Joao Felix was one of the brightest prospects in world football when he burst onto the scene with Benfica.
Atletico Madrid had to shell out of one the biggest ever transfer fees to land such a big up-and-coming talent.
Atleti paid Benfica a club-record fee of €126million to bring Joao Felix, then 19, to the Wanda Metropolitano, making the forward the fourth-most expensive footballer of all time.
Antonie Griezmann s move to Barcelona provided Atleti with the funds for such a transfer, though it would be safe to say neither of those players hit the heights that might have been expected.
Indeed, Griezmann is now back at Atleti and playing alongside the man who was brought in to replace him. For Joao Felix it has been a slow burn, but he now appears to…
It may reach a point where Lionel Messi is going to need an encyclopedia to record his ever-growing list of achievements.
The Barcelona great s latest benchmark came as a result of his goal in Tuesday s 3-0 win over Real Valladolid in LaLiga.
That strike was Messi s 644th in all competitions for Barcelona, the most scored by any player for a single team.
He surpassed the previous record held by Brazil legend Pele, who netted 643 for Santos and enjoyed his most prolific year in 1958 when he scored an astonishing 66 goals.
To commemorate such an impressive achievement, we took a look at some of Messi s most impressive numbers with the help of Opta data.
Leo
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona)
A CLASS OF HIS OWN
In a little ove…
Former Old Firm rivals Martin O’Neill and Alex McLeish are united in their disappointment over the lack of away supporters at games between Celtic and Rangers.
Former Celtic boss O’Neill believes the Glasgow derby has lost something from the development after describing the past atmosphere as “combative and brilliant”.
McLeish also feels the lack of away fans could even hamper the home team.
Both clubs formerly handed about 7,500 tickets to their rivals until Rangers announced in May 2018 that they were slashing that allocation to about 10 per cent of that figure. Inevitably, Celtic immediately followed suit.
Celtic are believed to be in favour of a return to the original allocation but neither club have taken away tickets for the final two league…
Karim Benzema reached 30 LaLiga goals in 2021 with a first-half double as Real Madrid edged past Athletic Bilbao 2-1 to extend their lead at the summit.
Benzema s brace inside seven minutes on Wednesday quickly helped atone for Madrid s goalless draw with lowly Cadiz last time out.
Oihan Sancet halved the deficit in a frantic opening at San Mames, but the hosts rarely troubled Thibaut Courtois after the interval as Carlo Ancelotti s side navigated the contest to seal the three points.
Victory means Madrid boast an eight-point advantage over second-placed Sevilla heading into 2022 and a 17-point lead over defending champions Atletico Madrid, who were defeated by Granada.
30 Except Lionel Messi (nine campaigns) Cristiano Ronaldo (seven), Karim Benzema is th…
Everton have completed the signing of Dele Alli from Tottenham, with the England midfielder becoming Frank Lampard s second acquisition as Toffees manager.
Lampard was only officially confirmed as Everton s manager on Monday, though the club have moved quickly to back the former Chelsea boss, whose initial task is to guide the Merseysiders away from the Premier League relegation scrap.
Donny van de Beek came in as Lampard s first signing, with the Netherlands midfielder joining on loan from Manchester United for the rest of the season.
And Everton have further bolstered their midfield options by bringing in Alli, who has endured another frustrating season at Tottenham.
The transfer was not confirmed until more than an hour after the 23:00 GMT cut-off poi…
As Aston Villa look to take a giant leap towards a famous Champions League ticket, England’s elite will certainly steal all of Sunday’s headlines.
On a schedule that is highlighted by Tottenham’s trip to Liverpool, Chelsea will also welcome London rivals West Ham to Stamford Bridge this weekend.
With a trio of season-defining showdowns on the cards this weekend, we have found a pair of Premier League betting markets that are worth keeping an eye out for.
14:00 Chelsea vs West Ham
While Chelsea might have opened the New Year seeking a minor miracle in their bid to book any kind of European return this season, the Blues are now sat within striking distance. Although Sunday’s hosts might have publicly struggled with their consistency after appoint…
Celtic head coach Ange Postecoglou believes a lot of missed chances were to blame for his side s ill-fated Champions League season.
After losing 2-0 to RB Leipzig at home on Tuesday, the reigning Scottish Champions will not be able to progress beyond the group stage.
Even their hopes of dropping into the Europa League look slim, needing four points from their games against Shakhtar Donetsk and Real Madrid, as well as favours from elsewhere.
Reflecting on a disappointing display from his side, Postecoglou said: I thought we showed all the effort and endeavour to try to win a game of football.
But as we have found at this level, if you don’t take your chances it’s very hard to convert all of that into a result.
I’m trying to tell us to pla…
Paris Saint-Germain ceded the Ligue 1 title despite winning their final match of the season 2-0 at Brest.
Neymar missed a first-half penalty at Stade Francis-Le Ble before a Romain Faivre own goal and Kylian Mbappe s 27th league goal of the season made it a routine win for Mauricio Pochettino s men.
But Lille s 2-1 victory over Angers meant Christophe Galtier s side completed an incredible triumph by a solitary point.
Results elsewhere were kinder to Brest, with Nantes 2-1 loss to Montpellier sparing them participation in the relegation play-off.
PSG s title hopes took an early blow when Jonathan David gave Lille the lead at Angers and Neymar then spurned a 19th-minute penalty after Faivre s rash foul on Angel Di Maria.
Brest goalkeeper Gautier…
Robert Lewandowski said his eight years at Bayern Munich had been special as he bid goodbye to players and staff from the German giants on Saturday.
The Poland striker is poised to seal a move to Barcelona after Bayern reportedly accepted a €50million offer from the LaLiga club.
Barcelona are said to be paying an initial €45million, plus €5million in performance-related add-ons, to secure the player who scored 50 goals for Bayern across all competitions last season.
Lewandowski was spotted at Sabener Strasse on Saturday morning taking part in training, before hugging team-mates and coaching staff at the end of the session.
The 33-year-old joined Bayern from Borussia Dortmund in 2014, and speaking to Germany s Sky Sport News, Lewandowski said: I w…
Cristiano Ronaldo said Manchester United must improve but they need time after the Red Devils superstar s 91st-minute equaliser salvaged a dramatic 2-2 draw at Atalanta in the Champions League.
United had never lost four consecutive away games in the European Cup/Champions League, however, the underperforming side were facing more unwanted history until Ronaldo rescued a point in stoppage time on Tuesday.
Ronaldo capped a stunning team move in first-half stoppage time to cancel out Josip Ilicic s 12th-minute opener in Bergamo, where Duvan Zapata restored Atalanta s lead 11 minutes into the second half.
However, Ronaldo bailed out Ole Gunnar Solskjaer s United again following another underwhelming display in Group F amid mounting pressure on the Norwegian manager …