Lille captain Rio Mavuba has penned a new four-year deal with the Ligue 1 club, which could see him through to retirement.
The France international moved to Lille on an initial loan deal from Villarreal in January 2008, before making the move permanent at the end of that season.
Mavuba has become a firm fans favourite during his time at the club and was part of the team that won a Ligue 1 and Coupe de France double in the 2010-11 campaign.
The France international s previous contract was due to expire next month, and he has previously suggested he would welcome another foreign challenge, but now hopes his new contract will allow him to end his career at Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
After a time of reflection, it occurred to me as obvious to extend my contract an…
Market: Sheffield United double chance
Odds: 1/2 @
Looking to make an immediate return to winning ways on Saturday lunchtime, Sheffield United will make the trip to a downbeat Hull when this weekend s Championship fixtures open up.
Starting with the hosts, putting in what was another toothless display when returning from the international break, Hull find themselves in the midst of a real struggle. Despite making their Championship return over the summer, the Tigers are already tipped as a leading contender to be hit with an immediate League One return. Despite opening the 2021/22 campaign with what was a shock 4-1 romp away at Preston, Grant McCann s side have really failed to keep up that momentum. Last seen getting hit with a deserved 2-0 defeat at the hands…
Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane picked up an injury in his team’s defeat to Manchester United at Wembley last week and is now facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
The England captain will be out until March after which leaves Tottenham in dire straits knowing they will be without their best player in a crucial stage of the season.
both legs of the Champions League last-16 tie with Borussia Dortmund, while he will also be out of action for the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Chelsea later in January.
More importantly, Kane is set to miss a series of Premier League matches starting with Fulham this weekend with which could put an additional dent into Spurs’ Premier League title challenge. With Kane ruled out for at least a month an…
Best odds: 8/15
Bookmaker:
In the 14th round of the Brazilian Serie A, Sao Paulo will have a chance of catching up with the teams placed above in the table by piling on the misery for Juventude. The match is set to take place at the Cicero Pompeu de Toledo Stadium on Sunday.
Sao Paulo
Sao Paulo finished the 2021 season in 13th place, just missing out on a place in the group stages of the Copa Sudamericana. With that in mind, the fact that they now sit in ninth will have come as an improvement, but with the middle part of the table extremely tight at the moment, they will also feel that there is real opportunity to improve on that further. After all, Fluminense in sixth, Botafogo in seventh, Santos in eighth, and Bragantino, all have the same tally as them 18 po…
Liverpool and Benfica have reached an agreement over the proposed transfer of Darwin Nunez, according to Fabrizio Romano. Benfica were said to be looking for €100 million for the Uruguayan striker, but they ve apparently settled for €80m guaranteed and the rest through reasonably achievable add-ons. Reports elsewhere suggest Liverpool s sporting director Julian Ward in now in Portugal, on a mission to iron out the final details.
Following the arrivals of Diogo Jota in 2020 and Luis Diaz in January this year, Nunez represents the next step in forming an attacking line to succeed the famous and once irreplaceable trio of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino. Manchester United were also interested in the 22-year-old, but once Nunez learned of Liverpool s interest, he …
Liverpool made history as they came back from 3-0 down in the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul against AC Milan to eventually win the contest on penalties, but there was (and still is) a lot of controversy regarding the way they got past Chelsea in the semifinals.
The only goal of the two-legged tie was scored by Luis Garcia, but the ball doesn t seem to have crossed the line at all. With no goal-line technology at the time, it was allowed to stand.
https://twitter.com/LFC/status/1256846201728561152
To this day, Garcia believes the decision was the right one, but Stefan Effenberg and Edgar Davids disagree.
https://twitter.com/bwin/status/1295601458231021569
…
Chelsea have confirmed defender Branislav Ivanovic has signed a one-year contract extension.
The Serbia international, whose previous deal was due to expire at the end of the season, has not enjoyed his best season at Stamford Bridge and regularly came in for criticism for his displays under previous manager Jose Mourinho.
Nevertheless, interim boss Guus Hiddink has opted to prolong the 31-year-old s stay until June 2017.
Ivanovic told the club s official website, www.chelseafc.com: I am very happy to stay with Chelsea for another season. After eight years here this is my home and there is no other place I would rather play football.
I have enjoyed so much success since moving to the club and I am determined to help the team achieve more in the last mo…
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers questioned whether someone was “making tricks” over their festive fixtures after his club’s trip to Dundee was moved to Boxing Day.
Rodgers and Motherwell have both expressed frustration on behalf of supporters after two cinch Premiership games were moved to accommodate live television coverage.
Motherwell’s Fir Park clash with Rangers has been moved from the Saturday afternoon of December 23 to a noon kick-off on Christmas Eve.
Celtic’s game at Dens Park will now take place at 3pm on Boxing Day instead of with the rest of the December 27 evening fixture card.
Fixture amendment for Sky Sports Coverage
Our home match against Celtic originally scheduled for Wednesday 27th December at 7:45pm has been selected …
Milan have confirmed Brazilian forward Junior Messias has joined the club on a permanent basis after impressing during a loan spell with the Rossoneri last season.
Messias moved to Milan on a loan deal with a purchase option in August 2021, going on to score six goals in 32 appearances across all competitions as Stefano Pioli s men ended an 11-year wait for the Serie A title.
The 31-year-old, who featured in the Italian top flight for Crotone in 2020-21 before they suffered consecutive relegations, only made 17 starts for Milan last term but still contributed to their title success.
Only four Rossoneri players (Oliver Giroud and Rafael Leao with 14, Zlatan Ibrahimovic with eight and Franck Kessie with seven) outscored Messias as Milan spread the goals around.
Despite injury concerns, Lionel Scaloni is adamant that Lionel Messi is fit to play in their Copa America semi-final against Canada.
The Argentina captain sustained a hamstring injury in their second group game against Chile, forcing him out of the following match against Peru.
However, Messi returned for their quarter-final meeting with Ecuador, notably missing the first spot-kick in the penalty shootout, which they won thanks to two Emiliano Martinez saves.
After Messi admitted he trained with fear ahead of his return from injury against La Tricolor, Scaloni has brushed off any worries about his star man s fitness.
99% of the time, [Messi] is fit to play, Scaloni said. It s never happened to me that he s not fit to play.
Every time he s come o…