Ronaldo injury helped Portugal to Euro 2016 success, says Abidal

Frank Lampard knows new head coach Mikel Arteta will soon have to turn Arsenal s fortunes around, even if his status as a popular former captain gives him an early advantage at Emirates Stadium.

Arteta will lead Arsenal out at home for the first time against rivals Chelsea on Sunday, having started his tenure with a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth in midweek.

The Spaniard, who played for the Gunners between 2011 and 2016, left his role as Pep Guardiola s assistant at Manchester City to replace the sacked Unai Emery earlier this month.

Lampard, in the visiting dugout this weekend, enjoyed a warm welcome at Chelsea due to his status as a club great, yet he is learning results must swiftly follow.

I certainly found that it helps with knowing some faces behind the…

Antonio Conte hailed Romelu Lukaku after another superb individual display in the Europa League quarter-finals, but insisted the forward s success is also down to his Inter team-mates.

Lukaku scored what proved to be the winner as Inter set up a Europa League semi-final against either Shakhtar Donetsk or Basel thanks to Monday s 2-1 triumph over Bayer Leverkusen.

Nicolo Barella – having latched onto the rebound from a blocked Lukaku shot – opened the scoring, with Inter s star Belgian doubling their lead prior to Kai Havertz pulling one goal back for Leverkusen.

Lukaku could have scored a hat-trick, had referee Carlos del Cerro Grande not overturned two penalties after consulting with VAR.

But while lauding Lukaku, who became the first player to s…

Best Odds: 2/3

Bookmaker:

Turning their attention back to Premier League duties on Wednesday night, Tottenham will welcome Brentford to north London.

Tottenham

Starting with the hosts, suffering last-gasp FA Cup heartbreak against Manchester City over the weekend, Tottenham will be seeking an immediate response here. Nevertheless, although Spurs might have eventually fallen to a 1-0 loss in north London, Ange Postecoglou’s side have continued to impress this season. Signing off 2023 with a 3-1 romp against Bournemouth, the former Celtic boss has his sights firmly set on securing a top-four finish. Opening the midweek fixtures sat just three points adrift of breaking into the Champions League spots, Tottenham will be excited by their largely successful flurry …

Luis Suarez scored twice in the second half to help champions Atletico Madrid come from behind to earn a 2-2 draw against Real Sociedad at the Wanda Metropolitano.

Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak will feel he could have done better for both Sociedad goals as Alexander Sorloth finished off a slick, one-touch move to give La Real an early lead before Alexander Isak extended their advantage with a free-kick into the bottom-right corner shortly after the break.

Suarez gave Diego Simeone s men a lifeline with a header, however, and hauled his team back on level terms by winning and then converting a penalty.

The draw means Sociedad return to the top of LaLiga having been briefly usurped by Real Madrid, who trail by a point but have the benefit of a game in hand. Atletic…

Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann get on very well despite claims to the contrary, according to former Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic. 

Griezmann has struggled for consistent form since his €120million move from Atletico Madrid last year and some have suggested his incompatibility with Messi is part of the problem.

Messi came off the bench to score twice and set up another, as well as play a key part in a goal for Griezmann, as Barca beat Real Betis 5-2 in LaLiga last week.

Griezmann, who earlier missed a penalty, scored only his second goal in seven league matches after Messi dummied Jordi Alba s cross into his path.

The pair only exchanged four passes throughout, however, as Messi mostly combined with Sergi Roberto (15 passes) and Sergio Busque…

Lionel Messi is confident that Inter Miami can clinch the title, with a trip to Atlanta United next up for the Eastern Conference leaders.

The Argentine made his long-awaited return from injury in their 3-1 win over Philadelphia Union, having a hand in all three goals as they opened up a 10-point lead over FC Cincinnati in the table.

It was their fifth consecutive win following their heavy 6-1 loss to Cincinnati, and Messi acknowledged how well the team had performed amid some injury troubles this season.

As we said at the beginning, we know the squad we have, and the title is our goal, he told Apple TV. We re realistic and take responsibility for it.

Unfortunately, we ve had a lot of bad luck with injuries this year and were never at full strength for …

Julian Nagelsmann confirmed that Manuel Neuer returned to full training on Friday, but a home clash with Bayer Leverkusen will come too soon for Bayern Munich s goalkeeper.

Neuer required knee surgery in February and has not featured since a 3-2 win over RB Leipzig, in which he matched Oliver Kahn s all-time record of 310 Bundesliga victories by a player. He achieved the first 77 triumphs with former club Schalke.

The Germany international – who holds the record for the most clean sheets in the Bundesliga (209), having surpassed Kahn (196) in 2021 – returned to light training late last month, but Nagelsmann confirmed the 35-year-old is now back into full team sessions.

While Neuer will be unavailable for the meeting with Leverkusen at Allianz Arena, the Ba…

Everton are interested in signing Isco from Real Madrid in the January transfer window, according to , Sevilla and Juventus are also reported to be interested in securing the services of the Spain international. However, according to the report, the 28-year-old has turned down both the Spanish club and Italian giants.

Isco is struggling for playing time at Madrid at the moment and is reportedly looking for a new club to move to in the January transfer window so that he can be part of the Spain squad for the European Championship in the summer of 2021. According to , the Spaniard has made three starts and five substitute appearances in La Liga for Los Blancos so far this season.

Everton are aiming to finish in the top four of the Premier League table this season. The Tof…

Kylian Mbappe scored twice and Moise Kean was also on target as Paris Saint-Germain returned to winning ways in Ligue 1 with a 4-0 victory at bottom side Dijon.

PSG suffered their sixth league loss of the campaign at home to Monaco last weekend but were good value for their win in Saturday s clash at Stade Gaston-Gerard.

Mbappe tucked away a penalty awarded for handball against Bersant Celina after Kean had opened the scoring for the reigning champions with his 15th goal of the campaign.

Prolific forward Mbappe doubled his tally in the second half and Danilo Pereira headed in a late fourth to help PSG move to within a point of leaders Lille, who play their game in hand at home to Strasbourg on Sunday.

— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English)

…

Barcelona have confirmed that Ousmane Dembele has agreed a new two-year contract to stay at Camp Nou.

The five-year contract that Dembele signed when he joined Barca from Borussia Dortmund in 2017 expired at the end of June.

Talks have continued over a new deal and the France international has now agreed terms on a fresh contract, keeping him at Barca until the end of the 2023-24 season.

That Dembele remains a Barca player at all is a complete turnaround from the situation in January, when the club insisted the winger would be sold or leave on a free transfer at the end of the campaign after the 25-year-old turned down a contract offer.

Yet Barca on Thursday confirmed Dembele will remain with the Catalan giants.

The LaLiga club revealed he wil…