International friendly preview: England v Belgium

Chelsea-bound Eden Hazard may go up against his future team-mates when England host Belgium in Roy Hodgson s second match in charge.

Belgian Hazard is widely reportedly to be on the verge of joining European champions Chelsea, for a fee rumoured to as much as 32 million pounds.

The playmaker became one of the most highly sought-after talents in Europe after guiding unheralded Lille to a double of Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France in 2010/11.

And it is Roman Abramovich s Chelsea, yet to appoint a fulltime manager and with caretaker Roberto di Matteo in limbo, who appear to have succeeded in luring the 21-year-old.

His imminent stardom may have already gone to his head Hazard was late to leave his hotel room on Tuesday, and found the team bus had left for tr…

PSG´s goal is to win – Tuchel won´t play it safe in bid to reach Champions League last 16

Paris Saint-Germain need just a point against Istanbul Basaksehir on Tuesday to qualify for the Champions League last 16, but head coach Thomas Tuchel insists his side will be going all out for the win. 

The Ligue 1 champions lost two of their first three Group H games, yet are in pole position to progress to the knockout stages after victories over RB Leipzig and Manchester United in their previous two games. 

They have won five of their last six matches at the Parc des Princes in the Champions League and will be confident of seeing off their Turkish opponents, who have conceded four goals in each of their last two games in the competition. 

While a draw will see PSG go through, Tuchel says his players will do everything they can to seal a win that would …

Simeone ready for another thriller with Salzburg

Diego Simeone expects a brave Salzburg to take Atletico Madrid out of their comfort zone in Wednesday s crunch Champions League clash.

Atleti, two-time finalists under Simeone, have drawn each of their past three group matches, including being pegged back to 1-1 by a late Thomas Muller penalty for Bayern Munich last time out.

A fourth consecutive stalemate in Salzburg will seal qualification for the knockout stages at their Austrian opponents expense, but Simeone knows Jesse Marsch s expansive side needing victory makes them particularly dangerous.

This game is a bit like when you play in a knockout game and you re away from home in the second leg, said Simeone, with Atleti having won a thriller between the sides 3-2 at the Wanda Metropolitano in October.

Cazorla coy over future

Santi Cazorla is reluctant to discuss his future until after the FIFA World Cup amid speculation about a move to Atletico Madrid.

The midfielder joined Arsenal from Malaga in August 2012 and has become an integral part of Arsene Wenger s side.

Cazorla is currently on international duty with Spain in Brazil and the 29-year-old will not be distracted by talk about a move back to his homeland.

He told AS: When the World Cup is over, I’ll start thinking about my situation.

“I don’t want to be thinking about it right now and I’ve told my agents not to tell me anything if an offer comes in.

The playmaker, however, did go on to drop a hint that a move to Spanish champions could appeal.

He added I know a few of the Atletico players – (Diego) Godin,…

Lamouchi steps down from Ivory Coast post

Sabri Lamouchi has resigned as coach of Ivory Coast following the country s heartbreaking exit at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Ivory Coast were on track to qualify from Group C and join Colombia in the round of 16 before Georgios Samaras scored a controversial 93rd-minute penalty to hand Greece a 2-1 win in Fortaleza on Tuesday.

While Greece advanced ahead of Ivory Coast by one point, it condemned the African nation to their third consecutive group-stage exit at a World Cup.

And Ivory Coast s failure has claimed the casualty of Lamouchi, who was a controversial appointment back in 2012 having had no previous managerial experience.

My contract ended at this World Cup. It won t be renewed and you can understand why, the 42-year-old said post-game.

Premier League (Round 5) – Who’s HOT and who’s NOT?

I didn’t do too badly with my predictions really. OK, I was wildly out in the big Chelsea and Manchester United game but five correct results out of ten is pretty amazing for me!

Let’s look at the heroes and villains from this weekend’s Premier League games;

Hot team
Not much doubt about this award this week. Manchester City are a club that now have the potential to challenge the very best in Europe. They need to build a team that can do likewise. Judging by the way that they dismantled a reasonable Portsmouth side yesterday, Mark Hughes might not be too far away from building that side.

When they were going forward the sight of Jo, Robinho, Wright-Phillips, Elano and others was pretty spectacular. Whether they…

Ten Hag reveals Eriksen set to return from injury next month

Christian Eriksen is set to return from a long-term ankle injury next month, according to Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag.

Eriksen sustained the injury after being on the wrong end of a hefty Andy Carroll tackle during United s 3-1 EFL Cup win over Reading on January 28.

The Denmark international had been expected to miss the bulk of the majority of the season, with initial hopes for an April or May return.

Ten Hag offered a positive update on the former Tottenham and Inter playmaker, who had been a central figure in their revival in the first half of the season.

Yes, some point in April, he will be back, Ten Hag said. He is doing really well, really good in his rehab.

The progress is very good and we have to see how that develops in the …

Crewe deny Barry Bennell cover-up but will not hold investigation

Crewe Alexandra will not hold an internal investigation after reiterating no-one at the club was aware of former coach Barry Bennell s sexual abuse crimes against children.

Bennell was convicted of 43 offences against 11 boys aged eight to 15 between 1979 and 1990 by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court last month, with the 64-year-old described as the devil incarnate and sheer evil by judge Clement Goldstone.

But the League Two side say a police probe has cleared club officials of any cover-up.

A Crewe statement read: In November 2016, the club stated that it would undertake an independent review into allegations involving Barry Bennell whilst he was employed by the club.

This review was to investigate the allegations which had been made involving Mr Ben…

Chapecoense sign Follmann to be club ambassador

Former Chapecoense goalkeeper Jackson Follmann has rejoined the Brazilian club in an ambassadorial role.

The 25-year-old was one of three players to survive the November 2016 plane crash as the team travelled to Medellin to play in the Copa Sudamericana final against Atletico Nacional.

While team-mates Neto and Alan Ruschel recovered to return to action, Follmann was forced to retire after losing part of his right leg in the accident that claimed a total of 71 lives.

However, he is now back on the books at Chape, signing a deal to work in their public relations department.

Follmann attended the Laureus Awards last month, picking up the honour of Best Sporting Moment after Chapecoense qualified for the 2018 Copa Libertadores.

NOVO CONT…

Loew committed to Germany project

Germany coach Joachim Loew says he will continue his project of building a winning team despite a disappointing finish to Euro 2012.

Pre-tournament favourites Germany were surprise losers in the semi-finals of the European Championships, going down 2-1 to Italy in the semi-finals.

After also bowing out of the 2010 FIFA World Cup at the same stage, Loew is determined to banish those memories with success on the biggest stage.

We wanted to go to the World Cup in 2010 in South Africa and begin forming a team that could then win this title (Euro 2012), so the loss in the semi-final against Italy was particularly painful, he said ahead of Germany s international friendly against Argentina on Wednesday.

We now have the task of working on the errors we made a…