Osasuna secure La Liga return

Roberto Mancini will not recall Mario Balotelli to the Italy squad just to make an anti-racism statement but is adamant the Brescia striker is still young enough to make an impact for the Azzurri.

Balotelli, 29, was subjected to racist abuse by Hellas Verona fans in a 2-1 defeat this month and threatened to walk off the pitch.

Verona were ordered by Serie A to play a match with a partial stadium closure, while the club banned head ultra Luca Castellini for 11 years after he defended the fans actions in a radio interview.

Balotelli returned to the Italy fold in 2018 after a four-year absence but has been back in the international wilderness since a 1-1 draw with Poland last September.

Mancini, the coach who gave him his big break at Inter in 2007, insists …

Liverpool continued their impressive run on all fronts with a crucial victory away to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, courtesy of a very late goal by Darwin Nunez.

Narrow contest

Liverpool dominated the game at the City Ground, with the ball at their feet for 79% of the time, a total of 22 shots compared to eight from the home side, though both teams hit the target just twice apiece.

But for a large part of the game, the Merseysiders looked exactly the way a team severely ravaged by injuries while playing every three or four days would be expected to look, bereft of creativity, struggling to find gaps in the opposition defence, and holding the ball for large spells without causing their opponents any actual problems.

It took just under 15 minutes of the game for…

Spain international Xavi has signed a pre-contract with Qatar Stars League club Al Arabi according to their coach Dan Petrescu.

Xavi, who is with Spain at the FIFA World Cup, has been linked with a move away from Barcelona for the majority of this year, as the pace of La Liga appeared to get away from the 34-year-old midfielder at times last season.

While MLS has previously been mentioned as a possible destination for Xavi, Petrescu, who became Al Arabi s coach on June 5, claimed the veteran midfielder is on his way to Qatar in an interview with Romanian television station Digi Sport.

The former Romania international claimed he has spoken to Xavi on the phone from Brazil and could offer the Barcelona captain a salary of €8million per year.

Xavi has signed a pre…

Verdict: Home win

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Manchester City are fighting to secure a UEFA Champions League berth for the upcoming season, but they are set to face a tough opponent this weekend. In the game that will kick Saturday s action in the Premier League, the Citizens will host a needy Crystal Palace side that also need the three points to take another step toward avoiding a potential relegation to the Championship.

Manchester City

It is safe to say Manchester City have not lived up to the expectations this season. However, Pep Guardiola s men control their own fate when it comes to securing a berth in the UEFA Champions League next season. The Citizens are coming off a disappointing draw against Middlesbrough, and they know they can t lose anymore…

Gareth Bale is hopeful Wales can use their hard-fought 1-1 draw against Switzerland in their opening Euro 2020 match as a springboard to push on.

Kieffer Moore headed in 16 minutes from time to cancel out Breel Embolo s opener in Saturday s Group A clash at the Baku Olympic Stadium.

Switzerland managed double the number of shots than Wales and had a Mario Gavranovic goal ruled out by VAR late on, but Moore rescued the Dragons a potentially huge point.

Wales have now lost just one of their last 14 competitive games – against Belgium in March – and Bale is pleased with his side s attitude to battle back in the blistering Baku heat.

1-1 SGÔR TERFYNOL

A rollercoaster of a second half! And breathe. | |

— Wales(@Cymru)

Both …

Money doesn’t necessarily buy success

Deloitte calculate the richest football clubs in the world and produce a list of the top twenty clubs annually. The review does not include the cost of transfer fees or player wages, or VAT and other sales taxes, but calculates the income from all football business. This includes money from ticket sales, sponsorship, merchandising and other commercial revenues, television money, corporate hospitality and use of the stadium for things like business conferences.

Surprising

The review probably doesn’t mean a great deal and the results are certainly not very surprising. The top ten clubs from season 2008-09 were exactly the same ten that we find in the latest list for season 2009-10.

The most interesting thing is to see …

Malaga owner Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani has stated that he will quit the Liga club, citing a lack of respect.

Al-Thani purchased the Spanish side in June 2010, and bankrolled big-money moves for the likes of Santi Cazorla, Joaquin, Martin Demichelis and Jeremy Toulalan.

With the investment in the squad, Malaga enjoyed a spell in the upper echelons of the Liga table and they finished fourth in the 2011-12 season.

That brought a spell in the UEFA Champions League, Manuel Pellegrini leading them to the quarter-finals in 2013, before they were knocked out by Borussia Dortmund.

However, Al-Thani s financial support for Malaga dried up, with Pellegrini and the stellar names departing La Rosaleda, while the club were banned from European competition for failing to comply …

It so often happens in football that one player s misfortune is another s opportunity, and it was, to an extent, the case for Manchester United s Marcus Rashford back in February 2016. Anthony Martial injured himself in the warm-up ahead of United s Europa League showdown with Danish side Midtyilland, and Rashford, 18 years old at the time, was named by manager Louis van Gaal as the player to step into his shoes. The youngster took his chance in style as his second-half brace made him the youngest United player to score in European competitions ever.

He followed that up with a Premier League brace (and an assist) against Arsenal in March, and scored the goal that brought United victory in a Manchester Derby at the Etihad.

Despite winning the FA Cup that season, followin…

Bruno Fernandes credited Alejandro Garnacho for improving his previously poor attitude after the teenager marked a rare Manchester United start with the winner against Real Sociedad.

Garnacho was named United s under-18 Player of the Year last season but has largely remained on the periphery of the first-team squad under Erik ten Hag this campaign.

The teenager proved his worth on Thursday, though, scoring his first senior goal for United with a first-half strike in a 1-0 win at La Real in the Europa League.

While the 18-year-old will hope to feature more for Ten Hag at Old Trafford now, Fernandes says he must continue with a much-improved attitude after failing to impress in pre-season with the senior side.

He was good but he knows we expect at lot from…

AC Milan president Silvio Berlusconi lauded Alexandre Pato as a great talent after explaining why he decided against selling him to PSG.

The 22-year-old forward appeared to have been closing in on a transfer to the Ligue 1 side for a reported 35 million euros earlier in the week, but the move broke down after he pledged his loyalty to the Milanese giants.

However, the Italian club s owner has since disclosed that he was the one who scuppered the Pato deal, claiming he was loath to see a player of his calibre depart San Siro.

I have decided to keep Pato because he s a great talent, Berlusconi said in a statement on Saturday.

I was not convinced by the operation from the financial and technical point of view. I made this decision by myself.

It…