Barcelona will be out to stretch their unbeaten La Liga run to 17 games when they travel to Rayo Vallecano on Saturday.
Gerardo Martino s men have made an excellent start to the season, picking up 12 points from their first four games while scoring 14 goals.
Reigning champions Barca sit joint top of the table with Atletico Madrid, and make the trip to face another side from the Spanish capital to whom they have not lost since 2002.
The Catalan club won both outings between the two sides in emphatic fashion last season, dishing out a 5-0 thrashing at Rayo in October 2012, before easing to a 3-1 success at the Camp Nou in March.
Their visit to the Estadio del Rayo Vallecano in 2011-12, meanwhile, resulted in a 7-0 success.
Lionel Messi scored four goals in…
Stoke City goalkeeper Asmir Begovic insisted he is happy at the club, though he harbours ambitions of playing at the highest level.
Liverpool are reportedly targeting Begovic, who is out of contract at the end of the 2015-16 Premier League season.
Brendan Rodgers would have been alerted to Begovic s exploits at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday as Stoke stunned Arsenal 3-2.
But the Bosnia-Herzegovina international keeper said he is settled in Staffordshire a place he has called home since joining from Portsmouth in 2010.
My future is here at Stoke as far as I m concerned. We ve got a lot of games coming up and I m hoping to be a big part of that, Begovic told Sky Sports.
I’ve been here a few years now and enjoyed my time. I ve really settled…
Thomas Tuchel is a clear candidate to take over at Bayern Munich but has also been speaking to Arsenal about replacing Arsene Wenger, according to Lothar Matthaus.
A report in Kicker on Sunday claimed former Borussia Dortmund boss Tuchel has rejected an offer from Bayern to succeed Jupp Heynckes at the end of the season.
It is claimed the 44-year-old expects to become the new Arsenal manager, although Paris Saint-Germain are also said to be interested in him as a replacement for Unai Emery.
Germany and Bayern great Matthaus thinks Tuchel would be the right choice for Bayern but claims he has already been in touch with the Gunners.
You know, I m a journalist too, we have to make headlines every day, he told Omnisport following a match between Liverpool …
When asked if a top-four finish would secure Bale s future, Villas-Boas said: I think so. That s the information that I have from the club. It has come from the club.
The club is committed to keeping the best assets. That s the only way that we can ensure that we are in the top four every year.
Gareth is part of that project bearing in mind that he has been amazing this season. Hopefully, we can develop him to a greater extent. We get the buzz from working with great players and Gareth has developed into a great player, so I couldn t be happier.
Gareth has had a major development this year. He has played in so many positions and has had such a big impact in those positions.
Bale made a huge impact in Spurs last Champions League campaign in the 2010-11 season, scoring a stunning ha…
Speaking to , Loris Karius said he feels no pressure to leave Liverpool this summer.
The German goalkeeper arrived to Liverpool from Mainz 05 in the summer of 2016, with manager Jurgen Klopp believing he would soon take over from Simon Mignolet as the club s number one shot-stopper. However, despite being given a number of chances, Karius failed to meet those expectations and it all fell apart for him in the 2018 Champions League final, when his two blunders allowed Real Madrid to win the biggest trophy in European club football for the 13th time. After the arrival of Alison Becker later that summer, Karius was sent out on a two-year loan to Besiktas, which was recently terminated.
The goalkeeper, who will turn 27 this month, is now back at Liverpool, but the situation …
Harry Maguire has praised Gareth Southgate for showing “faith and trust” in him during a tough period in his career and has backed the England boss to stay on after targeting Euro 2024 success.
Southgate is preparing to lead England into a fourth major tournament at the helm and has come the closest to leading the nation to glory for the first time since 1966 – reaching a World Cup semi-final, the final of Euro 2020 and the World Cup quarter-finals in Qatar in 2022.
During that time, Southgate has stuck rigidly to supporting Maguire even when the Manchester United defender was out of the team at Old Trafford, had been stripped of the captaincy and was being jeered by England fans.
Maguire has now largely come through the other side of such criticism and is …
Jesse Marsch hopes Canada s memorable Copa America debut changes the trajectory of football in the country, as they look to cap their campaign with a bronze medal against Uruguay.
Canada s first appearance at the tournament saw them reach the semi-finals, a memorable penalty shoot-out victory over Venezuela teeing up a meeting with Argentina.
Marsch s team gave a solid account of themselves against the holders but were beaten 2-0 with Julian Alvarez and Lionel Messi on target, sending them into Saturday s third-place play-off.
Marsch, who was only appointed a few weeks before the tournament began, hopes their campaign will be a catalyst for further improvement ahead of a home World Cup in 2026.
We want to inspire the nation, Marsch said one day after Can…
Two NFC East rivals in need of a win to get back to .500 will face off on Thursday Night Football this week as the Dallas Cowboys visit the New York Giants. This promises to be a relatively high-scoring game, which leaves us with plenty of targets for our NFL picks this week.
I am targeting players from both sides with my Cowboys vs. Giants predictions including New York running back Devin Singletary, who is enjoying a productive start to his season.
…
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is proud of his team s achievements in 2022, including reaching a Champions League final he acknowledged was not one to remember.
The Reds finished second behind Manchester City in the Premier League last season, with the title race coming down to the final day.
Liverpool also won both domestic cup competitions, beating Chelsea on penalties on each occasion at Wembley Stadium.
However, their season ended in disappointment when their league heartbreak was followed by a 1-0 defeat to Real Madrid in Paris.
That match was marred by an incident outside the Stade de France, where Liverpool fans were accused of using fake tickets to access the ground and subsequently caused a bottleneck that resulted in riot police firing tear gas …
Jürgen Klopp has said Liverpool fans should “stay calm” because his team will not break up this summer and key contract issues can be resolved now there is clarity over his future.
The manager dismissed concerns that his decision to leave Liverpool at the end of the season could spark a player exodus. The denial follows Virgil van Dijk’s admission that he is unsure whether he will be part of the post‑Klopp era, with the captain in the final 18 months of his contract and awaiting the club’s next step.
David Squires on … the beginning of the end for Jürgen Klopp at LiverpoolRead more
Klopp blamed media questions for the uncertainty around Van Dijk, while admitting players will want answers on the cl…