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…

Former Crystal Palace midfielder John Salako believes Manchester United recruit Wilfried Zaha could be the replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo.

United wrapped up a 17-million pound January deal for the services of Zaha, which will see the gifted 20-year-old stay on loan with Palace until the end of the season and then move to Old Trafford.

And Salako who is also a youth coach with the London club suggests with enough hard work and determination, Zaha can fulfil his potential with the English Premier League leaders and emulate the 2008 Ballon d Or winner s success.

Manchester United never really replaced Cristiano Ronaldo and I really do think Wilfried Zaha s got that kind of ability, he told Goal.com.

If he can match half of Ronaldo s dedication, drive,…

Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni feels his team fully deserved a point following their 0-0 draw away to Sweden on Friday.

Ireland needed a positive result in Stockholm to try and keep pace with second-placed Sweden and top side Germany in Group C of qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Austria s 6-0 win over the Faroe Islands saw Ireland slip to fourth in the group, and they remain hard-pressed to book a spot at the tournament in Brazil next year.

Nevertheless, veteran Italian coach Trapattoni was proud of his players performance against their more-fancied opponents.

We started very well, he told RTE.

The team started with confidence. We deserved the draw, because we changed the team, and some players, and their performance wa…

Arsenal would lose their identity if Arsene Wenger left because the Frenchman is the club, according to Germany hero Lukas Podolski.

Wenger s 21-year tenure could be drawing to a close amid fierce criticism from fans after six defeats in all competitions since the end of January saw the Gunners humiliated by Bayern Munich in the Champions League and slump to sixth in the Premier League.

But Podolski – who marked his 130th and final Germany appearance with a spectacular winner against England on Wednesday – is one man who would mourn the end of an era at a club where he spent three years between 2012 and 2015, winning the FA Cup once.

I follow nearly every match – when not live, on social media – and I don t know what s happened, Podolski told Sky Sports …

Legendary athlete Michael Johnson believes the corruption crisis engulfing athletics is worse than the one experienced by football governing body FIFA.

An independent commission set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) released the second part of a report into corruption in athletics last week, in which it said corruption was embedded within the IAAF and that members of its council must have known about the extent of doping in athletics.

It was also claimed by investigator Dick Pound that athletes from Russia and Turkey who failed drugs tests paid bribes to cover up the results, while former IAAF president Lamine Diack is currently under investigation amid allegations he received payments to cover up failed drugs tests from Russian athletes.

Football …

Full-back Andy Robertson says he is only getting started at Liverpool and expects to improve even more in 2019-20.

The 25-year-old joined the Reds from Hull City in 2017 and has wasted little time in establishing himself as one of the best defenders in the Premier League.

He made 48 appearances last season as Jurgen Klopp s side finished second in the top flight with 97 points and won the Champions League.

Robertson admits there was a steep learning curve when he joined the club, but believes he has kicked on over the past two seasons.

There has been a lot happening in a relatively short period of time but I ve loved every minute of it, he told the club s official website.

Of course, at the start it was a lot tougher; there was still a big learn…