Stale Solbakken admits it was a “big blow” to lose Erling Haaland for Sunday’s dead-rubber Euro 2024 qualifier against Scotland at Hampden – but the Norway manager is confident the Manchester City striker’s injury is not a serious one.

The free-scoring forward withdrew from the squad on Saturday morning after damaging his ankle in the second-half of Thursday’s 2-0 friendly win over Faroe Islands.

“It’s a big blow for any team but we have played without him before, sometimes with success, sometimes without,” said Solbakken, speaking at Hampden on Saturday evening.

“We started the qualification when he was not ready for the first two games, but after that he has played every single game so it was unfortunate for us that he got the small knock on…

Tottenham Hotspur are interested in signing Eberechi Eze from London and Premier League rivals Crystal Palace in the summer transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that Spurs and Palace will hold talks over a potential deal for Eze this week.

TEAMtalk has reported that Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou has personally approved a deal for Eze. The total cost of the deal could be as high for £68 million, a new club record transfer fee for the North London club, who failed to finish in the top four of the Premier League table last season.

Eze has been on the books of Palace since 2020 when he joined from Queens Park Rangers. The England international, who can operate as an attacking midfielder or as a winger, scored 11 goals and gave four assists in 24 s…

Chelsea s spending should have the Blues competing for the Champions League but Jan Vertonghen says the quality of the Premier League and injury issues have hampered them.

The Blues once again splashed on big-money arrivals ahead of the 2023-24 season, bringing in the likes of Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Christopher Nkunku and Cole Palmer.

Caicedo s arrival broke the British record after his £115million move from Brighton, a mark only set in the previous season when Chelsea signed Benfica s Enzo Fernandez for £107m.

Their aggressive activity in the transfer market is yet to pay dividends, with Chelsea winning just three of their opening 10 Premier League games before Monday s visit to Tottenham.

Having also signed Axel Disasi, Nicolas Jackson and Rober…

Thiago Motta believes the Juventus players will all give something more for Bremer after he suffered a potentially season-ending injury.

The Brazilian, who had played every single minute this season, was forced off with an anterior cruciate ligament injury early in their 3-2 Champions League win over RB Leipzig on Wednesday.

He has played a big part in Juventus keeping six clean sheets from six games in the league and has played more minutes (540) while making the most interceptions (six) and blocks (11) among his team-mates in the competition.

Motta expects him to be a big miss against Cagliari at the weekend.

Gleison [Bremer] is an important player for us, Motta said. I m very sorry for the boy, because already, humanly speaking, he is fantastic, tech…

Manchester City comfortably saw off West Ham 2-0 to move top of the Women s Super League, with Lauren Hemp making history in the process.

With Chelsea s fixture against Manchester United having been postponed, City took the chance to, at least temporarily, move into top spot.

Gareth Taylor s team were well in control throughout Sunday s contest at Joie Stadium, where England international Hemp put City ahead in the 10th minute.

Hemp raced onto Mary Fowler s pass before calmly creating space to plant a neat finish low into the left-hand corner, bringing up her 50th WSL goal.

She should have doubled her tally early in the second half, only to slice over a gaping goal from point-blank range.

Fowler made no such mistake as she headed home in the 71st …

Simone Inzaghi congratulated Milan on their extraordinary Scudetto triumph but vowed Inter will come back stronger next season.

Inter beat Sampdoria 3-0 in their final game of the 2021-22 season on Sunday, though it was not enough to stop fierce rivals Milan from claiming a first Serie A crown since 2011.

The Rossoneri had to lose if Inter were to pip them to top spot, but they showed no signs of final day nerves in a comfortable 3-0 win at Sassuolo.

It is only the second time in seven such instances in the three-points-per-win era that Inter have missed out on top spot despite registering 80 points or more.

Their final tally of 84 points were two fewer than Milan managed, with Stefano Pioli s men winning their final five games and going 15 without defeat…

Spain have World Cup qualification in their own hands going into the final round of games after winning 1-0 in Greece.

Luis Enrique s side took advantage of a surprise slip from previous Group B leaders Sweden, who lost 2-0 in Georgia earlier on Thursday, to leapfrog them into first place.

Spain had never lost away to Greece in four previous meetings, and a first-half penalty from Pablo Sarabia increased that record to four wins and one draw.

They will book their place at Qatar 2022 if they can avoid defeat to Sweden on Sunday in Seville.

The visitors unsurprisingly dominated possession but created little early on against a well-organised Greece.

The home side thought they had taken the lead on 21 minutes as Giorgos Masouras finished well from a …

Dani Carvajal has been tipped to beat his Real Madrid team-mates Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham to the Ballon d Or by Joselu.

Both Vinicius and Bellingham have been touted as contenders for football s top individual honour after helping Madrid win LaLiga and the Champions League.

Vinicius contributed 36 goal involvements throughout 2023-24 (23 goals, 13 assists) with Bellingham managing 33 (24 goals, nine assists), the latter assisting the former for Los Blancos second goal in their Champions League final victory over Borussia Dortmund.

It was right-back Carvajal, however, who opened the scoring in that showpiece game at Wembley Stadium, and he went on to play a key role as Spain won Euro 2024.

He started five of La Roja s seven matches in Germany an…

Market: Both teams to score

Odds: 3/4 @

With the 2024/25 League One campaign getting underway on Friday night, Barnsley will welcome Mansfield to Oakwell.

Starting with the hosts, suffering play-off semi-final heartbreak last season as they eventually fell to a thrilling 5-4 aggregate defeats against Bolton, Barnsley are desperate to book a Championship return this time around. Already pencilled in as a standout promotion contender, the Tykes will know the importance of finding some crucial defensive resolve. Signing off their pre-season preparations with a thumping 4-0 romp at the hands of Italian icons Roma, Darrell Clarke’s side also failed to muster a single clean sheet from any of their final 10 consecutive League One appearances last year. Really limping…

Mohamed Salah reached 200 goals for Liverpool as the Reds came from behind to beat Crystal Palace 2-1.

Here, the PA news agency looks at the Egypt forward’s record with the club.

200 up

2 0 0 goals for the Reds

Simply incredible. Simply .

— Liverpool FC (@LFC)

Salah made an immediate impact after his arrival from Roma for a reported £34.3m in 2017, scoring 32 league goals in his debut season. That was a record for a 38-game Premier League campaign until beaten last season by Erling Haaland’s 36 for Manchester City.

He racked up 44 in all competitions and it remains the most prolific season of his career, though he has scored at least 19 in every Premier League campaign with Liverpool and 31 in all competitions in both 2020-21 an…