Ranieri gets Moratti backing

Thierry Henry was glowing in his praise for Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba, who set up both goals in Monday s 2-0 win at Everton, also hailing the Frenchman s leadership.

Wearing the captain s armband in the absence of injured full-back Antonio Valencia, Pogba provided assists for Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard at Goodison Park as United snapped a run of three consecutive draws in the Premier League.

Pogba starred on New Year s Day, at home on the left of a three-man midfield – where the France international established himself during his time at Italian champions Juventus before returning to United in 2016.

He can play in a lot of positions. I said when he first arrived that, for me, he is not a holding midfielder, fellow Frenchman Henry told Sky …

Dani Carvajal has described his season as a fail and says all his Real Madrid team-mates have fallen well short of their high standards.  

Los Blancos are destined to finish the season in disappointing fashion after exiting the Champions League in the last 16 to Ajax and failing to keep up with the pace set by LaLiga leaders Barcelona, who also dumped them out of the Copa del Rey.

Their season has been characterised by chaos in the dugout with the club burning through two head coaches – Julen Lopetegui and Santiago Solari – before Zinedine Zidane returned in March after resigning in the wake of leading the club to a third consecutive Champions League title in 2018.

Carvajal has featured 28 times in all competitions for Madrid this season but admits he is …

Barcelona have vowed to appeal UEFA s decision to give the Catalans a €150,000 fine for displaying estelada flags during Champions League matches in 2015-16.

The Spanish champions fans showed the estelada flags an unofficial flag typically flown by Catalan separatists to express their support for an independent Catalonia on more than one occasion throughout the 2015-16 campaign.

UEFA, however, considers the banner to be a form of ideological, political and religious propaganda, which is forbidden by European football s governing body, and therefore slapped Barcelona with a fine.

The Camp Nou side feel displaying estelada flags falls under the freedom of expression, though, and are ready to take legal action.

Barcelona announce that the club has receive…

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has won the PFA Players Player of the Year award after a sterling Premier League campaign.

Netherlands international Van Dijk has played a pivotal role in the Reds thrilling title challenge with Manchester City this season, a battle that looks set to go to the wire.

And his performances have not gone unnoticed, with the 27-year-old s peers anointing him the competition s best at a ceremony in London on Sunday.

Raheem Sterling, scorer of 17 goals in a superb season for Manchester City, was considered by many as Van Dijk s closest rival, but the England star had to settle for being named the Young Player of the Year.

The Players’ Player of the Year 2019 and defender   

— PFA | Professional Footballers As…

Swansea City midfielder Jonathan de Guzman has backed manager Michael Laudrup to bring Osasuna s Roland Lamah to Wales.

Lamah is rumoured to be on his way to Swansea for 2.4 million euros as Laudrup looks to use his Spanish contacts to find another bargain.

Laudrup s most impressive signing since taking over as Swansea s boss was Michu for 2.4 million euros, while de Guzman has been handy on loan from Villarreal and the latter believes Lamah would add something to Wales only Premier League club.

Roland s a strong player, de Guzman said.

I remember playing against him in Holland. I was playing for Feyenoord and he was playing for Roda JC.

He scores goals, he has a good shot and he s fast. If he came here, I think he d fit in with the players h…

Atletico Madrid are attempting to nab a deal for Jose Manuel Jurado after tabling a bid of five million euros for the Schalke midfielder.

The capital outfit are desperate to land a new attacking midfielder as loanee Diego is due to return to parent club Wolfsburg on July 1 and there is no sign of a permanent deal being agreed upon.

However, AS has claimed that Atletico will not pursue negotiations with the German side and instead have looked closer to home for an alternative in the form of ex-player Jurado.

The 25-year-old originally left the Vicente Calderon in 2010 to join Schalke for 13m euros and enjoyed a productive debut campaign, as he helped them into the semi-finals of the Champions League.

However, his season has been disappointing, having fai…

Jurgen Klopp believes there was no reason for the BBC to tell Gary Lineker to step aside from hosting Match of the Day after the presenter became involved in a political row on social media.

The BBC announced on Friday that Lineker would not be involved in this week s edition of the hugely popular British football show after the former striker criticised the UK government s new asylum policy on Twitter.

Lineker compared the language being used by current politicians to that expressed in Germany in the 1930s.

In the aftermath of the BBC s announcement, several big-name pundits including Ian Wright and Alan Shearer said they would not appear on the show out of solidarity with Lineker, forcing the BBC to air Saturday s episode without a studio team.

Asked ab…

Competition: Irish First Division

Market: Shelbourne to score over 2.5 goals

Odds: 11/10 @

Two sides who find themselves very much battling it out at opposite ends of the First Division table, Shelbourne will make the trip to a struggling Wexford on Friday night.

Starting with the hosts, making an immediate return to losing ways last time out after throwing away the lead against Treaty United on home soil, Wexford find themselves in the midst of a First Division nightmare. Eventually hit with a 2-1 defeat at Ferrycarrig Park on June 11th, Ian Ryan s side are already sat rock-bottom of the table and chasing a six-point deficit. With it appearing that their much-needed victory against Cabinteely last month was just a minor bounce, The Youths have lost 10 …

Lazio have ended striker Brayan Perea s loan at Perugia to give coach Stefano Pioli more depth in the forward third.

Lazio recalled Colombian striker Brayan Perea from his loan deal with Serie B club Perugia on Monday to cover for Filip Djordjevic s long-term ankle injury.

Djordjevic is set to have surgery on Tuesday after fracturing his ankle in Lazio s 3-1 win over Milan at the Stadio Olimpico, which will leave the Italian capital club undermanned up front for the rest of the season.

In an effort to give coach Stefano Pioli more attacking options, with Felipe Anderson (knee) also injured, Lazio ended Perea s loan stint with Perugia, confirming the decision in a statement on their website.

The concern for Pioli is Perea s lack of goal-scoring form with t…

The first transfer window of 2015 has officially come to a close and below we analyse 10 of the biggest deals.

The clock has run out for club s around Europe as another fascinating transfer window came to a close on Monday.

Several high-profile transfers have taken place over the past month and here we look at the top 10 deals.

Juan Cuadrado: To Chelsea, from Fiorentina

Without doubt the highlight on Monday s deadline day was Chelsea s purchase of Juan Cuadrado from Fiorentina. The Colombia international who caught the eye with a series of impressive performances at last year s World Cup was linked with a move to Stamford Bridge throughout the window and finally put pen-to-paper on a four-and-a-half-year deal with Jose Mourinho s men

An…