Shakhtar Donetsk will hope their formidable UEFA Champions League group-stage home record transfers to the Arena Lviv when Porto visit.
The trip to Ukraine is often seen as one of the toughest in the Champions League calendar, though Shakhtar s home advantage may be watered down as they themselves play on unfamiliar turf.
Shakhtar have not played at their Donbass Arena home since May as civil unrest affects eastern Ukraine the stadium has even been damaged by shelling during the conflict instead playing home fixtures some 760 miles away in Lviv.
Mircea Lucescu s men will be hoping a passionate atmosphere is recreated to help them improve further on an impressive history at this stage.
In their previous 13 group-stage home games, the Ukrainian champions ha…
Sunderland captain John O’Shea has put pen to paper on a new two year deal at the Stadium of Light, .
The 33 year old, who scored a dramatic equaliser on his one hundredth appearance for the Republic of Ireland in their Euro 2016 qualifier against World Champions Germany on Tuesday evening, has been at the Black Cats since July 2011, having previously spent twelve years at Manchester United.
He has racked up one hundred and twenty-one appearances for Sunderland in all competitions, scoring three goals and was part of the squad that reached the Capital One Cup final last season.
Gus Poyet’s side currently sit in thirteenth place in the Premier League, after winning one and drawing five of their seven games thus far.
They travel to Southampton on Saturday…
Mark Hughes is ready to let Bojan Krkic reprise his Stoke City career despite sending the ex-Barcelona forward on a loan exile to Mainz last season.
Bojan moved to the Bundesliga in January after enduring limited opportunities in Hughes starting XI.
He scored once in 11 games in German football s top flight the opening goal in a 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich and the 26-year-old has a chance to prove himself again at the bet365 Stadium, where he remains a crowd favourite.
We all have a lot of feelings for Bojan, and it was great to see him back here this morning, Hughes told Stoke City+.
Although it didn t quite work out for him here last year we have to remember that he was still coming back from a serious injury.
We are six months down the lin…
Jose Mourinho made the wrong decision in returning for a second stint at Chelsea, according to Alex Ferguson.
Mourinho has taken over at Manchester United after leaving Stamford Bridge before Christmas last season.
The Portuguese tactician was appointed again at Chelsea in mid-2013, leading the club to a Premier League title.
But it turned sour for Mourinho in London, departing in December last year after losing nine of 16 league games.
Ferguson, a friend of the former Real Madrid and Inter coach as well as a club ambassador at United, believes Mourinho should never have returned to Chelsea.
I thought Jose was wrong to go back to Chelsea, I really do, the legendary former United boss told Sky Sports at a charity event.
I think it s alw…
Having utterly failed to meet the expectations at Barcelona following his €160 million move from Liverpool in January 2018, Philippe Coutinho was sent to Bayern Munich on loan for the 2019/20 season, with the Bundesliga champions given the option of making the deal permanent for €120 million in the summer. However, despite a very good start to the campaign in Germany, the playmaker once again failed to impress and the Bavarians have all but confirmed they wouldn t be exercising the option of turning him into their full-time employee.
Earlier this month, Bayern s sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic criticized Coutinho s performance in their DFB-Pokal win over Hoffenheim for overcomplicating things on the pitch, and now CEO Karl-Heniz Rummenigge has added his voice on the ma…
Market: Managua win
Odds:
Once again turning our attention to the Nicaragua Premier League this weekend, league leaders Managua will look to widen their buffer at the top of the table when they make the trip to Real Madriz on Saturday night.
Starting with the hosts, despite appearing to turn a corner with back-to-back wins against Deportivo Ocotal and Municipal Jalapa last month, Real Madriz came crashing back down to earth with what was a shock 2-1 loss away at rock-bottom Sabanas earlier in the week. Still sat outside the top-six and even more worrying for the inconsistent hosts, Real Madriz also hold a woeful record against the league leaders. Including a 3-1 defeat when the two sides faced off back in February, Los Somoteños have lost five of their last si…
Manchester United striker Federico Macheda has joined Queens Park Rangers on loan until the end of the season.
Macheda arrived at Old Trafford in 2007 and rose to prominence towards the end of the 2008/09 season with a series of goalscoring cameo appearances, but the Italian has since failed to build on this early promise and break into United’s starting line-up.
QPR boss Neil Warnock identified the young striker as one of his top January targets as he looks to bolster an attack which has yielded just 18 goals in 19 Premier League matches this season.
This is a great opportunity for both parties, Warnock told the club s official website.
Federico is not getting a regular game at United quite obviously because of the quality of the squad they ve got.…
Olivier Giroud was angry with himself for forgetting he had already been booked when he whipped off his shirt to celebrate scoring Milan s late winner against Spezia.
Giroud came off the bench to snatch a 2-1 victory for the Rossoneri with an 89th-minute volley after being picked out by a superb Sandro Tonali pass.
The France striker was then given his marching orders, having been shown a yellow card six minutes before scoring his decisive goal.
Giroud has been in the thick of the action this week, scoring two goals and providing as many assists in a 4-0 thrashing of Salzburg that put Stefano Pioli s side in the Champions League round of 16.
The 36-year-old was frustrated that his earlier caution had slipped his mind after his clinical finish in the closi…
Jose Molina will coach Villarreal for the rest of the season after Wednesday s sacking of manager Juan Carlos Garrido.
The 41-year-old former Spain goalkeeper, who had been in charge of the club s reserve team, steps in after Garrido was shown the door in the wake of Villarreal s Copa del Rey elimination at the hands of Segunda B outfit Mirandes.
Villarreal finished fourth in La Liga last season but have endured a nightmare start to this campaign, sitting in 17th place – just outside the relegation zone with three wins so far – and they have already been eliminated from the Champions League.
Molina represented Villarreal, Atletico Madrid and Deportivo La Coruna during his playing career, and he returned to Villarreal in 2009 to coach the outfit s third team.…
Adelaide United will leave Brazilian left back Cassio out of their squad for Tuesday s AFC Champions League clash with Uzbekistan s Bunyodkor.
The 32-year-old played in last month s play-off against Indonesian club Persipura, but questions emerged after Adelaide s 3-0 victory over whether or not he was eligible to play, having been sent off in the club s last ACL match in 2010 against Jeonbuk Motors.
Two weeks after the controversy arose, Australian newspaper The Advertiser reported on Friday that the Asian Football Confederation had sent a disciplinary letter to the club.
Adelaide said they had left Cassio out of their squad to insure against a challenge from their opponents over the legitimacy of the outcome.
The club is simply not prepared (to risk …