Bitter rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona will embark on a season-defining eight days when La Liga action continues on Saturday.

Real will host cellar-dwellers Sporting Gijon at the Bernabeu, while Barcelona faces a tougher task against fifth-placed Levante.

Both sides will then compete midweek in the first legs of their respective Champions League semi-finals before an eagerly anticipated El Clasico showdown at Camp Nou on April 21.

Real Madrid remains four points clear of Barcelona with six games remaining in the La Liga season.

After scoring a hat trick in the 4-1 midweek drubbing of neighbours Atletico Madrid, Real star Cristiano Ronaldo could be rested for Gijon s visit.

Ronaldo has accumulated four yellow cards to date and one more would see …

Fulham have withdrawn a complaint to the Premier League relating to Liverpool s pursuit of Clint Dempsey.

Fulham had flagged the Merseyside club s conduct to the FA, and the west Londoners have since accepted an apology which cited actions that were simply not acceptable and added that Liverpool chairman Tom Werner emphasised his regret for the entire episode .

Fulham said on their official website: Liverpool s Chairman Tom Werner apologised personally to Mohamed Al Fayed, stating that his club were wholly responsible for unprofessional behaviour toward Fulham and emphasised his regret for the entire episode.

The chairman decided that this sincere action was enough, and as a gesture of goodwill, instructed that all complaints against them be dropped.

T…

Aston Villa manager Martin O Neill told Liverpool on Thursday to meet his club s asking price for want-away England midfielder Gareth Barry.

None of Reds boss Rafael Benitez s four separate bids for Barry have so far met their Premier League rivals asking price of 18 million pounds (36 million dollars).

O Neill, who has resigned himself to losing his club captain, fined Barry two weeks wages, some 80,000 pounds, on Wednesday after his skipper suggested the Villa boss was more interested in commentating on Euro 2008 for the BBC than talking to him about his future.

Former Northern Ireland midfielder O Neill, who barred Barry from pre-season training, told Villa s official website, www.avfc.co.uk: We are really disappointed that he (Barry) is not going to be wi…

Youngster Jordon Ibe is eager to follow in the footsteps of Raheem Sterling and establish himself in Liverpool s first-team squad.

Ibe, 18, made his senior debut for Brendan Rodgers team on the final day of the 2012-13 season, but did not feature in the Premier League last term.

The England Under-19 international joined Birmingham City on loan in February, scoring once in 11 appearances as the Midlands outfit just about avoided relegation from the Championship.

By contrast, Sterling who is exactly one year older than Ibe was a key component of the Liverpool side that went so close to winning the Premier League and has been rewarded for his stunning form in the second half of the season with a place in England s FIFA World Cup squad.

Ibe was outstanding in Liverpo…

Liverpool are interested in signing Alfonso Pastor Vacas from Sevilla, according to . The report in the Spanish publication has claimed that Real Madrid are also eyeing the 20-year-old goalkeeper.

Pastor made his first-team debut for Sevilla only this week. The youngster was in goal, as the La Liga outfit suffered a 4-0 defeat to Chelsea at home in Champions League Group E. Former Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud scored all four goals for the Premier League club.

Liverpool have Alisson as the first-choice goalkeeper. The Brazil international is a world-class custodian and is unlikely to be dislodged from his position anytime soon. Pastor is a promising young goalkeeper, and perhaps Liverpool are looking at him as a potential successor to Alisson. The Reds are level on poi…

Liverpool s two Club World Cup matches have been moved from Al Rayyan to Doha after FIFA was forced to switch the venue for the final.

The new Education City Stadium was scheduled to host the European champions in a semi-final on December 18, in addition to the final and third-place play-off on December 21.

But the official opening of the 40,000-seat venue has been delayed until 2020 after FIFA failed to complete the relevant test events on time.

The matches have been moved to the Khalifa International Stadium, which will now host five games in total.

Construction at Education City Stadium is complete and the venue is now operational, read a FIFA statement.

However, the necessary certification process took longer than expected and therefore the…

Atletico Madrid received a timely fitness boost as Tiago was given the green light to return to action after more than five months on the sidelines with a fractured tibia.

The Portugal midfielder underwent surgery in November after sustaining the injury in a 1-0 win over Espanyol.

However, Tiago has made promising progress in his recovery and is available for head coach Diego Simeone ahead of a crucial run-in.

An Atletico statement read: The Portuguese midfielder Tiago Mendes has been medically discharged after more than five months away from the playing fields.

Our number five suffered a displaced fracture in his right tibia on November 28 during the league encounter between our team and Espanyol at the Vicente Calderon. 

After a lot of hard w…

Marseille caretaker coach Franck Passi expects Michy Batshuayi to leave the Ligue 1 side at the end of the season amid interest from Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham and West Ham.

The Belgium international joined OM from Standard Liege in August 2014 and has since become the club s undisputed number nine.

Batshuayi sits fourth in the Ligue 1 goalscoring charts heading into the final matchday with 17 goals in 36 appearances and his good performances have not gone unnoticed.

Several Premier League sides are keeping a close eye on the 22-year-old s situation and Marseille seem ready to cash in on their star attacker.

The entire world knows Batshuayi will leave Marseille, Passi said at a news conference.

That s part of Marseille s current predicament. …

Northern Ireland had a stoppage-time equaliser ruled out by VAR as a battling display went unrewarded in a 1-0 Euro 2024 qualifying loss to Denmark.

Jonas Wind’s goal early in the second half made the difference in Copenhagen as debutant Callum Marshall saw a dream goal ruled out for offside after a review which took almost five minutes.

The West Ham youngster flicked the ball in after Jonny Evans headed on a free-kick, but there was despair when referee Daniel Stefanski eventually signalled for offside after his colleague Tomasz Kwiatkowski took an age to review the footage.

Michael O’Neill’s men defended doggedly away to the top seeds in Group H, but a mistake just two minutes after the break proved decisive as Denmark bounced back from March’s shock de…

Prediction: Austria to win 1-0

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Austria and Sweden will lock horns with each other in UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying Group F this week. The match between Ralf Rangnick’s side and Janne Andersson’s team will be held at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna and is scheduled to kick off at 7:45pm UK time on Tuesday.

Austria

Austria are a modest team in European football and are not expected to do much of note. However, they have some wonderful players, such as David Alaba of Real Madrid, and the fans will hope to at least see the team quality for the European Championship finals in Germany in 2024.

And things are going extremely well for Austria. Ralf Rangnick’s side are at the top of UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying Group F at the m…