Norwich City manager Alex Neil has underlined the importance of Monday s home game against Aston Villa in the battle against Premier League relegation.
The Canaries started the season in fine fashion, losing just two of their opening seven fixtures, but have since been struggling for consistency and find themselves fighting against the drop back to the Championship.
Neil believes 40 points will be enough to stay up, though, and feels they will be on track if they take all three against Villa.
Norwich have collected 17 points from 18 games so far and sit 17th in the table, but come into Monday s game on the back of a 3-0 defeat at Tottenham on Saturday.
Teams in the bottom half of the table are crucial for us, Neil told BBC Sport.
The nex…
Zinedine Zidane knew he had to bring an end to Real Madrid s five-year wait to win LaLiga and stressed the club always felt clinching the title was most important.
Goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema gave Madrid a 2-0 win at Malaga on Sunday as they became Spanish champions for the first time since 2012.
Zidane, who won the Champions League last season, could repeat the feat against Juventus in the Cardiff final on June 3 to make it a famous double in his first full season at the helm.
But the Madrid head coach is most thrilled to hold off Barcelona domestically and end Madrid s troubling wait for league glory, hailing his players efforts as f*****g fantastic .
I am very happy, 38 match days and at the end of it all we are top, Zidane was quot…
After four seasons at Camp Nou, Neymar s Barcelona career is set to end with a world-record €222million switch to Paris Saint-Germain.
Barca won the race to sign the Brazilian from Santos in 2013 and, alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, he has since established himself as one third of one of the greatest attacking trios in the history of football.
PSG are expected to trigger the €222m release clause in Neymar s contract and make him the leading man in Paris, ending a scintillating on-field relationship with the Catalan club.
With the help of Opta data, we look at the stand-out figures that have encouraged the Ligue 1 giants to part with a record-breaking sum and take the 25-year-old to the Parc des Princes.
Neymar Jr hasn t trained on Wednesday wi…
Gregoire Defrel has joined Sampdoria from Roma on a season-long loan deal, with the option of a permanent move.
The forward made 15 Serie A appearances for Roma after signing from Sassuolo in July 2017, scoring one goal in the 5-2 victory over Benevento in February.
The 27-year-old began his career at Parma and played for Foggia and Cesena before arriving at Sassuolo in 2015.
His most prolific season came in 2016-17, when he scored 12 goals in 23 league starts for the Neroverdi, attracting the attention of Roma boss Eusebio Di Francesco.
However, his chances were limited in a Roma side spearheaded by Edin Dzeko and Diego Perotti, and he joins Samp in the hope of more regular first-team football.
| Gregoire Defrel joins Sampdoria on loan
De…
Verdict: Brazil to win by one goal
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Following the embarrassing exit from the 2014 World Cup on home soil, Brazil will be hoping for a strong start to the tournament in Russia and a comfortable win in their opening fixture. In-form Switzerland also hope to progress from Group E and a positive result against the Selecao could really go a long way towards said goal.
Brazil
Much has been said about Brazil’s shocking 7-1 loss to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final, so we don’t really want to run any more salt into their wound, but chances are said defeat will only make the Selecao more determined to go all the way in Russia. We can now safely say that new boss Tite has really transformed the national team, getting them playing to t…
Sydney FC surrendered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Newcastle Jets on Saturday and prolong their winless start to the season.
The 2020 champions looked in control against a side they had beaten nine times in 12 previous home games, Adam Le Fondre opening the scoring from the penalty spot before cleverly setting up Elvis Kamsoba for a 2-0 half-time lead.
However, Valentino Yuel puled a goal back before the hour mark and struck again seven minutes later, firing high into the net after a strong run into the box.
Le Fondre thought he had scored a winner 13 minutes from time only for VAR to intervene due to an offside in the build-up.
Your defence is terrified.
— Isuzu UTE A-League (@aleaguemen)
While Sydney remain without a win in th…
Everton s Maarten Stekelenburg will join Ajax as a free agent when the 2019/20 Premier League season is over, according to of The Times.
The 37-year-old goalkeeper joined the Merseysiders from Fulham on a four-year contract back in 2016, and has mostly played second fiddle to England international number one Jordan Pickford. Overall, he made a total of 26 appearances at the club, none which was this term. With his contract set to expire at the end of June, he has put his name on a one-month extension to enable him to stay put until the season is over, and he will then move to Amsterdam.
Over at Ajax, 24-year-old Andre Onana has been the first choice between the posts for a while now, but his backup option, Bruno Varela, is there on loan from Benfica which expires this …
Gareth Bale was named in the starting line-up for Real Madrid for the first time since August for Saturday s LaLiga clash with Villarreal.
The Wales international started each of Los Blancos first three league games of 2021-22, scoring in the 3-3 draw with Levante, but has not played for his club since.
Injury problems and a positive coronavirus test have kept Bale firmly on the sidelines, although he was an unused substitute in the past two league matches against Elche and Granada.
Carlo Ancelotti elected to start the 32-year-old at Estadio de la Ceramica as part of four changes from the 1-0 win over Granada.
Casemiro, Federico Valverde and Vinicius Junior also came into the side, with Eduardo Camavinga, Luka Modric, Isco and Rodrygo dropping out.
…
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez said he will do everything possible so the LaLiga giants do not lose their rightful place as one of the world s leading clubs amid strong links with Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe and Borussia Dortmund sensation Erling Haaland.
Madrid have long been linked with PSG s Mbappe, while in-demand Dortmund forward Haaland has emerged as a transfer target in the Spanish capital.
While discussing the new European Super League, which he is chairman of, Perez addressed the speculation regarding Mbappe and Haaland.
The fans always ask me to buy Mbappe, Perez told El Chiringuito. My answer? I say: don t worry the truth is that he is a good player, yes.
I ve never talked to Mbappe. At least now I don t know what s going …
FIFA president Gianni Infantino confirmed the governing body is proceeding with plans for a 32-team Club World Cup, while the format of the next World Cup is to be revisited.
Infantino was addressing the media in Doha on Friday for the first time since his extraordinary press conference at the start of Qatar 2022.
He opted against a 45-minute opening monologue on this occasion, instead taking the opportunity to provide an update following a FIFA Council meeting earlier in the day.
During that meeting, plans were approved to push on with a previously proposed expansion to the Club World Cup.
The competition currently pits the winners of the main continental club competitions against each other every year, but the new version will feature 32 teams from acro…