Carvajal tipped for surprise Ballon d´Or win by former Madrid team-mate Joselu

Paco Alcacer scored twice on his Spain recall as Luis Enrique s men cruised to an easy 4-1 friendly win against Wales on Thursday.

The striker s superb performances on loan at Borussia Dortmund earned him a call-up and he continued that form with a first-half brace for his first international goals since 2015.

Sergio Ramos converted a Suso free-kick in between Alcacer s double and Marc Bartra s header wrapped up Spain s scoring as they brushed a lacklustre Wales aside at the Principality Stadium.

With Gareth Bale not fit to play, Ryan Giggs was shorn of his star man and Wales rarely looked like threatening a surprise result, although Sam Vokes did net a late consolation.

Alcacer opened the scoring in the eighth minute on his first international appearan…

Luke Shaw has stated that he wants to fight for a new contract over the course of the 2018/19 season, after spending years fluctuating in and out of the Manchester United first team. The Englishman, 23, has had to deal with several setbacks including injuries, poor form and other stars coming into the squad.

Now, however, he seems more determined than ever to make something of himself at Old Trafford. He initially joined the club from Southampton back in 2014 and despite spending more time with United as a professional than he did with the Saints as a professional, he hasn t made as many appearances for the Red Devils as he did on the south coast.

Given his age, it seems fairly safe to suggest that Shaw will have a long and fruitful career in the game at the highest lev…

Benfica will reportedly hold out for Enzo Fernandez s full €120million release clause just six months after signing him for €10million from River Plate.

Fernandez, 21, has become one of the hottest names in football since arriving at Benfica, helping his side to an undefeated group stage in the Champions League before earning his place in Argentina s World Cup squad.

After starting the group stage on the bench, Fernandez worked his way into the starting XI for the final group match against Poland, before playing every minute of Argentina s run through the knockout stages.

His rapid rise saw Fernandez become a target of both Real Madrid and Liverpool, and despite earlier reports that he would be available for €100m, the Portuguese club will now seemingly not…

Competition: European Championships

Market: Cristiano Ronaldo to score anytime

Odds: 7/5 @

Looking to make it back-to-back Group F wins on Saturday evening, defending champions Portugal will face off against Germany in Munich this weekend.

Starting with Portugal, while they might have left it late against Hungary on foreign soil earlier in the week, the defending European champions opened up their Group F campaign with a 3-0 win. Knowing that victory over their fellow former world champions would put them in the knockout stage, Head Coach Fernando Santos would have also been glad to see his attacking icon open his own account on Tuesday. Eventually grabbing himself a brace in Budapest, Cristiano Ronaldo has only continued on another record-breaking camp…

Borussia Dortmund achieved a difficult victory away to Hoffenheim on Friday, winning the contest by 1-3.

The Bundesliga runners-up from last season were 1-2 up when, in the 71st minute, Rami Bensebaini picked up a second yellow card and left his team playing with 10 men for the remaining 20 minutes.

But in the fifth minute of stoppage time, Julian Ryerson scored again, putting all doubts about Dortmund s victory to rest, and the players were very happy to celebrate this triumph with their supporters after the final whistle.

ALLE ZUSAMMEN DREI PUNKTE ERKÄMPFT! BORUSSIA!

— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB)

…

Eddie Howe has dismissed reports Newcastle United are on the verge of signing Manchester United goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

England international Henderson has spent the majority of this season on the bench at Old Trafford behind David de Gea, who started the campaign between the posts after his team-mate contracted coronavirus.

Opportunities since recovering from COVID-19 have been limited for Henderson, with first-team football said to be his priority in a World Cup year.

Links to big-spending Newcastle have been persistent – a swap deal with Magpies number one Martin Dubravka was even mooted in January.

And reports this week suggested Henderson had been on Tyneside for talks ahead of a move, either on loan or in a huge £40million transfer.

Bu…

Lyon are set to wrap up the deal for Paris Saint-Germain full-back Christophe Jallet, .

Les Gones seem to have agreed a transfer fee with their league rivals, thought to be just under €3 million.

Subject to passing a medical, the experienced defender will sign a three-year contract at Stade Gerland, arriving as a replacement for Miguel Lopes, who ended his loan spell from Sporting Lisbon.

Jallet had just one year left on his contract at Parc des Princes and he has jumped at the opportunity to leave the Saints having struggled for regular playing time of late.

The 30-year-old joined PSG from Lorient back in 2009 and has since featured in 143 Ligue 1 matches, scoring 7 goals in total.

Jallet is still regarded as one of league s top right-sided de…

Chelsea winger Marko Marin has completed a season-long loan switch to Serie A side Fiorentina.

Marin spent last season away from Stamford Bridge, on loan at UEFA Europa League winners Sevilla, and racked up seven assists in 30 games for the Spanish club.

That was not enough to convince Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho of Marin s talents, though, and he will join Vincenzo Montella s UEFA Champions League-chasing outfit.

The 16-cap Germany international is the second player to move to Serie A from Stamford Bridge following Ashley Cole s move to Roma.

Marin could even end up making his Fiorentina bow against his former colleague when Montella takes his side to the Stadio Olimpico on Serie A s opening day.

After coming through Borussia Monchengladbach s ran…

Mircea Lucescu has urged Douglas Costa to join Juventus during the close season should he decide to leave Bayern Munich.

Lucescu brought the 26-year-old to Europe in 2010 when he was in charge at Shakhtar Donetsk, Costa playing over 200 games for the club before moving to Bayern in 2015.

He has continued to impress at the Allianz Arena but has struggled to hold down a regular starting spot under Pep Guardiola and latterly Carlo Ancelotti.

Costa only started 19 games in all competitions in 2016-17 and has previously looked for assurances that more minutes will come his way going forward.

With Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery both signing new deals that looks unlikely and the Brazil international has been linked with a move away, and Lucescu says Serie A shou…

Manchester United have completed the signing of Argentina international goalkeeper Sergio Romero, .

The 28 year old was a free agent after leaving Serie A side Sampdoria at the end of last season, and has signed a three year deal at Old Trafford.

The move sees Romero reunited with manager Louis van Gaal, with the pair having worked together for two years at AZ Alkmaar.

The shot-stopper played over forty times for AZ under Van Gaal, with more than half of those appearances coming in the club’s championship winning 2008/09 campaign.

Romero left Alkmaar for Sampdoria in the summer of 2011, while he spent the 2013/14 campaign on loan at Monaco in France’s Ligue 1.

He has 62 caps for his country, and was part of their squads for the 2010 Worl…