Mauricio Pochettino is relishing the opportunity to cut his teeth in the Champions League when Tottenham make their return to Europe s top table.
Spurs, who finished third in the Premier League last season, will fancy their chances of making it through the group stages having been drawn with CSKA Moscow, Bayer Leverkusen and Monaco in Group E.
It will mark Tottenham s first foray into the Champions League since the 2010-11 season where they enjoyed a run to the quarter-finals, while manager Pochettino has never coached a side in Europe s premier competition.
And with Spurs set to play their home matches in the competition at Wembley this season, Pochettino is itching to hear the famous Champions League anthem blare out around the home of English football.
<…
Peru rallied from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw with Ecuador at the Copa America on Wednesday.
Ecuador were in control of the Group B contest against Peru on Wednesday – leading 2-0 at half-time in Goiania.
A Renato Tapia own goal had handed Ecuador a 1-0 lead after 23 minutes and Eduar Preciado doubled the advantage in the third minute of first-half stoppage time.
Peru – runners-up in 2019 – had entered the fixture knowing victory would see them through to the quarter-finals of CONMEBOL s showpiece tournament.
¡FINAL EN GOIÂNIA! y igualaron 2-2 por el Grupo B de la CONMEBOL
Ecuador Perú
— Copa América (@CopaAmerica)
Former Milan forward Gianluca Lapadula inspired Peru s comeback with a stun…
France booked their place in the Nations League Finals at the expense of holders Portugal as N Golo Kante s second international goal secured a 1-0 win in Lisbon.
The World Cup winners and the European champions came into Saturday s match tied on 10 points at the top of Group A3 through four matches, but the head-to-head primary tie-breaker made this clash pivotal after a goalless draw in France.
Kante s strike proved the difference as the Chelsea midfielder stepped up in the 53rd minute after the plethora of attacking talent at both ends had misfired.
France were without Kylian Mbappe due to a hamstring injury, but Anthony Martial might have had a first-half hat-trick and would have been relieved to see Kante come to his aid.
The first miss from the M…
Luis Suarez has indicated during a recent interview that he isn t sure whether or not he ll end his career with Barcelona. The 31-year-old has been with the Spanish giants since back in 2014 when he made the move from Liverpool, and since then, he s established himself as one of the deadliest strikers in European football. Alas, nothing lasts forever, and the Uruguayan forward sounds like he s well aware of that.
Suarez has stated that he d love to end his career at the Nou Camp, but that it depends on a variety of factors including how long his body holds out.
The striker then pointed towards examples such as Xavi and Andres Iniesta, who are both players that spent the majority of their careers becoming legendary figures at Barcelona before eventually deciding to move …
Kylian Mbappe was the trigger for victory in Paris Saint-Germain s defeat of Strasbourg as head coach Christophe Galtier praised the forward for putting World Cup heartbreak behind him.
The attacker won and converted a stoppage-time penalty to snatch a late victory against Strasbourg in Ligue 1 on Wednesday after Neymar had been sent off.
Mbappe s intervention came 10 days after he scored a World Cup final hat-trick for France, only to lose out on a second successive title as Argentina won on penalties.
However, Galtier praised the 24-year-old s fortitude, highlighting his role as a talisman for the champions and suggesting he will pick up where he left off with his World Cup form.
I think he is on the level of what he did in Qatar, the coach said. He s …
Stefano Pioli acknowledged Milan s main focus has to be improving their proficiency in the final third after they were held to a goalless draw by Sassuolo.
Milan remain rooted in mid-table in Serie A following a wasteful display at San Siro on Sunday.
Theo Hernandez was unfortunate to have a first-half goal disallowed by the VAR, while substitute Rafael Leao hit the woodwork twice in quick succession late on.
Veteran Sassuolo goalkeeper Gianluca Pegolo also made a string of impressive saves, but Pioli says his team must take responsibility for the missed opportunities.
We could have had more pace and movement in the first half, but in the second, we had about nine or 10 shots on goal, Pioli told Sky Sport Italia. We tried everything, and it just w…
Dejan Kulusevski urged evergreen Milan star Zlatan Ibrahimovic to come out of retirement and play for Sweden at this year s rearranged Euro 2020.
Ibrahimovic has not represented Sweden in more than four years after retiring from international football following Euro 2016.
The 39-year-old forward – Sweden s all-time leading scorer with 62 goals in 116 appearances – has hinted he is ready to end his international retirement ahead of the European Championship as he continues to light up Serie A with Milan.
Sweden international and Juventus attacker Kulusevski talked up an Ibrahimovic comeback following Sunday s 3-1 win over 10-man Sassuolo.
We write to each other. He is an idol for me, as hardly anyone in the world can do what he does, Kulusevski told S…
Victor Ibarbo has joined Roma from Cagliari on an initial loan deal, just a day after Seydou Doumbia moved to Stadio Olimpico.
Roma have completed the signing of Calgliari forward Victor Ibarbo on an initial loan deal with the option to complete a permanent transfer at the end of the season.
The Serie A high-flyers have stumped up an initial €2.5million to take the Colombia international until the end of the campaign and will have to pay another €12.5m to make the move full time.
It marks Roma s second foray into the transfer market in as many days after they striker Seydou Doumbia joined from CSKA Moscow on Saturday.
Ibarbo moved to Cagliari ahead of the 2011-12 season and has gone on to make 115 league appearances, scoring 15 goals.
Head coa…
Manager Stefano Pioli said after the Dortmund game: “Many things we do are positive, but we have not been concrete and ruthless. I want to start again from the many positive things we are doing.”
Pioli and his players were unable to travel back to Italy from Germany on Thursday and so have effectively had just one day to prepare for the clash with Genoa.
They will still be without midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who suffered an adductor muscle injury during the 2-0 victory over Lazio.
Ismael Bennacer and Rade Krunic are also out and the forthcoming international break could hardly be better timed for Pioli’s walking wounded, with Juventus, Paris St Germain and Napoli waiting in the wings in back-to-back games.
Opposite number Alberto Gilardino will h…
According to David Ornstein of , Real Madrid have reached an agreement with AS Monaco over the proposed transfer of Aurelien Tchouameni. The total package will be worth more that €100 million. The Ligue 1 side and the 14-time European champions are currently working on finalising the paperwork and completing the regulatory processes which have to be followed through. Once they finish with that, the 22-year-old midfielder will sign his contract as a new Real Madrid player and the deal will be officially announced.
Tchouameni s fine performances during the 2021/22 season attracted the attention of a number of clubs. It was always likely to come down to what the player himself wants, and even though it was rumoured at first that he was keen on playing in the Premier League, Real…