Platini talks down Ronaldo´s Ballon d´Or chances

Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe says he will not rush Jack Wilshere into the starting line-up despite the daunting prospect of facing Manchester City on Saturday.

The on-loan Arsenal midfielder came on as a substitute last weekend to help his side to a 1-0 victory over West Brom at the Vitality Stadium, having made two brief appearances against Leicester City and Watford for the Gunners.

A leg fracture kept the 24-year-old sidelined for almost all of last season, and he has not managed a full 90 minutes in the Premier League since September 2014 due to a succession of injury problems.

Howe has been delighted with Wilshere s start to life on the south coast but remains wary of placing too many demands on him too quickly, even with Pep Guardiola s table-topping City ne…

Inter s run of three straight Serie A wins came to a halt in a 1-1 draw against a stubborn Bologna at San Siro on Sunday.

The Nerazzurri had recovered from a slow start to Frank de Boer s tenure by recording victories over Pescara, Juventus and Empoli, but were unable to overcome a stubborn Bologna side on their home turf.

Hunting for a first away win of the season, Bologna made the most of a sloppy Inter start when Simone Verdi robbed Geoffrey Kondogbia of possession and played in Mattia Destro to score the opener.

De Boer is still impressing his brand of attacking football on his Inter squad and it took the home side half an hour to settle into the match, but when they did the impressive Ivan Perisic volleyed home a superb equaliser.

The script appeared…

According to reports in Spain, Bayern Munich have held preliminary talks with Barcelona over the possibility of signing Philippe Coutinho before this summer s transfer window closes.

The Brazilian arrived to the Camp Nou in January 2018 for €160 million from Liverpool, but he doesn t appear to have justified the high price-tag in the year and a half he has spent there so far.

With Ousmane Dembele, who has had a number of injury issues since his arrival from Borussia Dortmund, now fully fit and Antoine Griezmann having joined from Atletico Madrid last month, Coutinho is facing the prospect of falling down the pecking order further. He has been linked with a potential temporary return to the Premier League this summer, but that possibility doesn t exist anymore as the w…

Paul Pogba has urged France not to let an opportunity to win the World Cup pass as Les Bleus booked their place in Sunday s showpiece with a 1-0 win over Belgium.

Pogba, 25, was instrumental in the semi-final win in St Petersburg, as Samuel Umtiti s goal in the 51st minute put the 1998 champions in the World Cup final against the winner of Croatia and England.

The Manchester United midfielder was part of the France squad that lost 1-0 in extra time to Portugal in the Euro 2016 final, and Pogba hopes they can now go one better on Sunday.

It s beautiful, it s good, but there s still a step, he told L Equipe.

Today I m happy but it s not like the Euros. We had the chance to win the final of the Euros, but we missed a wonderful thing and we must not let thi…

Spain finished first in Group B of the World Youth Championship 2009, following a 3-0 win over Venezuela. The South Americans end in second place and had already secured qualification as well.

Daniel Parejo put the Spanish in the lead after 12 minutes at Cairo s Al Salam Stadium, and a converted penalty from Aaron Niguez doubled the advantage in the 26th.

The third and final Spanish goal came from Ander Herrera in the 77th minute.

With nine points from three games, and a goal record of 13 versus none, the Spanish turned out to be unbeatable in Group B. Despite the defeat, Venezuela should feel confident as well ahead of the second round, with six points and a 9 versus 3 goal record.

Nigeria finished third in this group after beating Tahiti 5-0.

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Wolfsburg sporting director Klaus Allofs admits the Bundesliga club have failed to adequately replace Kevin De Bruyne and Ivan Perisic following the duo s departures in 2015.

De Bruyne and Perisic played a key role in Wolfsburg s second-place finish in 2014-15 and their fine performances eventually earned them transfers to Manchester City and Inter respectively.

But Wolfsburg have failed to build on that strong campaign since the exits of two of their key men finishing eighth last term, while they sit 16th this season and Allofs has acknowledged selling the two attacking midfielders has cost them.

We have made a number of decisions in the past that did not prove to be successful, Allofs told Sport Bild.

It was the right decision to sell De Bruyne and Pe…

Verdict: Both teams to score

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New-look Ivory Coast could only muster a goalless draw with Togo in their opening fixture and this is clearly a must-win game for the Elephants if they want to progress to the next stage. DR Congo, on the other hand, would probably settle for one point having defeated Morocco three days ago.

Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast finally ended a 23-year wait for the second Africa Cup of Nations trophy at the previous edition of the tournament, defeating Ghana on penalties in the final, and the Elephants have since continued the rich vein of form. Michel Dussuyer’s charges face an incredibly difficult task in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, having been drawn in the same group with Mali, Gabon and Morocco, but they e…

Italy boss Roberto Mancini has confirmed his side will be without Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti for their Nations League matches with England and Hungary.

Verratti was substituted off during the second half of PSG s Ligue 1 victory at Lyon on Sunday with an apparent calf problem.

PSG boss Christophe Galtier said after the game that the 29-year-old would delay linking up with the Italy squad to instead undergo a scan in Paris on Monday.

And Mancini is now preparing for Friday s visit of England and the trip to Hungary three days later without Verratti, with Sassuolo s Davide Frattesi in line for a call-up, while there was better news regarding Milan s Sandro Tonali and Napoli s Matteo Politano.

Verratti is not available. He s picked up a …

Referees’ chief Howard Webb will analyse the two-way audio between on-field officials and VARs from some of the key incidents in the current Premier League season on the next Monday Night Football programme on Sky Sports.

Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) has not said which incidents will be looked at on May 15, but here the PA news agency picks five recent moments which might be analysed.

Brighton v Manchester United (May 4)

Referee Andre Marriner was close to blowing for full-time with the score at 0-0 at the Amex Stadium earlier this month when VAR Andy Madley advised him to review a possible handball by United full-back Luke Shaw.

Marriner went to the pitchside monitor and after reviewing the incident pointed to the spot, with Shaw’s arm …

Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini has revealed that young striker John Guidetti is likely to be farmed out on loan in the January window.

The 21-year-old has spent last year and a half on the sidelines and having finally resumed full training, he is in desperate need of playing time.

However, with the competition for starting places at Etihad fierce, it is clear he will have to leave the club in search of first team football.

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed the Swede will be allowed to leave on loan this month.

It is true. I think John must go on loan, he is coming back from a long injury for about 18 months and here we have Dzeko, Aguero, Negredo, Jovetic, the Chilean said at a press conference.

A return to Dutch Er…