Prediction: Mexico vs France

Rafael Benitez has refuted suggestions he moved to Chinese Super League side Dalian Yifang for financial reasons and says he left Newcastle United because he could no longer trust the owners.

Newcastle s managing director, Lee Charnley, said over the weekend that Benitez moved to China for the money after the Spaniard left St James Park following the expiry of his contract at the end of June.

Magpies owner Mike Ashley accused Benitez of making unrealistic wage demands and went on to name ex-Sunderland manager Steve Bruce as his replacement.

Benitez has reacted strongly to Charnley s comments, saying that three years of unfulfilled promises meant he could no longer trust the club s hierarchy.

I tried to do my best every day, even staying when we went down…

Shkodran Mustafi concedes he has struggled to handle the pressure of criticism that followed some high-profile mistakes for Arsenal.

Germany international defender Mustafi joined the Gunners from Valencia in 2016 but his form has dwindled over recent campaigns.

This term, the 27-year-old has predominantly been used in the Europa League and EFL Cup, although Calum Chambers being out for the season and Konstantinos Mavropanos joining Nurnberg on loan means he could be granted opportunities to add to a solitary Premier League start.

I just put my head down when all the criticism came at me and worked hard. I just closed my ears and focused on the work, and I think the fans kind of appreciated that, Mustafi said in an interview with Arsenal s official website. I ju…

Senegal secured their spot in the knockout phase of the Africa Cup of Nations as Group B winners after a late penalty reprieve saw them draw 0-0 with Malawi.

The Teranga Lions came into the tournament as one of the favourites, and while they progress to the next stage at the top of their group with five points, it was by no means convincing.

Malawi looked to carry the greater threat in the first half, with Gabadinho Mhango seeing a couple of long-range efforts go close.

Senegal did at least test Charles Thom in the Malawi goal early in the second half, with Abdou Diallo s header tipped just over, though it was hardly a sign of imminent domination.  

Malawi then looked set to take the lead with 15 minutes left when Bouna Sarr conceded a penalty for appear…

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has signed a new one-year contract with Serie A giants Milan.

The 39-year-old striker rejoined the Rossoneri on a free transfer in December 2019 until the end of the season, with the option of extending his stay.

Ibrahimovic put pen to paper to remain at San Siro for the current campaign and the evergreen frontman has now agreed terms for another 12 months.

The Sweden striker has scored 17 goals in all competitions in an injury-hit season, finding the back of the net 15 times in 17 Serie A matches.

Ibrahimovic had made no secret of his desire to stay at Milan and the club confirmed a deal has been agreed on Thursday.

Ex-Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona forward Ibrahimovic, who has scored 84 goals in 130 …

Harry Kane will be stronger for having missed the penalty that saw England eliminated from the World Cup by France on Saturday.

That is the opinion of Jordan Henderson, who was substituted shortly before the Three Lions were awarded a second spot-kick in their 2-1 defeat.

Kane had scored the first to cancel out Aurelien Tchouameni s first-half goal, but his second attempt cleared the crossbar, meaning an Olivier Giroud header proved to be the winner.

No player in World Cup history has scored more spot-kicks than Kane s four, with this the first he has missed.

We know how many penalties Harry has scored for us, how many goals he has contributed to even get us here, midfielder Henderson told ITV.

He will be stronger for this in the future. He is a…

Thomas Muller and Robert Lewandowski were on target as Bayern Munich claimed a thrilling 3-2 Bundesliga win over RB Leipzig on Saturday.

The champions deadly duo scored either side of Andre Silva s equaliser to give them a half-time lead at the Allianz Arena, which was lit up in purple prior to kick-off to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Christopher Nkunku struck as Leipzig again drew level only for Josko Gvardiol s unfortunate own goal to hand the home side maximum points.

Muller had a simple tap-in to put Bayern ahead after Peter Gulacsi had saved from Lewandowski when Corentin Tolisso forced a high turnover of possession.

With that win,

Leipzig recovered to level after 27 minutes, though, Silva squeezing the ball over the line fr…

New Valencia signing Seydou Keita has moved to suggest that he had been in talks over a move to Liverpool before agreeing a deal with los Che.

The Malian signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with the La Liga side after leaving Dalian Aerbin on a free transfer, but he could have joined Liverpool instead.

The former Barcelona midfielder has revealed that the Reds were also in the running for his signature.

When my agent told me that Valencia called to sign me, I didn’t hesitate for even a second, Keita told reporters.

I had very advanced talks with Liverpool, but I wanted to come here and I made that known to my agent.

The 34-year-old has enjoyed five very successful seasons in Spanish La Liga, having spent one year at Sevilla before moving t…

Manchester United slumped to their third Premier League defeat of the season as Brighton won 3-1 at Old Trafford.

Danny Welbeck scored against his former club and further goals from Pascal Gross and substitute Joao Pedro increased the pressure on United boss Erik ten Hag.

Hannibal Mejbri’s first United goal gave the home fans some hope, but boos rang out at the final whistle with another defeat leaving United in the bottom half of the table.

Manchester City maintained their 100 per cent start to the season after hitting back to win 3-1 at West Ham.

James Ward-Prowse’s diving header – his second goal of the season – gave the Hammers a half-time lead against the run of play.

Jeremy Doku struck his first goal for City within a minute of the r…

PSV Eindhoven forward Ola Toivonen has yet to make a decision on his long-term future, .

The Swedish footballer has a contract that is due to expire at the end of the current campaign and he has in turn been linked with a number of high-profile clubs.

Fiorentina and Newcastle are believed to be leading the chase for his services, but it appears he still hasn t made up his mind about leaving.

Toivonen and his agent Mino Raiola recently had a meeting with PSV Eindhoven technical manager Marcel Brands, which is enough to suggest the player is open to the possibility of remaining at Philips Stadium.

The 27-year-old joined PSV in January 2009 from Malmo FF and has since made 135 Eredivisie appearances for the Dutch giants, scoring 61 goals in the process.

…

PSV head coach Ruud van Nistelrooy accepts in-demand forward Cody Gakpo may be on his way out of the club in the January transfer window.

Gakpo has been linked with the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Liverpool after impressing at Qatar 2022 with the Netherlands.

The 23-year-old became only the second player in World Cup history, after Italy s Alessandro Altobelli in 1986, to open the scoring in all three games in the same group stage.

He failed to find the net in the knockout stages against the United States and Argentina, with the latter ending the Netherlands run on penalties at the quarter-final stage.

PSV director of football Marcel Brands recently declared only a club-record fee would prise him away, and Van Nistelrooy wil…