Robert Pires hopes France are paired with a reinvigorated and motivated England in the Euro 2020 group stage.
Both sides finished top of their qualifying groups to get their name in the hat for Saturday s draw in Bucharest.
England will host a total of seven matches in next year s finals and are in Pot 1, while France despite being world champions are in Pot 2.
Former Arsenal winger Pires would like to see his native France face off against Gareth Southgate s side, who he believes will be a big threat in the tournament.
What s for sure is that we re going to draw a big team because unfortunately we re in Pot 2, he told Omnisport, speaking as part of the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour driven by Nissan.
EURO 2000
Happy birthday, amb…
Bayern Munich forward Thomas Muller has extended his contract with the club until June 2025.
The 34-year-old has been with Bayern since he was 10 years old and, since making his senior debut for the club in 2008, he has gone on to amass 684 competitive appearances for the first team, ranking him second in Bayern’s all-time appearance list.
Muller has helped the club win 12 Bundesliga titles, two Champions Leagues, the FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup trophies as well as six DFB Cups and eight German Supercups.
On the international stage, the German forward won the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Muller told the Bayern website: “I’m happy my journey at Bayern is continuing. I want to play my part in us remaining successful, both as a team and the who…
Wilfried Zaha was signed by Manchester United from Crystal Palace back in 2013, but his career never really took off while at Old Trafford. Instead, he was sent back twice on loan, as well as to Cardiff for half a season, and he was eventually sold back to Palace in 2015.
This summer, the 31-year-old winger left Selhurst Park again, and he s now set to play for Galatasaray against Manchester United, at Old Trafford.
When you look at my face, do you think I am bothered at all?
Wilfried Zaha’s time at Manchester United is old news to him
— Football Daily (@footballdaily)
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Turning their attention back to FA Cup duties on Sunday afternoon, Manchester United will welcome Fulham to Old Trafford.
Manchester United
Starting with the hosts, eventually breezing their way to the Europa League quarter-finals earlier in the week, Manchester United will now be hoping to find some recent domestic stability. Eventually claiming a 1-0 victory away at Real Betis on Thursday evening and romping their way to a 5-1 aggregate win, Erik ten Hag’s side are desperate to complete a real title sweep this season. However, coming under a huge amount of scrutiny for their infamous 7-0 drumming at the hands of historic rivals Liverpool on March 5th, the former Ajax boss has accepted that a genuine Premier League title charge is o…
Brazil joined Colombia in the Copa America quarter-finals, but they were denied top spot in Group D after a nervy 1-1 draw in San Francisco.
Raphinha s stunning free-kick after just 12 minutes was cancelled out by Daniel Munoz in first-half stoppage time, as the spoils were shared at Levi s Stadium.
The draw was enough for the Selecao to secure second place in Group D – one point ahead of Costa Rica, who beat Paraguay 2-1 – though it came at a cost, with Vinicius Junior collecting a second yellow card in three games to rule him out of their last-eight clash with Uruguay.
Meanwhile, having held onto top spot with seven points from their three games, Nestor Lorenzo s Colombia will take on Group C runners-up Panama in the last eight.
Los Cafeteros went …
Mohamed Salah is one of several Liverpool players to show improvements in the early stages of Arne Slot s reign, according to former Reds goalkeeper David James.
Liverpool have won four of their first five Premier League games under Slot to trail early-season pacesetters Manchester City by just a single point, with a surprise 1-0 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest the only blot on the Dutchman s record.
The Reds have kept four clean sheets already this term, their joint-most in the opening five league games of any season, along with 1967-68, 1977-78, 2005-06 and 2021-22.
It is not only their defence that has impressed, however, with Salah contributing three goals and four assists already in 2024-25. Only Erling Haaland, with 10 goals, has more goal contributions…
The Netherlands and Germany played out a thrilling 2-2 draw in their second Nations League Group A3 fixture in Amsterdam on Tuesday.
Goals from Deniz Undav and Joshua Kimmich saw Julian Nagelsmann s side fight back to lead after they fell behind to Tijjani Reijnders second-minute strike, only for Denzel Dumfries to level five minutes into the second half and keep the sides locked level on four points.
Ronald Koeman s side did suffer a major injury blow late in the first half, though, with Manchester City s Nathan Ake substituted after sustaining an apparent foot injury.
The hosts made a lightning start at the Johan Cruyff Arena, Ryan Gravenberch sliding a neat throughball into the path of Reijnders, who made no mistake when one-on-one with Marc-Andre ter Stegen.<…
Inter must improve defensively if they are to go on and retain their Serie A crown this season, so says Simone Inzaghi.
Marcus Thuram s hat-trick propelled Inter to a 3-2 victory over 10-man Torino on Saturday.
It was Inter s second 3-2 win on the spin in Serie A, moving them up to second.
Inter only conceded seven shots, but five of those were on target, with Torino s 1.61 expected goals (xG) showing the visitors created decent openings at San Siro, where Nikola Vlasic converted a late penalty to set up a grandstand finale.
Clearly, we need to improve in some aspects, we pay a heavy price for every tiny distraction, said Inzaghi, who has seen Inter concede two goals in successive league matches for the first time since May 2023.
We worked reall…
England striker Wayne Rooney believes that the Three Lions can lift the Euro 2012 trophy this year.
The 26-year-old is banned for his side s first two group games following his kick-out at Montengro defender Miodrag Dzudovic in the final game of qualifying.
However, he says Roy Hodgson s squad should go into the tournament in Poland and Ukraine with the belief that they can win it.
I think you go into a tournament hoping you can win it, he told BBC s Football Focus.
That s the main thing. In the past two tournaments (World Cup 2006 and 2010), they ve ended in disappointment. Now is the time to put that right.
The Manchester United forward also described England s recent failures at major tournaments as an underachievement.
And the Crox…
Dignity and restraint, even in the wake of a scintillating victory or a disastrous loss, are essential during Euro 2008, says Austria s etiquette guru Thomas Schaefer-Elmayer.
The director of the prestigious Elmayer dance school, which prepares dozens of debutantes annually for the traditional Viennese Opera Ball, has laid down ten rules on how to behave during the Euro.
And dress is of course a primary concern, he says, noting that it is no longer necessary for men to wear a tie to the stadium, as was the custom up until the 1960s.
Today, casual attire is enough, he told the daily Die Presse.
But of course, one must come clothed to the stadium, even on hot days. Arriving only in swimming trunks or bare-chested is not appropriate, he said.
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