Adidas unveil new Champions League ball

Tottenham have announced the permanent signing of Cristian Romero from Atalanta on a five-year deal following the defender s successful spell on loan.

The 24-year-old joined Tottenham 12 months ago on an initial season-long loan with the option to make the move permanent.

Argentina international Romero featured 30 times in all competitions last season and started Spurs opening two Premier League games this campaign prior to sustaining an injury.

Tottenham confirmed on their official website on Tuesday that Romero has now agreed a deal that will run through until the end of the 2026-27 campaign.

Romero, who is in contention to be part of Argentina s World Cup squad later this year, has also previously represented Genoa and Juventus in Serie A.

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Pep Guardiola has signed a two-year contract extension to remain as manager of Manchester City, the Premier League champions have confirmed.

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss penned a three-year deal at the Etihad Stadium in 2016 and his new terms will follow on, meaning he is committed to City until the end of the 2020-21 season.

Guardiola endured a trophy-less campaign for the first time in his coaching career last season, but it was a different story this time around as he picked up the EFL Cup and won the Premier League by a record-breaking margin as City racked up 100 points.

Those achievements saw the 47-year-old named League Managers Association and Premier League Manager of the Year this week and he is looking forward to trying to take more stri…

George Blackwood missed a 99th-minute penalty as Western Sydney Wanderers held on to beat Adelaide United 3-2 and snap a seven-game winless run in the A-League.

The Wanderers conceded late on to draw with Western United last week and looked set to do likewise in Friday s clash at Coopers Stadium.

Mohamed Adam added to Nicolai Muller s headed double to give the visitors a 3-1 lead, but Blackwood converted from the spot 94 minutes in and had a chance to snatch a point even deeper into stoppage time.

The Adelaide midfielder blazed over the bar with his next attempt from 12 yards, though, as Wanderers edged a dramatic contest that threatened to boil over a number of times.

FULL TIME

Dramatic victory for who snap a run of 7 games without a win.

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Armando Broja has signed a new six-year deal with Chelsea, securing his future after a wealth of reported interest in the transfer window.

The 20-year-old caught the eye during a loan spell with Southampton last season, scoring six times in the Premier League, with Everton and West Ham reportedly keen on a similar deal in the recently closed window.

However, Broja remained with Thomas Tuchel s side, having featured off the bench three times in the opening five games of the Premier League season.

The signing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Barcelona on Thursday led to queries on whether Broja would continue to earn first-team opportunities, but Chelsea have shown a strong commitment to the Albania international, with chairman Todd Boehly stating he is a big p…

Werder Bremen striker Marko Arnautovic has rejected a big-money offer from Dynamo Kiev, according to his agent.

The Ukrainian giants have been looking for a new striker to pair up with Ideye Brown and have made the Austria international their number one target.

Werder Bremen chiefs were prepared to cash in on their prized asset and the player himself received a lucrative offer from Kiev, but he ultimately opted to remain in German Bundesliga.

He was offered a great deal of money, but Marko is not the type to only look at the money, the player’s brother and agent Danijel Arnautovic .

He would like to give Werder the chance to discuss his future with him because Werder always stuck with him through difficult times. We have officially turned Kiev down. …

Bayer 04 Leverkusen s Admir Mehmedi and Hakan Calhanoglu (10) celebrate with fans a 1-0 Bundesliga league game victory over SV Darmstadt 98 in May 2016. (Photo: Joerg Schueler)

It may come as a surprise to many soccer fans, but the best-attended soccer league in the world isn’t the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, or the Italian league. It s the German Bundesliga.

In 2015-2016 the Bundesliga averaged over 43,300 fans per game. It outdrew the Premier League by almost 7,000 fans per game. The only other professional sports league in the world that topped the Bundesliga was the American NFL football league which averaged 68,400 fans last season.

How does the Bundesliga hold such a distinction? It’s a combination of factors which include the league’s s…

Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez believes he is good enough to be considered in the same bracket as superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Sanchez was a team-mate of Messi s at Barcelona, but departed Camp Nou for the Premier League ahead of the 2014-15 season in search of regular starts.

The Chile forward has become a firm fan favourite at Emirates Stadium after scoring 30 goals in 68 league appearances for the Gunners.

Messi and Real Madrid rival Ronaldo are widely considered as the best two players on the planet and have held a monopoly over the Ballon d Or award for the past eight years.

But Sanchez is confident that he can be considered on their level.

In quotes published by Sport, he said: I have reached a level where I can compete wit…

Market: Wolfsburg win

Odds: 7/10 @

Turning their attention back to DFP Pokal action in midweek, Wolfsburg will host a struggling Schalke at the Volkswagen Arena on Wednesday evening.

Starting with the hosts, while Wolfsburg might have marked their return from the festive break with a defeat against Borussia Dortmund, the Greens have bounced back in hugely impressive fashion. Enjoying what has been a standout campaign in Germany s top-tier, Oliver Glasner s men find themselves sat as high as third in the table and with a Champions League return at the top of their agenda. With the mood in their camp still likely to be at a red-hot high, Wolfsburg laid down another marker on home soil over the weekend. Managing to build off of that eye-catching 1-0 win against fe…

Barcelona captain Lionel Messi will retire wherever he wants amid doubts over his future, according to former team-mate Luis Suarez.

Messi is out of contract at the end of the current campaign and the record six-time Ballon d Or winner appears likely to leave on a free transfer amid strong links to Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain and Premier League giants Manchester City.

The 33-year-old attacker had tried to exit Camp Nou prior to the start of 2020-21 before opting to remain with the embattled LaLiga powerhouse.

Suarez won four LaLiga titles and the Champions League among other honours during his time together with Messi before joining Atletico Madrid in the off-season and he hailed the superstar.

This afternoon I spoke with him, he was very happy…

Ex-Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has landed himself in hot water after criticising his Stuttgart bosses for giving into pressure from pubescent fans prior to sacking coach Markus Babbel.

Babbel was fired on Sunday and replaced by former Tottenham Hotspur boss Christian Gross before the side s impressive 3-1 win over Romania champions Unirea Urziceni on Wednesday to reach the last 16 of the Champions League.

Lehmann claims Stuttgart s bosses simply bowed to the demands of angry fans who insisted Babbel was sacked following Saturday s 1-1 draw with Bochum in the Bundesliga to leave them third from bottom in the table.

But Stuttgart s general manager Horst Heldt, with the club winning just two of their 15 Bundesliga games under Babbel, insists Lehmann is wrong.