Torres injured as Spain maintain perfect start

Paulo Dybala has disputed his brother s suggestion that he could be set to leave Juventus and insists he wants to stay at the Serie A champions.

The Argentina international appeared ready to depart Turin when his brother and agent Gustavo claimed there was a good chance of a move as the forward needs a change .

But, despite making just 23 league starts in 2018-19 following Cristiano Ronaldo s arrival at Juve, Dybala has dismissed his brother s comments, stating they do not reflect his feelings.

[My brother] spoke for himself, Dybala told Sky Sport Italia.

Grazie mister per questi magnifici 4 anni dove mi hai insegnato sopratutto a vincere! Ti auguro il meglio ovunque tu andrai!

— Paulo Dybala (@PauDybala_JR)

I talked to the club and …

Miguel Ibarra could be handed a starting berth when United States host Panama on Sunday.

United States midfielder Miguel Ibarra is in line for a place in the nation s starting XI following praise from coach Jurgen Klinsmann ahead of Sunday s international friendly against Panama.

Ibarra became the first player from North America s second-tier to be called into a senior national team camp since Clyde Simms in 2005 when the Minnesota United star was selected for an October friendly against Ecuador.

The 24-year-old has impressed ever since, making his international bow in a 1-1 draw with Honduras on October 14 last year, while he did not feature in friendlies against Colombia and Republic of Ireland.

Ibarra was an unused substitute as USA twice surrendered a…

Bastia have tied down experienced defender Sebastien Squillaci until June 2016 after he agreed a new one-year contract extension.

Sebastien Squillaci has extended his contract with Bastia for a further year in a deal that will see him stay at the club until June 2016.

The central defender, whose contract was set to expire at the end of the season, moved to the Ligue 1 club from Arsenal in 2013 and has since made 58 appearances in all competitions, scoring four goals.

Squillaci was also the hero earlier this month when he netted the winning penalty in a shootout to take Bastia to their first Coupe de la Ligue final since 1985, the Corsicans knocking out his former club Monaco.

Ghislain Printant s side are 13th in the table following an eight-match unbe…

George Boateng has learnt to live with the fact that he will never play international football for his native Ghana.

But the thought of playing alongside the richly-talented Stephen Appiah, Sulley Muntari and Michael Essien in the Black Stars engine room is one that struggles to go away.

As a naive teenager Boateng made the decision to switch to Dutch nationality in a bid to make it easier to get into the Feyenoord first team.

It was a choice that would end up having more far reaching consequences than he ever imagined.

At 15, I had to change my nationality from Ghanaian to Dutch, because at the time there were only three non EU (European Union) residents allowed to play in the first-team, Boateng told AFP.

I had to change it to give me a be…

Arsenal are ready to hand Mohamed Elneny a new contract, according to the the Mirror.

The twenty-five year old still has two years remaining on the deal he signed on arrival from Basel in 2016 and was linked with a move away from the Gunners in January.

However, with Francis Coquelin moving to Valencia two months ago Elneny has been called upon and is set to remain with the North London club.

Since arriving in England, the Egypt international has racked up sixty-four appearances in all competitions while he grabbed his second goal for the club in the 6-0 thrashing of BATE in the Europa League back in December.

Arsene Wenger’s men booked their place in the quarter finals of that competition after securing a 5-1 aggregate victory over AC Milan in th…

Mauricio Pochettino has revealed how he carried the burden of Tottenham s last-day collapse through to pre-season, when he held a meeting to tell his players he wanted to kill them.

Spurs succumbed to a 5-1 loss at Newcastle United to slip to third at the end of a 2015-16 campaign that at one stage held the promise of a maiden Premier League title.

With many of Pochettino s squad heading away on international duty, the Argentine had to wait before delivering a dressing-down following their pre-season tour of Australia.

When we came back from Australia, we talked a little bit about the end of last season, he said.

The players needed to hear from the manager my feelings, how I felt after the game and after the season, because there was no time to share it…

Monaco boss Claudio Ranieri helped his club to promotion to Ligue One last season and is likely to bring in a host of players this summer

It seems that French club Monaco are determined to make a big splash on their return to Ligue One next season.

The club are owned by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, who looks like he is serious about his club becoming a force in French and European football.

Onwards and upwards

PSG have already started the upward trend in French football and have spent big to clinch the Ligue One title.

PSG also made it to the quarter-finals of the Champions League last season. No doubt, the Parisians will strengthen again this summer.

While PSG clinched the Ligue One title, Monaco were busy winning the Ligue Two…

Table-topping Argentina face a tough task against Colombia as they look to keep their impressive qualification form going on Friday.

Alejandro Sabella s side have been in dominant form as they look to secure a spot in Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, losing just once in eleven games, a 1-0 reversal in Venezuela.

Since that defeat in October 2011, Argentina have gone on to live up to their billing as favourites to win the CONMEBOL qualifying section with six victories including a 2-1 success in Colombia and three draws.
The two-time World Cup winners now sit comfortably top of the group, four points clear of second place Ecuador and five above Colombia, although Jose Pekerman s charges do have a game in hand on the leaders.
Colombia will also be buoyed by the start they…

German side Schalke 04 said on Thursday that thay had parted company with their Dutch coach Fred Rutten.

Mike Buskens, Youri Mulder and Oliver Reck, all members of the club s backroom staff, will take charge of training.

Earlier Thursday, the 46-year-old Rutten said he had expected to leave the struggling Bundesliga side at the end of the season.

Rutten had a contract with Schalke until 2010 having only taken over as trainer of the Royal Blues in July 2008, but the club are eighth in the table and have been blighted by erratic form this season.

…

Louis van Gaal put an end to a decade-long trophy famine by guiding AZ Alkmaar to the Dutch league title on Sunday and he promptly hailed the achievement as arguably the highlight of his career.

Van Gaal, who won back-to-back Spanish titles with Barcelona in 1998-99, said on Monday: This was perhaps the most notable because it was the most unexpected.

I am truly very proud.

Since leaving Barcelona in 2000 the 57-year-old had struggled to make his mark, failing to qualify Holland for the 2002 World Cup in his stint as national coach.

A brief return to the Nou Camp between 2000 and 2003 came to nothing after which he had a spell as technical director at Ajax, a club he had guided to three Dutch titles between 1994 and 1996.

But the call of the du…