Diego Costa finally feels that he has adapted to Spain s playing style after a troublesome start to his international career with his adopted country.
The Chelsea striker has struggled to replicate his club form on the international stage since switching allegiances from Brazil in 2014, Costa only scoring four goals in 14 appearances.
Costa was part of Vicente Del Bosque s squad for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil but he failed to make an impact as champions Spain crashed out in the group stages.
He scored his first international goal against Luxembourg in October of that year but was then overlooked until September 2015 as Spain opted for the likes of Alvaro Morata, Nolito and Aritz Aduriz to lead the line.
As a result Costa was not selected for Euro 2016 b…
Ukraine will be without striker Olexandr Gladkiy for both legs of their Euro 2016 qualification play-off against Slovenia.
The Football Federation of Ukraine on Friday confirmed Gladkiy had not travelled to Lviv with the team for the first leg on Saturday and will not feature in either game.
Gladkiy picked up an ankle injury playing for his club Shakhtar Donetsk in a 4-0 Champions League win over Malmo earlier this month.
Ukraine are aiming to appear at the European Championship for only the second time, having been eliminated in the group stage of the 2012 tournament, which they qualified for automatically as co-hosts with Poland.
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Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne has revealed he suffered a broken nose and a fracture around his eye socket in the clash with Antonio Rudiger that ended his Champions League final outing prematurely.
The City playmaker collided with Chelsea defender Rudiger in the 56th minute, at which point Pep Guardiola s side had already conceded what proved to be the decisive goal from Kai Havertz in Porto.
De Bruyne s injury led to a lengthy delay as the Belgian received treatment on the field before he was substituted, the 29-year-old clearly in distress.
On Sunday, he tweeted to confirm the details of his injury, though it remains unclear if it will impact on his ability to feature for his country at Euro 2020.
Hi guys just got back from the hospital. My d…
Chelsea have completed the signing of French youngster Malang Sarr on a free transfer after the defender left Ligue 1 club Nice.
Sarr, a 21-year-old capable of playing in the centre of defence or at left-back, chose to move on from Nice at the end of the 2019-20 season following the expiration of his contract.
He has now joined Frank Lampard s side on a five-year deal, though he will spend the 2020-21 season out on loan.
The opportunity to sign Malang was one we could not miss, Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia told the club s official website.
He is a tremendous prospect and we will be monitoring him closely during his loan period, hoping he will soon be back at Chelsea. We are very happy to welcome him to the club today.
Welcome to Chelsea…
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has no regrets over his criticism of the match officials following last weekend’s defeat by Hearts after being hit with a Scottish Football Association disciplinary charge.
Rodgers faces a hearing on March 28 after being accused of breaching a rule which forbids criticising match officials “in such a way as to indicate bias or incompetence”.
The Northern Irishman claimed the “level of incompetence” made him worry for the game as he criticised the displays of referee Don Robertson and video assistant John Beaton in particular, with Yang Hyun-jun’s red card and a penalty for handball against Tomoki Iwata the key complaints.
Rodgers risks being banned from the touchline for Celtic’s cinch Premiership clash against Rangers…
Christian Pulisic struck in the first half to help AC Milan move up to second in Serie A with a 1-0 victory over Empoli at the San Siro.
Pulisic grabbed the only goal of the game five minutes before the break with a first-time effort which was initially given offside. The assistant referee thought Noah Okafor had mistimed his run, but a VAR check ruled him to be onside.
Empoli sensed blood in the second period and had chances to equalise through Nicolo Cambiaghi and Mattia Destro, but Milan hung on to claim back-to-back wins.
Three points in the bag Brought to you
— AC Milan (@acmilan)
The hosts were first to come closest to an opener when former Chelsea man Pulisic found space in the box but fired straight at Elia Caprile with five minutes …
Victor Wanyama s future at St Mary s is far from certain after Southampton manager Ronald Koeman refused to confirm whether the midfielder would return to the starting line-up on Saturday.
Wanyama is free to play against West Brom in the Premier League this weekend after serving a two-match suspension, but faces a battle to regain his spot in the side.
The 24-year-old Kenya international out of contract in 18 months is reportedly set to consider his future in May amid interest from Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United.
Koeman was asked whether Wanyama would return to the team following Oriol Romeu s performance against Watford midweek and the Dutchman said: As always, I will tell the players before the press, but we have real competition in the squad.
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West Ham have announced the signing of Arsenal full-back Carl Jenkinson on a season-long loan.
Jenkinson has struggled to break into the first team at the Emirates Stadium since joining from Charlton Athletic in 2011, and will now hope to impress with his performances at Upton Park.
The chance for regular first-team football convinced the defender, who has one England cap, to make move the across London and become Sam Allardyce s sixth close-season signing.
I m clearly seen as a big part of things here and hopefully I can prove my worth here because it is an important year for me, the 22-year-old told the club s official website.
I was flattered to have a lot of options but, deep down, if I was being honest with myself West Ham was always the place I wa…
Gianluigi Buffon said Cristiano Ronaldo is free to decide what he wants to do in his life after the Juventus superstar did not attend the Ballon d Or ceremony.
Five-time Ballon d Or winner Ronaldo was nowhere to be seen as former Real Madrid team-mate Luka Modric received the coveted individual award in Paris on Monday.
Ronaldo, who had split the last 10 Ballon d Or honours with Barcelona s Lionel Messi, finished second behind Modric.
Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper and ex-Juve captain Buffon was asked about Ronaldo s absence and he told reporters: I think we are all free people.
Everybody decides what he wants of his life.
Winner of the 2017 Ballon d Or, Cristiano Ronaldo () is 2nd this year
— #ballondor (@francefootball)
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Karim Benzema scored twice during a rampant first-half display as 10-man Real Madrid moved into third place in LaLiga with a 4-2 victory at Espanyol.
Having lost 1-0 in the corresponding fixture last season, Madrid were quick to ensure they did not suffer a similar fate this time around – Benzema ending a three-match scoreless run before Sergio Ramos, who later went off injured, doubled the visitors tally with his 50th headed goal for Los Blancos.
Leo Baptistao hauled Espanyol back into the contest, but Benzema had the final say of a frantic opening 45 minutes when he slotted in on the stroke of half-time.
Gareth Bale s goal three minutes after his introduction added further gloss, only for Raphael Varane s red card to make things complicated, but though Robert…