Arturo Vidal will put all friendships aside on Saturday when Bayern Munich welcome his former club Bayer Leverkusen to the Allianz Arena.
The Chile international has slotted into the gap left by Bastian Schweinsteiger at Bayern after signing a four-year deal in July, ending his stay in Italy with Juventus.
Vidal has started both Bundesliga matches of the 2015-16 campaign for Pep Guardiola and now prepares to face the club where he rose to prominence.
During his last season with Leverkusen in 2010-11, Vidal scored 10 league goals for the club as they finished runners-up behind Borussia Dortmund – three points clear of Bayern.
However, his loyalties now lie with the defending champions and he is intent on taking all three points of his previous employ…
Casemiro has been fundamental to Real Madrid s success this season Credit: Getty Images
Real Madrid are 270 minutes away from winning two of the most important trophies in the world.
Los Merengues top La Liga with only two games left on the schedule, meaning wins against Celta Vigo and Malaga would put them back on top at the domestic level. And if that was not enough, they also clinched a berth in the UEFA Champions League after getting past their local rivals Atletico Madrid in the semifinals.
If everything goes according to plan, Real Madrid would win their third Champions League trophy in the last four years. Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos get most of the praise for their roles within the team, but they have other important players as well. Toni Kroos…
Liverpool full-back Andy Robertson said the Reds can t rely on the past after their fifth consecutive home loss continued their faltering Premier League title defence.
Jurgen Klopp s struggling Liverpool went down 1-0 to Chelsea at Anfield on Thursday – the club losing five successive home games across all competitions for the first time in their history.
Liverpool are also winless in their past seven games at Anfield in the league, with the Reds earning just 10 points from 11 Premier League matches in 2021 – only West Brom (nine), Newcastle United (seven) and Southampton (four) picking up fewer.
The Reds broke numerous records in their title-winning 2019-20 Premier League campaign, including 18 consecutive wins and 24 straight home wins but star Robertson sa…
Market: Montreal double chance
Odds: 6/5 @
Looking to extend on their recent purple patch and spring an upset on the road, Montreal will make the trip to a struggling New York City in the early hours of Thursday.
Starting with the hosts, watching their Leagues Cup adventure come to an abrupt end following a 1-0 loss at the hands of bitter local rivals New York Red Bulls on August 4th, NYCFC are in the midst of a public struggle. Continuing to show a string of issues on either side of the month interval, Nick Cushing’s men were last seen over the weekend putting in another worrying display. Eventually slumping to a 3-0 drumming against Cincinnati, the Blues are battling it out at the foot of the Eastern Conference standings and facing a major uphill battle. Ope…
The squads of the eight teams competing in the upcoming FIFA Confederations Cup have been finalised.
The competition begins on June 15 when the hosts Brazil face Japan in Brasilia and those two sides, plus Spain, Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, Uruguay and Tahiti, confirmed their 23-man squads on Friday.
New Barcelona signing Neymar is undoubtedly one of the stars of the Brazil squad and he, along with the likes of Fred and Hulk, will be hoping to provide the goals for the hosts.
Milan s Mario Balotelli features in an Italy squad that also includes Juventus stars Andrea Pirlo and Gianluigi Buffon.
Manchester United attacking midfielder Shinji Kagawa will be the focus of Japan s team, while club team-mate Javier Hernandez is likely to be Mexico s talisman.
Chelsea John Obi Mikel…
Daniel Didavi will leave Stuttgart for Wolfsburg on a free transfer at the end of the season.
The 26-year-old, who had an expiring deal with Stuttgart, has signed a contract until June 2021 with his new club.
We are very happy that Daniel has opted in favour of a move to Wolfsburg, general director Klaus Allofs told the official Wolfsburg website.
We have kept a close eye on his development over a lengthy period of time. He has developed into a key figure at Stuttgart over the past few seasons.
He fits our profile perfectly and adds even more quality to our attacking midfield area.
The former Germany Under-21 international came through the ranks of the Stuttgart youth academy, while he also enjoyed a successful loan spell with Nurnberg in 20…
Premier League duo Chelsea and Everton are considering moves for Paris Saint Germain forward Edinson Cavani, according to the Mail Online.
The Uruguay international clashed with teammate Neymar during PSG’s 2-0 win over Lyon on Sunday and while the Ligue 1 giants are keen to quash any reports of a rift it is not the first time the former Napoli man has had to play second fiddle.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was very much the main man at the Parc des Princes before he moved on to Manchester United and Cavani is ready to weigh up his options.
Also, PSG are under pressure to sell in January to comply with FFP rules with Angel Di Maria, Julian Draxler and Lucas Moura also set to be moved on.
Cavani has been plying his trade in the French capital since the summe…
Costa Rica defender Kendall Waston is ready for Switzerland s plan to create organised chaos through Xherdan Shaqiri in Wednesday s World Cup clash.
Shaqiri struck the winner in the 2-1 triumph over Serbia on matchday two, a goal that has put Switzerland within touching distance of the last 16.
The Stoke City forward has been involved in five of his country s last six goals at the World Cup and scored a hat-trick against Honduras at this stage of the 2014 finals to send his side into the knockout phase.
Head coach Vladimir Petkovic applied the organised chaos epithet to Shaqiri s performance against Serbia, but Waston says Costa Rica must focus on their own qualities as they look to end a disappointing campaign with a win.
He has the potential, right? he…
Raheem Sterling was overcome by a beautiful feeling after scoring his first England goals in over three years to help the Three Lions see off Spain 3-2 in Seville on Monday.
Sterling scored either side of Marcus Rashford s effort as Gareth Southgate s side dismantled Spain in the first half of their Nations League encounter, ultimately giving the hosts too much to do after the break.
The Manchester City star s 16th-minute opener was his first England goal since October 9 2015, and Sterling acknowledged that finally ending his drought provided a huge relief.
It was a beautiful feeling to score, I put pressure on myself, it s my position to score goals, Sterling told Sky Sports.
It means a lot to me. Three years is a long time not to score!
2 Rahe…
Philippe Coutinho was in dazzling form as Liverpool got back to winning ways with an impressive 4-0 victory over Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Sunday.
A scintillating solo strike and an assist from Coutinho lifted Jurgen Klopp s side back up to fourth after successive draws against Everton and West Brom saw the gap to the top three widen.
Coutinho started wide on the left as Sadio Mane was granted a rest under the rotation policy for which Klopp has come under fire and the Brazilian quickly set about ensuring the scrutiny of his manager would be minimal with a fine individual goal.
Klopp this week lauded Liverpool s scouting department for their role in the signing of Mohamed Salah from Roma and they may be expecting further praise after the winger adde…