Chelsea will have to wait until 2014 to secure Neymar’s services

Milan have completed the signing of Spain captain Alvaro Morata from Atletico Madrid.

The striker, who will wear the number seven shirt with the Rossoneri, has put pen to paper on a four-year deal at San Siro, with the option of an additional year.

Morata is fresh from leading Spain to their record-breaking fourth European Championship triumph at Euro 2024, following a 2-1 victory over England in the final.

The 31-year-old becomes Paulo Fonseca s first major signing since replacing Stefano Pioli in the Milan dugout.

This will be Morata s second spell in Italy, having scored 59 goals in 185 appearances across two separate stints with Juventus, where he won successive Serie A titles in 2015 and 2016.

He could make his debut when Milan host Torino in…

There will be capacity crowds for the Wimbledon finals next month and around 45,000 people are set to be allowed into Wembley for the Euro 2020 semi-finals and final.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday announced a four-week delay in lifting coronavirus lockdown restrictions in England to July 19 due to rising cases of the Delta variant.

However, Wimbledon and the European Championship are being treated as test events, so there is set to be a full house of 15,000 on Centre Court for the championship matches on the weekend of July 10-11.

The grass-court grand slam will be the first outdoor sporting event to have a capacity crowd since the start of the pandemic.

When the tournament, which was not staged last year due to the COVID-19 crisis, starts on …

Gareth Southgate chose the right time to end his England tenure, though he will go down as a Three Lions legend .

That is according to Southgate s former international team-mate Darren Anderton.

The Football Association (FA) confirmed on Tuesday that Southgate had decided to walk away from his role following the 2-1 Euro 2024 final defeat against Spain.

Southgate, who took charge in 2016, guided his national side to the World Cup semi-finals in 2018, as well as back-to-back Euros finals – becoming the first manager to lose two European Championship showpiece matches.

Anderton, a team-mate of Southgate with England at Euro 1996, believes the time was right.

I think he s been getting a lot of stick. He s been involved since 2011 with the FA and n…

Gareth Southgate insists Euro 2024 is not just about England playing well as the Three Lions manager lauded the character shown in their penalty shoot-out victory over Switzerland in the last eight.

England were once again unconvincing in Dusseldorf and fell behind to Breel Embolo s 75th-minute opener, only for Bukayo Saka to level shortly after on Saturday.

Penalties followed at Dusseldorf Arena as Jordan Pickford denied Switzerland s first spot-kick from Manuel Akanji, before Trent Alexander-Arnold coolly slotted in the winning effort to seal a last-four place.

Since Euro 1996, England have played 11 knockout matches at the European Championship and eight of those have gone to extra-time, including the last four in a row.

That may be apportioned to thei…

It has certainly been a year for the football underdog.

Leicester City stunned the world by surging to a remarkable maiden Premier League title last May, before Iceland made it to the quarter-finals of Euro 2016 in their first appearance at a major international tournament and Wales went one better to reach the final four.

Finland s IFK Mariehamn winning the Veikkausliiga for the first time in their history may not appear to be on a par with those achievements, but theirs is a story undoubtedly worthy of similar, if not greater, recognition.

Finland s former Barcelona and Liverpool midfielder Jari Litmanen branded Mariehamn the Finnish Leicester for the triumph they completed last Sunday. It is a tag that club chairman Robert Soderdahl accepts, but he feels his s…

This season we will have several teams competing for the top 4 spots, which makes it very exciting.

Up until the final few rounds of the season, the top 4 race in the Premiership was as exciting as ever, with Arsenal ultimately pipping Everton to the final Champions League berth. And with top 5 sides from last term all adding some high-quality players to their ranks plus seventh-placed Manchester United bringing Dutch maestro Louis van Gaal to replace David Moyes, chances are the chase for the top 4 positions in the 2014/2015 season could prove more interesting than ever before. Considering that the new campaign kicks off this weekend, now is as good a time as any to assess teams chances of achieving Champions League qualification through league finish.

Chelsea

Market:…

Trent Alexander-Arnold admits England s players agreed with Gary Lineker s controversial description of the Three Lions Euro 2024 performances as s*** .

Lineker hit out at England s display in a 1-1 group-stage draw with Denmark on his podcast, The Rest is Football, in comments that attracted a fierce response from captain Harry Kane.

Kane responded by saying former England players in the media had a responsibility when it came to discussing the national team, calling on them to be more supportive.

Alexander-Arnold, however, says many in the camp agreed with Lineker s criticism and feels some used it as motivation as the Three Lions grew into the tournament, finishing as runners-up to Spain.

We had all seen it and heard it and felt it, the Liverpool ace …

Jodie Taylor made history by becoming the first female England player to score a hat-trick at a major tournament when she netted three goals against Scotland, on this day in 2017.

The Lionesses romped to a 6-0 victory in their opening game of Euro 2017, with Ellen White, Jordan Nobbs and Toni Duggan also amongst the goals as England made a fast start to the tournament in the Netherlands.

Taylor – then of Arsenal, who she rejoined last season – fired her country into a 2-0 lead inside 26 minutes in Utrecht before completing her historic feat with a brilliantly-taken lob just after the break.

“The hat-trick meant a lot to me,” said Taylor, then aged 31. “The last two years have been a tough ride. Just to be here fit and healthy is a huge achievement.

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We’re at the one-third marker of the NFL season with Week 6 odds on the board. With the gap between contenders and pretenders becoming clear, the NFL lines tighten, and getting the best of the number is even more vital to keeping your best NFL bets in the black.

With that in mind, these are the best spreads and totals to bet now – and the best to bet later – in Week 6 of the NFL schedule.

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Super Bowl Sunday! The most hotly-anticipated game on the sports calendar kicks off at about 6:30 p.m. ET at State Farm Stadium, as the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles. 

If you’re wondering what the latest Super Bowl odds are, trying to finalize your Super Bowl predictions, or just looking to add some Super Bowl props to your docket, we’ve got your back with our last-minute updates below.

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