Croatia confirm ACL injury for Juve´s Pjaca

Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski said his regular €50 bets with head coach Jurgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund turned him into a goal machine.

Before conquering Bavaria, Lewandowski was Dortmund s main man under Klopp for four years.

During his time at Signal Iduna Park, Lewandowski scored more than 100 goals in all competitions before joining Bayern in 2014 and the Poland international thanks Klopp now in charge of Liverpool for making him a better striker.

He was the one who gave me belief, Lewandowski told the Daily Mail.

In the first three or four months in training, we would have this game — him against the striker. There would be a bet between me and him.

In the first few training sessions, he was always winning! After that, not…

Ian Rush, John Aldridge and Jamie Carragher were among those to pay tribute to Roger Hunt on Tuesday after he died aged 83.

The former Liverpool and England international passed away on Monday following a long-term illness.

Hunt won the World Cup with England in 1966, playing all six matches and scoring three times. He earned 34 caps for the Three Lions.

He joined Liverpool in 1959, firing 41 goals in 42 games to drag them out of the second tier and into the First Division under the stewardship of Bill Shankly.

The forward managed 285 goals in 492 games for the club, which was a record until Ian Rush surpassed the haul in 1992, but no player has ever scored more league goals for the Reds than Hunt s 244.

And Rush led the tributes to an Anfield…

Gareth Southgate is cautious of overusing Jude Bellingham and Mason Greenwood and has left the young pair out of England s squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers.

Bellingham and Greenwood were high-profile omissions from the 23-man group named by Southgate on Thursday, along with injured defenders Trent Alexander-Arnold and Harry Maguire.

Borussia Dortmund midfielder Bellingham has started all 10 games at club level this season and played an hour for England in their 4-0 win over Andorra earlier this month.

Greenwood has been used regularly by Manchester United this term, meanwhile, starting seven times and featuring from the bench on one occasion.

Bellingham s 802 minutes of playing time this term is the most of any England-qualified player in Eu…

John Terry will return to Chelsea with a point to prove this season as the England defender attempts to reassert his authority after a traumatic World Cup.

If Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti harboured fears that Terry would be adversely affected by his experience in South Africa, the Italian would have been mightily reassured by the sight of his captain jogging contentedly around the club s training base just days after England s dismal exit against Germany.

England s World Cup experience left many of Fabio Capello s squad nursing bruised egos as they were pilloried by angry fans for another flop at a major international tournament.

Terry could easily have been one of those keen to lie low after the centre-half s erratic displays and an astonishingly ill-judged …

August is hardly a time for any one club to win the French championship but it may just be possible for one or more of the favourites to lose it.

Defending champions Marseille and the 2008/09 winners Bordeaux are in the bottom three having both lost their opening two games while Lyon, last year s runners-up and seven-times champions between 2002 and 2008, are just one point better off.

Defeat for any of them in round three could be catastrophic for their season.

Meanwhile, the presence of unfancied Toulouse they play second fiddle to the hugely successful rugby team in the city and newly promoted Caen at the head of the table with two wins from two give Ligue 1 a slightly upside down feel.

Marseille have seen last season s top scorer Mamadou Niang head o…

Inter Milan are keeping close tabs on Guangzhou Evergrande forward Elkeson, t.

It is no secret the Nerazzurri are looking to improve their attacking options and they have been offered a chance to sign the Brazilian footballer.

Inter sporting director Piero Ausilio has taken notice and he is seriously thinking about luring the player to Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.

The 24-year-old can cover a number of positions up front, but the problem is he would occupy a non-EU spot in the squad.

Elkeson spent his early career in native Brazil, spending three years at Vitoria before joining Botafogo in 2011.

The talented footballer earned a lucrative move to Guangzhou Evergrande in December 2012 and has since been in stunning form.

Elkeson was especially im…

Manchester United superstar Wayne Rooney sent shockwaves rippling across English football on Tuesday after manager Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed the striker wanted to leave the club.

After days of raging speculation about the 24-year-old s future, a clearly stunned Ferguson broke his silence on the saga by announcing that the club s most important player wanted out of Old Trafford.

I had a meeting with him. He intimated to me in his own way that he wanted to leave, Ferguson said at an extraordinary press conference ahead of United s Champions League match with Turkish side Bursaspor on Wednesday.

Ferguson, describing himself as shocked and disappointed by Rooney s position, said he was unable to provide an explanation for the player s desire to move after six suc…

Rodrigo Bentancur and Giorgio Chiellini were unlikely goalscorers with Cristiano Ronaldo also on target as Juventus won 3-0 at Fiorentina to move 11 points clear at the top of Serie A.

Juve were far from their brilliant best in Florence on Saturday but Bentancur s first-half strike set up a fifth straight league win for the defending champions that stretches their lead over Napoli.

Federico Chiesa was guilty of wasting Fiorentina s best opportunities, but Chiellini made no mistake when he was presented with a chance, the defender s header looping in despite Alban Lafont s best efforts.

After Ronaldo converted a late penalty, Juventus collected three points from a trip to Florence that saw vice-president Pavel Nedved condemn graffiti referring to the Heysel disast…

Juventus midfielder Sami Khedira will come face-to-face with Real Madrid s fans once more in Saturday s Champions League final – and he does not miss them one bit.

The Germany World Cup winner joined Juve on a free-transfer in June 2015 after five years at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Injury often hindered Khedira s progress in the Spanish capital and, although he has nothing but praise for Madrid s coaching staff, he felt he was under-valued on the terraces.

In Madrid, I was appreciated by my coaches and 100 per cent fair, but I did not have this recognition in public, he told Kicker.

If I did 10 good games, that was self-evident. If the 11th was not so good, it was asked whether or not I was good enough for the club.

Khedira is expected to start…

Argentina captain Lionel Messi hit out at the referee, despite the in-form Copa America champions 1-0 win against Peru in World Cup qualifying.

Lautaro Martinez s header two minutes before half-time settled Thursday s contest in Buenos Aires, where La Albiceleste extended their unbeaten streak to 25 matches across all competitions.

Peru wasted a chance to salvage a point when Yoshimar Yotun s penalty cannoned off the crossbar with 25 minutes remaining.

Messi reacted to Argentina remaining undefeated on the road to Qatar 2022 through 11 CONMEBOL fixtures, though it remains to be seen what he was referring to when mentioning the referee after Martinez had also gone down inside the area in the first half.

Difficult match, difficult to play. A lot of wind, t…