Sports

Best Odds: 7/10

Bookmaker:

In what could prove to be an action-packed La Liga showdown on Thursday night, Girona will travel to Real Betis.

Real Betis

Starting with the hosts, dragging themselves to another European finish last season, Manuel Pellegrini’s men will be looking to carry on from where they left off back in May. With some around the Estadio Benito Villamarín dreaming of the chance to mount a genuine top-four charge this time around, the former Manchester City boss saw his squad lose just one of their final seven La Liga appearances last year. However, despite signing off the 2023/24 campaign with a gritty 0-0 stalemate away at history-makers Real Madrid on May 25th, Betis will know the importance of finding some crucial stability on home soil. In…

It is a major tournament held in England where the hosts are looking to end a long wait without silverware, but Germany stand in their way.

This feels awfully familiar.

Sarina Wiegman s Lionesses have captured the hearts of a nation, with fans flocking to watch them reach their first major tournament final since 2009 where they lost to *checks notes* Germany.

Meanwhile, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg s side have advanced to the final comparatively under the radar, with Die Nationalelf picking up impressive scalps of their own along the way.

It promises to be a fascinating contest at Wembley Stadium in front of what is expected to be a record crowd for any European Championship game  men s or women s  on Sunday.

A huge 90 minutes, maybe more, await…

Hugo Lloris made a grovelling apology to Tottenham fans after admitting sorry Spurs showed a lack of pride in their humiliating defeat at Newcastle United.

Tottenham were 5-0 behind after only 21 minutes at St James Park and at that point might have settled for a 6-1 defeat, which is how the game ended.

Hopeless defending and a lack of will from the visiting players saw them picked apart by hosts who moved third in the Premier League.

Tottenham s grip on fifth place is increasingly tenuous, with their season rapidly unravelling.

They were beaten at home by Bournemouth in their previous game and have tough assignments coming up against Manchester United on Thursday and Liverpool on Sunday.

At this rate of decline, they risk missing out on European …

Best odds: 16/5

Bookmaker:

Bulgarian side Botev Plovdiv will head to Slovenia for Thursday s Europa League qualifying match against NK Maribor.

The visitors hold a slight advantage going into the second leg, having secured a 2-1 victory at home in the first leg of the first-round qualifying tie.

NK Maribor

Maribor are participating in Europa League qualifying after securing a second-place finish in the Slovenian PrvaLiga last season.

Following their Europa Conference League qualifying campaign last season, Maribor return to the Europa League for the first time since a 3-0 defeat to HJK in the third qualifying round in August 2022.

Two years later, they are battling to reach the second stage of qualifying after a narrow defeat in Bulgaria…

Cristian Volpato s decision on his international allegiance is a personal one that should not be sped up , Roma head coach Jose Mourinho has said.

With the 18-year-old scoring two goals and contributing one assist in just 106 minutes of Serie A football for Roma, a fierce battle for Volpato s services at international level has emerged.

Born in New South Wales, Volpato is also eligible to represent Italy and has featured at youth level for the European side.

Australia had hoped the lure of World Cup football, with the Socceroos tackling France, Tunisia and Denmark in Group D in Qatar, would persuade Volpato to select his country of birth – with European champions Italy not qualifying for the tournament.

However, Volpato rejected the call-up, not wishing…

Phil Neville believes the Portland Timbers have not picked up the points their performances have warranted this season, but he knows the time has come for them to put their foot down ahead of Sunday s Cascadia Derby against the Seattle Sounders.

Portland sit 12th in the Western Conference standings, below the Sounders on goal difference, after going eight MLS matches without a victory.

Their 10 points through 11 games in 2024 represents their joint-worst return at this point of any MLS campaign (alongside 2014).

Neville, however, believes they have deserved more as they prepare for a run of three home games in their next four.

I think the first thing to say is we are not making any excuses – the results have not been as good as we wanted, he said.

…

Marcus Rashford continued his remarkable goalscoring form as Manchester United cruised to a 3-0 Premier League win over Leicester City.

Rashford was on target with a brace at Old Trafford on Sunday to help United overcome a poor start and make it eight wins from their last 11 league games.

Jadon Sancho made sure of the points with a well-worked third for United, who are now only five points behind leaders Arsenal, albeit having played a game more.

The comfortable nature of the victory allowed United to rest Rashford for much of the second half ahead of Thursday s Europa League second leg at home to Barcelona and next Sunday s EFL Cup final against Newcastle United, in which they will look to win a first trophy since 2017.

17 Marcus Rashford has scored 17 …

With all eyes falling on Wembley this weekend, Manchester United sprung a famous FA Cup upset as they secured a 2-1 victory against bitter local rivals Manchester City on Saturday afternoon.

While there might have been plenty of speculation over the past 24 hours that Saturday’s trip to north London would be Erik ten Hag’s final game in charge, the Red Devils produced what was an iconic display in the capital.

With Alejandro Garnacho pouncing on a defensive clanger on the half-hour mark as the Argentina international tapped home into an empty net, United quickly doubled their lead as midfield starlet Kobbie Mainoo finished off a wonderful build-up just nine minutes after Garnacho’s opener.

Although Pep Guardiola’s men might have produced a far more polis…

Maximilian Arnold has signed a new deal at Wolfsburg until 2022, the Bundesliga side have announced.

A product of the academy, Arnold was the club s youngest debutant in Bundesliga history when he made his bow at the age of 17 back in 2011.

The midfielder, who has one goal from 14 league outings in 2017-18, has put pen to paper on a two-year extension.

I am very happy to have signed an early contract extension with VfL, he said.

I matured into a Bundesliga player at Wolfsburg and I want to make the next steps in my development here.

The fact that the club has such faith in me is wonderful confirmation of their massive belief in me. That trust is something I wish to pay back to the club.

The New Year starts with some great news. Maximil…

SoccerNews.com continues the countdown to World Cup 2018 and adds another article to we already treated you with regarding the upcoming showpiece tournament.

Yesterday we took and without further ado here is a list of top 5 defenders we expect will be generating most attention at World Cup.

So let’s start with the obvious choice.

Sergio Ramos

You better hope he doesn’t run into you at the World Cup or you’ll probably end up with your shoulder dislocated. At best.

Heavily criticised for allegedly intentionally trying to injure the Egyptian king Mohamed Salah during the Champions League final in Kiev, the Spanish defender remains one of the best centre-backs there are in world football.

All drama and theatrics he is no stranger to aside, t…