Manchester United s world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo had to settle for second best on Wednesday as Lionel Messi scored in Barcelona s 2-0 win to claim the Champions League title.

Ronaldo, voted the 2008 world player of the year with Messi as runner-up, had said he wanted to score a goal in Rome, but it was the 21-year-old magician Messi who netted Barcelona s second after Samuel Eto o scored the first after 10 minutes.

With Barcelona in control, Messi got onto a cross from midfielder Xavi Hernandez to head past United goalkeeper Edwin van der Saar on 70 minutes to take the title back to Spain with his ninth goal of the campaign.

The 21-year-old was breath-taking here as Barcelona ended United s dream of becoming the first team to defend the Champions L…

Italy coach Cesare Prandelli has branded Fiorentina s good start to the Serie A season as a revelation .

Prandelli was in charge of the Tuscany side from 2005 until 2010, and is pleased with the Viola s current third-place position on the league table.

The 55-year old believes that they can build on their recent fortunes and can push on to achieve great things this campaign.

(Vicenzo) Montella s team have been the revelation of the season, Prandelli told Gazzetta.it.

I do not like to speak about specific clubs because I do not want to disturb anyone, but I can say that Fiorentina can go far this season.

Prandelli was also asked about the possibility of Lazio goalkeeper Federico Marchetti who performed excellently for the Biancocelesti on Satur…

Stefano Pioli was left frustrated by Milan s 0-0 draw with Empoli, believing it showed a return to normality after their 4-0 win at Serie A leaders Napoli previously.

The Rossoneri were held to a stalemate by the visitors to San Siro on Friday, missing the chance to consolidate their top-four spot after Inter had also drawn at Salernitana.

Having stunned the runaway title favourites Napoli 4-0 on their own patch last Sunday, Milan could not find the net this time despite having 23 shots, though only four were on target.

Pioli felt his side did all they could, but also suggested their performance reflected an anticipated comedown of sorts.

It s not the result we wanted, he told Sky Sport Italia. We had to do better in the first half. We played with great …

Tottenham Hotspur beat Brighton and Hove Albion by 2-1 on Saturday in the Premier League. Harry Kane was unsurprisingly the player that scored the winning goal for his team, but a few minutes before that, as the PGMOL later admitted, the VAR made a mistake by not awarding a penalty to Brighton for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg stepping on the foot of Kaoru Mitoma.

Spurs caretaker boss Christian Stellini was unfazed by the incident, however, saying that his team has had to accept VAR calls with which they disagreed many times.

Many times we had to accept what VAR said.

Cristian Stellini shares his thoughts on VAR

— Football Daily (@footballdaily)

…

Manchester City have loaned United States goalkeeper Zack Steffen to Fortuna Dusseldorf for the duration of the 2019-20 campaign.

Steffen was signed by the Premier League champions in December but remained on loan with Columbus Crew for the first half of the Major League Soccer season.

He made his 84th and final appearances for Columbus in last month s 2-2 draw with New York City FC and is now heading back to Germany with Dusseldorf, having previously played 14 times for Freiburg s reserve team at the start of his career.

I m really looking forward to returning to Germany and becoming part of such a traditional club, he told his new side s official website.

Hier möchte jemand ein paar Worte an Euch richten

— Fortuna Düsseldorf (@f95)

…

Philippe Clement is “still curious” about the potential of Rangers after they went into the winter break with a bounce-back 3-1 win over Kilmarnock and still on the heels of Celtic.

The Belgian had lost his first game as Gers boss since taking over in October in the narrow 2-1 Old Firm defeat at Parkhead on Saturday but late first-half goals from wide-men Ross McCausland and Abdallah Sima at Ibrox on Tuesday had the Light Blues in control at the break.

Danny Armstrong reduced the deficit in the 58th minute with a penalty awarded after VAR intervention but Todd Cantwell soon restored the two-goal cushion to keep them eight points behind cinch Premiership leaders Celtic with two games in hand.

with our third against Kilmarnock.

We are back at Ibrox o…

Argentina coach Diego Maradona was accused of making fatal errors in selection and tactics on Thursday as the soccer-mad country contemplated the humiliating prospect of missing out on the World Cup.

Wednesday s 1-0 defeat to Paraguay sent the former double champions slipping out of the four automatic qualifying places for the 2010 finals in South Africa with just two games in the South American zone left to play.

It was the fourth defeat in six qualifiers since Maradona took the reins.

The La Nacion newspaper said: These are hard times for the coach who had multiple errors.

Edge of the abyss, headlined Clarin, the country s biggest-seller which added that Maradona can t afford any more slip-ups against Peru, who are already eliminated, and then Urugu…

that Xherdan Shaqiri will be allowed to leave Bayern Munich when the transfer window reopens, paving the way for a potential move to the Premier League.

Arsenal and Liverpool have been linked with the Switzerland international in recent months, and both could be set to make a bid in January after Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer admitted that he is surplus to requirements.

Since signing for Basle in the summer of 2012, the midfielder has started just twenty-six times in the league
though he has been part of the squads that have won back to back league and cup doubles, as well as the Champions League in 2013.

Internationally the 23 year old has been capped forty-one times, scoring fifteen goals – three of which came at this summer’s World Cup finals wh…

Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc says claims made by Ciro Immobile that he was not given adequate support from the club during his time at Signal Iduna Park make him want to puke .

Immobile left Dortmund for Sevilla last month in a loan move after a disappointing year in the Bundesliga.

The Italian suggested in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais on Tuesday that his poor form on the pitch was linked to the fact he received no help, neither me nor my family off it.

Zorc was quick to offer a response, telling Kicker: If these quotes are actually true, they make me want to puke. Instead of criticising team-mates, coach and club, a little more self-criticism would be appropriate.

Immobile joined Dortmund for €19million last year a…