Villas-Boas denies move for ´special´ Hulk

Real Madrid star Gareth Bale insists his side are ready to adapt to whatever Atletico challenge them with in the Champions League final.

The La Liga sides meet in the decider for the second time in three years when they clash at San Siro on Saturday.

Bale was on the scoresheet in extra time when the teams met in 2014, with Madrid claiming a 4-1 victory.

Atletico coach Diego Simeone said Madrid may play on the counter-attack, but the Wales international said that all depended on their rivals.

That depends how they set up, Bale told The Guardian.

Games against Atletico are always very physical. They re very defensive and make it very difficult to break them down.

It is about taking our opportunities because they re not going to give us a …

While hailing Diego Simeone as a great coach , former Real Madrid striker Ronaldo said he is not a fan of the Atletico Madrid boss tactics.

Simeone is preparing to lead Atletico into their second Champions League final in three seasons, with city rivals Real Madrid standing in their way of a maiden title in Milan on Saturday.

The Argentinian has become one of the world s most sought after coaches since helping Atletico to La Liga glory in 2014, the club s first top-flight crown in 18 years.

But ex-Brazil international and three-time World Player of the Year Ronaldo, who played alongside Simeone at Inter, is not completely impressed with the 46-year-old and his brand of football.

I am in love with football that is played well, Ronaldo told La Gazzetta del…

Lavezzi talks up Napoli return

Paris Saint-Germain forward Ezequiel Lavezzi has dropped the biggest hint yet that he is set to return to Italian Serie A.

With his contract at Parc des Princes due to expire in just over a year, the Argentine was heavily linked with a move back to Italy.

He has now all but confirmed the reports, adding that he would be prepared to head back to Stadio San Paolo.

“I miss Italy,” Lavezzi told Sky after the Champions League clash between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea.

“Me paired with Higuain? Why not? If I went back the first choice would be Napoli, we’ll have to see if I want to.

“I’m at PSG now, at the end of the season we’ll see what happens.”

Prior to joining Paris Saint-Germain, L…

David Beckham s role with England appears to be shifting towards mentor rather than chief tormentor after manager Fabio Capello heralded the arrival of new national hero Theo Walcott and suggested he is the future.

Arsenal winger Walcott, chosen ahead of Beckham on the right of midfield, scored a hat-trick in England s remarkable 4-1 World Cup qualifying victory over Croatia last month that has transformed public opinion of Capello s side.

Now as England prepare for games at home to Kazakhstan on Saturday and away to Belarus next Wednesday it is becoming increasingly clear the 19-year-old is likely to be first choice for the forseeable future with Beckham restricted to a substitute s role.

The LA Galaxy star has a habit of proving people wrong but any talk of…

Edinson Cavani was on target as Uruguay booked their spot in the knockout stages of the Copa America with a 2-0 victory over Bolivia at Arena Pantanal.

After losing their opening match to Argentina, Oscar Tabarez s men drew 1-1 with Chile on matchday two to breathe a bit of life into their campaign, and a first Group A win was enough to seal a place in the last eight. 

They largely struggled in the first half against Cesar Farias side, yet went in at the break 1-0 up courtesy of an unlucky own goal by Bolivia goalkeeper Carlos Lampe. 

La Celeste dominated the second period and scored a deserved second 11 minutes from time through Cavani, who had earlier missed a host of glorious chances.

Final del partido en el estadio Arena Pantanal de Cuiabá. 0-2 …

Market: Nani to score anytime

Odds: 13/10 @

Knowing they hold a real chance to climb within top spot of the Eastern Conference, a high-flying Orlando will travel to the DRV PNK Stadium in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Starting with the hosts, while Inter Miami might have managed to land themselves a much-needed victory against Cincinnati last month, Phil Neville s side have only shown a host of issues on either side of the international break. Really failing to find their feet under the former Manchester United man, The Herons were last seen earlier in the week putting in another nightmare display. Suffering a sluggish 1-0 defeat away at DC United, Miami have now lost each of their last three MLS matchups on the spin and Neville will have a real headache …

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard intends to stick with his favoured 4-3-3 formation against Wolves despite potentially being without three wingers.

Lampard has used that system throughout the campaign and the Blues were unbeaten in 14 games prior to Saturday s 1-0 Premier League loss at Everton.

Chelsea were without Hakim Ziyech, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Christian Pulisic at Goodison Park, so Timo Werner and Kai Havertz started out wide and had little impact on the game.

Ziyech and Hudson-Odoi will play no part in Tuesday s trip to Wolves, while Pulisic is included in the squad but not over a hamstring issue, though Lampard will not change his formation.

That is not something we will do in the short term, no. We ve been playing really well, he said at Monday s…

Liverpool F.C. midfielder Joe Allen claims the club have improved following the summer exit of star man Luis Suarez.

Suarez, 28, left Anfield for the Camp Nou in a deal reportedly worth €94 million last summer, but has failed to live up to his 2013/14 form during a disappointing debut campaign in Spain.

Meanwhile, Liverpool, despite a sub-par start to the 2014/15 campaign, are within two points of bitter rivals Manchester United, who are currently sitting in fourth-place in the English Premier League table.

Thanks in large part to Suarez s 31 league goals, the Reds finished as runners-up in the Premier League last term; nonetheless, Allen believes the club have improved without the Uruguayan hit-man.

At the start of the season we talked abo…

Best Odds: 8/13

Bookmaker:

With a golden chance to make a return to winning ways on Tuesday night, Manchester City will welcome a struggling West Brom to the Etihad in midweek.

Manchester City

Starting with the hosts, while Manchester City might have managed to recover from that shock 2-0 defeat away at Tottenham last month, the Sky Blues have struggled to lay down much of a marker. Opening the midweek fixtures sat all the way down in ninth and enduring their worst domestic start in recent memory, Pep Guardiola s side settled for what was an incredibly dull 0-0 stalemate across Manchester at Old Trafford over the weekend. Desperate to make up some ground and replicate a similar level that saw them cruise their way to the knockout stage of this year s Champions …

I have expressed my opinion and what I said is clear, Raiola said. I was talking about the summer. The big players hardly move in January. Let s see what happens in the summer. 

In England they are very sensitive when it comes to Pogba, unfortunately. But he will certainly have a good future.  

Pogba, whose contract at United expires in 2022, has also been touted as a target for Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid in the past. 

He has featured in both of United s matches since his agent s initial comments, playing the full 90 minutes of Saturday s 0-0 draw with Manchester City after coming on as a second-half substitute in the defeat to Leipzig.

…