Kyle Walker will miss England s first World Cup group game against Iran on Monday, but says he will be ready to go after that.
The Manchester City defender has not featured for club or country since undergoing groin surgery six weeks ago, but was still selected in Gareth Southgate s 26-man squad for the tournament in Qatar.
England s first match against Iran comes too soon for Walker, but the 32-year-old feels he will be fit to play in the Three Lions second group game against the United States on November 25.
To represent your country at a tournament is a great achievement due to the circumstances leading up to it, Walker told ITV Football.
Just because of the injury, it was an operation I had and it was touch a go.
But it s full credit to the…
Hansi Flick expects Robert Lewandowski to be fit and available for Bayern Munich s clash with Union Berlin on Saturday.
Without the star forward due to a minor injury, Bayern recorded a 2-0 win over Lokomotiv Moscow in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Niklas Sule and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored second-half goals to lift Bayern onto 16 points in Group A.
Flick said Bayern would be bolstered by the return of Lewandowski against Union Berlin.
Similar to Niko, we ve seen with Choupo that it felt good for him in the end to score the goal, the Bayern coach told a news conference.
Also, for us, this second goal was important in order to finalise the game calmly and patiently.
And I expect Robert Lewandowski to be 100 per cent�…
Carlo Ancelotti has been impressed by the form of fit-again Bayern Munich star Javi Martinez as the new Bundesliga season approaches.
The versatile Spain international, able to play in defence and midfield, has seen his career in Germany continually interrupted by injury since moving to Bavaria from Athletic Bilbao in 2012.
The 27-year-old started just 11 league games last season due to knee trouble, having ruptured his cruciate ligament in a separate incident in 2014.
Martinez, though, has started both the Super Cup win over Borussia Dortmund and a DFB-Pokal triumph at Carl Zeiss Jena, drawing high praise from his new head coach.
To be honest, I ve been very surprised by Martinez, Ancelotti was quoted as saying by ESPN.
He was the best play…
Wilfried Zaha s decision to play for Ivory Coast has deprived England of a player with the ability of Brazil star Neymar, according to Yannick Bolasie.
England manager Gareth Southgate tried to persuade Zaha to commit his future to the Three Lions, but the Crystal Palace winger chose to join up with the Ivory Coast squad for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
Everton s Bolasie, who played alongside Zaha at Palace, believes the 24-year-old is starting to show the kind of form that led Manchester United to sign him in 2013.
Bolasie told Radio 5 live: Wilf is getting back to the level [he was at] before he left for United.
Now he s got the goals and the assists and I do think England have missed out there.
Zaha has scored four times in 19 Premier…
AC Milan midfielder Suso is adamant that he made the right choice in leaving Liverpool for Serie A.
The Spaniard was highly rated at Anfield and had broken into the first team as a teenager, impressing on numerous occasions in the first half of the 2012-13 season.
However, he soon fell out of favour and, after going on loan to Almeria in LaLiga the following season, he eventually departed Liverpool for good and joined Milan on a free transfer in July 2015.
Now 22 and fresh from an encouraging loan spell at Genoa last term, he is back in San Siro and has made seven league starts this term.
When I was running down my contract with Liverpool, AC Milan came with the proposal, he told Milan TV.
Such a chance I could not pass up and I think I have …
Henrik Larsson has left Helsingborgs over verbal abuse , the Swedish club announced on Friday.
The former Celtic, Barcelona and Manchester United striker ends his second spell as the club s coach after a shock cup defeat to Oskarshamns.
A club statement confirmed Larsson, 47, opted to quit due to the ferocity of the criticism he has received.
It is extremely sad that it should be this way, said chairman Krister Azelius. We take a serious look at the verbal abuse and will go to the bottom of it.
Everyone who works at Helsingborgs always does the best for the club. The job Henrik was given was to keep the team in the Allsvenskan.
When he took over the team was in a relegation play-off spot and right now we are in 12th place with two points do…
Zlatan Ibrahimovic returned to Milan s Serie A starting line-up with both goals in a 2-0 win at Cagliari that restored their three-point lead over Inter at the summit.
Antonio Conte s side pulled level with the Rossoneri thanks to their impressive victory over champions Juventus in Sunday s Derby d Italia.
But Ibrahimovic is inspiring Milan s title bid with a prolific fervour and marked his first league start since November in style.
A seventh-minute penalty and a crisp half-volley early in the second period took the 39-year-old s tally to a remarkable 12 goals in just eight Serie A appearances this term.
Milan finished with 10 men as substitute Alexis Saelemaekers ludicrously collected two bookings within eight minutes of his 66th-minute introduction but…
Toni Kroos is confident Zinedine Zidane will turn Real Madrid s form around – just as he has done in the past.
LaLiga champions Madrid have endured a difficult start to the new season, winning just six of their 11 games in all competitions.
There were shock back-to-back home defeats to Cadiz and Shakhtar Donetsk, while Los Blancos were thrashed 4-1 at Valencia prior to the international break.
Madrid have also landed big wins against rivals Barcelona and Inter, though, and midfielder Kroos acknowledges consistency is a big issue.
It is true that we are missing something. It is not a secret. Everyone can see it, he told Marca. We need to be consistent.
If you see the results, there are two good, one bad, two good, one bad. We have to do better…
Massimiliano Allegri accepted his share of the blame for Juventus 1-1 draw with Milan, but also felt his players lacked focus as they slipped into the Serie A relegation zone.
Alvaro Morata put Juve ahead in Sunday s clash at the Allianz Arena inside four minutes with his side s earliest goal against Milan in Serie A since February 1996.
Juve were on top for the rest of the first half, but they dropped off after the interval and were punished by Ante Rebic s header 14 minutes from time.
The Bianconeri are winless in their opening four games to a league season for just the fourth time in their history and find themselves 18th in the 20-team division.
Allegri took off Morata, Juan Cuadrado and Paulo Dybala in a 13-minute period prior to Milan s leveller, wi…
Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce says he does not want even to think about the possibility of losing Allan Saint-Maximin in the near future.
The French winger has been catching the eye with fine performances for the Magpies who are yet to win a single Premier League match this season, and the situation has obviously raised questions about his future at the club. He played particularly well last week, snatching a point for his team with a goal against Leeds United and coming very close to adding a late winner. The fact that the 24-year-old signed a six-year-deal in October 2020, however, puts Newcastle in a strong position to refuse all advances for his services for the time being if they wish.
I haven’t even had that conversation – and I don’t want to have th…