Paul Pogba has been dropped by Juventus for Thursday s Europa League clash with Freiburg in Turin.
The France international was reportedly late for a team meeting on Wednesday and was not included in Massimiliano Allegri s squad when it was circulated on the morning of the last-16, first-leg tie.
Pogba has endured a miserable start to his second spell with Juve after re-joining the club from Manchester United last July.
The 29-year-old midfielder has suffered with multiple injuries and had to wait until February 28 to make his second debut, coming off the bench in the 4-2 derby win against Torino and also appeared as a late substitute in Sunday s 1-0 defeat at Roma.
Thursday s game against Bundesliga club Freiburg had been earmarked as one in which he cou…
Kylian Mbappe believes there is still more to come from Paris Saint-Germain s star-studded strikeforce during the second half of the season.
Mbappe has hit eight Ligue 1 goals, while Neymar has managed 11 and Edinson Cavani has contributed 19 to help PSG sit nine points clear at the top of the table, with a game in hand over nearest challengers Marseille.
While the relationship between Cavani and Neymar has not always been smooth the pair rowing on the pitch about who would take set pieces Mbappe has settled in easily after his switch from Monaco.
And the France international thinks 2018 may therefore prove to be an even better year for him despite flourishing during the course of 2017 for club and country.
You always have to aim higher, Mbappe told beIN…
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino is open to taking charge of Spanish and European champions Real Madrid as he dismissed the possibility of moving to Barcelona or Arsenal.
Zinedine Zidane guided Madrid to LaLiga and Champions League glory last season but the Frenchman is fighting to keep his job amid the club s struggles in 2017-18.
Madrid s campaign hit a new low Wednesday, bundled out of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals by Leganes.
Pochettino has been linked with Madrid amid uncertainty over Zidane and the former Espanyol boss refused to rule out a switch to the Santiago Bernabeu.
I am so clear, Pochettino said. I am never going to be manager of Barcelona or Arsenal because I am so identified with Tottenham and Espanyol. I grew up in Newell s Old B…
Former Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz believes his old team are over-dependent on star player Cristiano Ronaldo at Euro 2012.
Ronaldo, 27, powered Portugal to a 2-1 victory over the Netherlands on Sunday, netting both goals in his best performance to date at the competition.
And as Portugal prepare for their quarter-final clash against Czech Republic on Thursday, Queiroz has questioned their reliance on the Real Madrid star.
Portugal have a national team called Cristiano Ronaldo and a group of players who run after him, Queiroz told TVI24.
The approach should be different: Ronaldo being only an asset to the team.
A few years ago, the national team reflected Luis Figo, Rui Costa, Paulo Sousa and Fernando Couto.
When they retired, it bec…
Orlando Pirates are close to signing another rising African star with the news Emmanuel Okwi is likely to join them next week.
Okwi plays for Simba in Tanzania and will arrive at Mayfair in a deal worth a reported 680,000 euros, a record transfer in Tanzanian football.
He had a trial at Kaizer Chiefs before last season and was asked back for a second viewing, but at the time turned down the chance to instead attend a another trial in Turkey which came to nothing.
The 19-year-old already has 11 internationals goals to his name for Uganda, having made his debut at 17.
He was also top-scorer in the 2010 regional CECAFA Championship with four goals in five games, and matched that number in the 2011 tournament.
The deal is already done, but there are…
Hansi Flick feels Bayern Munich paid for the price for being too conservative in the first half of their 1-1 draw against Union Berlin and acknowledged his side can definitely play better .
The Bundesliga champions trailed after just four minutes of Saturday s contest at Alte Forsterei as Grischa Promel headed the underdogs into a shock lead.
Robert Lewandowski s 16th goal in as many games this season levelled proceedings just after the hour but Bayern were unable to find a winner in an entertaining clash.
The first few minutes we were not present on the pitch as we had wanted to be. We could have defended better when we conceded the goal, without question, head coach Flick said in quotes reported by Bayern s official website.
When the first ball become…
Market: Udinese win
Odds: 4/6 @
Storming their way into the top-half of the Serie A table, Udinese will be desperate to keep up their recent momentum when they host Crotone on Tuesday evening.
Starting with the hosts, while Udinese might have opened the new campaign by collecting just three points from their opening four appearances, I Bianconeri certainly find the mood in their camp at a real high. Gaining a string of plaudits from across Italy, Head Coach Luca Gotti saw his side once again impress over the weekend as they managed to grab a late dramatic 3-2 win away at Torino. Although Udinese might have seen Fironentina end their Coppa Italia adventure earlier in the month, Tuesday s hosts find themselves enjoying a glittering three-match Serie A winning run…
Monaco striker Radamel Falcao has emerged as a top target for Galatasaray, .
The Colombian has returned to Monaco following yet another disappointing loan spell and the Principality club vice-chairman Vadim Vasilyev said he expected Falcao to remain at Stade Louis II for the 2016/2017 campaign.
However, reports from Turkey claim that Galatasaray are interested in his services and hope to bring him to Istanbul in the summer transfer window.
The Turkish giants have submitted an official proposal for Falcao and it remains to be seen whether they can reach an agreement with the Ligue 1 side.
The 30-year-old has largely struggled for form since picking up a serious knee injury in January 2014, and he has failed to impress during loan stints with Manchester Un…
QPR turned in yet another dismal performance away from home in the Premier League, going down 3-1 to an impressive Crystal Palace side on Saturday.
A seventh win under Alan Pardew takes Palace to the safe haven of mid-table, but QPR s record of having lost all but one of their league games on the road remains after a sloppy defensive performance.
Chris Ramsey brought Shaun Wright-Phillips and Adel Taarabt in from the cold as he sought a spark to ignite QPR s flagging efforts away from Loftus Road – winger Wright-Phillips making his first league start since September 2013.
But the changes failed to have a positive impact as Wilfried Zaha bravely put the hosts ahead in the 21st minute with his first goal since his second Palace debut in August.
Taarabt lo…
France won their first game since their World Cup final defeat in style, beating the Netherlands 4-0 at the Stade de France to kick off their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with a bang.
Antoine Griezmann put France ahead early after he was teed up by the man chosen over him for the captaincy, Kylian Mbappe, before Dayot Upamecano doubled their advantage inside eight minutes after Jasper Cillessen made a mess of a free-kick.
Mbappe made it three before the halfway point of the first-half, before striking a fabulous second late on as Didier Deschamps men strolled to an opening win in Group B.
The Dutch had lost several players in the build-up to the game with a virus, but will have been made even sicker by the start to their qualifying campaign and Ronald Koeman s s…