Paraguay shock Italy at Futsal World Cup

West Ham midfielder Alou Diarra has expressed his desire to leave Boleyn Ground in the January transfer window.

Diarra, 31, joined West Ham in a €3.5 million deal from Marseille last summer, but a thigh injury saw him miss the start of the season.

The player returned into action in December, but failed to break into the starting line-up, and is now ready to leave the Hammers in search of regular playing time.

Yes, I want to go. It s breaking point. Today, I want a real challenge and I will not get it at West Ham, Diarra .

With the current coach (Sam Allardyce), it is impossible. There s no dialogue, no explanation. I have to go.

Some clubs have approached West Ham and I m not afraid to leave. It will always be better than here. At West Ham, …

that AC Milan are stepping up their efforts to sign Cruzeiro winger Everton Ribeiro.

The Rossoneri are in desperate need of attacking reinforcements and they are currently in advanced talks for the player who helped the Brazilian giants win the league title.

After having an €8 million bid rejected, Milan have raised their offer to €10 million, and Cruzeiro appear satisfied with the latest proposal.

The only problem is that Al Ahli are also in the mix and they aim to hijack the bid for the 25-year-old footballer.

Everton Ribeiro developed into one of league s biggest stars shortly after joining Cruzeiro from Coritiba in January 2013, and he has since managed 13 goals and 24 assists in 76 league outings.

The talented footballer, who has three …

Australia sealed a perfect passage through to the 2022 World Cup third qualifying round thanks to Harry Souttar s header in Wednesday s 1-0 win over Jordan in Kuwait.

The Socceroos were already guaranteed top spot in Group B and made it eight wins from eight in qualifying for the first time ever with their three points at the Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium.

Souttar s goal – the Stoke City defender s sixth in five internationals – ended Jordan s hopes of qualifying and that frustration told as Mousa Suleiman was shown a late red card.

Jordan had lost only one of their previous seven internationals but struggled to create any meaningful opportunities, which was also true of their opponents for large parts.

. nods home a historic winner

The…

Real Madrid can extend their lead at the top of La Liga to four points when they host Sevilla on Wednesday.

With a slender one-point lead at La Liga s summit, Real Madrid can put some daylight between themselves and the chasing pack when Sevilla visit the Santiago Bernabeu.

This fixture had to be postponed earlier in the season, due to Real s involvement in the FIFA Club World Cup, but Wednesday s meeting gives Carlo Ancelotti s men the opportunity to cement their place at the top of the table.

Real come into the game in high spirits, having beaten Real Sociedad 4-1 at home at the weekend to record a fourth consecutive league success.

Ancelotti hailed the performance of Karim Benzema after the Frenchman netted twice on Saturday and the coach will hope …

Real Madrid on Tuesday confirmed the signing of Serbia striker Luka Jovic from Eintracht Frankfurt for a fee reported to be €60million.

Jovic became one of Europe s most in-demand players after scoring 17 Bundesliga goals and a further 10 in Eintracht s run to the semi-finals of the Europa League in 2018-19.

The Bundesliga club have made a massive profit on the 21-year-old as they only trigged a purchase option in his loan deal from Benfica for a reported €6m in April.

He certainly comes highly recommended by those who know him best.

Milos Ninkovic  Jovic s former team-mate at Red Star Belgrade

He is such a nice guy. [At] 16 years old, to play for such a big club in Serbia is unbelievable, Ninkovic, who now plays for A-League …

Philippe Coutinho says he is unsure where he will be playing next season as speculation continues to mount over his Barcelona future.

The Brazil international had an underwhelming first full campaign at Camp Nou, contributing five LaLiga goals and two assists.

Coutinho acknowledged earlier this week he needs to improve to justify his hefty price tag, with Barcelona paying a fee that could rise to £142million to sign him from Liverpool in January 2018.

Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain are rumoured to be interested in the 27-year-old, but he is keeping his attention on helping Brazil to Copa America glory on home soil.

I do not know. The future, nobody knows, Coutinho told reporters when asked if he will leave Barcelona.

I am focused to…

Prediction: Draw

Best Odds: 

Bookmaker: 

Happy New Year one and all! It s safe to say that 2019 has been one hell of a year for us all, and in the world of football, 2020 looks set to be even crazier with everything from the Summer Olympics to UEFA Euro 2020 and beyond. Before all that, though, there s still a whole half of the season to go in the domestic leagues all across the land including in the Premier League. Today, we ll be looking at a pretty intriguing game up in the North East as Newcastle United host high-flying Leicester City.

Newcastle

From their aerial presence to their strong structure, Newcastle United have been much better than anyone was really expecting them to be over the course of the last few months. Steve Bruce has turned a neg…

Bundesliga sides Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburger SV are reportedly in the chase for Corinthians forward Paolo Guerrero, .

The experienced striker recently expressed his desire to return to Europe, putting himself in the shopping window ahead of the final week of transfer dealings in top European leagues.

Bild has learned that Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburg are showing interest in the 31-year-old, who has already left his mark on German Bundesliga.

Paolo Guerrero began his professional career at Bayern Munich, where he scored 10 goals in 27 league outings before joining Hamburg.

The striker went on to make 134 league appearances for the Red Shorts, but left the club on a bad note, following several much publicized incidents.

Guerrero left Germany to …

Mohamed Salah will be the Liverpool player to watch as Jurgen Klopp leaves the club, with Stephen Warnock wondering if the superstar winger s sale might represent an opportunity in the Anfield rebuild.

Hugely popular Liverpool manager Klopp announced last week this season will be his last at Liverpool, departing after almost nine years on Merseyside.

Klopp s coaching staff are following him out of the club, while sporting director Jorg Schmadtke is to exit at the end of the January transfer window.

The shock announcement of Klopp s decision leaves Liverpool with lots to do before the next campaign, and calls may have to be made around some of the key men who have made the manager s tenure such a success.

For Warnock, who played for the Reds under Rafael B…

Barcelona will go into the FIFA Club World Cup as favourites to win the competition for the first time, but winger Lionel Messi says they must learn the lessons from their last involvement.

The Club World Cup is the only international honour missing from Barcelona s well-stocked trophy cabinet after their previous attempt to win it, in 2006, ended in a 1-0 defeat to Brazilian side Internacional.

I think the most important lesson we ve learned is not to be over-confident and to get to know our opponents in depth, said Messi, in an interview with the FIFA website on the eve of the December 9-19 tournament here.

The last time we maybe thought that the other sides were a bit below us and that s something we can t afford to let happen again if we want to be champio…