Former Real Madrid star Roberto Carlos has little doubt Cristiano Ronaldo will win the Ballon d Or and has joked the Portugal international probably already has the trophy at home.
Ronaldo enjoyed a successful year as he won the Champions League with Real Madrid, before helping Portugal to Euro 2016 glory.
The attacker has been struggling somewhat in the opening stages of the 2016-17 campaign due to injury, but Roberto Carlos is convinced he will beat the likes of Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann to the prestigious individual award.
I think Cristiano Ronaldo already has the Ballon d Or at home but he just has not told anyone yet, Roberto Carlos said at a news conference.
He has taken time to get back to being himself after the knee injury, but from no…
In what was a heavyweight showdown on Wednesday night, Manchester United picked up an impressive 2-0 victory against Tottenham at Old Trafford.
While Erik ten Hag s men might have known that they faced a tough test on home soil, the former Premier League champions laid down a real marker as goals from Fred and Bruno Fernandes wrapped up all three points for the former Ajax boss.
Handing Spurs just their second top-flight defeat since opening the 2022/23 campaign, United also continued on what has been an eye-catching recent run at Old Trafford.
However, despite making the trip to Manchester smelling the chance to spring an upset and widen their buffer in the top-four, Tottenham struggled to find any real clinical edge here.
In an enjoyable battle between…
The cinch Premiership returned after the international break and as usual there was plenty of drama and excitement.
Celtic surprisingly dropped two points at home to Motherwell on Saturday but Rangers failed to capitalise at Aberdeen, depending on a late James Tavernier penalty for a 1-1 draw, leaving the Hoops still eight points clear at the top albeit the Light Blues have a game in hand.
Hearts, St Mirren and Hibernian all won and Livingston remain bottom after another defeat.
Here, the PA news agency looks at five things that caught the eye.
Rangers blow chance to move closer to Celtic
Full-Time in Aberdeen.
Aberdeen 1-1 Rangers
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC)
Skipper James Tavernier scored a last-gasp penalty to give …
Bayer Leverkusen have sacked head coach Peter Bosz and appointed former Stuttgart boss Hannes Wolf as his replacement until the end of this season.
A 4-0 win over Cologne in mid-December saw Leverkusen go top of the Bundesliga, but their form has collapsed since, with just four wins in their subsequent 18 matches in all competitions.
That prolonged slump has taken in a 6-3 aggregate defeat to Young Boys in the Europa League, which followed a humiliating exit from the DFB-Pokal at the hands of fourth-tier Rot-Weiss Essen in early February.
Following the 3-0 weekend defeat to Hertha Berlin, a result that left Leverkusen sixth in the table, Bosz expressed confidence that he would remain in his post.
However, the club s board had other ideas.
In view…
Italy head coach Roberto Mancini has conceded his side have serious problems in attack ahead of the Euro 2024 qualifiers that start later this month.
The Azzurri are the defending European champions, having beaten England on penalties at Wembley in the Euro 2020 final.
Mancini s men have been drawn in Group C with England again in qualifying, alongside Malta, Ukraine and North Macedonia – who they lost to in the World Cup play-offs.
Italy will be desperate to make up for the disappointment of not reaching Qatar 2022 and begin their latest campaign at home to England on March 23 before travelling to Malta three days later.
Speaking to Il Messaggero ahead of the international break, however, Mancini acknowledged concern over his side s attacking option…
Lionel Messi failed to find the net once again on Wednesday as Barcelona crashed out of the Champions League to Atletico Madrid, with the Argentinian s 452-minute goal drought his worst such run since April 2010.
Messi is searching for his 450th Barcelona goal as he looks to further etch his name into club folklore with another milestone, but he has been stuck on 449 since March 16, when he netted the third in a 3-1 win over Arsenal.
Since then the Argentina star has failed to net in five successive matches, with Villarreal, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad and Atletico Madrid – twice – keeping him at bay.
The last time Messi endured such a run was April 2010, when he failed to score for 474 minutes across all competitions.
Messi s barren run is coinciding …