Higuain treated badly – Batistuta defends former Argentina striker

Barcelona have reached an agreement with young attacker Cristian Tello over a new contract which will run until the summer of 2016.

The 21-year-old s previous deal was due to expire at the end of the 2012-13 campaign, and both parties had been in talks over a new and improved deal, eventually leading to a three-year extension.

A minimum release clause of 10 million euros has been included in his new contract, and Tello is due to put pen to paper on the deal at the Barcelona headquarters on Monday.

Tello is a product of the Barcelona youth academy and also played for Damm and Espanyol before returning to the Camp Nou side in the summer of 2010.

The Spain Under-21 star made his official first team debut in the Copa del Rey match against Hospitalet in Nove…

Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson saluted his team’s character after they twice came from behind to snatch a dramatic 3-2 win at promotion rivals Derby.

Ferguson saw his side level late on and then take all three points with a stoppage-time winner from Ricky-Jade Jones.

Derby had made a sensational start to 2024 with Tom Barkhuizen crossing for James Collins to head in after only 22 seconds, but Peterborough hit back in the ninth minute when Harrison Burrows found the bottom left corner from 15 yards.

The speed and accuracy of Peterborough’s passing was a threat but they wasted chances with Joel Randall squandering the best of them when he fired over in the 50th minute.

That looked to be a pivotal moment when Derby regained the lead on the hour aft…

Kansas City s Livestrong Sporting Park has been announced as the venue for the annual MLS All Stars match on July 31.

At Thursday s announcement, MLS commissioner Don Garber claimed the decision to take the All Stars game to Livestrong Sporting Park was based on a promise he made when work began on the stadium in 2010.

The MLS All Stars will take on a yet-to-be-named international club at the Kansas City venue.

We said when we came here for the ground-breaking and for the opening of this stadium we would be back with special events and we are here today to announce that the 2013 MLS All-Star game will be here in Kansas City, in this beautiful new stadium and we are so very excited about that, Garber said.

Sporting Kansas City head coach Peter Vermes wil…

Ivory Coast coach Sabri Lamouchi says his only objective is to return home with Africa Cup of Nations trophy.

After penalty heartbreak in 2012 final against Zambia nothing less than victory will be good enough for The Elephants this time around.

Their campaign begins on Tuesday against Togo, who are boosted by the return of star man Emmanuel Adebayor.

The question is not that it s my first AFCON, the question is: is the Ivory Coast team able to win the AFCON this time? You know it better than me, Ivory Coast was the favourite several times, he said.

It s not important to know if Sabri Lamouchi will win his first AFCON, or if Lacina Traore, playing the AFCON for the first time, will be good.

What matters to us is that the Ivory Coast will try …

Talksport understand that Roma have secured a deal for Ajax sensation Justin Kluivert.

The winger, who is the son of former Netherlands international Patrick Kluivert had been linked with a move to the Premier League with both Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur two of the sides monitoring his situation.

However, it seems Serie A side Roma, who reached the semi-finals of last season’s Champions League have won the race to secure his services.

Kluivert broke into the Ajax first team during the 2016/17 campaign and has since racked up sixty-four appearances in all competitions, scoring fifteen goals.

He helped his side to the final of the Europa League in his first season, while internationally he made his senior Netherlands debut in a 3-0 friend…

Atletico Madrid out-of-favour forward Kevin Gameiro is a summer transfer target for La Liga rivals Valencia.

The 31-year-old French forward joined Los Colchineros in 2016 but largely struggled to break into the first-team fold under Diego Simeone and is said to be looking for a way out of the club.

Valencia have emerged as a realistic destination for the former Paris Saint-Germain striker who is said to be keen on a move to Los Che.

Having fallen behind Diego Costa, Antoine Griezmann and Fernando Torres in the pecking order in Madrid, Gameiro managed only 11 La Liga starts during the 2017/18 season.

He has been linked with a return to his homeland with both Lyon and Saint-Etienne said to be keen on grabbing him but Gameiro is likely to remain in Spain.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp assigned new duties for Trent Alexander-Arnold in the last two games, placing him closer to Fabinho at the base of the midfield, to great effect.

Crystal Palace right-back Nathaniel Clyne, who was a regular starter for Liverpool until Alexander-Arnold appeared and overtook him in the pecking order, isn t surprised by his former teammate excelling in the new role.

“Coming through the academy at Liverpool, I think he was playing quite a few of his games at centre-midfield. He’s got the quality with his passing.”

Nathaniel Clyne says Trent Alexander-Arnold can play in midfield.

— Football Daily (@footballdaily)

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As millions around the world continue to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, one slice of normality has remained the same sport. We re now in a new year and that means we re going to be experiencing a whole lost of games coming at us thick and fast between now and May, which is especially true in the English Premier League. Today, we re going to take a look at a fixture that will pit two of the top flight s most exciting teams against one another West Ham United vs Liverpool.

West Ham

West Ham United have defied all expectations that were put in front of them up to this point in the season but as we all know, taking your eye off the ball in a league like this could prove fatal. They are on t…

Pedro Rodriguez says Lionel Messi is to thank for guiding Barcelona into the Champions League semi-finals.

Messi, in doubt due to a minor hamstring problem, sat on the bench for over an hour, and in his absence Barca struggled, falling behind to a Javier Pastore strike five minutes into the second half at Camp Nou.

But the Argentine left his fingerprints all over the game shortly after his 62nd-minute introduction, as his driving run opened up the defence, eventually allowing Pedro to rifle home the equaliser and send Barca through on away goals.

And despite scoring the all-important goal, Pedro was quick to lead the acclaim for Messi, telling reporters: Messi is a very important player and he put in a great effort (after coming on).He was the catalyst, we change…

Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has accepted the charge of violent conduct brought against him by the Football Association.

However, the Uruguay international does not accept the intention to hand him more than a three-game ban for biting the arm of Chelsea s Branislav Ivanovic during their Premier League clash at Anfield.

A statement from the FA confirmed that the incident was not seen at the time by referee Kevin Friend and his assistants but has been retrospectively reviewed by the officials.

Mr Friend has confirmed that had he seen the incident he would have issued the striker with a straight red card, an action that enables the FA to raise the charges.

Due to the circumstances surrounding the incident the FA have asked for a heavier punishment than a t…