Benfica, Sporting Braga make no mistakes

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…

West Brom have accepted an undisclosed offer from Hull City for striker Shane Long, it was confirmed on Thursday.

The 26-year-old has long been a target for KC Stadium boss Steve Bruce, with the club having narrowly missed out on the striker on the final day of the last transfer window.

But Bruce is now a step closer to signing the Irishman, as he confirmed that the player had arrived in Hull for a medical.

Shane Long is having a medical as we speak, Bruce said on Thursday.

Hopefully we will be able to announce something later today or tomorrow morning.

And West Brom sporting and technical director Richard Garlick admitting a deal would be in the best interests of the Midlands club.

We began talking to Shane about a new contract last spring and, duri…

Ajax will miss Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt but have not been deflated by the dual departures, according to Dusan Tadic.

The Dutch champions parted with their two brightest stars during the close season as midfielder De Jong moved to Barcelona and defender De Ligt joined Juventus.

The pair had been instrumental in Ajax s stunning run to the Champions League semi-finals, starting 17 games apiece.

Erik ten Hag s men return to European action against Ligue 1 side Lille on Tuesday and winger Tadic believes success on the continent remains within reach.

We were not sad De Jong and De Ligt left, Tadic told the Telegraph.

We will miss them, but it s the next step for them and Ajax likes to support their players who feel the time is right to mov…