Jesse Lingard is determined to pay back Manchester United for the faith shown in him as he feels the club always believed in him.

The 22-year-old made his first-team debut in Louis van Gaal s first game at the helm – a 2-1 loss to Swansea City on the opening day of the 2014-15 season – and has started to establish himself this term.

The former Derby County loanee netted once in United s 2-0 Premier League win over West Brom this month, while he set up the winner in the 1-0 Champions League victory over CSKA Moscow.

I was very small as a kid and they just gave me that trust. They could have let me go, they could have sent me to another club, but obviously the coaches stuck by me. They knew the ability I had, Lingard told the UEFA s website.

Comin…

Carlo Ancelotti has ruled out resigning but the Napoli coach is set for talks over his future at the club with president Aurelio De Laurentiis.

A 4-0 home defeat of Genk ensured Napoli progressed to the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday, reaching that stage of the competition for the first time since 2016-17.

Arkadiusz Milik s hat-trick in the first half helped ensure the Partenopei finished second in Group E behind Liverpool and ended their nine-game run without a win in all competitions.

Ex-Milan boss Gennaro Gattuso continues to be linked with taking charge of Napoli, but Ancelotti wants to still be in the dugout when his side face Parma in Serie A at the weekend.

I hope so, Ancelotti told Sky Sport Italia when asked if he would be in his j…

Young Sunderland fan Bradley Lowery has passed away following a battle with cancer.

Bradley, aged six, was diagnosed with a neuroblastoma in 2013 and the Lowery family were informed their son s condition was terminal in December 2016.

Following this news, Bradley appeared as mascot for his beloved Sunderland on numerous occasions and also for the England national team for March s World Cup qualifier against Lithuania, when he entered the field alongside his favourite player Jermain Defoe.

A statement on the Bradley s Fight Facebook page read: He was our little superhero and put the biggest fight up but he was needed elsewhere. There are no words to describe how heart broken we are.

Sunderland also released a statement, paying tribute to Bradley, who capt…

Hansi Flick admits he was satisfield to settle for a share of the points after the madness of Bayern Munich’s 3-3 draw against Arminia Bielefeld in a snow-covered Allianz Arena.

Four days after the German champions lifted the Club World Cup in Qatar, Bayern found themselves in the midst of a snowstorm and 2-0 down at half-time against the Bundesliga strugglers after goals from Michel Vlap and Amos Pieper.

Robert Lewandowski hit back three minutes after the restart with his 25th league goal of the season but, within a minute, Christian Gebauer restored the away side’s two-goal advantage in a chaotic start to the second half.

Bayern coach Flick was left breathing a sigh of relief after strikes from Corentin Tolisso and Alphonso Davies saved the leaders’ bl…

Sheffield United have started well on their return to the big time, gaining four points from their opening two Premier League games.

The Blades have been to League One and back since they were last in the Premier League in 2007, spending six seasons in the third tier before gaining promotion to the Championship in 2017 under Chris Wilder s stewardship.

Wilder, a Blades fan and former player, has ushered in a new style of play at Bramall Lane, which bore plentiful fruit as his side edged out Yorkshire rivals Leeds United to finish second in the Championship last term.

Over the course of last season, Wilder adopted a 3-5-2 system, encouraging his team to play out from the back and get forward in numbers.

A key feature of United s play their overlapping …

Real Madrid have been extremely keen on signing Jude Bellingham next summer in order to add him to their future midfield project which obviously includes Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga. However, Borussia Dortmund are believed to be demanding a figure of more than €100 million for the services of the England international, and that, according to , is believed to have put Los Blancos off the idea, with Liverpool still pushing to get him to Anfield instead. There have been reports recently suggesting that Bellingham s entourage have already informed Real of his family s desire for him to return to England and play under Jurgen Klopp.

Placed in that situation, the 14-time European champions have apparently decided to move on and set sights on Benfica s Enzo Fernandez a…

Jurgen Klopp has questioned what more Robert Lewandowski could have done to win the Ballon d Or after the Bayern Munich striker missed out on the award.

Lionel Messi scooped the accolade for a seventh time on Monday, but many felt this would be Lewandowski s time to take the glory.

Klopp benefited from the brilliance of Lewandowski when both men were at Borussia Dortmund, with the Poland international scoring 103 goals before switching to Bayern.

At club level, Lewandowski has scored 53 goals already in 2021, with six assists taking him to 59 goal involvements, the most in Europe s top five leagues.

Messi sits fifth on that list (32 goals, 12 assists) but helped Argentina to win the Copa America, thereby winning one of the few trophies that had eluded h…

Interim Juventus boss Paolo Montero praised his players fight after they recovered from 3-0 down in the final 14 minutes to claim a 3-3 draw against Bologna in Serie A on Monday.

Juventus sacked Massimiliano Allegri last week in the aftermath of their Coppa Italia final victory over Atalanta, citing his fiery behaviour as a major factor in their decision.

On Monday, they came up against the man tipped to replace him in Bologna coach Thiago Motta, who saw his team race into a 3-0 lead within 53 minutes.

However, Federico Chiesa s 76th-minute effort kickstarted a stunning turnaround, with Arkadiusz Milik s free-kick soon after teeing up a grandstand finale.

Kenan Yildiz then scored an 84th-minute equaliser as the Bianconeri avoided defeat after trailing by …

Luis Enrique was not let go as Spain coach for his extracurricular activities such as his Twitch streams, Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) president Luis Rubiales has insisted.

The former Barcelona boss was dismissed from his post following La Roja s World Cup exit to Morocco in the last 16 earlier this month, with former youth boss Luis de la Fuente named as his replacement.

Before and during the tournament, Luis Enrique caught the eye with several additional activities, such as announcing his Qatar 2022 squad on a bike ride and streaming daily on the video site Twitch.

Some had wondered if he had paid the price in part for those distractions, but Rubiales has now sought to shut down such speculation, stating it was simply time for a change of leadership.

…

Lionel Messi and his father Jorge have filed a corrective payment with the Spanish authorities amid allegations of tax fraud.

The pair are alleged to have filed incorrect tax returns between 2006 and 2009 and a court located near Barcelona confirmed on Wednesday that a payment of just over €5million has been received.

This means Messi will not be set bail, as the State Agency for Tax Administration had requested, with the statement to the media explaining that given the global impact of the Barcelona and Argentina star, there was no doubt as to his solvency .

The statement added that the payment meant there was little chance of Messi and his father withholding further monies during the legal process of a pending tax fraud trial .

A court hearing has been set …