World Cup 2018: Rakitic ready to rumble with Messi in Croatia v Argentina

Pep Guardiola says only Bastian Schweinsteiger can determine his Bayern Munich future amid continued links with a move to Manchester United.

Germany captain Schweinsteiger has etched his name into Bayern folklore having won eight Bundesliga titles, seven DFB-Pokals and the UEFA Champions league in 2013 after making his debut in 2002.

However, the World Cup-winning midfielder has been rumoured to be in line for a reunion with former Bayern boss Louis van Gaal at Old Trafford after making just 15 league starts last season.

The 30-year-old hinted earlier this week that his future remains with the German champions, and head coach Guardiola says Schweinsteiger has earned the right to make his own decision.

I told him the future depends on you . Basti has m…

Arsenal defender Sebastien Squillaci believes his long-term future lies away from the club.

After moving to the Emirates in 2010, the 32-year-old centre-back has made just 40 first-team appearances for the club spread over the course of two-and-a-half seasons, with only a solitary Champions League outing to show for his efforts so far this campaign.

The France international believes the main reason for the lack of first-team opportunities coming his way is due solely to the tough competition for places, insisting that he still shares a positive relationship with manager Arsene Wenger, despite his desire for a move away to a new club.

With (Laurent) Koscielny, (Per) Mertesacker, (Thomas) Vermaelen and (Johan) Djourou, the competition is fierce, Squillaci told ww…

Alex Ferguson believes Leicester City can make a deep run in the Champions League after their Premier League title success last season.

Claudio Ranieri s men shocked the world by winning the top-flight in 2015-16, but they already sit nine points off the pace after as many matches this time around.

In the Champions League, though, Leicester are on the brink of reaching the last 16 having taken maximum points from Group G games against Club Brugge, Porto and Copenhagen.

Ferguson does not think that will be the end of Leicester s run in Europe s elite club competition and is tipping them to reach the latter stages, although he stopped short of saying they would go all the way.

Their transfer policy was fantastic, former Manchester United boss Ferguson told…

Former Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez insists he has nothing to prove ahead of Bayer Leverkusen s Champions League showdown with Tottenham in London.

On Wednesday, Hernandez returns to England, where he won two Premier League titles, making a name for himself as an impact substitute.

Hernandez, having spent a loan spell at Real Madrid, departed Old Trafford permanently in 2015, boasting a record of 59 goals in 157 games.

The 28-year-old Mexico international has not looked back in Germany, scoring 26 goals in all competitions for the Bundesliga club in his maiden campaign, while he already has seven this term.

Asked he felt pressure to perform in the Group E matchday four fixture, Hernandez said: No, definitely not.

Any minutes I had o…

In a Premier League showdown that is steeped in history, Manchester United picked up a stellar 3-1 victory at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon as they ended Arsenal s 100% start to the 2022/23 campaign.

Watching £86million-debutant Antony opening the scoring with a slick finish 10 minutes before the interval, Marcus Rashford s second-half brace wrapped up all three points for Erik ten Hag s side.

Now in the midst of a real purple patch and clinching four Premier League victories on the spin, United also drew a line under Arsenal s high-flying start to the new season.

While England international Bukayo Saka might have briefly leveled the scoreline 15 minutes after the restart, the Gunners were left disappointed in Manchester.

Despite being upset in the o…

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Knowing that they need a real Champions League miracle on Tuesday night, Chelsea will welcome Real Madrid for their second-leg showdown.

Chelsea

Starting with the hosts, suffering a major Premier League collapse at Stamford Bridge over the weekend, Chelsea find themselves in the midst of a public nightmare. Eventually slumping to a 2-1 loss at home against Brighton, a returning Frank Lampard knows that he faces a huge uphill struggle. Showing a string of rather glaring issues this season, the Blues are still battling it out in the bottom-half of the Premier League table. Coming under a huge amount of scrutiny after really breaking the bank, the west London outfit have failed to win any of their last six straight appearances across al…

Germany assistant coach Hans-Dieter Flick insisted his team will be prepared for the challenge of playing on synthetic turf in Kazakhstan.

The squad have been training on a similar facility in Frankfurt ahead of making the long trip to central Asia for their World Cup qualifier.

Joachim Loew s side are in pole position in Group C of UEFA qualifying for the 2014 tournament in Brazil, and are strong favourites to beat the hosts in Astana.

And Flick was confident they would vindicate that favouritism at the Astana Arena on Friday.

I think we ve shown a couple of times now, however, that we can handle this we ve already played a few matches over there, Flick said.

Technically, we are a highly educated team. That obviously helps us on synthetic turf…

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez admits his team have to win at Manchester United to stand any chance of catching the Premier League leaders.

The Reds are seven points adrift of United, who have a game in hand, and Benitez knows Saturday s game at Old Trafford will decide what can be achieved in the remainder of the campaign.

Liverpool were in control of the title race at the turn of the year but a run of three wins in eight Premier League games has seen them fall to third in the table.

And following the United game, they also face a tough match against Aston Villa, who are fighting to claim a Champions League place, so there is no longer any margin for error.

United have been in imperious form and Benitez acknowledges that the Reds need to pick up a vic…

Sepp Blatter has accused new FIFA president Gianni Infantino of disrespecting him.

Blatter was succeeded by former UEFA general secretary Infantino as FIFA chief in February, following a tenure spanning more than 17 years.

Blatter and his UEFA counterpart Michel Platini were suspended from all football-related activity by FIFA in December 2015 when the adjudicatory chamber of its Ethics Committee ruled a payment of two million Swiss francs, authorised by the Swiss to the former France captain, constituted multiple infringements of the FIFA Code of Ethics.

That eight-year ban was initially reduced to six years and earlier this week, the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed Blatter s appeal and ruled that his suspension would remain in place.

And the …

Former Germany midfielder Dietmar Hamann believes Bayern Munich would be justified in parting company with coach Pep Guardiola.

Since taking the reins at the Allianz Arena for the 2013-14 season, Guardiola has scooped back-to-back Bundesliga titles and was denied the chance to collect consecutive domestic doubles when his men were beaten on penalties by Borussia Dortmund in the DFB-Pokal semi-final last term.

But he has twice failed to match predecessor Jupp Heynckes in securing UEFA Champions League glory as Bayern endured heavy semi-final defeats to Real Madrid and his former club Barcelona.

Failure to progress on the European front has left Hamann – who played for the Bavarian giants between 1993 and 1998 – unimpressed and he suggested Heynckes and p…