Argentina star Lionel Messi dreams of winning the 2018 World Cup and warned his international team-mates it could be their last chance.
A senior trophy with the national team is all that is missing from Messi s incredible career, which has included a record five Ballon d Or crowns.
Since Messi made his debut in 2005, Argentina have been three-time Copa America runners-up and also lost the 2014 World Cup final in Brazil.
The 30-year-old Barcelona star is desperate to go one better in Russia, with his team having been beaten by Germany in extra time in Rio de Janeiro four years ago.
We feel that, if we won t win the World Cup in Russia, the only way will be to give up the national team, Messi told La Cornisa on Sunday.
I dream of winning the troph…
Alexandre Pato has signed a one-year deal with Orlando City after spending six months without a club.
Former Milan, Chelsea and Brazil attacker Pato had his contract with Sao Paulo mutually terminated last August and had been hoping for a return to Europe.
However, the 31-year-old will continue his career in MLS with Orlando, who fell to New England Revolution in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season.
We are very excited to welcome Pato to Orlando. He s a veteran player who has featured at some of the top clubs around the world and has a proven track record at the international level, said Orlando executive vice-president of soccer operations Luiz Muzzi.
The experience that Pato brings with him will be invaluable to the club. Pato is a high-cal…
According to , Everton could sell Bernard in the January transfer window. It has been reported that the Premier League club could make the winger available for transfer next month, along with with defender Matty Pennington, midfielder Muhamed Besic and winger Yannick Bolasie.
AS Roma reportedly wanted to sign the 28-year-old winger from Everton on summer transfer deadline day in October, but the Toffees decided not to sell him. However, it seems that the Merseyside club have now changed their mind.
Bernard has been on the books of Everton since the summer of 2018 when he joined on a free transfer after leaving Shakhtar Donetsk. According to , the Brazil international winger made 15 starts and 12 substitute appearances in the Premier League for the Toffees last season,…
Bayern secure new signing
Bayern Munich have agreed to sign Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Sebastian Rode, according to the player s current employers.
The news comes just few days after it was revealed Borussia Dortmund superstar Mario Gotze would be joining the Bavarians in the summer.
Mainz defender Jan Kirchhoff will arrive at Alianz Arena on a free transfer in the summer, with Sebastian Rode set to follow.
Why does Jan Kirchhoff go to Bayern? Why does Sebastian (Rode) go too? Eintracht chief Heribert Bruchhagen said in an interview with Bild.
My God, these are young people. They can earn four times as much money at Bayern as they can here. End of story. The budget at Eintracht is 30 million euros, it s 150 million at Bayern.
It re…
Napoli saw their winless run extend to five games after Bologna secured a 2-0 win with two quickfire goals at their lacklustre hosts in Serie A on Saturday.
Forward Dan Ndoye gave Bologna the lead in the ninth minute, heading home from point-blank range, before defender Stefan Posch nodded in to double the advantage three minutes later following a corner.
Napoli should have pulled one back soon after when they were awarded a penalty for Remo Freuler s foul on Victor Osimhen but Bologna goalkeeper Federico Ravaglia kept out Matteo Politano s low shot.
Bologna, at least temporarily, moved up to third on 67 points, leapfrogging Juventus – with 66 – who host relegated Salernitana on Sunday.
Napoli are eighth on 51 points as last season s Scudetto winners …
Terence Kongolo has signed a new contract with Feyenoord until June 2019 to end speculation about his short-term future.
The Netherlands international s previous deal was due to expire at the end of the 2017-18 campaign and clubs such as Everton and Bayer Leverkusen had allegedly kept a close eye on his situation at De Kuip.
Kongolo, 23, has opted against a move abroad, though, and has signed a one-year extension to commit his future to Feyenoord.
We are very happy that we have been able to renew Terence s contract again, commented sporting director Martin van Geel.
Terence has been an important player for us for a number of seasons now, also because he can play both as centre-back and as left-back.
I am convinced that he has the potential to m…
Penarol forward Diego Forlan has not ruled out a move to MLS in the future.
Former Uruguay international Forlan has been playing in his homeland after an 18-month stint for Cerezo Osaka in Japan s J.League.
The 2010 World Cup Golden Ball winner guided Penarol to the Uruguay Apertura title in his first season with the club, scoring four goals in 15 appearances.
Forland was shopped around at several clubs and admitted if a formal offer came around he would definitely consider it.
You can see on TV that the MLS is a tournament that attracts attention and obviously the level of football has also increased a lot, the 36-year-old told Deporte Total.
Adults and kids are playing a lot, so today there is a good amount of people playing football…
Diego Simeone confirmed he will stay on as Atletico Madrid head coach after the club bode farewell to the Vicente Calderon with a 3-1 win over Athletic Bilbao.
Simeone s future with Atleti, who he has led with considerable success since 2012, has been a matter of speculation throughout the season after he negotiated a reduction in the length of his contract following last year s penalty shootout loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League final.
His deal now expires next June after having two years trimmed off but the 2013-14 LaLiga title winner intends to be in the dugout when Atleti open the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium next term.
I am staying here, he told a post-match news conference after a brace from Fernando Torres and a late Angel Correa effort sealed the…
Fiorentina have moved to confirm that Uruguayan midfielder Matias Vecino Falero will be joining Inter Milan.
The highly rated footballer was left out of the squad for the friendly game against Sporting CP, with head coach Stefano Pioli saying that Inter had made “a great signing” in Vecino.
There has been no official confirmation of the deal as of yet, but it is clear there are no obstacles to the 25-year-old moving to Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.
Matias Vecino has been at Artemio Franchi since January 2013, but he needed quite some time to prove his worth.
Very successful loan spell with Empoli made all the difference and eventually helped the midfielder nail down a regular starting berth at Fiorentina.
…
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Burnley are set to welcome Norwich City to Turf Moor on Saturday afternoon in the fourth round of this season s FA Cup.
Burnley
Having earned a reputation for being an extremely difficult opponent for any team in England, the Clarets have had a rather disappointing season so far. Since getting promoted back to the Premier League in 2016, they ve never been in any serious danger of relegation until this term. Only two league rounds ago, they were sitting in 15th place with only three points more than Aston Villa in 18th, which marks the start of the relegation zone.
However, they ve kicked their tally significantly up since then through wins over two very difficult opponents in Leicester City and Manchester United, and they ca…