Iniesta extends Barca contract to 2015

Barcelona offensive midfielder Andres Iniesta on Friday extended his current contract with the Spanish champions by one year to 2015, according to the club.

According to reports Iniesta, one of the most influential forward players in the Spanish league side, will now earn a reported seven million euros per year before taxes.

Barcelona emphasised their attachment to the 25-year-old by increasing the buy-out clause in his new contract to 200 million euros. Iniesta s previous contract was due to expire in 2014, and contained a 150 million euro buy-out clause.

Barcelona have also recently extended the deals of Argentine Lionel Messi, Victor Valdes, Carles Puyol and, earlier this week, Eric Abidal.

Kolo Muani backs Mbappe to come good for France at Euro 2024

Randal Kolo Muani has backed Kylian Mbappe to take centre stage once again for France ahead of Les Bleus semi-final clash with Spain at Euro 2024.

France needed penalties to edge past Portugal in the quarter-finals as Theo Hernandez capitalised on Joao Felix s missed spot-kick following a goalless draw.

However, the performance underlined France s struggles in front of goal as Didier Deschamps aims to find a solution ahead of their meeting with La Roja in Munich.

Excluding penalties and own-goals, France are yet to score in their five games at Euro 2024, attempting 86 non-penalty shots (7.25 non-pen xG) without scoring from one at this year’s competition.

Mbappe was the player to net that penalty in their final group game against Poland and is yet t…

Is he worth the money? Mbappe´s 2016-17 season in Opta stats

The fevered speculation around the future of Kylian Mbappe has at last come to an end.

The 18-year-old France sensation has left Ligue 1 champions Monaco to join rivals Paris Saint-Germain.

PSG will take the forward on loan for the season but with an option to buy him next year for a reported fee of €180million, making him the second most expensive player in history behind new team-mate Neymar.

While it is said the deal has been structured to allow PSG to avoid Financial Fair Play complications, it is nonetheless a staggering outlay on a teenager with only one year in senior football, even though he has been linked with practically every top club on the continent.

So just how good was Mbappe last season? Is he really worth this level of investment? Wit…

2008/09 Premier League Predictions: Places 11-20 (Part I)

11 Manchester City

Poor old Sven Goran Eriksson was sacked after leading City to ninth in the Premiership an improvement of five places on the previous season. What more can a manage do to please his chairman?

Mark Hughes is an excellent manager, but with the controversial former Thai Prime Minister and club owner Thaksin Shinawatra increasingly medalling in team affairs, his position could become compromised. Recent media speculation has suggested Hughes already feels unsettled by communication difficulties between him and his board.

Jo is capable of scoring 20 Premiership goals in his first season and in Micah Richards, City have one of the best defenders in England. But with lack of harmony behind the scenes, that will translate on to the pitch.

12 Su…

Lions vs Falcons Week 16 Picks and Predictions: Fading the Goff-less Lions in Atlanta

The Detroit Lions are coming off their second (and biggest) win of the year and head to Mercedes-Benz Stadium to take on the Atlanta Falcons in Week 16 of NFL action on Sunday. With quarterback Jared Goff unlikely to suit up for the Lions, NFL betting lines have the Lions as 5.5-point road underdogs for this Boxing Day contest. 

With Atlanta needing to win out and get a bunch of help to make the playoffs, here are our best free NFL picks and predictions for Lions vs. Falcons on December 26.

Kirk Cousins TNF Spotlight: Player Props for Thursday Night Football Week 12

As if having three football games on turkey day wasn’t good enough for us all, we’re getting to cap off the evening with the NFL equivalent of a solar eclipse. That rare, poetic, and beautiful moment in time when the stars align and truly magical things happen:

Getting Kirk Cousins props for a prime-time game. Against Bill Belichick.

On Thanksgiving.

Now, there is some concern that Cousins might have jumped the gun by dropping an egg in Week 11 against the Cowboys, but fear not — Cousins has a reputation for doing his worst in the biggest moments, and my free NFL picks expect that to continue Thursday night.

You want a full Patriots vs. Vikings betting preview? My man Jason Logan has you covered. You want some TNF player props for some of t…

How to Stream Eagles vs Seahawks Live Free — in the U.S.

Just when the Philadelphia Eagles thought they were out of the woods, they may be without the services of Jalen Hurts tonight vs. the Seattle Seahawks.

Hurts is questionable with an illness and with the team riding a two-game losing streak and flying cross country to take on a Seattle team struggling in their own regard.

With Geno Smith also questionable, we could see two backup QBs fight it out in prime time. 

While there are a number of different subscription-based TV channels and streaming services available to watch this game… did you know that you can also live stream Eagles/Seahawks directly from legal sports betting sites?

FanDuel, Caesars, BetRivers, and Fanatics Sportsbook are four of our most trusted NFL betting sites — and…

San Francisco 49ers Odds, Predictions & Season Preview for 2024: Through the Golden Gate

Kyle Shanahan’s San Francisco 49ers could be walking the same cursed path as Dan Marino’s Dolphins and Jim Kelly’s Bills: Great teams that just couldn’t get over the Super Bowl hump.

San Francisco once again had its heart ripped out of its chest in the Big Game this February, making it two Super Bowl losses and two NFC title game defeats in the last five seasons for Shanahan’s crew. 

Those postseason shortcomings all came after double-digit victories in the regular season and a collective 35-28-1 ATS record over those four playoff qualifying campaigns. The 2024 NFL odds expect another successful season from San Francisco, depending on your definition of “success”.

The 49ers have a win total of 11.5 (Under -…

‘Tonight there were no words’: a dark day at Hillsborough with Brian Clough

It’s a beautiful spring morning. Brian is one game away from the first FA Cup final of his career. Nottingham Forest will play Liverpool, league champions and top of Division One. They have won their past 11 games.

Of the past 22 games, Forest have lost two. We’ve just won the League Cup. We are motivated, not only because we want Brian to win the FA Cup, but because Nottingham Forest in April 1989 are a very good side. However, inside Hillsborough’s big blue gates, the atmosphere is strange, nasty, brooding. As I get off the team bus, I’m scared – I’ve never felt like this before.

Sometimes, at Millwall or Leeds, Brian would order the bus to park outside the ground and the players to walk, just to show …

When Manchester City escaped the third tier – as United won the treble

It is late May 1999 and the last match of a long and arduous season. A team from Manchester score two improbable goals to rescue a final that had seemed lost. Having been behind with only a few minutes remaining, the goals spark wild celebrations, elevating the scorers to iconic status among the supporters.

Twenty-four years later this final is still considered a watershed moment in the club’s history. But the match did not take place in Barcelona but at Wembley – and the opponents were not Bayern Munich, but a club from Kent that had never been above the third level of English football. This was the playoff final between Manchester City and Gillingham that would decide which team would be promoted from the third tier.

Posts pagination