Carlo Ancelotti has backed Karim Benzema to play a big part in Real Madrid s end to the season.
The French striker has come in for criticism as Madrid have struggled for goals domestically in recent weeks, despite his brace against Liverpool in their 5-2 win at Anfield in the Champions League last-16 first leg.
Ballon d Or holder Benzema has scored 11 goals in 15 LaLiga games but has not netted in his last three in all competitions, and he will be missing from the team for Saturday s home game with Espanyol because of an ankle injury.
He was a key player for us [last season], he performed incredibly, scored more than 40 goals, Ancelotti said at a press conference on Friday.
It affected us a bit [earlier this season] because he couldn t reach his top lev…
Heimir Hallgrimsson would be delighted if Iceland emulated Leicester City and secured an unlikely triumph at Euro 2016.
Iceland, appearing at their first major tournament, reached the quarter-finals of the European Championship with a sensational 2-1 win over England on Monday.
Their charge to the last eight has drawn comparisons to the surprise exploits of Leicester, who shocked the football world by claiming a maiden Premier League title in 2015-16.
The two places have a similar population around 330,000 and joint-coach Hallgrimsson admits he does see comparisons between Iceland and the English champions, and would love to see a similar story play out in France.
I really would like things to end like they did with Leicester, said Hallgrimsson at a med…
Custodio insists Portugal will fight for their place in the Euro 2012 final ahead of their semi-final clash against holders Spain.
The last time the two Iberian rivals met in a competitive game was in the 2010 World Cup, where Vicente del Bosque s side ran out 1-0 winners over Portugal.
Many have put Portugal down as the underdogs for Wednesday s game, but midfielder Custodio feels there are no favourites between the two sides.
Spain favourites? I cannot quantify who is favourite, the Braga man said.
I do not know if we have a 20, 30 or 50 percent chance of going through. What I know is that we will fight hard to get a place in the final.
Will this be Portugal s year? I hope so, we will fight to make it so.
Spain are a great side who…
Mauricio Pochettino said Tottenham supporters should be optimistic about the future as he set his sights on making a quick return to the Champions League final following a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool in Madrid.
The Spurs manager admitted his side s game plan was undone when Mohamed Salah scored a penalty for Liverpool after two minutes of the showpiece at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Divock Origi s late strike put the game out of Tottenham s reach, but Pochettino had nothing but praise for Tottenham s efforts.
We can be proud of the effort, how we fought to arrive at this final, Pochettino told BT Sport.
We were very unlucky we conceded a goal from a penalty but to the end we were alive, fighting, I think we played so well. It was a tough situation that changed…
Montpellier president Louis Nicollin announced on Tuesday he will quit the club at the end of the 2014/15 Ligue 1 season.
The outspoken owner of Montpellier almost single-handedly dragged the south-eastern French club into Ligue 1, taking charge of the then-amateur outfit in 1974 and becoming the sole shareholder 15 years later.
In 1987, Montpellier returned to the French top tier and went on to the win the Coupe de France in 1990 and the Ligue 1 title in 2012.
Nicollin was crucial in rebuilding the club that almost went bankrupt in the 1970s but he revealed on Tuesday that the upcoming season will be his last in charge.
I am stopping here, on the day that the club was founded 40 years ago, the 71-year-old told French radio station RTL.
I will g…
The Italian Sports Court has decided to suspend Milan Brazilian Ronaldinho for an incident that occurred in the Coppa Italia match against Lazio on December 3, 2008.
In the 70th minute, Ronaldinho elbowed Lazio defender David Rozenhal in the face and the panel has deemed that the movement was quite clearly intentional, mostly due to the unnatural height and movement of the ex-Barcelona player s elbow on the play. Dinho has been banned for the next three matches in Coppa Italia, that means in the next season, as far as Ac Milan lost 2-1 to the Biancocelesti.
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Bolivia and Peru stand against each other in Copa America s Group A second round. Bolivia were comprehensively beaten by event hosts Brazil, while Peru played a goalless draw against Venezuela.
Bolivia
Bolivia didn t fare well in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, and it s worth remembering that they failed to get through the group stage of the Copa on six of the last seven editions of this tournament. They can be very tricky when playing at home, but that won t help them here.
Before the Brazil defeat, they lost three pre-tournament games to South Korea, Japan and France. They failed to score a single goal, and carried that form into their opener against the hosts with Philippe Coutinho and Everton Soares making sure of that.
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Jurgen Klopp says he will take the outpouring of support he has received from Borussia Dortmund with him forever after bidding an emotional farewell to the Bundesliga club.
Klopp was unable to guide Dortmund to glory in the DFB-Pokal in his final game in charge as they suffered a 3-1 defeat to Wolfsburg at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on Saturday.
In his seven seasons with Dortmund, Klopp won the Bundesliga twice, the Pokal once and reached the UEFA Champions League final in 2013, only to lose 2-1 to Bayern Munich.
Klopp said his final goodbyes to Dortmund in the early hours of Sunday morning, at an end-of-season party that followed the loss to Wolfsburg.
And he told those present: I can t express what is going through my head right now. Over the cour…
Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich look to be returning to their clinical best ahead of a clash with Cologne s stubborn defence on Saturday.
Pep Guardiola s side had struggled to finish teams off in the opening exchanges of this term, drawing at Schalke and Hamburg domestically, but they were close to their free-flowing form of old when beating newly promoted Paderborn 4-0 on Tuesday.
Mario Gotze grabbed a double while Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller also struck at the Allianz Arena to secure Bayern s biggest win of the campaign so far.
Overall I m pleased because our build-up play has improved, the Spanish coach said after the midweek win. We re top now, but that s not what matters at the moment.
What matters is the way we play.
Bayern t…
Brazilian club Santos have moved to confirm speculations linking them with a January bid for Milan forward Robinho.
Following a promising start to his career at San Siro, the 28-year-old has experienced some problems at the club and has been heavily linked with a return to Brazil.
His former club Santos were believed to be preparing a bid for Robinho’s services, and the Brazilians have now confirmed the talks are ongoing.
“We are in negotiations,” Santos vice-president Odilio Rodrigues told UOL Esporte. “It will be difficult but we are doing everything in our power to realize our fans’ dream.”
Milan chiefs are prepared to cash in on their star player and are thought to be holding out for €7.5 million.
It was at Santos that Robinho m…