Jordi Alba ranks Iker Casillas as one of the best three goalkeepers in the world and has defended his place in Spain s national team.
Casillas position in the Spain squad has been called into question ever since he made a series of high-profile errors at the 2014 World Cup.
Thus far head coach Vicente del Bosque has kept faith with the 34-year-old keeper, who left Real Madrid after 25 years to join Porto in the close-season.
His selection continues to draw criticism from sections of the Spanish media, but Barcelona full-back Jordi Alba leapt to the defence of his international team-mate.
We know the quality of Iker and we are with him all the away, the 27-year-old told reporters ahead of Spain s friendly against Italy in Udine on Thursday.
For m…
Borussia Dortmund midfielder Nuri Sahin is looking forward to a reunion with Jurgen Klopp, but reflects only positively on his short spell at Liverpool.
Sahin, 27, and Dortmund host the Premier League outfit in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday.
The Turkey international, who had a brief loan spell at Liverpool in 2012-13, insists the tie will have no impact on his team-mates relationship with former coach Klopp.
We have worked for seven, eight years, Sahin told Sport1.
That he knows us is beyond question. We know him well. We all have a great relationship with Klopp. That will not suffer in these two games.
Sahin was on loan at Anfield from Real Madrid in 2012-13, before the midfielder made his return to Dortmund.
Ahmed Hegazi scored on his West Brom debut as Tony Pulis side opened the new Premier League season with a 1-0 victory over Bournemouth at the Hawthorns.
The Egypt centre-back, who joined on loan from Al Ahly last month, headed in from close range just after the half-hour mark to ensure the home side were able to celebrate their head coach signing a one-year contract extension with three points.
Pulis agreed terms to extend his stay with the club until 2019 on Friday, and it was back to business 24 hours later as West Brom continued the theme of the previous campaign by displaying trademark defensive steel coupled with set-piece prowess.
Jay Rodriguez, another off-season arrival for the Baggies, had gone close on a couple of occasions prior to Hegazi s header, w…
Chelsea got their Premier League title defence up and running amid late drama as Marcos Alonso proved to be an unlikely two-goal hero in the 2-1 win over Tottenham at Wembley.
Last weekend s shock opening-day loss at home to Burnley – a match where captain Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas were sent off – and the ongoing saga over Diego Costa s future has cast an unwelcome shadow over Stamford Bridge and sounded unwelcome echoes of the last campaign they entered as champions.
Jose Mourinho paid with his job before Christmas in 2015 as a squad in turmoil hovered improbably over the relegation zone but Antonio Conte s side allayed doubts over a similar implosion as they turned in a performance of grit and togetherness at the national stadium.
Alonso produced the ch…
Asked about his Inter situation while on international duty as Denmark prepare to face Iceland in Sunday s Nations League clash, Eriksen told reporters: I don t want to sit on the bench for the whole season. I hope this isn t the coach s or the club s intention.
There will be an incredible number of matches in a short time, and now we also have three national team matches in a few days. The Champions League starts when we get back to their respective clubs, so there will be a lot of games to play.
I m sure I ll probably have my minutes. So it depends a lot on the people on the outside and I myself expect this moment to come.
I find myself at a point where perhaps I had never been in a club team before. I got off to a great start after arriving at Inter in Janu…
Euro 2020 has already produced some sensational moments over the course of the last few weeks and last night, we had two more fascinating games to enjoy with one of them being Czech Republic vs Denmark. It proved to be quite an eventful and tense affair but in the end, the Danes walked away as the 2-1 victors to cement their place in the semi-finals of this year s tournament.
Danish determination
Denmark had to endure heartache in their first game of the Euros as a result of Christian Eriksen s collapse. Alas, instead of hiding away from what happened, they used it as motivation to win their final fixture in the group stage and kickstart their journey to the final four. Nobody thought they d be able to get this far but they ve managed to do it, and it truly will be remarkable …
Non-league Tamworth will travel to Premier League Everton in the FA Cup third round hoping to pull off a major shock on Saturday.
Most of the clubs players are semi-professional but the non-leaguers will be hoping to catch Everton on a bad day.
Romance
This is the sort of story that the FA Cup can inspire. A David vs. Goliath tie where the underdogs have nothing to lose and the big boys have nothing to gain. The sort of tie that has made the FA Cup one of the most famous cup competitions in the world.
Tamworth are the sort of club that could just produce a shock result in the third round. This tie is the classic banana skin for the Toffee’s.
History
Tamworth made it to the third round of the competition in 2006 but were knocked out by S…
Tottenham head coach Antonio Conte is confident Son Heung-min will be able to feature for South Korea at the World Cup in Qatar.
The forward suffered a fractured eye socket during Spurs 2-1 victory against Marseille in the Champions League in midweek, sparking concerns about his availability for the upcoming tournament.
It was then confirmed that Son would undergo surgery on his injury and he missed Sunday s defeat to Liverpool, with Conte confirming ahead of the match he would not play for Spurs again before the season breaks for the World Cup.
However, Conte had an encouraging update for Son s availability for the tournament in Qatar as he believes he will represent his nation.
With Sonny, I sent him a message after the surgery, he said after the loss …
Boca Juniors star Juan Roman Riquelme has revealed his desire to return to the Argentina national team.
The playmaker has not appeared for Argentina since 2009 when he fell out with coach Diego Maradona, but current trainer Alejandro Sabella stated he would consider picking him once more.
Speaking on Thursday, Riquelme asserted that playing with Lionel Messi, his companion in Argentina s 2008-winning Olympic Games campaign, was all the motivation he needed to return to international duty.
I want to enjoy playing again with Messi and help Argentina qualify for the World Cup, the 33-year-old told Radio del Plata.
Argentina have the best player in the world and the thought of playing alongside him is a dream of mine.
Riquelme missed a significant…
Jonathan Soriano believes he will not receive a contract extension at Barcelona, and has described a move to Benfica as a good solution .
The former Espanyol forward is out of contract at the end of the 2011/12 season and considers there to be little chance of an extension.
Soriano, 26 has failed to make a La Liga appearance for Barca since joining in 2009, despite 57 goals in 81 appearances for the club s B team.
So far, I have not been contacted by Barcelona s board about renewing, Soriano told O Jogo.
(Barca coach) Pep Guardiola has not spoken with me about it either, so I know I will not make it to the first team. As such, I am ready to go to another club.
Benfica have reportedly already entered into talks about signing the striker and Sor…