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• Anderlecht refuse to sell midfielder Leander Dendoncker • Tony Henry alleged to avoid African players for ‘bad attitude’ West Ham United’s deadline day ended in acrimony and frustration after their director of player recruitment was reportedly accused of racism and unlawful discrimination, and their hopes of signing a midfielder were dashed by Anderlecht refusing to sell Leander Dendoncker last night. A report by the Daily Mail alleged Tony Henry, who was heavily involved in West Ham’s attempts to sign Dendoncker, told agents the club did not want to sign any African players in the transfer window. Asked for a response by the paper, Henry is reported to have explained West Ham wanted to limit their number of African players because “they have a bad attitude” and “cause mayhem” when they are not in the team. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2FAEXNP

Schools proposed transfer rule changes that are actually sensible? That's enough to carry this week's #DearAndy mailbag.

By the end it had turned into a deeply chastening experience for Manchester United and not just because of the mere fact that for long spells Tottenham Hotspur outplayed, out-thought and out-fought them. That was one thing, but this defeat for José Mourinho’s team contained so many different subplots it was difficult to think of a more eccentric occasion under his management. It was certainly difficult to make sense of a night in which Mourinho brought on Marouane Fellaini as a 63rd-minute substitute and then subjected his player to the ignominy of being hooked only seven minutes later, with Ander Herrera coming on instead. Mourinho did at least give Fellaini a semi-apologetic hug but it was still a remarkable moment on a night when United’s indecision on the pitch extended to their manager. Paul Pogba, the most expensive player in England, was substituted with almost half an hour to go and, ultimately, United never recovered from a diabolical first half in which Phil Jones scored a c...

Manchester City took care of business on a night when their radar was somewhat awry though not enough to prevent a 22nd league win of their ever-more dazzling campaign. Once more Pep Guardiola’s side dominated, making West Bromwich Albion appear the Championship side they may become, as they returned home still the division’s bottom’s team. On a frantic day in which City ended their interest in Riyad Mahrez due to Leicester’s £95m valuation, Aymeric Laporte – who became, on Tuesday, City’s club record signing – started in central defence partnering Nicolás Otamendi. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2nsbC1n

There was plenty of bad blood and seven yellow cards but no sign of any goals in a match in which Stoke and Watford did little to improve their survival prospects. Javi Gracia, who was taking charge of his first Premier League game since becoming Watford’s manager, is entitled to take some satisfaction from collecting an away point, yet it was hard to see how Paul Lambert, his opposite number, could glean many positives from a stalemate that was every bit as bad as the scoreline suggests. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2BJec7m

Making his debut beneath the super blue moon lightening Tyneside’s night sky, Kenedy brightened Newcastle United up to such an extent that, for a while, Rafael Benítez’s side seemed set to record their first home Premier League victory since October. Appropriately the Chelsea loanee created the decisive goal for Jamaal Lascelles at the end of an unexpectedly hectic transfer deadline day on Tyneside which concluded with Benítez securing the signing of the striker he want when Islam Slimani signed on loan from Leicester during the second half. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2npsJAG

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Our cartoonist looks at the man who will lead Australia at the World Cup and the next chapter of Tim Cahill’s career Take a look back through David’s archive of Australian cartoons And David’s only got another book out. More details here Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2DP2ry6

• City unwilling to meet “crazy” valuation and set £60m limit • Pursuit of Algerian not prompted by injury loss of Sané Manchester City have called off their efforts to sign Riyad Mahrez from Leicester after rejecting a package worth £95m, it is understood. City did not make a form offer for Mahrez, but following informal discussions, Leicester proposed a deal worth £95m on Wednesday morning but City walked away. Their “top valuation” of the player was £60m and considered Leicester’s asking price as “crazy”. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2DOjJvh

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Ex-Celtic coach, then 19, was staying at digs when Bennell molested clubmate, court hears The former Celtic manager Neil Lennon walked in on a 13-year-old boy soon after he had been sexually abused by Barry Bennell, a court has heard. The alleged victim told the trial of the former Manchester City and Crewe Alexandra coach how he was molested at an address in Stoke where Lennon, then 19, was staying. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2GB3Nys

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As signing day approaches, most top QB prospects already have a school, but some have a clearer path to the field than others.

•German puts pen to paper on new three-year deal •Arsenal also close to securing Jack Wilshere to a new deal Mesut Özil has agreed a new three-year contract at Arsenal. The midfielder will put months of uncertainty behind him by signing the deal in the coming days. It will make him the club’s highest paid player on £350,000-a-week and represents a massive statement of intent from both him and them. Arsenal are also close to securing Jack Wilshere to a new contract, which would bring to an end another saga. Like Özil , Wilshere’s current deal is set to expire in the summer and he has been in protracted negotiations over a new one. Resolution is now in sight. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2DTzQeY

The deadline day drama is flagging and football’s content era is desperately in need of new characters “In Argentina we say that the job is the electric chair,” Mauricio Pellegrino explained last week of the manager’s gig. “It is not easy to stay in the seat.” The fact that it is easier to stay in an electric chair than almost any other seat – historically, occupants have ended to be strapped to it at multiple points – is irrelevant. We know what the Southampton manager means. And if we don’t, the statistic that eight out of 20 of this season’s Premier League managers had been shown the electrodes by mid-January should bring home the reality of the bronco ride. As the player transfer window closes, then, there are the familiar worries that things may be amiss. So out of control is the Least Continent League in the World TM deemed that some have revived talk of a managerial transfer window, to temper clubs’ mad pursuit of the short-term managerial bounce. This, it is thought, would for...

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Arjen Robben and Franck Ribéry are 34 and out of contract this summer. It may be time for Bayern Munich to bid them farewell By Jason Humphreys for Englische Woche Arjen Robben and Franck Ribéry joined Bayern Munich while on different career trajectories. Robben was only 25 when fellow Dutchman Louis van Gaal brought him to the Bundesliga, but it seemed as if he had been around for a lot longer. Having caught the eye while playing for PSV Eindhoven in the Eredivisie and for Holland at Euro 2004, Robben joined Chelsea in the same summer José Mourinho moved to the club. In their three seasons together, they won every possible domestic honour, including back-to-back Premier League titles. Robben’s success in England took him to Real Madrid, where he won La Liga in 2007-08, his first season in Spain. With Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona team becoming the new dominant force, Bernd Schuster and then Juande Ramos were hired and then fired as quickly by Real Madrid. Ramos lasted just six months ...

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Plus: home teams changing kits mid-game, more manager-owners and Third Lanark. Mail us your questions and answers or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU “Reece and Ross Glendinning are well-known figures in Northern Ireland’s domestic game,” writes Keith Bailie. “Both played for Linfield, while their father Mark is widely considered to be one of the best full-backs to grace the Irish League. Right-back Reece is on loan from Linfield at Ards, while goalkeeper Ross is at Ballymena United. Last Saturday, Reece scored the only goal in Ards’ 1-0 win over Ballymena, firing past his elder brother. Is this the first time a goalkeeper has been beaten by his own brother in a competitive match (discounting own goals)?” Pete Tomlin can help. “I know that, on 9 March 1974, Everton striker Bob Latchford scored twice past his older brother David Latchford, who was playing in goal for Birmingham. Interestingly, there was a third Latchford brother, the youngest Peter, who was also a goalkeeper, playing for West...

Today’s whispers are very, very important Oh you didn’t know? It’s the most wonderful time of the year . From slamming windows to tinted windows, war chests, bargain bins and has beens, transfer deadline day really is one like no other. What other event would inspire the Guardian’s football editor Marcus Christenson to still be updating our deluxe transfer interactive at 1am ? Other than the other transfer deadline day in August, none! That’s what! Related: Transfer window January 2018 – every deal in Europe's top five leagues Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2rTQi9I

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• Manchester City buy Jack Harrison for £4m and loan him to Boro • Iñigo Martínez joins Athletic Bilbao, Marc Bartra seals Betis switch Everton striker Sandro Ramírez has returned to Spain only six months into his Premier League career after joining Sevilla on loan until the end of the season. The Spain Under-21 international arrived at Goodison Park for £5.2m in the summer after Everton activated the release clause in his contract with Málaga. Sandro had scored 16 goals in 32 games for Málaga last season and his transfer was viewed as a potential bargain, but he has struggled to settle in the Premier League and will sign for Sevilla on Wednesday subject to a medical. Related: Transfer window January 2018 – every deal in Europe's top five leagues Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2nnysad

Cousins: 'I've only gotten it the hard way and I don't expect things to change for me now.'

• Midfielder’s 90th-minute goal gives Villa victory at Sheffield United • Derby draw 0-0 at Millwall as Sunderland stumble again at Birmingham Robert Snodgrass scored a 90th-minute winner to give in-form Aston Villa a 1-0 win at Sheffield United . The Scotland midfielder curled in a left-footed shot from the edge of the penalty area to snatch three points and secure a victory that lifts Villa up to third following a fifth straight victory. Steve Bruce’s side are now only a point behind second-placed Derby who missed the chance to close the gap on the leaders Wolves as they were held to a goalless draw at Millwall . The Australia international Tim Cahill, who left Millwall in 2004 to join Everton, was paraded to supporters after sealing a return to the club until the end of the season. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2DYxScJ

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang touched down in London a little prematurely in terms of his transfer but not soon enough from Arsenal’s point of view. How they could have done with their soon-to-be club-record signing on a night when Arsenal’s miserable away form continued as Swansea, capitalising on a calamitous mistake from Petr Cech, took another remarkable step towards survival. Leading through Nacho Monreal’s fourth goal of the season, Arsenal conceded 60 seconds later after Sam Clucas equalised and then handed Swansea the lead courtesy of Cech’s blunder. It was an awful moment for the Arsenal goalkeeper, who wildly miskicked Shkodran Mustafi’s backpass, leaving Jordan Ayew with a simple tap-in for his seventh goal of the season. Clucas, converting from close range, added a late third. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2E34aTK

Liverpool’s epic defeat of Manchester City this month was beginning to look like a Pyrrhic victory through being followed by two unexpected losses against team from the bottom of the Premier League, but goals from Emre Can and Roberto Firmino and a late penalty from Mohamed Salah helped them stop the rot in West Yorkshire. Strictly speaking Huddersfield are not yet a bottom-of-the-table team, though without a league win since mid-December they look to be heading that way. They have picked up two home wins since beating Manchester United in October and, when they run out at Old Trafford on Saturday, they will be perilously close to the bottom three and much lower in confidence. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2DYjr8q

Although it is impossible to argue with the assertion that West Ham United are crying out for reinforcements before the transfer window closes tonight, at least this gritty performance provided more evidence that David Moyes is capable of inspiring them to battle against adversity. A point was a decent reward bearing in mind that West Ham were deprived of almost an entire starting 11 and it was encouraging for Moyes to see his weary, battle-hardened players roll up their sleeves in trying circumstances. Related: Resurgent Swansea make Petr Cech pay as Sam Clucas double sinks Arsenal Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2E2ATIX

• Claim that Staveley’s home was base for leadership bid rebuffed • May’s campaign was based in offices in Westminster A claim which has repeatedly been reported about the businesswoman Amanda Staveley that her London home was used as the headquarters for Theresa May’s Conservative party leadership campaign has been denied on behalf of the prime minister. Related: Amanda Staveley: the unusual case of Newcastle United’s would-be-owner | David Conn Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2DNsu8K

• 18-year-old came through the Gunners’ youth ranks • Midfielder’s release clause set at €25m (£22.5m) The Arsenal academy graduate Marcus McGuane has joined Barcelona B on a five-year deal for an undisclosed fee. The 18-year-old came through the Gunners’ youth ranks after joining the London club at under-six level. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2BEEXKd

National Signing Day has lost a lot of its luster this year due to the new early signing period, but USC still has a lot on the line.

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• Michy Batshuayi set for Dortmund loan • Frenchman eyeing more starts with champions Olivier Giroud is primed to join Chelsea from Arsenal in a deal worth £17.5m, which will pave the way for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to move from Borussia Dortmund to Arsenal. Michy Batshuayi is set to complete the interlocking transfers with a loan from Chelsea to Dortmund . Related: David Squires on … the countdown to transfer deadline day Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2nq6JWz

Former youth player accuses ex-football coach of showing no remorse over alleged rape Barry Bennell has been accused of smirking during his own trial on a day in which the court heard how a father of one alleged victim accosted the former Manchester City football coach over rumours of inappropriate behaviour with young players. Bennell has admitted seven offences of sexual abuse but denies another 48 counts relating to 11 boys from 1979 to 1990. He appeared via video link at Liverpool crown court on Tuesday as the latest former player gave evidence, alleging he was raped seven to 10 times. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2npYCJB

There’s not a pitch in sight, but the sport reaches its glorious peak when absurd rumours force real life to take a back seat It’s time. The Sky Sports News presenters have downed three bottles of Adderall, ready to scream rumours of MK Dons securing a loan deal for a Chelsea academy player you’ve never heard of into our scared little faces. Wednesday is transfer deadline day, the best day of the football calendar: better than the FA Cup final, better than the last day of the season, better than when Gary Lineker has a couple of drinks and goes full “messy bitch” at Piers Morgan on social media. I love it. It’s like a game of grandmother’s footsteps played out on national scale. Certain footballers are identified as being “on the move” by tabloids and from that point on, they are the Hunted: their every movement is watched and tracked on social media. “Fabinho has been spotted at baggage reclaim at Manchester airport.” “Olivier Giroud has been spotted in the King’s Road Waitrose buy...

• Manager says Belgian striker is in squad for Bournemouth game • Player expected to join Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday Antonio Conte has admitted his preparations for Wednesday’s visit of Bournemouth have been severely disrupted by the uncertainty surrounding Michy Batshuayi’s future at Chelsea, with the club apparently no closer to securing a replacement for the Belgium international. Batshuayi is one link in a complex chain involving Olivier Giroud and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ahead of transfer deadline day. The Belgian will be permitted to leave if Chelsea secure a replacement, potentially Giroud, and is wanted by Borussia Dortmund, who have allowed Aubameyang to travel to England ahead of a move to Arsenal. There remains the possibility that all three deals are scuppered by one of the prospective transfers stalling. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2EoPjAY

After starting so brightly, Huddersfield, Newcastle and Brighton have picked up just one win between them since Christmas By Martin Laurence for WhoScored , part of the Sport Network The congested winter period often proves decisive in the Premier League, with so many games crammed into so few days. The teams who are expected to struggle like to start the campaign well but it’s not uncommon for newly promoted sides to hit the ground running and then falter once their squad becomes stretched by injuries and fatigue. The experience of the three sides promoted to the Premier League this season is proving to be no different. Things looked very rosy for Huddersfield, Newcastle and Brighton before the last international break, in early November, after 11 rounds of fixtures. Brighton were eighth in the table after their 1-0 away win at Swansea ; Huddersfield had just beaten West Brom to join Brighton in the top half of the table; and Newcastle were just one point further back. It looked ...

The Miami Fusion flickered and died at the start of the century. But the league – and soccer in the US – is in a very different place these days During the darkest hours of his four-year quest to bring a Major League Soccer team to Miami, which was finally approved on Monday , David Beckham may have taken heart from studying parallels with the region’s history. In 1905 modern Florida’s founding father Henry Flagler decided to extend his East Coast Railway from Miami to Key West island, 150 miles south over land and sea.  Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2BEdlVA

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• Referee was in spotlight after Paolo Di Canio push in 1998 • Mike Riley leads tributes to ‘hugely respected’ former official The former Premier League referee Paul Alcock has died at the age of 64 after a battle with cancer. The official was thrust into the spotlight when Sheffield Wednesday’s Paolo Di Canio pushed him over having been shown a red card against Arsenal at Hillsborough in 1998. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2DZl5Xf

Tom Brady's path to Ann Arbor is a story from a bygone college football era, and recruiting has come a long, long way since.

• City met release clause in central defender’s contract • Transfer fee outstrips amount paid for Kevin De Bruyne Manchester City have signed the central defender Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao. The Premier League leaders met the 23-year-old’s £57.2m release clause last week in a deal which makes him City’s record signing. They paid £55m for Kevin De Bruyne in 2015. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2Gw6JMG

The former Manchester United player has a desire to learn quickly – and this will be tested very soon in the She Believes Cup There were many banana skins for Phil Neville to navigate around in his first flurry of interviews since being appointed the new England women’s national team manager last week. With the FA’s stewardship of the women’s game under scrutiny following the Eni Aluko and Mark Sampson sagas, its choosing of Sampson’s successor hasn’t filled many with the confidence that much has been learned, or changed. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2DMKLDi

• Midfielder has not played this month because of ankle injury • Roy Hodgson has no plans to terminate season-long loan deal Ruben Loftus-Cheek has returned to Chelsea for treatment on the ankle injury sustained in late December, with Crystal Palace unsure as to when the England midfielder will be able to resume his loan spell across the capital and his participation in the summer’s World Cup in doubt. Loftus-Cheek hobbled out of Palace’s 3-2 home defeat to Arsenal just after Christmas and, despite the problem initially appearing innocuous, the joint failed to respond to rest in the period since. The club’s medical staff duly spoke with their counterparts at Chelsea to discuss how best to proceed, with the 22-year-old’s parent club determining that he should be monitored for a further three-week period. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2nqyJZq

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The striker who joined West Brom on loan on Monday has struggled with injuries, but his relationship with his manager has never been an easy one Looking back, it was probably never going to work out between Daniel Sturridge and Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool. The will was there, and they gave it a decent go, but sometimes two people are not meant to be together and one is left with no choice but to move out, which in this case was always going to be Sturridge. Bags packed, goodbyes said, he has joined West Bromwich Albion in a loan deal that signals the end of his time on Merseyside and leaves many of those concerned lingering on what could have been. Related: Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge joins West Brom on loan until end of season Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2DL37Vc

Our resident cartoonist on the stories surrounding the January window View all of David’s cartoons here Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2BDw8jP

Today’s tell-all didn’t get where it is today by making room for broken reeds, lame ducks or stool pigeons Transfer window interactive: every deal across Europe With a midweek round of Premier League matches inconveniently scheduled to clash with the final two days of the January transfer window, the Rumour Mill can’t help but ponder the notion that football has finally reached such a point of ludicrousness that there now exists a huge army of internet fanboys for whom the football played in the former is little more than a distraction from the white noise of the latter. For many, the frenzy surrounding the purchase of particular footballers has become more interesting than anything these guys actually do once they switch clubs. Many, but not all. If nothing else, a lack of activity in the transfer market in recent weeks suggests Newcastle fans will be able to give their team’s match against Burnley on Wednesday their full attention. Having missed out on Daniel Sturridge despite ...

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The top Class of 2018 prospect in California still up for grabs just happens to be Warren G's son.

‘The romance of the story is definitely not lost on me,’ says Cahill Signs deal till end of season after which Australia play at World Cup Millwall have signed the Australia international Tim Cahill 14 years after the striker left the New Den to join Everton in the Premier League. Cahill, now 38, scored 57 goals in 251 appearances for the Lions between 1998 and 2004 and has signed a deal with the Championship club until the end of the season. Cahill said: “It’s hard to put into words [what it feels like to wear a Millwall shirt again] – I’m still taking it in now. The first thing I wanted to do with Neil [Harris, the manager] was to walk on the pitch and in the tunnel and have that feeling again that brings back so many memories. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2DJHOmW

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Two months removed from being fired at Arkansas, Bret Bielema knows how he'll change his approach whenever he returns to the sidelines.

Former England captain has endured long journey to found club Beckham paid $25m for rights to new expansion franchise David Beckham finally has his Major League Soccer team. After a process that has taken years to complete, the MLS commissioner, Don Garber, confirmed the former England captain’s club will be based in Miami. Garber said Beckham had wanted a team in Florida since he joined MLS as a player in 2007. “[Beckham] said, ‘I want to come to the league and grow the sport but one day I want to become an owner’. That dream started all the way back in 2007, and four or five years ago he said, ‘Miami is the city I want to make my city of choice’,” Garber told the crowd at Monday’s announcement. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2rNtN6p

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• England women’s manager explains context of ‘wrong’ comments • ‘They are not a reflection on my true character’ Phil Neville said he was not making light of domestic violence but referring to a game of table tennis when he wrote on Twitter that he had just “battered” his wife. The former Manchester United defender was speaking at his unveiling as England women’s team manager and said he regretted his choice of words in a series of sexist tweets posted in 2011 and 2012. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2GoIyQ5

Max and co cover the weekend FA Cup action, bad tackles, Neil Warnock’s geography lessons, the latest transfer activity and more Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts , Soundcloud , Audioboom , Mixcloud , Acast and Stitcher , and join the conversation on Facebook , Twitter and email . Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning , Paul MacInnes and Lars Sivertsen to look back on another weekend of high-octane football action, starting with Tottenham’s shock 1-1 draw at Newport’s Rodney Parade. One player in particular comes in for some pointed criticism. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2nrJ4V5

• Manager says TV wanted no more than four minutes’ stoppage time • BT Sport denies claim and says it has no influence on the decision Jürgen Klopp has alleged Liverpool’s FA Cup tie against West Bromwich Albion was cut short by six minutes on the orders of broadcasters. Liverpool’s fourth-round defeat on Saturday was frequently interrupted by the referee Craig Pawson’s use of VAR. The match official used the review system on eight separate occasions and, in the first half alone, employed VAR to disallow an Albion goal, award a penalty to Liverpool and allow the visitors’ third goal. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2DNHtUw

Sign up now ! Sign up now ! Sign up now ? Sign up now ! In an interview with the BBC some years ago, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang said that growing up as a child playing football he used to pretend to be Jean-Pierre Papin, then Sonny Anderson and then the real Ronaldo. Soon after that, he no longer had to pretend to be anyone, because it turned out he was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and as good, if not better than all his childhood heroes. The Borussia Dortmund striker has since moved on to imitating superheroes, famously donning a Spider-Man mask after scoring against Bayern Munich in the 2014 German Super Cup. What is less widely known is that after an exhausting night out web-slinging and taking on Electro, the Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus, Peter Parker invariably curls up in bed wearing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang jim-jams. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2DM8Luk

Phil Neville has expressed his disappointment over sexist tweets he posted in 2011 and 2012, including one in which he said he had 'just battered the wife', saying that they don't reflect his values, before adding that he is excited to be appointed as the new England women's coach. FA knew of Phil Neville tweets before making him England women’s manager Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2rS08sI

They train on a pitch surrounded by rubble but a Copa del Rey win over Real Madrid is the latest step on Leganés’s ride “It’s very noisy in there,” Asier Garitano said. It was Wednesday night and they were going wild in the Santiago Bernabéu dressing room, wild on the pitch and then wild on the bus as it travelled down the Castellana, 17km south to Butarque, where they arrived long after midnight and with no intention of going home. “It’ll be a late one,” grinned captain Martín Mantovani. Leganés had just made history . “Look around you, it happened,” Nereo Champagne had told Nordin Amrabat as he stood staring wide-eyed at an 80,000-capacity arena long-since empty but for a few hundred fans in blue and white, way up in the north stand and down in a corner of the west. They had beaten Real Madrid for the first time ever, reaching the Copa del Rey semi-final, a place they had never been. No wonder it was noisy. “This is nothing to celebrate,” Garitano insisted but, while he had a point...

• Manchester United would not stand in striker’s way, says manager • ‘Zlatan has never mentioned this possibility to me’ Manchester United would not stand in Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s way if he wishes to join a club in the United States before the end of the season, though José Mourinho says the player has not given any indication of being unhappy at Old Trafford. “I only know what I have read in the media,” Mourinho said. “Zlatan has never mentioned this possibility to me but he is in the last year of his contract and if he wants to move to another club or another country we will try to help him, we will not make his life difficult.” Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2rJS3pM

• West Brom understood to have agreed loan fee of about £1.5m • Klopp says Countinho will not be replaced this month Daniel Sturridge is expected to join West Bromwich Albion, not Newcastle United, on loan until the end of the season. The out-of-favour Liverpool striker has attracted interest from several clubs in this window including Internazionale, Sevilla and Newcastle, but Albion are closest to securing his services on a temporary basis. Liverpool’s FA Cup conquerors are understood to have agreed a loan fee of around £1.5m for Sturridge, who has not featured for Jürgen Klopp since the Champions League rout of Spartak Moscow in early December. He has made only five starts in all competitions this season. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2DONbW8

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Eintracht went second in the Bundesliga for 19 hours after the league’s hardest-working team triumphed again It was short, but oh so sweet. For 19 hours following their 2-0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach on Friday, Eintracht Frankfurt were second in the Bundesliga, with just Bayern Munich ahead of them. It wouldn’t last, of course, with Bayer Leverkusen, Schalke and the other riders in a sub-champion field still to play, but Die Adler were determined to make the most of their “one-night stand”, as sporting director Fredi Bobic put it after. “I said before the game,” Bobic continued, “that if we win, we have to take a picture and frame it.” Maybe, in a season where no credible challenger to Bayern has emerged – Jupp Heynckes’s side remain 16 points clear after their 5-2 win over Hoffenheim – that photo might quickly become superfluous. While Leverkusen and Schalke’s burgeoning resurrections under new coaches have been widely celebrated in rare seasons without the distraction of Eu...

• Defender was sent off for spitting at Wigan’s Nick Powell • Six-game suspension adds to Hammers’ personnel crisis West Ham United defender Arthur Masuaku has been banned for six games by the Football Association for spitting at Wigan Athletic midfielder Nick Powell. The Hammers left-back apologised after being sent off during Saturday’s 2-0 FA Cup defeat to the League One side on Saturday. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2njCuQV

• Gabon striker has agreed deal worth £180,000-a-week • Dortmund want to secure replacement before letting him go Arsenal have reached agreement in principle with Borussia Dortmund over the club record €63m(£55.5m) signing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, though the Bundesliga side will only sanction the completion of the deal once they have secured a replacement. Negotiations have been on-going for Aubameyang for a fortnight, with Arsenal always confident a deal could be concluded this month after the player made clear he was keen to move to London. A three-and-a-half year contract has been agreed with the Gabon forward believed to be worth £180,000-a-week, though reaching compromise with Dortmund has proved more problematic. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2njpnzb

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Milan’s manager has plenty to learn tactically but the 2-1 win over Lazio suggests his man-management is paying dividends Gennaro Gattuso accepted his punishment. Walking out on to the pitch after Milan’s game against Lazio, he bowed his head and entered a circle formed by his players. All at once, they started to hit him – clambering over one another to deliver open-palmed cuffs to the side of his head. In one sense, it was predictable. Lazio had arrived in sensational form, scoring 13 goals in three games as they moved to third in Serie A. Fifteen points separated them from Milan before kick-off. Who hadn’t expected them to turn over the lacklustre Rossoneri , mired in mid-table and missing injured first-choice centre-forward Nikola Kalinic? Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2rNRlIe

Today’s fluff is like a doggy barking at your door Alexis Sánchez’s move to Manchester has convinced LA Galaxy the time could be right to resurrect their interest in Zlatan Ibrahimovic , with someone telling ESPN that a deal is “the furthest along it has ever been” and now could possibly happen quite soon. Meanwhile in Spain, El Confidencial report that superagent Jorge Mendes is trying to make a Cristiano Ronaldo-David de Gea swap deal happen, although unhelpfully United believe that a goalkeeper in his prime should be worth considerably more than an ageing Portuguese wonderwinger. The Monaco midfielder Fabinho has issued a come-and-get-me plea to the Premier League sides who were interested in him in the summer, a group that includes both Manchester clubs. “If a move [was possible] to a new league or a club with a bigger structure and bigger expectations, I would be interested,” he said. “My time with Monaco has been good, but I feel my time here is coming to an end .” Continu...

Michy Batshuayi might be just what Chelsea need, VAR creates fresh farce and Coventry’s on-field outlook brightens at last Cardiff are not the first team to irk Pep Guardiola this season with their aggressive style but the constant fouling and Lee Mason’s conservative use of cards meant Manchester City were lucky to get away with only one injury in their victory at Cardiff City Stadium. Leroy Sané was the victim of a heinous shin-high challenge from Joe Bennett at the end of the first half that was punished only with a yellow card, the Cardiff defender eventually being dismissed in the closing stages of the match for a late lunge on the teenager Brahim Díaz. Guardiola rightly lambasted Mason after the match for leaving his players vulnerable. The best outcome for the Catalan is that this is a turning point in the season for how games are officiated against his team. Referees do not want to ruin games by dismissing players but they are at risk of ruining careers if they do not. Will Un...

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If the NCAA seeks to penalize Michigan State over its sexual assault scandal, the school could point at the organization's own missteps involving Mark Emmert and argue there's an inherent conflict of interest in its investigation.

All of the money raised will go to the Iowa Children's Hospital.

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• Liverpool manager demands: “We have to show we can do better” • Klopp endures a third successive fourth-round defeat in FA Cup Jürgen Klopp said the pressure is on Liverpool following their FA Cup exit and the reaction to defeat by West Bromwich Albion will determine their fortunes in the Champions League. Klopp’s hopes of winning the first trophy of his Liverpool reign rest on the Champions League this season after his team were deservedly beaten by Alan Pardew’s side on Saturday. The 3-2 home defeat condemned Liverpool to a third consecutive fourth‑round exit under their manager and was a second successive loss against a team in the bottom two of the Premier League following the reverse at Swansea City last Monday. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2Fr1xbD

• ‘I’ve got a 100% record at Wembley. I don’t want to spoil it’ • Newport Cup run has earned club around £700,000 so far It said plenty for the evening Mike Flynn had just experienced that his biggest concern involved keeping a proud statistic intact. “I played there in the play-off final for Newport and got us back in the league,” the Newport County manager said of Tottenham’s temporary home at the national stadium, where an FA Cup fourth-round replay now awaits his League Two side. “That’s the only problem – I’ve got a 100% record at Wembley and I don’t want to spoil it.” The match to which Flynn referred took place on 5 May 2013; he patrolled the midfield as Wrexham were beaten 2-0 , ending Newport’s 25-year absence from the Football League. It has not been an easy ride since but Saturday’s 1-1 draw – which would have been so much more had Harry Kane not scored a barely deserved late equaliser to cancel out a header from Padraig Amond – can help permanently change t...

• Philippe Coutinho makes first start for Barcelona in 2-1 win • Dries Mertens scores twice in Napoli’s defeat of Bologna Lionel Messi scored a spectacular free-kick to give Barcelona a come-from-behind 2-1 win over struggling Alavés , keeping the Catalans 11 points clear at the top of La Liga and preserving their unbeaten record in the league. Alavés were the only team to win at the Camp Nou in the league last season and looked set to overshadow Philippe Coutinho’s first start for Barça when the Sweden striker John Guidetti gave them a shock lead in the 23rd minute, falling over as he lashed the ball past Marc-André ter Stegen. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2rMoR1n

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The SFA faces difficult questions over whether to keep playing Scotland games at the national stadium beyond the 2020 lease Saturday’s meeting of Queen’s Park and table‑topping Ayr United drew a relatively strong crowd, for a Scottish League One fixture, of 1,233. That more than 50,000 seats remained empty at Hampden Park highlights one of the game’s great quirks, anomalies or annoyances depending on standpoint. The future fate of Queen’s, an amateur team formed in 1867 and owners of Scottish football’s national stadium on present site since 1903, is intrinsically linked to boardroom talks as scheduled for Tuesday. Discussion regarding Hampden’s fate has proved a slow burner, almost to the point many are unaware of the very real possibility of it being discarded. The host venue of the iconic 1960 European Cup final, the scene of 149,547 – officially – attending a Scotland v England fixture, the setting for that Zinedine Zidane volley in 2002 is under threat. Continue reading... fr...

Debut match, between county’s first international team and Isle of Man, end in 1-1 draw Barely six months since its beer-soaked inception in the back room of a Yorkshire pub, the county’s first “international” football team made its debut in a world league for stateless peoples on Sunday. The fledgling Yorkshire side – which now ranks alongside Tibet, Greenland and Darfur on the world football stage – earned a 1-1 draw against a highly-rated Isle of Man in front of 500 spectators in a tiny village stadium in Pontefract. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2BzvCDz

Pep Guardiola saw red. Very deliberately, the Manchester City manager unwrapped the chunky scarf from around his neck and lobbed it back towards the dugout. He had argued long and loudly with the fourth official, Robert Jones, and he had a case. Bernardo Silva’s shot had fizzed into the roof of the Cardiff net midway through the first half only for the referee, Lee Mason, to rule out what would have been a second City goal for offside against Leroy Sane. The winger may or may not have been in the peripheral vision of the goalkeeper, Neil Etheridge, but the bigger problem for the officials was that TV replays showed Sane had been level with the last defender. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2Ej3O9o

At the end of a routine day’s work Chelsea had safely navigated a passage into the fifth round of the FA Cup for the 18th time in 20 seasons and the crowd here were standing to acclaim Antonio Conte after one of those intermittent periods, such as is modern life at Stamford Bridge, when the manager’s job has come under scrutiny for the apparent crime of not having the Premier League title sown up already. Chelsea’s supporters must know the drill by now, after all these years of Roman Abramovich rule, but this was about as comfortable as it gets for Conte’s men. Newcastle were obliging opponents and, if anything, it was just a surprise Chelsea did not add more goals to go with the two Michy Batshuayi scored before half-time and Marcos Alonso’s expertly taken free-kick during a prosaic second half when the away team played with a startling lack of self-belief. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2nj1O92

• Chelsea remain unbeaten in the Women’s Super League this season • England manager Phil Neville attends Liverpool and Reading games Chelsea retained their unbeaten start to the Women’s Super League season by dispatching Everton thanks to Jonna Andersson’s late goal at Kingsmeadow, after Courtney Sweetman-Kirk missed a first-half penalty for the visitors. Emma Hayes’s side racked up their sixth win this term late on when Fran Kirby squared for Andersson to fire home beyond Lizzie Durack, the Everton goalkeeper, seven minutes from time. As a result, Reading remain the only team to have taken points off Chelsea in the league this season. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2rJY0TA

• Forward moves to Ligue 1 despite interest from Juventus • Pellegri becomes the second most expensive 16-year-old in history Pietro Pellegri has become the second most expensive 16-year-old in history after completing his move from Geona to Monaco for an initial €20m (£17.1m). Pellegri, who became the first player born in 2001 to score a goal in Serie A in May, had previously been linked with a move to Juventus, Arsenal and Manchester United but will join the Ligue 1 side instead for a fee that has only been exceeded by the £39.6m Real Madrid paid to sign Brazilian Vinícius Júnior from Flamengo last year. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2DFFRI1

Saudi Arabia have sent players to Spanish clubs keen to expand their appeal in the Middle East but will anyone gain? Sporting Gijón’s welcome tweet to greet a new signing on 21 January got the name of the player – Abdullah al-Hamdan – mixed up with the name of the club he arrived from: al-Shabab. Perhaps the Spanish team were just so excited about their new Saudi Arabian import or perhaps they did not really have any idea who he was. Just like the simultaneous arrival of alien spaceships above various global cities – provoking curiosity and confusion – there were similar deals being announced on social media all over Spain, as nine Saudi Arabian players joined clubs in the top three tiers on loan until the end of the season. From having virtually no players in action overseas, there is now almost an entire starting Saudi XI for fans at home to keep an eye out for. Continue reading... from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2rKDceW

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