Wendell Lira beats Messi to win the Puskas Award

Pep Guardiola is wary of Manchester City s Champions League foes Napoli, labelling Maurizio Sarri s men as one of the best three teams in Europe.

City avoided Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid at Thursday s draw, the big guns who have habitually dogged their group-stage campaigns since ascending to the continent s top competition in 2011-12 a season where defeat in Naples preceded round-robin elimination.

Shakhtar Donetsk represented a more favourable pot one opponent but, in a group also containing Eredivisie champions Feyenoord, it was Napoli who grabbed Guardiola s attention.

When the third pot team is Napoli the best team in the pot it is complicated, he told a news conference ahead of City s Premier League trip to Bournemouth on Saturday.

In…

Hat-trick hero Christian Eriksen was the difference as Denmark silenced a thunderous Dublin crowd to beat the Republic of Ireland 5-1 and book their ticket to the 2018 World Cup.

The sides had played out a numb goalless draw in Copenhagen and the six previous play-off games across the globe had all finished 0-0, with tensions at their highest, but this return leg was a superb contest and the touch paper was lit by Irish defender Shane Duffy scoring a sixth-minute header.

Ireland s inability to score in the first leg meant their lead was as precarious as could be, however, and two goals inside three minutes put Denmark in firm control.

Cyrus Christie was unfortunate to turn into his own goal, but Eriksen s brilliant strike oozed the kind of class needed to settle …

Laurent Depoitre cancelled out Charlie Austin s header as Huddersfield Town fought back to earn a 1-1 Premier League draw at Southampton on Saturday.

Austin continued his recent good run of form with his fifth goal in seven appearances and fifth in his last eight outings against the Terriers but the striker could face retrospective action from the Football Association for a late challenge on visiting goalkeeper Jonas Lossl.

Having nodded the Saints ahead midway through the first half, Austin was perhaps fortunate to escape punishment for drawing blood from Lossl s nose by leaving his foot in as the Dane gathered a throughball.

Southampton boss Mauricio Pellegrino invited speculation surrounding Virgil van Dijk s future by leaving the Netherlands defender out wit…

Manchester City are closing in on the signing of Sergio Gomez from Anderlecht, according to Fabrizio Romano.

The Premier League champions have been struggling to nail down a designated left-back to feature regularly in Pep Guardiola s team. Benjamin Mendy is unlikely to play again following the criminal process currently progressing against him. Oleksandr Zinchenko, who used to perform frequently on the left defensive flank, has joined Arsenal, leaving Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo as the only senior fullback options and both prefer to play on the right.

City were believed to be close to signing Marc Cucurella from Brighton and Hove Albion, but Chelsea have managed to steal the spotlight there at the eleventh hour and agree a deal with the Seagulls.

At the age of…

Serbian defender Neven Subotic is on the verge of leaving Borussia Dortmund, .

Once a key member of the squad at Signal-Iduna Park, the 27-year-old has struggled for playing time of late, and he only made six league appearances last term.

Despite losing Mats Hummels to Bayern Munich, the Millionaires will not stand in Subotic’s way as he looks to move in search of first team football, and it appears that a farewell is nearing closer.

Namely, Bild claims that the defender was allowed to miss training yesterday in order to speak to an interested club, and he should soon be leaving BVB for greener pastures.

Dortmund want around €5 million for the experienced footballer, and they should have no problems finding a buyer for the Serbian stopper.

Su…

Champions League winners Real Madrid will have little to no sympathy over the uproar their Julen Lopetegui announcement has caused just days before Spain are to kick off their World Cup campaign.

Just as they should.

Los Blancos named Spain boss Julen Lopetegui as a new head coach on a three-year deal on Tuesday. Lopetegui is set to take over from Zinedine Zidane who led the club to three successive Champions league titles.

The regal club opted to approach Julen Lopetegui regardless of his ongoing commitments with Spain and without any regard to the fact he has only recently signed a contract extension with the Spanish FA. With Florentino Perez insisting on a swift solution to their managerial vacancy, Real Madrid have displayed an apparent lack of respect to…

Ched Evans hopes he can earn a Wales recall upon resuming his career after being found not guilty of rape in a retrial.

Evans, sentenced to five years in prison in 2012 after being found guilty of raping a 19-year-old woman, was cleared of any wrongdoing this week after his original verdict was quashed in April this year and a retrial was ordered.

Since his release from prison in October 2014, Sheffield United, Hartlepool United and Oldham Athletic all pulled out of deals to sign the striker over fan backlashes before Chesterfield handed Evans a one-year deal this season.

The 27-year-old, who made 13 international appearances between 2008 and 2011, scored four goals in seven League One games before he was stood down from first-team action as the trial was in prog…

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Looking to extend on their Champions League qualifying adventure on Tuesday evening, Fenerbahce will welcome Lugano to Istanbul.

Fenerbahce

Starting with the hosts, eventually claiming what was a thrilling first-leg advantage over in Switzerland last week as they secured a 4-3 victory, Fenerbahce will simply be looking to finish off the job with a statement on home soil. Officially getting Jose Mourinho’s tenure underway following the ex-Manchester United bosses arrival last month, the Turkish giants should find the mood in their camp at a real high. Making real history last season as they got their hands on a third consecutive domestic crown, the Yellow Canaries are rightfully pencilled in as a standout contender on Tuesday evening…

Gavi has added the Golden Boy award to the Kopa Trophy he won earlier this week, following in the footsteps of Barcelona team-mate Pedri by winning both prizes in the same year.

The 18-year-old saw off competition from the likes of Eduardo Camavinga, Jamal Musiala and Jude Bellingham to land the Kopa Trophy – given to the best player in the world under the age of 21 – at Monday s Ballon d Or ceremony.

At a press conference in Palermo on Friday, it was revealed that Gavi had beaten another 19 nominees – including that aforementioned trio – to land the Golden Boy prize, which follows similar rules to the Kopa Trophy,

Gavi has become the third player to win the Golden Boy award while representing Barcelona, after Lionel Messi in 2005 and Pedri in 2021.

…

Ollie Watkins fired Aston Villa into the Premier League’s top four with the winner at Tottenham to inflict a third consecutive defeat on the hosts.

Unai Emery’s side came from behind to claim a 2-1 victory and leapfrog Spurs after a thrilling end-to-end contest, with Pau Torres scoring a first-half header and Watkins scoring a second after 61 minutes.

Giovani Lo Celso had drilled Tottenham in front after 22 minutes with Ange Postecoglou’s selection gamble paying dividends at this point, but the hosts’ profligacy in front of goal cost them and Villa secured an eighth win from their last 10 matches.

Three Point Lane.

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial)

Hours before the match it was revealed former Spurs player and manager Terry Venables had di…