Bayern lead Upamecano race

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Top-four hopefuls Arsenal travel to rock-bottom Swansea looking to notch the third win on the trot but face a testing challenge against an improving side. Carlos Carvalhal has done a great job at the beginning of his stint at the Liberty Stadium and will be looking for another big-name scalp following the Liverpool beating.

Swansea

With only 20 points from 24 Premier league rounds, Swansea are at the very rock bottom of the English top flight. The Swans have endured a difficult campaign to date but things have started to show clear signs of improvement under the guidance of new boss Carlos Carvalhal.

The 52-year-old much travelled Spanish tactician took over from Paul Clement back in Dec…

West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster deserves a recall to the England squad, according to Swansea winger Wayne Routledge.

The 29-year-old announced his retirement from international football in May 2011 in an attempt to prolong his career after a vigorous schedule and travel commitments.

However, Foster made himself available for selection again last month, and Routledge believes his excellent performances this season sees him as a challenger for current number one Joe Hart for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.

He is a very good keeper. Some of the saves he made against Chelsea the other day were just world class, Routledge told reporters ahead of Swansea s trip to face WBA on Saturday.

He is more than capable of performances like that and he is up there wi…

Lionel Messi has conceded Barcelona tend to struggle against defensive teams and feels that not having a plan B has cost them in the past.

The Catalans have been criticised for their insistence on staying true to their possession-based style of play against teams that opt to sit back and focus on defending, and Messi has now acknowledged that Barca could do with an alternative incase their original game-plan fails.

Teams that sit back and solely defend tend to cause us problems and have knocked us out in the past, the Argentine told TyC.

There have been moments where we paid a heavy price for not having an alternative game-plan.

Think about teams such as Chelsea (in 2011-12) and Jose Mourinho s Inter. AC Milan and Real Madrid also played us in the sam…

Barcelona sent birthday greetings to Lionel Messi as the club captain turned 34 on Thursday – at a time when his future remains unresolved.

The man who holds a near clean sweep of individual club records has yet to sign a new contract, with his deal due to expire at the end of June.

There was customary warmth towards Messi in the social media posts by Barcelona, who showcased a reel of his 10 best goals, and now they must hope he has more birthdays to come while serving at Camp Nou.

Messi, whose career has been a one-club odyssey, is currently on Copa America duty in Brazil with the Argentina national team.

He is Barcelona s record goalscorer and has made more appearances for the club than any other player, also winning an unsurpassed six Ballon d Or tr…

Jorge Sampaoli has ruled out leaving Sevilla to become the new coach of Argentina, saying such a decision would be irresponsible .

The beaten Copa America Centenario finalists are still searching for a successor to Gerardo Martino, who stepped down after the tournament in the United States.

Institutional chaos and allegations of financial misappropriation have blighted the Argentine Football Association (AFA) recently and made the hunt for a new coach a difficult task, and the prospect of a club boss taking on the role on a part-time basis has been mooted.

Sampaoli has admitted he was sounded out by the AFA even though Sevilla sporting director Monchi said the club had not been contacted  but says he could not consider taking the job after just a month in char…

Former Juventus forward David Trezeguet has urged Alvaro Morata to stay in Italy if he wants to continue to grow as a footballer.

Mo
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rata, 23, has established himself as a key figure in the Juventus line-up since his switch from Real Madrid in 2014. 

However, reports claim the La Liga club are keen to use their buy-back option on Morata before next season, while Chelsea are also among those apparently interested in the Spaniard.

But Trezeguet believes Morata needs to stay in the Serie A with Juventus if he wants to become a world-class player.

Morata finds himself in a good and important [transfer] market. For him he does not only depend on Juventus, the former France international said. 

He has grown a lot in Turin and he has to s…

Wayne Rooney s agent Paul Stretford on Monday lost an appeal against an 18-month ban imposed by the Football Association in July for breaking regulations when signing up the England striker.

Stretford was also fined 300,000 pounds (then 377,000 euros) in July after being charged by the FA following his troubled appointment as Rooney s agent in 2002.

Seven of the nine charges brought by the FA against Stretford for breaches of world football governing body FIFA s players agent regulations were proved.

The charges included failing to protect Rooney s interests and failing to respect the rights of third parties.

Stretford was also hit with an improper conduct charge in relation to the making of false and/or misleading witness statements to police and gi…

Chelsea winger Eden Hazard wants to lift his first trophy with the club when they take on Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup.

Belgium star Hazard joined the west London side from Lille, where he won Ligue 1 in 2010/11, and is eager to make a good start as last season s Champions League winners take on Diego Simeone s Europa League holders.

The 21-year-old has made a big impression in the English Premier League already, scoring once and notching six assists in his opening three games in the English top flight.

However, the creative midfielder was keen to stress victory is not a foregone conclusion against a tough Atletico side.

He told Uefa s official website: They (Atletico) are a great team with great players. I hope it will be a good game and that w…

Maurizio Sarri has left Chelsea to take over Juventus on a three-year contract, it has been confirmed.

Sarri had only completed one of the three seasons Chelsea contracted him for, but an agreement was reached to allow him to return to Serie A, where he led Napoli to a second-place finish in 2017-18.

The Italian coach s position had been in doubt for several months due to a number of issues at Chelsea, and Frank Lampard has been tipped to replace him at the helm.

Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia said: In talks we had following the Europa League final, Maurizio made it clear how strongly he desired to return to his native country, explaining that his reasons for wanting to return to work in Italy were significant.

He also believed it important to be ne…

Thiago Alcantara is edging closer to a Liverpool return after rejoining first-team training.

The Spain international has missed more than two months of action since sustaining a knee injury in the Merseyside derby against Everton on October 17.

Having also had a spell out after testing positive for coronavirus, the 29-year-old has only played twice for Liverpool since arriving from Bayern Munich in a deal that could reach £25million.

After a period of individual training, Thiago took to social media on Wednesday to confirm he had started training with the rest of the squad, posting on Twitter: Back with the lads.

back with the lads

— Thiago Alcantara (@Thiago6)

Thiago made an instant impact on his debut against Chelsea on September …