Wales captain Gareth Bale insists he is not distracted by uncertainty over his future and expects to return to Real Madrid at the end of the season as planned.
The 31-year-old rejoined Tottenham on a season-long loan from Madrid last September after falling out of favour at the Santiago Bernabeu under Zinedine Zidane.
Bale has had a mixed time of things since returning to north London, the forward having scored 10 goals and assisted three more in 25 appearances.
There had recently been talk of Bale staying on at Spurs after hitting form, but he was criticised by Jose Mourinho last week and played no part in Sunday s win at Aston Villa.
And with a year still to run on his Madrid contract, the forward believes he will be back in the Spanish capital after re…
Former Barcelona star Xavi says he will never coach a team to play in the same way as those managed by Jose Mourinho.
Barca take on Inter in the Champions League on Wednesday in a repeat of the semi-final tie of 2009-10, when the Nerazzurri triumphed 3-2 on aggregate after a memorable 10-man defensive display at Camp Nou in the second leg.
Mourinho guided Inter to the treble that season before heading to LaLiga to take over at Real Madrid, where the rivalry with Pep Guardiola s Barca became ferocious during his three years in charge.
The Portuguese has come in for criticism later in his career for refusing to embrace a more positive style of football, particularly at Manchester United, who are struggling to keep pace with attacking sides such as Manchester City a…
Mikel Arteta claimed he always feels the pressure as he seemingly conceded his position at Arsenal may well be under threat.
The Gunners slumped out of the Europa League at the semi-final stage on Thursday, with a goalless home draw against Villarreal confirming a 2-1 aggregate defeat to the Spanish side, coached by their former boss Unai Emery.
It is the first time Villarreal have reached a major final in their history, while Arsenal are now facing the likely prospect of missing out on Europe altogether next term.
The Gunners sit ninth in the Premier League with four games remaining, and had seemingly been banking on winning the Europa League – they would have faced Manchester United in the final – to qualify for the Champions League.
Should they fai…
Wilfried Zaha returned to haunt Manchester United with a deadly double as Crystal Palace landed a dramatic 3-1 win to leave Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reeling.
Just as they did in the early weeks of last season, Palace took all three points from their trip to Old Trafford, as a brittle United team were picked apart.
Andros Townsend hit a seventh-minute opener but the match was still in the balance with around 20 minutes to play when Palace were awarded a penalty, after Jordan Ayew s flick struck the hand of Victor Lindelof.
Goalkeeper David de Gea looked to have made himself a hero when he saved the softly struck penalty from Ayew, only for a re-take to be ordered, and this time former United winger Zaha stepped up to smash the ball high into the net. …
The Champions League last 16 continues on Tuesday, with Liverpool hosting Bayern Munich and Barcelona travelling to Lyon.
Bayern have a fairly rotten record against the Reds, but they may stand a good chance of a positive first-leg result if Robert Lewandowski and Sadio Mane continue their recent trends in the competition.
Lyon shocked Manchester City in the group stage before a peculiar run of five consecutive draws, but they will hope to stop Lionel Messi from continuing a quite remarkable scoring rate.
Here is the pick of the stats surrounding these two first legs, as provided by Opta
All-time round of 16 top scorers
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague)
Liverpool v Bayern Munich
1 Bayern Munich have won only one …
Peru need only to avoid defeat to make sure of progression to the Copa America quarter-finals when they face Venezuela on Sunday.
Under Ricardo Gareca, Peru have done an excellent job of not losing games in the Copa America, aside when they have faced Brazil.
They lost 4-0 to Brazil in their second Group B encounter but Peru are unbeaten in their last 10 Copa games against all other opponents, a run that stretches back to 2015.
Gareca s men made it all the way to the final in 2019, losing 3-1 to Brazil, but before they can think about a similar run this year Peru must ensure they do not suffer a slip-up against the tournament minnows.
Venezuela are bottom of the group but draws against Colombia and Ecuador have kept them in the hunt for progression.
…
Neymar and Marquinhos put Manchester United s progression into the last 16 of the Champions League on hold as Paris Saint-Germain secured a 3-1 win at Old Trafford.
Marcus Rashford scored in his third successive Champions League appearance against PSG to restore parity following Neymar s opener, which was the quickest goal United have conceded in the competition since September 2015.
Anthony Martial missed a glaring chance to complete the turnaround and Edinson Cavani hit the crossbar against his former club, with United made to pay when Marquinhos prodded PSG back in front, his effort standing after a long VAR check.
Fred, who had been fortunate to escape a red card in the first half, received his marching orders for a tackle on United old boy Ande…
Napoli head coach Gennaro Gattuso believes Inter are favourites to win Serie A this season, ahead of current leaders Milan and defending champions Juventus.
Milan – without a Scudetto since 2010-11 – top the table by five points through nine matchdays after defeating Fiorentina 2-0 on Sunday to remain unbeaten.
City rivals Inter and Sassuolo are five points off the pace, while Andrea Pirlo s Juve are fourth and a point further back, along with Napoli and Roma.
Gattuso considers Antonio Conte s Inter title favourites following Napoli s 4-0 rout of Roma on Sunday, telling Sky Sport Italia: In my view, Inter are the team to beat.
They combine quality with physical strength, they have so many options available and they are the favourites.
Then t…
Ronaldo poised for record as Chelsea prepare for king-slayers Juventus – Champions League in Opta nu
Manchester United need points to get their Champions League campaign going, and doing so by getting revenge for their Europa League final shoot-out loss to Villarreal would be a moment to enjoy for the Old Trafford fans.
When it comes to established elite needing results, United are not alone. Barcelona head to Benfica looking to banish thoughts of that humbling home loss to Bayern Munich on matchday one, while Massimiliano Allegri could use a strong performance against strong opposition when Chelsea visit Juventus.
Bayern themselves host Dynamo Kiev, as Mircea Lucescu looks to fare a little better than the last time he took a team to the Allianz Arena.
Read on for more as Stats Perform looks at the key Opta facts ahead of Wednesday s Champions League action.
Inaki Williams is set to break the record for most consecutive games in LaLiga history should he feature in Athletic Bilbao s clash with Alaves on Friday.
If he plays in the showdown at San Mames, the forward will make his 203rd successive appearance in the Spanish top flight.
One of only two players to feature in over 200 consecutive LaLiga matches, Williams would surpass the long-standing record previously held by former Real Sociedad defender Juan Larranaga, who played for Los Txuri-Urdin between 1980 and 1994.
The one-time Spain international, who joined the club from Pamplona in 2012, began his sequence when appearing as a substitute during Bilbao s 1-0 defeat by Atletico Madrid in April 2016.
He has subsequently featured in every domestic match sinc…