Best odds: 6/4

Bookmaker:

After navigating contrasting paths in the group stage, Spain and the Euro 2024 underdogs Georgia will clash in a last-16 matchup in Cologne on Sunday evening.

Spain topped Group B with an unblemished record, showcasing their strength by winning all their matches. In contrast, Georgia pulled off a remarkable upset to defeat Portugal, securing their spot in the knockout stage. The two sides now compete for a coveted place in the quarterfinals.

Spain

Securing victories in all three group games of a European Championship for the first time since their era of dominance began in 2008, Spain comfortably advanced to the knockout stages of Euro 2024. With top spot in Group B already assured, Luis de la Fuente took the opportunity to rot…

Lucas Paqueta scored a last-gasp penalty as Brazil twice came from behind to draw 3-3 with Spain in a thrilling friendly at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Paqueta converted with one of the last kicks of the game, less than 10 minutes after Rodri thought he had grabbed the winner for Spain in their first meeting with Brazil for 11 years.

Rodri had opened the scoring from the spot before Dani Olmo s strike doubled Spain s advantage.

Rodrygo issued an immediate response to halve the deficit and Brazil wonderboy Endrick scored for the second game running to level the score, paving the way for the late drama.

Having missed an early opportunity when he failed to test Brazil goalkeeper Bento, Lamine Yamal was at the heart of Spain s opener when, in the 11th minute, he w…

Best odds: 4/6

Bookmaker:

VfL Bochum will play host to Fortuna Dusseldorf at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion in the first leg of the Bundesliga relegation play-off on Thursday night.

The hosts are aiming to retain their top-flight status for next season, while the visitors aspire to return to Germany s top tier for the first time in five years.

VfL Bochum

Bochum s three-year stay in the Bundesliga is at risk after slipping into the bottom three on the final day of the regular season, following a heavy 4-1 defeat at Werder Bremen last weekend.

The Blues started the day in 14th place, one point clear of the danger zone, but defeats coupled with victories for Union Berlin and Mainz 05 relegated them to the playoff spot for the first time since 2011.

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The entire month of football has come down to this single moment in Paris with host nation France locking horns with Euro 2016’s ugly ducklings Portugal.

France have had a successful campaign thus far and are keen to make one more step towards lifting the trophy in front of their own people. Didier Deschamp’s men will be highly motivated and Portugal are in for a hell of a fight.

The Selecao have reached the final with a single win in normal time and are the tournament’s villans at this point with the entire football community cheering against them. It will not prevent Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates from putting in their best performance and France will have to be wary of the challenge.

Our friends from Coral believe France got what it takes to win in…

Virgil van Dijk believes the Netherlands may have overestimated their qualities ahead of Euro 2024, having scraped through Group D in third behind Austria and France.

A 3-2 defeat to Austria in their final group game saw Ronald Koeman s Oranje pass up the opportunity to top a difficult pool and instead finish as one of the tournament s best third-placed teams.

That could end up benefitting the side as they have landed on the opposite side of the draw to Germany, Spain, Portugal, France and Belgium.

The Oranje were given a 5.1% chance of winning the tournament by the Opta supercomputer before a ball was kicked, but their hopes are now estimated at 7% ahead of their last-16 tie with Romania.

The team s performances have been fiercely criticised by the Dutch…

The 2010 World Cup to be hosted by South Africa will leave the legacy of security in the country and of pride on the continent, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Monday.

There will be a double legacy. There will be the one in South Africa. There will be extremely tight security. We hope that this security will be maintained after the World Cup in order to ensure that we have left a legacy, he said in an interview to mark 500 days to go to the event.

The other legacy is for the whole of Africa. We want them to be proud and be able to say we Africans have organised the world s most important sporting event: the FIFA World Cup, Blatter said in the exclusive interview to FIFA.com, copies of which were were released here.

We have to trust in the African ability …

Juventus will be going for a record-extending ninth successive Serie A title in 2019-20 and new coach Maurizio Sarri can begin plotting after the Old Lady s fixtures for the new campaign were revealed on Monday.

The Bianconeri strolled to league success last term, finishing 11 points clear of Napoli after looking in control at the summit for much of the campaign.

Nevertheless, that was not enough to keep Massimiliano Allegri in the job, as the coach and Juve s hierarchy opted to end their five-year association, with some arguing it was due to another Champions League failure.

Juve brought in Sarri just a year after he left bitter rivals Napoli for Chelsea and they have further strengthened their squad, winning the race for Matthijs de Ligt, while also signing Adr…

This should be an intriguing game between two teams with plenty to fight for. Liverpool will not have given up on the possibility of sneaking into the top four, despite their odds of being able to do that have gone to 16/1. West Ham are looking a bit better after the last couple of weeks but if they have a bad result and the teams below them get a result then they are right back in the relegation mix.

Rafa Benitez has had a torrid time this season and when you look at the investment in the squad last summer it is easy to see why. It is only now that top players Torres and Gerrard have been performing that results have picked up. It might be too little too late, and things will be that little bit more difficult now that Torres appears to be unavailable again.

Gianfranco …

Italy have failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup following a shock 1-0 defeat by North Macedonia on Thursday.

For the first time in their history, the Azzurri will miss out on successive finals after Aleksandar Trajkovski struck a stoppage-time winner at Renzo Barbera.

Roberto Mancini s side triumphed at Euro 2020 just eight months ago, defeating England on penalties in the final to claim their second title.

But four years after their playoff defeat by Sweden denied them a place in Russia, they will be absent in Qatar after suffering their first ever loss on home soil in a World Cup qualifier.

It is fair to say it has been quite the journey from one World Cup qualifying failure to another.

Swede success

Despite finishing behind Spain in…

Jurgen Klopp confirmed he once held talks with Napoli s chatty president Aurelio De Laurentiis about potentially becoming the club s coach prior to joining Liverpool.

De Laurentiis has previously spoken of his admiration for Klopp and reports have suggested they discussed a possible collaboration in 2013, when the German was still at Borussia Dortmund.

Rafael Benitez ended up taking the job and Klopp stayed put, but ahead of Tuesday s crunch Champions League clash against Napoli, the Liverpool manager admitted such a conversation took place.

When asked about De Laurentiis claims and whether he wants to coach in Italy one day, Klopp said: I still have a contract here, three and a half years, so I am not sure if anybody wants me after that. 

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