booked and Manchester City playmaker De Bruyne being forced out of the match.
The German centre-back said he had been in touch with De Bruyne since the game, which Chelsea won 1-0 to become European club champions for a second time.
The incident occurred in the 56th minute of Saturday s showpiece in Porto, at which point Pep Guardiola s City side had already conceded what proved to be the decisive goal from Kai Havertz.
De Bruyne watched from the stands …
Competition: Euro 2016
Market: Wales to win against Portugal
Odds:
Wales lock horns with Portugal at the Stade des Lumières in tonight’s Euro 2016 semi-final clash, and are underdogs to progress to the final despite their opponents having failed to win a game in normal time.
Portugal’s journey to the final four saw them finishing third in Group F with three points from a possible nine. They drew every game in the group stages, and little changed in the knockouts. Portugal beat Croatia in the last-16 thanks to an extra time winner before seeing past Poland on penalties in the quarter-finals.
As for Wales, the Dragons topped Group B with six points, having beaten Slovakia and Russia. In the last-16, Chris Coleman’s side saw past rivals Northern…
Athletic Bilbao have reached an agreement in principle to appoint Marcelino as coach until 2022 after sacking Gaizka Garitano.
The LaLiga club sacked Garitano, who took charge in December 2018, just hours after recording a 1-0 win over Elche on Sunday.
That result sees Athletic sitting ninth in the table, seven points adrift of fifth-placed Barcelona.
Former Valencia boss Marcelino was announced as Garitano s replacement later on Sunday.
Athletic announced they had reached an agreement in principle with Marcelino until 2022.
Principio de acuerdo con Marcelino García Toral hasta junio de 2022.
— Athletic Club (@AthleticClub)
After more than two years in charge, Marcelino was sacked by Valencia in September 2019.
He h…
The Netherlands suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat to Denmark at Metalist Stadium on Saturday to leave their Euro 2012 campaign in the balance.
Despite fashioning a slew of chances almost straight from kick-off, the Netherland were extremely poor in front of goal, and their profligacy was punished by a fine finish from Michael Krohn Dehli after 24 minutes.
The Dutch were similarly wasteful during the second half, their performance summed up by the labouring efforts of Robin van Persie, who showed none of the killer instinct from his stellar 37-goal season with Arsenal.
The race for qualification from Group B is now wide open, after a stunning smash and grab result from Denmark, who defied their long-shot odds and now have a priceless three points to give their hopes…
Celtic stormed to the top of the Scottish Premiership with a thumping 6-0 win away at St Johnstone.
The defending champions thought they had taken the lead early on through Daizen Maeda, but VAR intervened due to a foul in the build-up.
Nevertheless, a brace from Kyogo Furuhashi and Paulo Bernardo s sumptuous strike virtually ended the contest at half-time.
There was to be no mercy in the second half though, as captain Callum McGregor added a fourth for Celtic shortly after the restart.
Maeda and substitute Adam Idah added further gloss to the scoreline to make it six league wins out of six for Brendan Rodgers side so far this campaign and take them top, ahead of Aberdeen on goal difference.
St Johnstone are now just a point above second bottom in…
In the blink of an eye, the Euro 2024 last-16 round is over after Tuesday wrapped up this stage of the competition.
The Netherlands are in the quarter-finals after producing arguably their best performance in Germany, sweeping Group E winners Romania aside with ease.
Turkiye overcame Group D winners Austria in Leipzig and will meet Ronald Koeman s side in the last eight, with the winner potentially facing England in the semi-finals.
After another action-packed day of knockout football, we take a deep dive into the best statistics from the day, using Opta numbers.
Romania 0-3 Netherlands: Malen, Gakpo and Simons star for Oranje
The Netherlands eased past Romania 3-0 to banish demons of previous years by progressing through a European Championship k…