Neymar took part in Paris Saint-Germain training on Thursday and has a chance of featuring in next week s Champions League last-16 first leg with Real Madrid.

Brazil international Neymar has not played for PSG since November 28 after spraining the ligaments in his left ankle during the 3-1 win over Saint-Etienne.

The 30-year-old, who was initially due to miss between six and eight weeks, has sat out the Parisians past 12 matches.

However, he has stepped up his recovery programme by playing a small part in group training on the eve of PSG s Ligue 1 meeting with Rennes. 

Head coach Mauricio Pochettino has ruled Neymar out of Friday s game, but a decision on whether he can play any part against Madrid in five days time will be made next week.

He s …

Zinedine Zidane feels flattered that Real Madrid s stars want him to stay at the club but claimed the team might be capable of hitting greater heights without him.

The Frenchman is widely expected to step down as Madrid coach during the close season, and confirmation of that could come as soon as Saturday.

Villarreal, who will face Manchester United in the Europa League final next Wednesday, provide the opposition for Madrid s final match of the campaign.

There is a chance Madrid could finish as LaLiga champions, but they head into the fixture with a two-point deficit to Atletico Madrid, who travel to Real Valladolid.

That would be an ideal way for Zidane to bow out of his second spell in charge of Los Blancos, although the most likely outcome is that hi…

Best odds: 13/17

Bookmaker:

The fourth round of the Serie A season is set to close on Monday evening at the Marcantonio Bentegodi in Verona, where Hellas Verona will be playing host to Bologna.

After the opening three rounds and the matches played on Saturday, Verona sit in seventh place with six points, which for the time being looks very good for a team that barely avoided relegation last term, and Bologna are 10th with four to their name.

Hellas Verona

For Verona, the season started with a Coppa Italia match against Ascoli which they won, and then took to the Serie A campaign with at least a little bit of confidence. It started very well, with a 0-1 win away to Empoli, and continued even better as they beat AS Roma at home by 2-1, despite playing wit…

Aston Villa are interested in signing Chris Wood from Premier League rival Burnley in the summer transfer window, according to . The Villans are on the hunt for a new striker this summer, and they have reportedly identified former Leeds star Wood as a potential target.

However, Villa are not the only club in the Premier League who are keen on signing Wood this summer. There are two more clubs in the Premier League top 12 who want the New Zealand international striker. Burnley will demand at least £30 million for the 29-year-old and could even push it to £40 million.

Wood is one of the better strikers in the Premier League. The 29-year-old New Zealand international made 32 starts and one substitute appearance in the Premier League for Burnley this season, scoring 12 go…

Rewind to January 2020. At the time, Bruno Fernandes just seemed like he was becoming the latest in a long list of players who had been linked with Manchester United but ultimately never set foot in Old Trafford.

Remember Nico Gaitan?

But, as it happened, United did get a deal done for the Portugal midfielder, who – on the evidence of his time at Sporting CP – was going to bring goals, craft and fire to the Red Devils engine room.

It would be fair to say he has surpassed the expectations of many fans and neutrals alike. While he undoubtedly has the capacity to frustrate, anyone who doubts his ability is surely just being contrarian.

Tuesday marks two years since his United debut, a disappointing 0-0 draw with – fittingly – Portugal Lite, or Wolv…

Mason Mount of Chelsea has been tipped to join Real Madrid or Barcelona at a future point in his career, but at the moment, he is not interested in that kind of talk.

Speaking to Dutch outlet , Mitchell van Bergen, who played alongside Mount during his loan spell with Vitesse Arnhem in 2017/18, declared that Mount had what it takes to reach the top, and he could see him play for Real or Barcelona one day.

Mount spent last season on loan at Derby County, where he played under Frank Lampard. The pair of them are now at Chelsea together, and the 20-year-old midfielder seems to have made the most of the opportunity presented to him by the transfer ban the club have been imposed with. Unable to sign new players this summer, Lampard has been forced to place his faith in the l…

Newcastle United have confirmed the loan signing of Luuk de Jong from Borussia Moenchengladbach until the end of the season.

The Holland international, 23, could put pen to paper on a permanent deal at St James Park in the summer.

De Jong, who has been assigned the No. 18 shirt, could make his Magpies debut in the Tyne-Wear derby against Sunderland on Saturday.

The 23-year-old joined Moenchengladbach in a deal worth €15 million in July 2012 but has failed to live up to the reputation he established at Dutch Eredivisie side FC Twente from 2009 to 2012.

Newcastle is a great club and I have a good feeling about it, de Jong told the club s official website, .

I am very impressed with the stadium and training ground and have been mad…

New AZ coach Marco van Basten labelled his team s 3-0 win over Heracles in their Eredivisie opener on Saturday as a good first step .

The 49-year-old quit his position as Heerenveen coach at the end of last season, having announced he would take over at AZ in April, and Van Basten started his new job impressively with a big win away from home.

After a scoreless first half, Steven Berghuis, Guus Hupperts and Muamer Tankovic produced the goals for the visitors and Van Basten was thrilled to see each of his forwards get on the scoresheet in AZ s first game of the 2014-15 Eredivisie season.

Nice that all strikers have scored, 3-0 here is not ordinary, he said.

They [Heracles] play very dynamic, with many attackers. The defence was good for us and slowly we …

Market: Lille win

Odds: 5/6 @

Looking to mark their Ligue 1 return with a statement on the road, Lille will make the trip to Clermont on Wednesday evening.

Starting with the hosts, while Clermont might have impressed many across France when opening the 2022/23 campaign, Les Lanciers had largely failed to keep up that same momentum before heading into the festive break. Last seen on Ligue 1 duties getting hit with a 2-1 loss away at Lens on November 12th, Pascal Gastien s men have come tumbling down the top-flight table. Along with failing to find any stability during their winter interval, the former Niort boss has seen his side fail to win any of their last five Ligue 1 outings. With that run highlighted by a 3-1 drumming at home against Brest on October 23rd, …

Chelsea duo Victor Moses and John Obi Mikel starred as Nigeria moved into full control of their World Cup qualifying group with a 3-1 home victory over Algeria in Uyo.

Moses and Mikel were on target in the first half, before Nabil Bentaleb s goal after the break gave Algeria hope of a comeback.

But Moses scored his second in the final moments as Gernot Rohr s side won their second straight game in the final stage of CAF qualification.

The win puts the Super Eagles four points clear of nearest challengers Cameroon in Group B, with Algeria and Zambia a further one behind. Only the pool winners will make it to Russia in 2018.

Moses had already created the best early chance in the first meeting between the two sides since the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations when h…