Ever Banega felt mixed emotions after Sevilla s Europa League triumph over Inter brought the curtain down on his stay with the club.
Argentina international Banega first joined Sevilla in 2014 and returned to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan in 2017 after a season in Serie A with Inter.
He will continue his career in Saudi Arabia with Al-Shabab after Sevilla won Europe s secondary club competition for a record sixth time on Friday.
The 32-year-old played an important role as Julen Lopetegui s side beat his former club 3-2 in Cologne, setting up Luuk de Jong s second goal after Romelu Lukaku had put the Nerazzurri ahead in the fifth minute.
Diego Godin equalised in the 35th minute, but Lukaku sent an overhead kick from Diego Carlos into his own net after Inter…
Manchester United, Barcelona and Juventus all made winning starts to their Champions League campaigns as the group stage got up and running.
Tuesday s headline fixture saw two heavyweights in a head-to-head Group H clash, as United saw off Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 thanks to Marcus Rashford s late strike. The England forward s last three goals in the competition have all come on the road, with the last two netted at Parc des Princes.
The victory means United, who have also now scored a record nine Champions League own goals thanks to Anthony Martial s mistake, have won 10 consecutive away matches in all competitions for the first time.
Bruno Fernandes opened the scoring with his 11th spot-kick for United. Since 2012-13, PSG have conceded more penalties (18) an…
Massimiliano Allegri will expect Juventus to take the anger of their Champions League failure on Inter when they do battle in the Derby d Italia on Sunday.
A 2-1 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday made it five defeats from six Group H games for Juve, but they will move into the Europa League after finishing in third place.
Allegri stated he expects his players to use the fury of falling short in the Champions League as fuel for the remainder of the season, and a victory at the Allianz Stadium would move them above Inter.
The sixth-placed Nerazzurri, who head into the weekend two points better off than Juve, had already qualified for the Champions League before they were beaten 2-0 at Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
Stats Perform picks out the standout O…
Lionel Messi joining forces with Neymar and Kylian Mbappe could turn Paris Saint-Germain into a practically unbeatable team , according to Cafu.
Messi s future at Barcelona remains unclear beyond the current campaign, the Argentina international having attempted to engineer his departure in the previous offseason before eventually announcing he would be staying put for a further year.
Manchester City were strongly linked with a move for the six-time Ballon d Or winner, in a switch that would have reunited Messi with former Barca boss Pep Guardiola in England.
However, Neymar stated after PSG s Champions League win over Manchester United that he wants to play alongside Messi again, adding: Next year, we have to play together, for sure.
Former Barca …
Julian Nagelsmann is finding his Bayern Munich side fun to watch after they hammered Mainz 6-2 to go top of the Bundesliga on Saturday.
The ruthless Bavarian giants extended their winning streak to six matches by putting Mainz to the sword at the Allianz Arena following a 3-0 midweek victory at Barcelona in the Champions League.
Bayern had six different goalscorers for only the third time in a Bundesliga match, with Mainz the opponents in two of those games, the other occasion being in August 2019.
Serge Gnabry, Jamal Musiala and Sadio Mane were on target in a first half that ended with Silvan Widmer pulling a goal back just after Sven Ulreich saved a Jonathan Burkardt penalty.
Leon Goretzka, Mathys Tel and the in-form Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting were on tar…
Gavi and Pedri will emerge as leaders of a new generation for Spain, according to Lothar Matthaus, who is expecting a World Cup classic when La Roja take on Germany on Sunday.
The Barcelona youngsters starred as Spain began their campaign by hammering Costa Rica 7-0 on Wednesday, while Germany surrendered a half-time lead in a shock 2-1 defeat to Japan.
Should Die Nationalmannschaft slump to consecutive group-stage losses at a single World Cup for the first time on Sunday, it may be enough for them to replicate 2018 s humiliating early exit.
With Gavi and Pedri pulling the strings for Spain and Germany having suffered an embarrassing 6-0 defeat when they last met La Roja two years ago in the Nations League, Matthaus is not overly confident.
Asked about th…
League Two top scorer Macauley Langstaff netted his first ever EFL hat-trick in the first half as Notts County concluded their memorable 2023 with a 5-0 triumph over Morecambe.
County dictated the tempo of the game early on and took the lead in the 10th minute courtesy of Langstaff’s penalty.
The Magpies number nine did what he does best again in the 13th minute to give the hosts a deserved 2-0 lead and his 38th league goal of 2023.
Dan Crowley arrived at the back post to head home his 10th of the season and Notts’ third of the night.
And that man Langstaff delightfully curled in his third, still with just 36 minutes on the clock.
The game resumed after half-time and within a minute County had a fifth, courtesy of the in-form Jodi Jones.
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Prediction: Match to end in 2-2 draw
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Inter Milan and Napoli will face each other in Serie A this week. The match between I Nerazzurri and I Partenopei will take place at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza (San Siro) and is scheduled to kick off at 7:45pm UK time on Wednesday.
Inter Milan
Inter Milan won the Serie A title in 2020-21 under Antonio Conte, who is now in charge of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. The former UEFA Champions League winners ended up second in the league table season, missing out on the Scudetto to city rivals AC Milan by just two points. In 2019-20, Inter finished only a point behind eventual winners Juventus.
So, many expected Inter to challenge for the Serie A title this season, but things are not go…
Jude Bellingham hailed the “proudest day” of his life as he spoke for the first time as a Real Madrid player.
Real announced the signing of the 19-year-old England international on Wednesday and he was unveiled in the Spanish capital on Thursday afternoon after signing a six-year deal.
The LaLiga giants paid an initial 103million euros (£88.5m) to land Bellingham, who moved to Germany from boyhood club Birmingham in 2020.
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden)
He had been linked with a return to England with the likes of Manchester City or Liverpool but ultimately decided to join the record 14-time European Cup winners.
With his parents watching on, Bellingham said: “Thank you for everyone for joining me on the proudest day of my…
Mason Mount and Kai Havertz struck as Chelsea relaunched their Premier League season with a much-needed 2-0 victory against Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge.
Graham Potter s side headed into the mid-season World Cup break last month having failed to notch a win in their previous five top-flight games, with three losses on the bounce to boot.
An impressive performance from the hosts saw them break their barren run, though it came at a cost with Reece James forced off injured in his first match since October.
The outcome means Bournemouth have had two losses in two competitive games under head coach Gary O Neil since he took charge of the Cherries on a permanent basis, having been Scott Parker s interim successor for the majority of the season.
Victory for i…