World Cup winner Rami retires from international football

Eden Hazard suffered a thigh injury against Deportivo Alaves on Saturday, Real Madrid have confirmed.

The Belgium international has been blighted by ankle and leg problems since joining Zinedine Zidane s Spanish giants from Chelsea nearly 18 months ago.

It was not immediately clear what his latest problem was, with Hazard able to walk off the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano pitch – albeit in obvious discomfort – to be replaced by Rodrygo after 28 minutes of the game.

On Monday, though, Madrid confirmed he has sustained an injury to the rectus femoris muscle in his right thigh.

No timescale has been put on his return but he has not been named in Madrid s squad for Tuesday s Champions League trip to Shakhtar Donetsk.

Saturday was just Hazard s third …

Pep Guardiola backed Vincent Kompany to become Manchester City manager after the Premier League champions were drawn against their former captain in the FA Cup quarter-finals.

Kompany will face City for the first time as a coach when Burnley visit the Etihad Stadium in the last eight.

The former centre-back spent 11 years at City as a player, captaining the club four Premier League titles.

Kompany has similarly impressed with Burnley, who were relegated from the top flight last season but are clear at the top of the Championship, 19 points clear of third place with promotion almost assured.

To Guardiola, it is clear his ex-skipper is cut out for the top job at the Etihad Stadium.

I m impressed with the consistency. The Championship is so difficul…

Fulham might have been relegated from the Premier League for a while, but some of their players are still bringing a lot of interested clubs to their doors. The main Cottager that does not have to worry about his future is obviously Ryan Sessegnon. The fullback/winger was born in 2000, but with already two full Championship campaigns and one in the Premier League behind his back, he has a host of clubs interested to sign him.

The main club Daily and Sunday Express are mentioning are Tottenham Hotspur, who could be able to splash out as much as £40m on the young Englishman. According to them, the teenager is considered to make a move this summer, as Fulham head back to Championship and besides Tottenham, teams like Manchester United, Liverpool and even Paris Saint-Ger…

Best Odds: 19/20

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With a Champions League quarter-final ticket still firmly up for grabs on Wednesday night, Tottenham will welcome AC Milan to north London.

Tottenham

Starting with the hosts, while Tottenham might have signed off February with a much-needed boost, Spurs have come crashing back down to earth in some style over the past week. Shockingly crashing out of this season s FA Cup following a 1-0 loss away at Championship outfit Sheffield United, Antonio Conte s side were last seen over the weekend putting in another downbeat display. Eventually suffering another 1-0 defeat at the hands of relegation scrappers Wolves, the one-time Chelsea boss will know that his side face a real uphill battle on Wednesday night. Although the Premier League hea…

Juventus general director Giuseppe Marotta has admitted the Serie A champions face a tough task to keep hold of Alvaro Morata and Juan Cuadrado, while he has made it clear they are ready to move for Edinson Cavani if the Paris Saint-Germain striker were to become available.

Morata joined Juve from Real Madrid in 2014, but the Santiago Bernabeu side have an option to re-sign the 23-year-old for a set fee.

Cuadrado, meanwhile, is on loan at the Turin side until the end of the season and is due to return to Chelsea come June.

We want to strengthen the team in the upcoming transfer window, even if we realise it will not be easy because the squad is already of a very high level, Marotta told Sky Sport.

We have not had a lot of problems in Serie A, but thin…

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers expects Daniel Sturridge to make his long-awaited return to action by mid-to-late January.

England striker Sturridge has been limited to just three Premier League appearances this season the last of which came at Tottenham in August.

Sturridge was originally ruled out after sustaining a thigh injury when on England duty in September and has since suffered two setbacks in his recovery.

The 25-year-old has been undergoing treatment for the issue in Boston, but is set to return to Liverpool in the coming days to finalise his rehabilitation programme.

He will be back here to finalise his rehab in early January, Rodgers said on Wednesday. 

He should be back playing mid-to-late January.

A return for Sturr…

Greece coach Fernando Santos has dismissed suggestions his team are too defensive to be successful at Euro 2012.

The 2004 European Championship winners conceded just five goals in 10 qualifying matches, and their road to victory eight years ago was based on a compact defensive.

But Santos said it was important for his side to be strong in attack if they were to advance from Group A, which also features co-hosts Poland, Russia and the Czech Republic.

The game has got several stages an offensive phase and a defensive phase, and both are equally important, Santos said.

The team must do a good job in both otherwise we wouldn t be a successful team.

Otto Rehhagel led Greece to the shock win in 2004, but left after they failed to get past the group…

Vicente del Bosque began his reign as Spanish coach with his sideÂ’s 3-0 win over Denmark but said there was plenty of room for improvement for the European champions ahead of next monthÂ’s World Cup qualifiers.

“We started badly, we were slow and over cautious,” the former Real Madrid boss told reporters after the friendly in Copenhagen.

“Denmark were better than us in the first half but we reacted well and ended up playing a good game against high level opposition.”

Spain were in muted form in the opening minutes of a match that was overshadowed by news that over 150 people had been killed in an air crash at the Madrid airport earlier in the day.

Denmark had several chances to take the l…

Pep Guardiola s prediction of a complicated trip to Burnley proved to be correct, as the Clarets made the most of Manchester City s wastefulness to snatch a 1-1 draw on Saturday.

Despite their profligacy, City had looked on course for a battling win, until Johann Gudmundsson popped up in the 83rd minute to snatch a point.

City boss Guardiola was forced to shrug off claims from Manchester United counterpart Jose Mourinho that the destination of the Premier League title is already certain, with the leaders enjoying a 15-point cushion at the top.

That advantage was 16 points by the full-time whistle at Turf Moor, and City are just eight wins away from securing a third title, although they were reminded of the league s many hazards by Sean Dyche s obdurate outfit.