Neville desperately needs his Valencia side to deliver this weekend

Valencia enjoyed a valuable away win against Las Palmas in the Copa Del Rey to book their place in the semi-final against Barcelona, and the victory could well see Los Che replicate such form into their domestic campaign after manager Gary Neville’s winless start in La Liga.

Opponents Gijon can t win on the road

Valencia lock horns with strugglers Sporting Gijon on Sunday afternoon, and boast much superior form to that of the travel-sick visitors. Neville’s side haven’t been winning games, but they haven’t been losing either. As for Gijon, the away outfit are coming off the back of five defeats from six.

The relegation-threatened side lost to Valencia in their earlier league meet…

UEFA has appointed Theodore Theodoridis as its general secretary ad interim.

Theodoridis takes over temporarily from Gianni Infantino, who was elected as the new FIFA president last Friday.

In a release announcing Theodoridis appointment, UEFA also reiterated no presidential elections will take place until the Court of Arbitration for Sport comes to a decision on Michel Platini s six-year ban from all football-related activity.

Theodoridis has worked at UEFA since January 2008, serving as director of the national associations division before taking the position of deputy general secretary in October 2010.

Additionally, UEFA announced goal-line technology, set to be introduced in the Champions League from next season, will be used in this year s final in M…

Santi Cazorla has refused to rule out a return to Villarreal, .

The Spain international has already had two spells with the La Liga outfit first at the beginning of his career while he moved back to the Yellow Submarine after a year with Recreativo in 2007.

In total he has racked up over one hundred and sixty appearances for the club, scoring thirty-three goals, while he was part of the squad that won the now defunct Intertoto Cup in 2004.

He moved to the Emirates Stadium from Malaga in 2012 and has since turned out for the Gunners one hundred and sixty-seven times, scoring twenty-seven goals and winning the FA Cup in both 2014 and 2015.

He has been capped seventy-seven times for his country and was part of their victorious European Championships squ…

Brazil head coach Tite and the Selecao are eyeing the Copa America final as they prepare to face Peru in a rematch of the 2019 decider.

Tite s defending champions Brazil and Peru will go head-to-head in Monday s semi-final in Rio de Janeiro.

The Selecao have now gone 12 games in all competitions without defeat, keeping a clean sheet in nine of those after defeating Chile 1-0 in the quarter-finals, while Tite is yet to lose a match in this competition while in charge.

Should Brazil reach back-to-back Copa finals, Tite will equal Mario Zagallo as the Selecao coach with the longest unbeaten run in the tournament s history (12 games).

The two teams have a tradition of clashes in the Copa America and two years ago we met in the final, but we also met in the g…

Fulham want over £50 million for Joao Palhinha amid interest from Liverpool and Bayern Munich in the summer transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that Bayern are ready to make a move for Palhinha after scouting him, while Liverpool have a long-standing interest in the Portugal international defensive midfielder.

Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Chelsea are also claimed to be keen on Palhinha, who joined Fulham from Sporting Lisbon in the summer of 2022. The Cottager are ready to sell the Portugal international defensive midfielder at the end of the season, but they will want over £50 million in transfer fees for him.

Palhinha has scored three goals in 31 Premier League appearances for Fulham this season. Marco Silva’s side are 10th in the st…

Mikel Arteta wants to talk to the Premier League officials after Gabriel Martinelli s unusual dismissal in Arsenal s 1-0 win over Wolves. 

Gabriel Magalhaes put Arsenal in front against the run of play at Molineux on Thursday but the Gunners were forced to cling on for a first victory of 2022 after Martinelli saw red. 

The Brazilian lost his composure after being denied a free-kick and was shown two yellow cards at once by referee Michael Oliver in the 69th minute. 

The first was for attempting to stop Daniel Podence taking a throw-in and the second was for barging Chiquinho over after chasing the ball back. 

It was the 15th red card Arsenal have received in all competitions since Arteta took over in December 2019 – seven more than any other Premie…

Bayern Munich honorary president Uli Hoeness believes Matthijs de Ligt could leave this transfer window amid rumours he could be heading to Manchester United.

De Ligt, who played under Erik ten Hag at Ajax, has been linked to a move to Old Trafford after struggling in his first two seasons at Bayern.

No formal agreement between the clubs has been reached, though reports suggest the centre-back has agreed to personal terms.

Ten Hag confirmed the club were interested in signing De Ligt, who would be their second defensive addition if he joins, after they sealed a £52million deal for Leny Yoro last week.

Bayern, meanwhile, have also bolstered their defence in the off-season by bringing in Hiroki Ito from Stuttgart, and Hoeness hinted there was a chance De L…

Pep Guardiola described Jude Bellingham as exceptional after the England international gave an impressive performance in Borussia Dortmund s 2-1 defeat at Manchester City.

City were staring at a shock Champions League defeat when Bellingham met Marco Reus left-wing delivery to nod the Bundesliga outfit ahead in the second half on Wednesday.

But John Stones long-range strike beat Alexander Meyer in bizarre fashion with 10 minutes left, and Erling Haaland had the last word against his former club when he produced a terrific acrobatic winner.

Speaking after seeing his City team maintain their perfect start to the Champions League campaign, Guardiola singled out Dortmund s teenage midfielder for praise.

I was impressed two seasons ago when he was 17. Now he …

Barcelona will return to their revered footballing blueprint under Xavi and the Blaugrana faithful should be excited over a team to dream about , according to Ronald Araujo.

The Uruguayan was speaking at Camp Nou on Friday after committing his future to the club until the end of the 2025-26 campaign, with the 23-year-old set to play a big part in Barca s future.

Araujo has emerged as a key player this season, particularly since the arrival of Xavi following the dismissal of Ronald Koeman in October.

Xavi has overseen an upturn in fortunes with Barca climbing from ninth at the time of Koeman s sacking up to second in LaLiga, despite falling to three consecutive home defeats across all competitions in April.

Defender Araujo was quick to back Blaugrana boss…

Pep Guardiola became the fastest manager in Premier League history to accrue 500 points with Manchester City s 1-1 draw against Southampton on Saturday.

The Catalan coach, who first took charge of City in August 2016, reached the milestone figure in 213 matches – 18 fewer than previous quickest Jose Mourinho.

Jurgen Klopp is next on the list having reached 500 points in 236 games with Liverpool, while legendary Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson needed 242 matches to do so.

Arsene Wenger (249 games) completes the top five, with Rafael Benitez (267), David Moyes (340), Martin O Neill (351), Mark Hughes (367), Sam Allardyce (386), Harry Redknapp (392) and Steve Bruce (441) also members of the 500 club.

City have taken more points against Arsenal (34) th…