Neymar insists his intention is still to extend his contract with Barcelona, despite having failed to reach an agreement over a renewal to date.
The Brazil international s father and agent claimed earlier this month that, although talks over a new deal were progressing, Neymar could be forced to leave Spain should a satisfactory resolution not be reached over alleged tax evasion.
A Brazilian court has frozen £31.3million worth of assets belonging to the Barca attacker, his family and related businesses, with the 23-year-old alleged to have evaded £10.5m worth of taxes in Brazil from 2011 to 2013.
Neymar, however, insists he hopes to secure a new deal at Camp Nou, telling the media on Saturday: I ve still got years on my contract. My father has already spoke…
West Brom staged an unexpected late comeback to snatch a 2-2 draw at home to Liverpool that offers Darren Moore s side slim hope of escaping relegation.
Danny Ings struck for the first time in 930 days and Mohamed Salah equalled the record for goals scored in a 38-match Premier League season as Liverpool appeared on course to warm up for their Champions League semi-final against Roma with a routine if laboured victory.
The beleaguered Baggies had other ideas, though, Jake Livermore getting one back in the 79th minute and Salomon Rondon heading home the equaliser from a free-kick with two remaining in normal time.
The result may not prove enough to save West Brom, as they are still eight points adrift of the safety of 17th-placed Swansea, who visit newly crowned c…
Kylian Mbappe and Rivaldo sent messages of support to Brazil legend Pele as the health of the World Cup legend reportedly took a turn for the worse.
Reports in Brazil said the 82-year-old has been moved to palliative care after a cancer battle.
The three-time World Cup winner ranks highly among the greatest players of all time, and he underwent surgery to remove a tumour from his colon last year.
There have been frequent hospital visits since, but reports have now claimed Pele is not responding to chemotherapy treatment and is instead receiving pain-relieving measures in an end-of-life care ward.
France striker Mbappe, immersed in a World Cup campaign with Les Bleus in Qatar, wrote on Twitter: Pray for the king.
Pray for the King
— Kyl…
UEFA are set to implement a blood testing programme across both the Champions League and Europa League from the start of the 2013-14 season.
European football s governing body conducted blood testing at both the 2012 and 2008 editions of the European Championships, but are now set to roll out the anti-doping measures across club competitions.
Players were previously required to provide only urine samples, but could now be asked to also give blood by UEFA testers.
In a statement announcing the changes, UEFA also revealed that they carried out 1,374 doping controls over the course of the 2012-13 season, with none providing a positive result.
The announcement also explained that 2013 Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich were both tested fiv…
Real Madrid icon Raul has confessed to enjoying the Champions League successes of his former club s arch-rivals Barcelona.
Raul was a three-time winner of Europe s premier club competition during a trophy-laden spell with Madrid from 1994 to 2010, lifting the trophy once more than Barca did in the same time span.
However, the 38-year-old insists he can still take pleasure in seeing some of the continental success go Barca s way because they are representing Spain.
Furthermore, he feels it adds to the intense competition between the Liga pair which he believes helps strengthen them.
When they [Barca] win the Champions League, I am glad. In the end it is a Spanish team and I have no problem saying that publicly, said Raul in an interview with Vanit…
Manchester City must not give Wayne Rooney time to think when they host Everton, according to midfielder Fernandinho.
Ronald Koeman s side head to the Etihad Stadium on Monday, a venue where they rode their luck in a 1-1 draw last term, before dishing out a painful 4-0 thrashing to Pep Guardiola s men at Goodison Park in January.
Koeman has made a number of eye-catching additions to his squad during the transfer window, with Gylifi Sigurdsson completing a club-record move from Swansea City last week.
But it is Rooney s return to his boyhood club that has captured the imagination, and England and Manchester United s all-time top scorer stole the headlines with the only goal against Stoke City as the Toffees won on the opening weekend of the Premier League season…
Jordi Alba and Koke have been left out of Luis Enrique s first Spain squad, while Alvaro Morata and Sergi Roberto have been recalled.
Barcelona full-back Alba has been overlooked by his former club coach in favour of Valencia s Jose Gaya and Chelsea s Marcos Alonso, both of whom missed out on a place at the World Cup.
Alba fell out of favour with Luis Enrique during his final season at Barca, and the defender admitted he felt the coach had little confidence in his ability.
He was a favourite of Julen Lopetegui, though, and played all four of Spain s matches at the World Cup even after Lopetegui was sacked for holding talks with Real Madrid without the Royal Spanish Football Federation s knowledge.
Koke played in both of Atletico Madrid s first two LaLiga …
Nottingham Forest head to second-from-bottom Stoke City on Friday evening, knowing three points will take them top of the Championship.
It’s five years since the Reds last topped the second tier (if you ignore the few hours they spent their on the opening weekend of the 2017/18 campaign), and a positive result would see them extend their unbeaten league run to eight games.
They did suffer somewhat of a hammering in the EFL Cup, with Arsenal thumping them 5-0 at the Emirates Stadium, while the Potters also bowed out but to lower-league opposition Crawley Town beating them on penalties.
Last weekend’s goalless draw at Brentford did end a run of four losses, though they are five points from safety, above only Huddersfield Town who they face on Tuesday.
Juventus and Inter could well wage a title battle this season but Gianluigi Buffon holds no animosity towards former boss Antonio Conte for crossing the Derby d Italia divide.
Conte took charge of Inter in May and guided the Nerazzurri to six straight victories in a blistering start to the new Serie A season.
The winning streak came to an end in a sobering 2-1 defeat to Juve, the team the former Italy boss captained and coached with distinction for a combined period of more than 15 years.
Ahead of the meeting, Conte hit out at the ignorant Juve fans who campaigned for his star on the club s Walk of Fame to be removed as a result of his switch to their bitter rivals.
He was my team-mate and my captain at Juventus and then he was my manager for Juve and It…
Cristiano Ronaldo is Kylian Mbappe s football idol but it is much too soon to be comparing the two, says France coach Didier Deschamps.
Les Bleus host Portugal on Sunday for a Nations League Group A3 clash, with both teams having taken six points from two games thus far.
That means Mbappe is set to come up against Juventus star Ronaldo, who is a five-time Ballon d Or winner and has won league titles in England, Spain and Italy, as well as the Champions League five times.
Like Ronaldo, Mbappe enjoyed a rapid rise to superstardom as a teenager and at the age of 21 is already a World Cup winner.
But Deschamps says the 14-year gap in age makes comparisons between the two tricky.
He [Ronaldo] was his idol. But I think that Cristiano was and is the ido…