Barcelona defender Marc Bartra knows his team cannot afford to take their eye off the ball ahead of Saturday s trip to doomed Cordoba.
The Catalan giants begin a massive UEFA Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich the side who thrashed them 7-0 at the same stage of the 2012-13 competition at home on Wednesday.
But before that comes a Liga clash at Cordoba where defeat could deal a hammer blow to their title hopes. Table-toppers Barcelona lead arch-rivals Real Madrid by just two points with four matches remaining. And rock-bottom Cordoba have everything to play for also, knowing failure to win will see them relegated.
So despite the distraction of the Bayern clash, Bartra has called for focus.
He told the club s official website: The best thi…
Market: Dinamo Brest win
Odds:
Once again turning our attention to this weekend s Belarusian Premier League fixtures, Dinamo Brest will be hoping to make a return to winning ways when they host a struggling Shakhtyor at the Regional Sport Complex on Saturday evening.
Starting with the hosts, after coming off the back of what was a shock 1-0 defeat away at a high-flying Vitebsk last weekend, there is no doubt that Dinamo Brest will be glad to make a return to home soil on Saturday. Including a thumping 3-1 win against Isloch a fortnight ago, Sergey Kovalchuk s side have lost just a sole Premier League fixture in front of their own supporters in their previous 11 appearances, a run that stems back to July 2019. Still trying to find some stability since opening th…
AS Roma are one of those Italian clubs that have made moves towards the Premier League, when looking for new signings. Although they are not as financially powerful as English sides, they did get two players to join them on loan for the 2019-20 season. Chris Smalling came from Manchester United and Henrikh Mkhitaryan also arrived from Arsenal. But now they could be after a Liverpool player.
According to Corriere dello Sport, Roma have a couple of options for the departing Smalling as it seems Roma will not be eager to overspend in order to get Smalling to join them permanently. One of them is Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren and the other is Jean-Clair Todibo from Barcelona.
Roma have stated they would like to keep Smalling, but as it seems unrealistic, they might pounce…
Spartak Moscow have announced that they have completed the signing of German defender Serdar Tasci from Stuttgart.
The 26-year-old becomes club s fifth major signing of the summer, following in the footsteps of Denis Glushakov, Alberto Costa, Aras Ozbiliz and Lucas Barrios.
Tasci decided to leave Stuttgart after spending seven years at Mercedes-Benz Arena, just few days after head coach Bruno Labbadia was sacked for some dismal results at the start of the season.
The defender has been a loyal servant to the club ever since he was handed his debut in 2006, and has captained the side over the last couple of years.
Tasci amassed a total of 181 Bundesliga appearances for the Swabians, scoring 9 goals and winning one league title in the process.
He al…
Juan Sebastian Veron, 41, has come out of retirement to sign an 18-month contract with Estudiantes and he will not be paid a penny.
Former Manchester United and Chelsea midfielder Veron started his senior career with the Argentine club in 1994 and enjoyed three stints in La Plata before retiring in 2014 to take up the role of chairman.
Veron had promised to play in the 2017 Copa Libertadores if supporters purchased 65 per cent of the boxes at the club s new stadium.
And the former Argentina international will fulfil that promise after committing to the club in a playing capacity until 2018, when he will be 43.
Fútbol Profesional | Juan Sebastián Verón firmó contrato y se convirtió en el segundo refuerzo del plantel.
— Estudiantes de L.P.…
French defender Jeremy Mathieu finally returned to full fitness this week after more than two months of injury lay-off.
The experienced shot-stopper has nevertheless been excluded from Barcelona’s squad for the Wednesday’s match with Athletic Bilbao which sparked plenty of rumours regarding Mathieu’s future at Camp Nou.
The 33-year-old centre-back is the oldest player in the squad and is slowly falling behind in the pecking order for Barcelona manager Luis Enrique, who is relying on Gerrard Pique, Javier Mascherano and Samuel Umtiti which is the reason why Spanish press claim that Mathieu is nearing an end of his time with the Catalans.
His contract expires in 2018, but the club are not planning on offering Mathieu an extension and are instead engaging in…
At least 129 people died with 180 more injured after violence broke out following an Indonesian Liga 1 match between rivals Arema Malang and Persebaya Surabaya on Saturday.
Police fired tear gas in an attempt to disperse rioting fans who had stampeded on to the pitch after hosts Arema lost 3-2.
East Java police chief Nico Afinta said people died after being crushed and suffocated as they ran for the same exit.
Afinta said 3,000 of the approximately 40,000 spectators in attendance had invaded the pitch initiating riots , forcing security and police to intervene with tear gas.
That process caused shortness of breath [and] lack of oxygen and medical teams tried to do rescue efforts in the stadium, he said.
Images captured from inside the stadium sho…
Not many will have doubted that a goalscorer like Erling Haaland would work well with the vision and passing ability of Kevin De Bruyne when the Norwegian striker joined Manchester City this summer.
On Sunday, De Bruyne assisted Haaland twice as the Premier League champions dismantled city rivals Manchester United at the Etihad, and the Belgian playmaker is obviously pleased that his passes have such a target upfront.
I know he is going to make the run.
Kevin De Bruyne is enjoying playing with Erling Haaland as a teammate
— Football Daily (@footballdaily)
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The absence of injured star midfielder Michael Essien is weighing heavily on Ghana as they head into their second World Cup, but the Black Stars are confident that one of their young squad can fill his shoes.
The absence of Essien, one of Africa s true superstars who features prominently in TV commercials for the tournament, is a blow for the entire continent after he failed to recover from a knee ligament injury he suffered in December.
One of the players left to fill the gap, Stephen Appiah, revealed that although the Chelsea midfielder is not at the training camp in Pretoria, he has been staying in close touch with his teammates.
He is not going to let us down, we are with him on the phone every day, Appiah said, adding that the encouragement goes both ways.…
England s Howard Webb will referee Sunday s World Cup final between the Netherlands and Spain at Johannesburg s Soccer City, FIFA said on Thursday.
The 39-year-old from Rotherham, has been a FIFA-listed referee since 2005 and the former policeman regularly keeps law and order amongst the top stars of England s Premier League.
Webb is widely-regarded as one of Europe s top referees and took charge of May s Champions League final between Inter Milan and Bayern Munich in Madrid.
At the World Cup, he refereed Spain s 1-0 defeat to Switzerland in a group match and then oversaw Slovakia s stunning 3-2 victory over Italy which confirmed the first round exit of the defending champions.
He was also the focus of film-makers when a Belgian documentary team recorded…