Prediction: Estonia vs Austria

Guro Reiten secured Chelsea the advantage in their quarter-final against defending champions Lyon in the Women s Champions League.

The Norwegian curled home after 28 minutes in France to hand the Blues a 1-0 lead ahead of the reverse fixture in London.

Lyon were guilty of missing a number of opportunities in the first half, although Lauren James could have added a second for Chelsea when she hit the post.

Delphine Cascarino similarly struck the woodwork for Lyon after half-time, with the eight-time champions now needing a turnaround in the second leg if their title defence is to continue.

ADVANTAGE CHELSEA!

— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW)

Elsewhere, Dominique Janssen s second-half penalty saw Wolfsburg beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 at…

The greatest show on earth has apparently denied a small Australian city its own sporting spectacle, with Ronaldinho citing his Olympic commitments as the reason for declining an offer to play for Wollongong Wolves.

The former Brazil and Barcelona star had been offered a reported one-off payment of 100,000 Australian dollars (approximately £58,000) to play for the second-tier team in their FFA Cup tie against A-League outfit Sydney on Wednesday.

But the World Cup, Champions League and LaLiga winner will not be gracing WIN Stadium, in a blow to fans of the two-time National Soccer League champions. 

We gave what we felt was a fair offer, but unfortunately he [Ronaldinho] declined, a Wolves spokesperson was quoted as telling the Illawarra Mercury.

We wo…

Spain s Euro 2016 campaign looks like it is finally up and running.

Despite dominating play for the full 90 minutes in their opening Group D match against Czech Republic, Spain failed to find the net until just before the final whistle  and it was defender Gerard Pique who made the difference.

It was thus little surprise that question marks were raised over their attacking performance, with Alvaro Morata in particular receiving his fair share of criticism.

Those concerns were gone, though, after Friday s meeting with Turkey, as the Juventus man emphatically silenced his critics with a superb performance at the Stade de Nice, Spain winning 3-0 to qualify for the last 16.

Morata first went close to opening the scoring when trying his luck with a p…

Chelsea youth prospect Nathaniel Chalobah has joined Gianfranco Zola s Watford on loan until January 2.

The 17-year-old was captain of the FA Youth Cup winning side last season, and also skippered England at U-17 level last term, as well as regularly wearing the armband for the Blues reserves.

The central defender, who can also play in midfield, signed a two-and-a-half year deal with the west London club in January but has never made a senior appearance, though he has been an unused substitute.

Therefore, Roberto Di Matteo has decided to allow the Englishman, who put in an impressive performance for the club in their first ever NextGen clash against CSKA Moscow at Cobham on Tuesday, to gain some experience away from the club.

The former Chelsea schoolboy…

Liverpool playmaker Jonjo Shelvey believes he has the goods to step up in the absence of West Ham loanee Andy Carroll.

The former Newcastle striker joined the Premier League rivals on loan at the end of August, with manager Brendan Rodgers failing to bring in a suitable replacement before the transfer window shut despite strong links to then-Fulham forward Clint Dempsey

However, Shelvey is confident he can step up to the mark and cement his place in the Liverpool first-team by filling the void created by Carroll s departure.

As a team, when the transfer window passed we were all disappointed that we didn t get to bring anyone in but that s when we ve all got to step up to the plate, Shelvey told talkSPORT.

We re going to have to break down teams becaus…

Juventus head coach Massimiliano Allegri says his side didn’t play very well leading to him storming down the tunnel before full-time in their 1-0 home win over Verona.

The Bianconeri secured their fifth straight win in all competitions with Moise Kean s 55th-minute strike the difference.

But Allegri was unimpressed with his side and stormed down the post-side tunnel before the full-time whistle.

We didn t play very well and I think in the last five minutes we had to go and score a second goal, keep pushing them and maintain the pressure, Allegri told Sky Sport Italia.

It doesn t seem like much five minutes, but all Verona needed was a long ball into the box and anything could happen. We could ve been here licking our wounds if they had equalised.

…

Round 34 of 2017/18 Serie A season brought with it the game that was set to have a huge impact on the title race – a direct showdown between league leaders Juventus and second-place Napoli, with the difference between the teams only four points.

The Teams

Both managers arranged their players in the 4-3-3 formation.

Massimiliano Allegri played a back four of Benatia and Chiellini as the centre-backs flanked by Höwedes and Asamoah, in front of Buffon in goal. Pjanić, Khedira and Matuidi formed the midfield, while Dybala and Douglas Costa supported Higuain in attack.

The team that Maurizio Sarri was made of Reina in goal, Albiol and Koulibaly ahead of him, Hysaj and Mario Rui as the fullbacks, Jorginho, Allan and Hamšik in the middle, and Callejon, Insigne an…

Gabriel Barbosa was unwilling to discuss his future just yet after Flamengo s Club World Cup final defeat to Liverpool on Saturday.

Gabriel played 120 minutes as Flamengo suffered a 1-0 extra-time loss to the European champions in Doha.

The forward is on loan from Inter, but that deal expires at the end of the year and the 23-year-old has been linked with a move to West Ham in January.

Speaking after the defeat, Gabriel said he would eventually reveal his future.

We played as equals against Liverpool. We had some chances to score. We obviously suffered, but now I m on vacation, he said.

I will enjoy this and slowly talk about my future.

Foi uma partida muito disputada. Durante os 120 minutos, lutamos pela vitória incansavelmente. Não …

Roman Weidenfeller says an ungrateful Ousmane Dembele had no manners when he forced a move from Borussia Dortmund to Barcelona last year.

France international Dembele excelled in his sole season at Signal Iduna Park, scoring 10 goals in all competitions and attracting the interest of LaLiga giants Barca, who had just lost Neymar.

But Dortmund stalwart Weidenfeller was not happy with the way Dembele conducted himself as he sought the transfer, believing his behaviour to be ridiculous .

That s not the way to leave a club, the goalkeeper told ESPN of Dembele s departure. It caused an unbelievable unrest and nobody could calm down.

This is a team sport football is not tennis. He did not even take his boots [before leaving] it s ridiculous. Before, I could n…

Cutting Joe Hart out of his first-team plans at Manchester City is the toughest decision Pep Guardiola has made at the Etihad Stadium.

Hart is widely expected to miss out on a place in England s World Cup squad when Gareth Southgate announces his 23-man party for Russia 2018 on Wednesday.

It marks a stunning fall from grace for the two-time Premier League champion, who has been the Three Lions starting goalkeeper in each of their past three major tournaments and was also first choice during the most-recent qualification campaign

Guardiola placed Hart behind Willy Caballero in the pecking order at City and then signed Claudio Bravo in August 2016 amid doubts the Englishman could adapt to his demands of building play from the back.

An error-strewn season on…