Passionate speech from actor Rhys Ifans inspired Wales victory – Jordan James

Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo accepted substantial libel damages from a British newspaper on Monday over a claim that he put his injured ankle at risk by living it up in a Hollywood nightclub.

Ronaldo was not at London s High Court for the settlement of his action against Telegraph Media Group Ltd over a Daily Telegraph story in July 2008, when he played for Manchester United.

His lawyer Allan Dunlavy told judge Victoria Sharp that the report, which claimed the Portuguese player had laid down his crutches and taken to the dance floor with four models, caused him embarrassment, offence and distress.

As a professional, he was concerned both about his own reputation and how it might be perceived by United, the team s manager Sir Alex Ferguson and the club s…

Roma coach Claudio Ranieri insisted his team need four more points to ensure they progress to the knock-out stages of the Champions League.

And the former Chelsea, Valencia and Juventus boss said they had put matters into their own hands by winning away to Basel last time out.

Roma had a disastrous start to their Group E campaign when they lost two of their first three matches, including a 3-1 home defeat to Basel.

But by winning 3-2 away to the Swiss outfit last time out, they put themselves in pole position to qualify for the second round, giving them a three point advantage over Basel and Romanians CFR Cluj.

Bayern have already booked their place in the last 16 and Roma can join them if they win on Tuesday and the other game ends in a draw.

An…

Lionel Messi s 500th senior goal was not enough to prevent Barcelona from losing three La Liga games in a row for the first time since February 2003 as Valencia won 2-1 at Camp Nou.

The Catalans knew they could not afford to drop points again after previous defeats at the hands of Real Madrid and Real Sociedad with Atletico Madrid moving level on points earlier on Sunday following their win over Granada and created numerous chance to open the scoring in the opening stages of the game.

Luis Suarez, Messi and Neymar all failed to beat the excelling Diego Alves, though, as the Valencia goalkeeper pulled off a string of fine saves.

An own goal from Ivan Rakitic then saw Valencia take a shock lead, before Santi Mina doubled the visitors lead with his fourth league go…

Former Palermo coach Davide Ballardini believes Franco Vazquez deserves to play for either Liverpool or Manchester United .

The attacking midfielder, who joined the Sicilian outfit in 2012, is widely regarded across Europe for his creativity and vision.

And Ballardini thinks the 26-year-old deserves a move to a bigger club.

  Vazquez? He is ready for a big team, with his quality [he] deserves a big European club like Liverpool or Manchester United, he told Mediaset Premium.

Ballardini was sacked just two months after being appointed head coach of Palermo, but defended his time in charge.

In [Palermo] there was good management, we had some good matches and collected seven points in seven games, he said.

“The team is young and has room …

Gareth Bale will start for Real Madrid against Barcelona on Wednesday, while Luka Modric drops to the bench.

Wales star Bale will join Karim Benzema in attack for his first LaLiga start in December, with Isco retaining his place from the 1-1 draw with Valencia on Sunday.

Casemiro, Federico Valverde and Toni Kroos line up in midfield, meaning 2018 Ballon d Or winner Modric is among the substitutes, along with Rodrygo Goes, Vinicius Junior and Luka Jovic.

Ferland Mendy is back at left-back after being suspended for the Valencia match.

Our starting XI is here! |

— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden)

Barcelona line up with Antoine Griezmann alongside Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi in attack, while Ivan Rakitic and Frenkie de Jong look set to…

The final matchweek of the Champions League group stage is upon us and several teams still have work to do to secure their last-16 places.

Former champions Inter and Liverpool are both yet to qualify from their respective groups, while there are plenty of other big names facing the possibility of elimination as only four knockout berths remain.

Harry Kane and Tottenham will hope to pip Inter in Group B, while Group C sees Liverpool, last year s finalists, jostle with Napoli and big-spending Paris Saint-Germain.

Lyon and Shakhtar Donetsk are also in the hunt on Wednesday and here we outline what each side must do to get through this week.

3 Liverpool have lost all three Champions League group stage away games for the first time in the competition. Strugg…

Sheffield United are interested in signing Nicolas Gonzalez from Fiorentina in the summer transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that the Blades have come forward for the winger and are been on securing his services ahead of next season.

Fiorentina manager Vincenzo Italiano does not want Gonzalez to leave the Serie A club this summer and has told his bosses to keep the 25-year-old Argentina international winger. have claimed that if Fiorentina receive an offer of more than the €35 million that Leicester City offered him in the January transfer window, then it would be tough for Fiorentina to turn it down.

Gonzalez made 13 starts and 11 substitute appearances in Serie A for Fiorentina last season, scoring six goals and providing one assist in those gam…

Tottenham Hotspur are interested in signing Manchester United attacking player Jesse Lingard in the summer transfer window, according to . It has been reported that Spurs are hopping to secure the services of the 27-year-old in a £30 million deal.

Spurs head coach Jose Mourinho worked with Lingard when he was the manager of United, and the Portuguese will know all about the England international, who can play as an attacking midfielder or as a winger. The 27-year-old has been at United since 2000, but in recent times he has failed to play regularly for the first team.

According to , Lingard made nine starts and 13 substitute appearances in the Premier League for United last season, scoring one goal in the process. The England international also made four starts and fiv…

Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien is undergoing tests after suffering a potentially serious knee injury during training last week.

Essien, 28, missed six months of the 2008/09 season due to an anterior cruciate ligament sustained on international duty for Ghana.

Knee problems also kept him out of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Chelsea are not willing to discuss the severity of the former Lyon man s injury until the tests have been completed.

People have been speculating about the extent of the injury, but it is dangerous to jump the gun, the club said in a statement.

Michael will be sent away for tests over the weekend and we will not be commenting further until the results of those tests are known.

We want to make sure we have t…

England boss Roy Hodgson now has to put faith in his highly-rated youngsters

England now has no chance of progressing to the last 16 of the World Cup, after losing 2-1 against both Italy and Uruguay in the group stages.

Italy’s shock 1-0 defeat by surprise package Costa Rica yesterday put the final nail in the coffin of the Three Lions World Cup hopes.

End

It might not just be the end of the World Cup, but also the end of a number of international careers for England.

Midfielders Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard are well into their 30’s and coming to the end of their careers.

It really would not be a shock if both players called time on their international careers. Gerrard has struggled to make an impact on the competition and once ag…