Ottmar Hitzfeld has dismissed suggestions Pep Guardiola has been a failure at Bayern Munich.

Guardiola will leave the Allianz Arena at the end of the season for Manchester City having never won the Champions League in his three seasons in Bavaria.

Bayern have been knocked out in the semi-finals of the competition in each of their three campaigns under the former Barcelona boss.

He has won three successive Bundesliga titles and also claimed the DFB-Pokal, a title Bayern will attempt to reclaim in this year s final, in 2014.

But Bayern s Champions League elimination at the hands of Atletico Madrid has led to some to dismiss his reign as a failure, claims Hitzfeld – who led Bayern to five Bundesliga titles and one Champions League success across two st…

Martin Demichelis has been fined and warned about his future conduct after accepting a Football Association (FA) charge in relation to betting.

Manchester City defender Demichelis was charged in March over multiple alleged violations of Rule E8 concerning football matches dating between Janaury 22 and February 15 of this year.

The FA confirmed on Wednesday that the veteran Argentina international had admitted breaching Rule E8 in respect of 29 bets placed on football matches and had been penalised to the tune of £22,058.

Rule E8 bans players from betting either directly or indirectly, or instruct, permit, cause or enable any person to bet on any result, progress or conduct of a match or competition in which they participate or have participated in during a se…

Ralph Hasenhuttl saluted Southampton s success in surviving a spell of Huddersfield Town pressure on the way to a second straight Premier League victory.

The Saints impressively built on last weekend s win over Arsenal by prevailing 3-1 at John Smith s Stadium on Saturday and pulling three points clear of the drop zone.

First-half goals from Nathan Redmond and Danny Ings ensured the result was largely comfortable, although Huddersfield did threaten a comeback after Philip Billing cut the deficit in the 58th minute.

The visitors negotiated the test with maturity and earned their reward when teenage striker Michael Obafemi netted his maiden senior goal off the bench.

It was a very intense game, a big win for us and a very important one, Hasenhuttl told Sky…

Lionel Messi is the man who appears to have it all, but as he celebrates turning 30 there remains the lingering sense that his career record is lacking something vital.

For all of his remarkable achievements with Barcelona, senior international titles have proven elusive, although he did win the Under-20 World Cup in 2005 and gold at the Olympic Games three years later.

Those not inconsiderable honours aside, Messi has otherwise been met with disappointment and heartache while representing Argentina.

Here, we take a look at the prizes that have eluded Messi s grasp and his chances of setting the record straight in Russia.

World Cup final (2014): Argentina 0-1 Germany (aet)

When measured against the all-time greats, one thing has alw…

UEFA says it is proud to wear the colours of the rainbow amid controversy over the decision to reject Germany s request to light up the Allianz Arena for Wednesday s Euro 2020 clash with Hungary.

Mayor of Munich Dieter Reiter asked the European football governing body for permission to illuminate the stadium in rainbow colours in support of the LGBTQ+ community.

He made the request after Hungary last week passed a law that prohibits the sharing of content in schools that could be deemed to promote homosexuality and gender change.

However, UEFA proposed alternative dates for the ground to be lit up as the gesture was deemed to be of a political nature.

Given the political context of this specific request – a message aiming at a decision taken by the Hun…

Well-known journalist Nicolo Schira has claimed on that Leeds United are interested in signing Todd Cantwell from Norwich City in the summer transfer window. Schira has stated that the Premier League club have offered the Championship outfit €18 million (£16.35 million) in transfer fees to sign the 22-year-old, who has agreed personal terms with the West Yorkshire side.

are in advanced talks for Todd . Offered €18M to . The midfielder has agreed personal terms with .

Nicolò Schira (@NicoSchira)

Cantwell has been at Norwich his entire professional club football career so far and played well for the Canaries in the Premier League last season, although he could not prevent his team from getting relegated to the Championship. According to , the 2…

Scotland head coach Pedro Martinez Losa has shown his support to Partick Thistle goalkeeper Ava Easdon after the 17-year-old was at the centre of criticism of the women’s game from Joey Barton.

The former England midfielder, who had a brief and unsuccessful spell in Scottish football with Rangers, highlighted a goal the Light Blues scored against Thistle in Sunday’s Sky Sports Cup final and wrote on X: “I mean let’s just talk about the goalie! How is this nonsense on the box?”

The goalkeeper’s father, seven-time world kickboxing champion Lex Easdon, accused Barton of playing up to his “fan boys” on social media and wrote: “In 2024 and ‘grown’ men feel the need to belittle and bully a 17yr old school kid, who doesn’t get paid to play unlike some me…

Fluminense midfielder Deco said Pep Guardiola s Barcelona side is not as good as the one he played in.

Deco, now 34, starred for Barca from 2004 until 2008, winning two La Liga titles and one Champions League trophy during his spell at Camp Nou.

The former Portugal international claimed the squad he was part of had more individual quality, although the present team is more complete.

This Barcelona really play like a team and they have more quality overall than my Barca, Deco told Terra Brasil.

However, looking at individual quality, we had more players who could make the difference,

The current team plays better football, is more complete and always finds solutions for every situation. However, we had more star players and individual class. <…

Another Argentine journalist died in Brazil on Wednesday, as his taxi was struck by a stolen car that was being pursued by police.

Jorge Topo Lopez, 38, was killed in Guarulhos in the early hours of Wednesday morning Brazil time just a week after fellow Argentine journalist Maria Soledad Fernandez also died in a car crash when travelling from Sao Paulo to Belo Horizonte.

Guarulhos is the second-largest city in the state of Sao Paulo.

A stolen car, which was being pursued by military police, reportedly struck Lopez s taxi and some media sources have claimed he was thrown from the vehicle.

The taxi driver was injured, while the three individuals in the stolen car were apparently unharmed.

The trio were arrested at the scene.

Lopez was coveri…

Substitute Stephen Ireland grabbed two late goals as Stoke City avoided FA Cup third-round humiliation with a 3-1 win over Wrexham.

Conference side Wrexham rose to the challenge of taking on a team 96 places above them and looked to be heading for victory when they opened the scoring in the 73rd minute on Sunday.

Mark Carrington s header had the 4,382 visiting fans that made the journey from north Wales to Staffordshire dreaming of a shock triumph.

However, Premier League Stoke FA Cup finalists in 2011  eventually found their stride and secured progression to round four with a trio of late goals.

Marko Arnautovic equalised in the 80th minute, the Austrian s close-range effort allowed to stand despite a suggestion of offside.

Ireland then b…