Sports

Fabian Ruiz and Dani Ceballos excelled as Spain secured a 2-1 win over Germany in the European Under-21 Championship final.

Germany beat a much-fancied Spain side in the showpiece two years ago but fell behind in the seventh minute to a wonderful long-range strike from Napoli star Fabian in Udine.

Spain captain Jesus Vallejo was fortunate to avoid a red card as Germany asserted themselves, but Dani Olmo netted a crucial second in the 69th minute.

Fabian and Carlos Soler almost added gloss to the scoreline and a late deflected effort from Nadiem Amiri could not deny Spain a fifth success in this competition a triumph that moves them level with Italy on the all-time list.

Mikel Oyarzabal dropped deep from centre-forward to cleverly lay the ball off to Fabi…

Mauricio Pochettino praised the intensity of Chelsea’s attacking play in their 3-0 win over Luton and reiterated the club would only go back into the transfer market if the right forward comes available.

The visitors were looking for a first win at Stamford Bridge in 36 years but were no match for Pochettino’s newly energised side, who after a nervous first half ripped into them late on to earn the manager his first win.

Raheem Sterling continued his fine start to the season with two goals and an assist for summer signing Nicolas Jackson, who opened his goalscoring account for the club.

GD MORNING!

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC)

The England forward’s difficult debut season in west London looked confined to history when he danced through Luton…

Gerard Pique is fully confident Barcelona can recover from their first-leg defeat at Bayern Munich to make the UEFA Champions League final.

The Catalan side were thrashed 4-0 in the Allianz Arena, with Mario Gomez and Arjen Robben adding to Thomas Muller s double to leave the newly-crowned Bundesliga champions with one foot of the final.
But Pique insists that Tito Vilanova s side are more than capable of turning the scoreline around, providing they can strike early at Camp Nou on Wednesday night.
He said: We believe we will turn this around 100 per cent. We need to score a goal as soon as possible to get more and more confident.
After a 4-0 result you do doubt yourself, but as days go on, you suddenly believe you can do this. Football is very psychological.
The team is fine,…

Former Bayern Munich coach Ottmar Hitzfeld says Borussia Dortmund will remain second best in the Bundesliga for years to come regardless of the outcome of Saturday s Klassiker.

Bayern s quest for a fourth successive Bundesliga title was dented with a surprise 2-1 defeat to Mainz on Wednesday, Thomas Tuchel s Dortmund beating Darmstadt 2-0 to close the gap at the top to five points.

Dortmund are the only side to have broken Bayern s dominance in the last six seasons winning back-to-back titles under Jurgen Klopp in 2011 and 2012.

Victory for Tuchel s side at Signal Iduna Park on Saturday could set up a thrilling final few weeks of the campaign but Hitzfeld, who won the title twice at Dortmund and five times in two spells with Bayern, believes the Bavarians will re…

Julen Lopetegui will become Real Madrid s next coach after presiding over Spain s World Cup campaign, and the Opta data provides reasons for optimism among supporters of Los Blancos .

Madrid have been without a head coach since Zinedine Zidane announced his resignation just five days after winning a third successive Champions League title.

Although Zidane s record means he will be a tough act to follow, Lopetegui offers some promise, even if his selection has come as something of a surprise.

Madrid midfielder Isco will be particularly optimistic given Lopetegui s reliance on him with Spain, not to mention his regular praise for the talented playmaker.

If there is one area for concern it will be his lack of trophies at club level, but here we examine the O…

The representatives of Real Madrid s out-of-favour star Gareth Bale have been sounding out options for the winger to move to the MLS, but according to , at least one American club has already rejected their advances. What s more, it seems the trend of the USA clubs signing declining world-class stars is gradually ending.

There is no possible way to asses with any certainty how the Covid-19 pandemic will affect the reasoning of clubs when selling expensive players. They could choose to keep them if they aren t willing to cash in smaller amounts than they had previously hoped to get, or they could accept lower offers with the aim being to trim down their wage bills.

That, however, isn t the reason behind the change in the approach of the MLS clubs. It seems that they ve r…

Mikel Arteta was delighted with Arsenal s clinical victory over Slavia Prague but has warned his side face a tough test against former boss Unai Emery s Villarreal in the Europa League semi-finals.

The Gunners entered Thursday s quarter-final second leg with the tie delicately poised at 1-1, but they produced one of their best displays under Arteta to win 4-0 at Sinobo Stadium and advance 5-1 on aggregate.

Nicolas Pepe added to his first-leg strike by opening the scoring in the Czech capital, setting Arsenal on their way to a straightforward win as an Alexandre Lacazette penalty and long-range Bukayo Saka strike followed inside the first 24 minutes.

Lacazette rounded off the scoring in the second half to confirm a semi-final tie with Villarreal 3-1 aggregate winn…

Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel s fondness for sharing a few drinks and intense tactical discussions during their time in Germany has been frequently referenced this week.

In Porto, they have a perfect setting. They could sample some of the fortified wine that takes its name from the Portuguese city, settle in for a Douro Valley red, some Vinho Verde or perhaps a pint of Super Bock or Sagres.

Of course, Saturday s Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea means they are unlikely to find the time and that s before we consider the 10:30pm curfew in place as part of Portugal s COVID-19 measures.

Whoever raises a glass at Estadio do Dragao will do so after a sharp change in fortunes mid-season.

Guardiola said City were not the team I can reco…

Kick It Out has demanded an overhaul in UEFA s disciplinary process in response to incidents of racist abuse.

UEFA on Tuesday ordered Bulgaria to play two games behind closed doors – one of which is suspended for two years – and handed down a €75,000 fine following the racist behaviour of some of their fans during a Euro 2020 qualifier against England on October 14.

The Three Lions 6-0 victory in Sofia was overshadowed by England players being targeted by discriminatory chants, leading to the match being halted on two occasions. Some Bulgaria supporters were also seen making Nazi salutes.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin vowed in the aftermath of the game the governing body would  wage war on the racists , while Kick It Out demanded the organisation show…

Bojan was regarded as a hos prospect at Barcelona, but is now looking to get his career back on track

When he was 17-years of age Bojan Krkic had the football world at his feet.

Described by many as the ‘next Lionel Messi’, the La Masia graduate was expected to have a bright future at Barcelona.

However, in the preceding years Bojan has struggled to live with his tag of wonderkid.

Stoke

Bojan has recently completed a move to Premier League Stoke for a reported fee of around £3million, which by Premier League standards could be an absolute steal.

However, he could equally turn out to be a flop at the Britannia Stadium.

Unimpressive

Bojan left Barcelona in search of regular first team football and a chance to fulfil his…