Barcelona equal Champions League record

Andre Gomes was brave to open up about his problems at Barcelona, according to coach Ernesto Valverde, while Sergio Busquets has sympathised with his team-mate s troubles.

In an extraordinary interview, Gomes told Spanish magazine Panenka he is not enjoying life at Barcelona, where a lack of form has made his life a kind of hell .

Gomes suggested he has felt unable to leave his house because of feeling unsettled at the LaLiga leaders, with the midfielder having been booed during a win over title rivals Atletico Madrid earlier this month.

Valverde praised Gomes for being honest about his issues on and off the pitch and said the interview would not affect his selection plans.

It s nothing new in football, this happens a lot, Valverde told a news conferenc…

Queens Park Rangers midfielder Adel Taarabt is hoping he can continue the good form he has enjoyed against Swansea City in recent years.

The Welsh side have suffered at the hands of the 23-year old, who netted a brace against them during the 2010/11 Championship campaign before putting in a man-of-the-match display in a 3-0 home win last term.

Rangers will host the encounter at Loftus Road on Saturday and Taarabt is looking forward to the game.

I can t wait to get started and it s nice that we start with Swansea as I have a good record against them, Taarabt told the Daily Star.

I always seem to play well and score goals against them.

They must hate playing against me and will probably be sick of the sight of me. They do play very good footbal…

Gael Clichy believes Manchester City were right to sack Roberto Mancini after failing to win silverware this season.

The France full-back made 41 appearances this term as the club failed to retain their Premier League title, lost the FA Cup final to underdogs Wigan and were eliminated from the group stages of the UEFA Champions League.

Mancini was sacked by City on May 14 and Clichy said that the manager has to take responsibility for their failings this season.

It s the first time a manager has been axed while I ve been at a club, he said. So it s a bit of a shock and if you look at his record it s hard to
understand.

But he s the manager and you have to take responsibility. When results are good it s all down to the manager. When the results are not …

Zinedine Zidane was frustrated by Ronald Koeman s complaints about refereeing decisions in Real Madrid s favour, insisting he would never engage in such a debate. 

Barcelona coach Koeman said on Monday he could not understand the failure to award a penalty to Eibar late in their 3-1 defeat to Madrid. 

Eibar trailed by just a single goal at the time when the ball appeared to strike Sergio Ramos on the arm inside the penalty area. 

No spot-kick was given and the on-field decision was not reviewed, a call Koeman claimed nine out of 10 people would disagree with. 

These comments were relayed to Zidane on Tuesday, to which he replied: It has been annoying because I never get involved with the referees. 

I think the referees are in charge of the…

Hugo Lloris could feature for the first time in almost two months when Tottenham visit Everton on Monday, having recovered from a knee injury to return to full training.

Spurs captain Lloris sustained the injury during a 1-0 win over Premier League champions Manchester City on February 5, causing him to miss the team s last nine matches.

Fraser Forster has deputised throughout that spell, which has seen Spurs exit the Champions League and the FA Cup, while they parted company with boss Antonio Conte after a 3-3 draw at Southampton prior to the international break.

While Lloris return provides a boost for acting head coach Cristian Stellini, full-back Emerson Royal has joined Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur, Ben Davies and Richarlison on the injury list.

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Leicester City s Jamie Vardy set a new Premier League record in scoring and still finding himself on the losing side for the eighth time in 2017-18.

The Foxes went down 2-1 at Burnley on Saturday, Vardy halving the deficit with 18 minutes to go after the Clarets had struck twice in the opening stages through Chris Wood and Kevin Long.

Vardy has netted in 16 league matches this season only Liverpool s Mohamed Salah (21) has done so in more but the England forward has come out on the wrong side in half of those.

Matt Le Tissier, in 1992-93, and Charlie Austin three seasons ago previously held the joint-record on seven but the questionable honour now belongs to Vardy alone.

8 Jamie Vardy has ended up on the losing side in eight Premier League games this seas…

According to , Roman Abramovich is ready to propose a swap deal between Chelsea and , involving their star players Gareth Bale and Eden Hazard.

Hazard has been linked with a move to Real countless times now, with the Madrid club s desire to sign the Belgian forward confirmed by the likes of Guillem Balague, while a multitude of sources have also reported that the 12-time Champions League winners wish to get Bale off their books too.

Even though direct trades of that kind between clubs rarely happen, Bale and Hazard trading places would actually make sense. It would give the Welshman a chance for a clean start in a new club environment, in the city where he once felt comfortable living and thrived as a player. It would give Hazard a chance to make the biggest move of his…

Unai Emery has committed his future to Sevilla by signing a new contract to keep him at the club until 2017.

The 43-year-old has led Sevilla to back-to-back UEFA Europa League titles, earning a shot at next season s UEFA Champions League following a recent rule change.

Emery had been linked with managerial vacancies at Napoli and West Ham, but has now elected to remain at Estadio Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan for an extra season on top of his current deal.

Having started his coaching career with roles at Lorca Deportiva, Almeria, Valencia and Spartak Moscow, Emery arrived in Seville in 2013.

And, in addition to success on the European stage, Emery has guided the club to consecutive fifth-placed finishes in La Liga.

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Ronald Koeman is hopeful that striker Romelu Lukaku will be fit to face Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday.

The Belgium forward, who has been linked with the likes of Manchester United and Bayern Munich, missed Tuesday s EFL Cup loss to Norwich City due to an injured toe.

Koeman confirmed he trained alone on Thursday, but said the 23-year-old would likely be ready play a part on the south coast.

He did training separate to the group today [Thursday] and we expect him to train normally in the morning, he said. If that happens, he will be fit for the weekend.

Asked whether there had been any progress regarding a new contract for Lukaku, the Dutchman added: No, I don t know at the moment. It s not my job.

The surprise 2-0 loss to the Ca…

England boss Roy Hodgson has warned that tonight s game against San Marino may not be a goal feast

England boss Roy Hodgson has warned Three Lions fans that tonight’s Euro 2016 qualifier against San Marino may not be a ‘goal feast’, despite the fact that San Marino are the rated as the joint-worst team in the world rankings alongside Bhutan.

Cautious

The England boss was cautious in his latest press conference.

He told : We re not trying to play anything down, but I must also say we re not trying to suggest this is going to be a goal feast. It might, but it might well not be.

As I ve said in my programme notes, it s one of these games where you do rely on a lot of people s understanding of the situation and understanding of the game.

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