Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Paulinho were on target as Barcelona cruised to a 3-0 home win against Levante on Sunday which saw LaLiga s leaders stretch their advantage over Atletico Madrid back to nine points.
Barcelona ended 2017 with a crushing Clasico win at Real Madrid who are now 17 points off the pace, albeit with two games in hand and they continued the club-record start to a season with ease, although there was no sign of Philippe Coutinho.
A deal worth a reported £142million was announced by Barca on Saturday, but Ernesto Valverde s men had more than enough to beat Levante prior to the Brazil international s formal arrival at Camp Nou.
Coutinho s predecessor as Barca s record signing, Ousmane Dembele, made his first start since September after recover…
Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane insists he is fully focused on the FIFA World Cup amid interest from Premier League club Chelsea.
The French central defender is being tipped to reunite with former Real manager Jose Mourinho at Chelsea after David Luiz agreed to depart Stamford Bridge for Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain.
Varane was an ever-present during Mourinho s final season in charge of the Madrid club, who eventually finished second behind Barcelona in 2012-13.
But the 21-year-old is not thinking about his club future as Didier Deschamps France prepare to face Switzerland, Ecuador and Honduras in Group E at the World Cup in Brazil.
Right now, I m not thinking about (the interest from Chelsea), we have the World Cup ahead of us, Varane told French fo…
Verona are willing to sell Juan Manuel Iturbe, but only if they receive the right offer for the Argentine forward.
Iturbe enjoyed a fine season with the Serie A side last season, scoring eight goals as Verona comfortably avoided a return to Serie B following promotion in 2012-13.
The 21-year-old initially joined on loan from Porto, but his move to the Italian outfit was made permanent in May when Verona parted with €15million to secure his services.
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool and Arsenal have all been credited with an interest in Iturbe.
However, Verona sporting director Sean Sogliano is adamant that a fair price will be need to paid in order for them to part with their star player.
Even though all the focus is on him, he is calm and aware that he …
Juventus legend Giampiero Boniperti, the club s honorary president, has died aged 92.
The Bianconeri announced his passing on Friday.
Boniperti represented Juve for 15 years as a player, winning five Scudetti between 1946 and 1961.
He retired having scored 179 goals for the Turin club, a record that stood for almost 40 years before it was passed by Alessandro Del Piero.
Boniperti s 443 Serie A appearances also set a Juve benchmark, again topped by Del Piero.
The club great became Juve president in 1971, overseeing 16 trophy wins, and was later given his honorary title.
Winning is not important, but it is the only thing that matters, he was famously quoted.
Se un bambino mi chiedesse chi è Gianpiero Boniperti risponderei che sempl…
Erling Haaland is undergoing his rehabilitation from a hamstring injury in Qatar, Borussia Dortmund s sporting director Michael Zorc has confirmed.
Haaland was left out of Dortmund s squad for their Champions League encounter with Lazio on December 2, with the club subsequently revealing the Norway sensation had suffered a hamstring injury in training.
His absence was felt as Dortmund were held to 1-1 draws by both Lazio and Eintracht Frankfurt, though Lucien Favre s side did then beat Zenit to finish top of their Champions League group.
Favre put Haaland s injury down to an accumulation of games, with the 20-year-old having featured 14 times for Dortmund prior to his injury.
Zorc has now confirmed the striker is recovering in Qatar after requesting pe…
Sevilla have agreed a deal to sign Joaquin Correa from Sampdoria on a five-year contract.
Both clubs confirmed on Sunday that the transfer will go through pending the successful completion of a medical, with the player having agreed terms with the Europa League winners.
Reports in Italy suggest the transfer fee for Correa is in excess of €13million, with significant potential add-ons to be paid by Jorge Sampaoli s new side.
Attacking midfielder Correa, 21, began his senior career with Estudiantes before signing for Sampdoria in January 2015.
Since then he has made 31 Serie A appearances – 25 of which came last season – and scored three goals.
Acuerdo entre y para el traspaso de Joaquín Correa
— Sevilla Fútbol Club (@Sevilla…
Real Madrid s Champions League fate rests in the hands of the small details , according to defender Marcelo.
Zinedine Zidane s men take on city rivals Atletico at San Siro as they go in search of an 11th European crown on Saturday.
It is a repeat of the 2014 final in Lisbon, when Carlo Ancelotti led Madrid to a 4-1 triumph after extra time, and it pits some of football s biggest talents head to head as the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Antoine Griezmann battle it out for continental supremacy.
But Marcelo says the finer points will be decisive and he suggested Zidane s side will leave no stone unturned in their pursuit of glory.
We re feeling as good as we could, he said. We re ready, prepared and I think we ll fair quite well.
I think in a fin…
Switzerland s supreme court has ordered the release of a report further implicating former senior figures at FIFA in long-term corruption.
International Sports and Leisure, a partner organisation of world football s governing body which collapsed in 2001, is alleged to have bribed former FIFA President Joao Havelange and executive committee member Ricardo Teixeira.
The Swiss supreme court this week ordered the release of a previously-suppressed prosecutor s report revealing the two men may have received kickbacks totalling 14.4 million pounds, with Havelange receiving at least 986,000 pounds and Teixeira at least 8.4 million pounds.
Documents made available by the court are believed to identify which senior FIFA officials serving in the organisation at the time …
Having gone close to being crowned champions of the A-League 2011/12, Perth Glory have returned to South Africa for their pre-season camp.
Ian Ferguson s charges depart for their 14-day trip on Saturday, basing themselves at the Ingwenyama Conference and Sports Resort in Nelspruit home to Chile during the 2010 World Cup and will take on three South African Premier Soccer League clubs in friendlies.
Last season s A-League runners-up meet AmaZulu on July 24, Platinum Stars on July 27 and Bidvest Wits on July 31.
With a host of new signings in the Glory squad, including former Gold Coast United captain Michael Thwaite and former Sydney FC full-back Scott Jamieson, Ferguson hailed the importance of the trip.
We are all looking forward to the camp, he told r…
Despite winning the La Liga title for the eighth time in the last 10 years, Barcelona do not consider their 2018/19 to have been successful by their high standards. The main reason for such self-critical approach is certainly the infamous Champions League failure, though they also fell short in the Copa Del Rey, having lost the final to Valencia.
Big changes in the squad are needed, and having secured the services of Ajax midfielder Frenkie de Jong, they are preparing to move for other big-name targets in the transfer market. However, before they can go out on a massive spending spree, they need to cut some weight off.
According to Mundo Deportivo, the Catalan club have had concrete offers for a number of fringe players, namely winger Malcom, goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen…