Real Madrid-bound Rodrygo Goes bids Santos emotional goodbye

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has hailed coach Zinedine Zidane for making history at the club.

After taking over from Rafael Benitez in January, the Frenchman guided Madrid to the Champions League title on Saturday.

And this achievement follows on from his successes in the same competition as a player, in 2002, and as an assistant manager, in 2014.

After seeing Zidane bring the trophy back to the Santiago Bernabeu once more, Perez was glowing in his praise of the 43-year-old s historic accomplishments.

The key element is Zidane, the president told Marca. He has changed the recent history of Real Madrid.

Since 2001 he has created a way to understand football that has helped us win these European Cups.

Perez also revealed that Zi…

Santos FC president Luis Alvaro de Oliveira Ribeiro has revealed that star midfielder Paulo Henrique Ganso is for sale, .

The club s bitter rivals Internacional, who agreed to sell star man Oscar to Chelsea for a reported fee of £25 million earlier this month, are the favourites to land the out-of-favour Ganso.

Bring the offers, but we won t accept anything less than his buy-out fee, Ribeiro told Globo Esporte.

The player s will always has to come first. It s pointless to keep an unhappy player. I always respect the player s will. I did that regarding Wesley, Andre, Jonathan, but Santos rights have to be respected, as per the contracts that were signed.

There is just one problem; the release clause in Ganso s contract is quite hefty. …

A moment of brilliance from Hal Robson-Kanu and Sam Vokes late header sealed Wales place in a first major tournament semi-final as they came from behind to beat Belgium 3-1 at Euro 2016.

Friday s contest marked Wales first quarter-final in 58 years, their other run to the last eight coming in the country s only previous appearance at a senior international competition, the 1958 World Cup in Sweden.

But just 13 minutes in Chris Coleman s side were given a mountain to climb against the world s second-ranked nation as a fierce long-range strike from Radja Nainggolan put Belgium ahead.

Wales reply was magnificent and a deserved leveller came courtesy of captain Ashley Williams, who capitalised on some poor defending to restore parity.

Belgium appeared set to …

Borussia Dortmund hero Lars Ricken believes the team have learned their lesson from last season s failure in the Champions League.

Fresh from their Bundesliga triumph in 2010/11, Juergen Klopp s side struggled on the European stage, finishing fourth in their group.

However, going into their clash against Real Madrid on Wednesday, they already have four points to their name, and the 36-year-old feels they have turned the corner.

The team learned a lot about playing in Europe last season, he told Goal.com.

Most recently, they showed against Manchester City that they are capable of doing remarkable things. I think Wednesday is a good day to deliver something extraordinary.

Ricken was part of the team for the 1997/98 semi-final against Real Madrid…

Italy coach Marcello Lippi insists he won t be ringing the changes despite the world champions crashing out of the Confederations Cup.

The Italians had a tournament to forget, beating the United States 3-1 but then being shocked by Egypt 1-0 before Brazil hammered the final nail in the coffin with a comprehensive 3-0 thrashing on Sunday.

With the United States beating Egypt 3-0, Italy missed out on making the semi-finals on goal difference and head home as underachievers, unable to lay down a marker ahead of their World Cup title defence back here next year.

Lippi has been criticised at home for persisting with his old men rather than handing a chance to the plethora of young talent he has on hand, but he defended his tactics.

You speak so much about y…

Christophe Galtier would still prefer to add a defender to his Paris Saint-Germain squad before the transfer window closes despite seeing his side cruise to victory over Toulouse.

The Ligue 1 champions had slipped up with a 1-1 draw at home to Monaco on Sunday but were utterly dominant in a 3-0 away win on Wednesday.

Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Juan Bernat found the net in a game that saw PSG attempt 20 shots, with 13 of those hitting the target.

The margin of victory would have been much greater if not for a magnificent performance from Toulouse goalkeeper Maxime Dupe, who produced nine saves.

Toulouse had 14 shots of their own in an open game, with seven hitting the target, leading to questions about the PSG defence even after their emphatic display of su…

Steve McClaren insisted Saturday that his travails as coach of England was a big failure, given his team s failure to reach the Euro 2008 finals, but ultimately made him stronger.

McClaren got the bullet after England were denied their place after losing at home to Croatia and now the former Middlesbrough manager is enjoying the experience of handling Dutch side FC Twente.

But he told the BBC s Football Focus he had not forgotten for one moment his time as national coach.

I don t think a day goes by that some aspect of the experience with England doesn t come flashing back to mind and teaching me a lesson, making me move on.

It was a huge disappointment. I felt, as one would, I d let down the nation because we didn t qualify.

However people sa…

Crystal Palace have completed the signing of former Wolverhampton Wanderers winger Bakary Sako on a free transfer,.

The twenty-seven year old left Molineux last month after almost three years, during which time he racked up one hundred and twenty-four appearances in all competitions, scoring thirty eight goals while he was part of the squad that won the League One title in 2013/14.

Prior to his move to England, Sako spent three years playing for Saint Etienne in Ligue One having started his professional career with Chateauroux in France’s second tier.

Internationally, he has been capped fourteen times for Mali, and has scored six goals.
West Bromwich Albion were also interested in securing Sako’s services, while Nottingham Forest and Fulham have previou…

Belgium star Kevin De Bruyne backed Manchester City team-mate and England attacker Raheem Sterling to light up the World Cup .

De Bruyne and Sterling are set to do battle in Group G, with Belgium and England meeting June 28.

The duo starred to lead City to a record-breaking title success in the Premier League in 2017-18.

And De Bruyne believes his club team-mate, who scored 18 goals and provided 11 assists in the Premier League last season, is ready to dominate for England in Russia.

He s a special player. This season he was playing at such a high level and he s only going to get better, he told The Mirror.

He s a winner – any criticism he has faced in the last few weeks I know he will just ignore. At Manchester City he s so focused on success…