Atletico Madrid boosted as Koke thigh injury revealed to be minor

Managing to extend on their Olympic Games adventure with a nail-biting penalties victory on Tuesday morning, Brazil know that they re now just a single win from making it back-to-back gold medals.

While many neutrals might have expected a thriller affair between this summer s top scorers and the defending champions, we instead witnessed what was an incredibly uninspiring showdown at an empty Kashima Soccer Stadium.

Just about managing to drag themselves over the finish line against what was a sluggish Mexico side, we have taken a look at what the major talking points were as the Seleção move one step closer to making Olympic history.

Brazil sneak their way to the final

Opening up this summer s delayed tournament with a thumping 4-2 win against 2016 silver med…

Liverpool’s 2022 Carabao Cup final hero Caoimhin Kelleher will be more than happy to stay out of the limelight at Wembley.

The Republic of Ireland international scored what turned out to be the winning spot-kick after a goalless final against Sunday’s opponents Chelsea in an epic shoot-out which finished 11-10 when Kelleher’s opposite number Kepa Arrizabalaga blazed over, the only failure from either side.

It was fitting for the Irishman, who has been Liverpool’s League Cup goalkeeper for the last few seasons, but he would prefer a quieter afternoon this time around.

Man like Kelleher

— Liverpool FC (@LFC)

“To be fair, I was just in the moment. I didn’t even realise it was my go and I looked at the lads and they were pointing at me…

Javier Pastore believes Champions League finalists Paris Saint-Germain will approach future seasons with new levels of confidence because they have reached the ultimate level .

PSG face Bayern Munich in Lisbon on Sunday in their first ever Champions League title match.

The Ligue 1 giants overturned deficits to knock out Borussia Dortmund and Atalanta before easing past RB Leipzig in the last four.

Roma midfielder Pastore, who represented PSG for seven seasons following Qatar Sports Investments 2011 takeover, is confident the club s repeated disappointments in the knockout stages of Europe s elite competition are behind them.

And even if favourites Bayern prove too strong for Neymar and co, Pastore believes the club as a whole will take great confidence fr…

Kalidou Koulibaly is the best centre-back in the world and is worth €150million, according to Napoli head coach Carlo Ancelotti.

The 27-year-old has been at the Stadio San Paolo since signing from Genk in 2014, developing a reputation as one of Serie A s top defenders.

Senegal international Koulibaly has been linked with a move to Manchester United but Ancelotti warned off potential suitors.

The best centre-back in the world? I would say so, he told Tuttosport. And he can still improve. He is worth €150m and he is not available for transfer.

Koulibaly’s contract expires in 2023, in 2021 there s a €150m clause but Napoli do not need to sell, the president [Aurelio De Laurentiis] does not want to sell and the question doesn t come up.

Nap…

In this tutorial, I will show you how to bet on Odd/Even goals in football. What does odd/even mean in betting? How do you place an odd/even football bet? These are just a few topics discussed in this article.

What is an odd/even bet?

An odd/even bet is a wager placed by punters who predict the total number of goals during regular playtime using an odd or even selection.

Odd and even numbers can be described as follows:

Odds are numbers that divided by 2 will return a fractional number (2,5 or 3,25 etc)
Evens are numbers that after being divided by 2 will result in another whole number (2; 4; 6 etc)

Since in football betting can only be whole numbers, an odd/even bet can also be seen as flipping a coin, which is the basis of many

Example of odd/even fo…

It wasn t so long ago that voicing the idea of Juventus challenging for the Scudetto this season would have seen you laughed out of the room.

Yet, remarkably, they could potentially end the weekend just four points off the summit, and a victory over defending champions Inter would be a decent barometer of just how emphatic their late push is going to be.

Serie A s standout match this week is undoubtedly the Derby d Italia between Juve and Inter in Turin, with Italy s top flight essentially establishing a pretty firm top four ahead of the international break.

But Massimiliano Allegri s Juve surely won t be content with just settling for fourth spot, and a win on Sunday will show they mean business.

A bedrock for improvement

Even if Juve do end up w…

Mikel Arteta maintains hope of pipping Chelsea to third, although he expects Arsenal s bid for Champions League qualification to go to the wire after an ugly win at West Ham.

Arsenal played in Sunday s late Premier League game after third-placed Chelsea and fifth-placed Tottenham played earlier in the day.

Chelsea lost at Everton, but Spurs beat Leicester City to briefly move ahead of their rivals into the top four.

Arsenal came up with a vital response, however, edging West Ham 2-1 at London Stadium to reclaim fourth place and close to within three points of Chelsea, with Thomas Tuchel acknowledging concern regarding his side s Champions League hopes.

Manager Arteta was not impressed with the Gunners performance but recognised the importance of the victo…

Inter are on the verge of exiting the Champions League after losing 2-0 to Real Madrid in Wednesday s clash at San Siro.

Madrid won the reverse fixture 3-2 earlier this month to revive their Group B campaign and they made a strong start to what was the first meeting between these sides at Inter s iconic ground since 1998.

Eden Hazard converted an early penalty his first goal in the competition in three years and Inter s task was made all the more difficult when Arturo Vidal was sent off for dissent with 33 minutes played.

Madrid added a second goal through substitute Rodrygo s volley to move a point behind Borussia Monchengladbach in second, with Inter five points worse off in fourth heading into the final two rounds of fixtures.

Eden Hazard = Champions L…

Sadio Mane has rejected any notion of a rivalry with former Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah after the new Bayern Munich signing won his second African Player of the Year honour on Thursday.

Mane, 30, previously won the award in 2019, and earned it again after helping Senegal win their first African Cup of Nations crown, while being named Player of the Tournament.

In the process, he became Senegal s all-time leading goalscorer, finding the net 33 times from 91 senior caps.

Mane and Salah have now split the past four African Player of the Year awards evenly, with Salah winning in 2017 and 2018, and Mane now the winner in 2019 and 2022. The award was not given out in both 2020 and 2021.

AFRICAN PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Congratulations, Sadio Mané!

…

Hugo Lloris has committed to Antonio Conte s Tottenham project by signing a new two-and-a-half-year contract with the Premier League club.

Lloris, 35, had entered the final six months of his previous deal and was entitled to discuss an end-of-season free transfer with foreign clubs.

He was linked with his boyhood club Nice, where he came through the academy before spending three years in the first team, but will be staying in north London.

Tottenham confirmed the deal that will take Lloris past 10 years with the club, with the goalkeeper set to remain at Spurs until the end of the 2023-24 season.

The news is a huge boost for Conte, who took on the Tottenham top job in November and made it clear he saw Lloris as part of the team s future.

Cont…