Muller makes milestone Bayern Munich appearance

Sir Jim Ratcliffe could finalise a deal to become a minority shareholder at Manchester United during the upcoming international break.

Ratcliffe’s Ineos Group is expected to pay in the region of £1.25billion for a 25 per set stake in the Old Trafford club, while also acquiring significant control over footballing operations.

There is no a firm timetable for the deal to be finalised, but the PA news agency understands it could come as early as next week, with Ineos optimistic it will be done before the Premier League campaign resumes on November 25 after the international break.

Reports that the deal could come as soon as Monday have, however, been dismissed as that is the date of Sir Bobby Charlton’s funeral.

It is almost a year since the Glazer fami…

Brentford striker Ivan Toney is serving an eight-month ban after admitting 232 breaches of the Football Association’s betting rules.

The 27-year-old – who has scored 68 goals in 124 appearances for Thomas Frank’s side – will not be able to play again until January 17, 2024.

Here, the PA news agency assesses the significance of his loss for Brentford and England.

Bees’ talisman

Toney is enjoying the best season of his career so far, having scored 20 goals in 33 Premier League appearances and making his long-awaited England debut.

His tally represents 37 per cent of Brentford’s total of 54 goals, the third highest share behind Manchester City’s Erling Haaland (39 per cent) and Tottenham’s Harry Kane (42 per cent).

Toney’s importan…

The Manchester City Premier League title party steamed into the London Stadium to reel off a celebratory 4-1 win against an over-matched West Ham.

PFA Young Player of the Year Leroy Sane s 13th minute opener took a decisive deflection off Patrice Evra, whose belated home debut for David Moyes side was generally a torrid experience, and an unfortunate own goal for former City favourite Pablo Zabaleta brought up 100 league goals this season for Pep Guardiola s men.

A touch of complacency crept into City s work before half-time as Aaron Cresswell s fine free-kick punished an error-strewn passage of play but they were rampant once more after the break.

Gabriel Jesus set in motion the move for his 12th top-flight goal of the campaign before fellow Brazil international…

Arsenal shared the spoils with Brighton and Hove Albion at the Emirates on Saturday, with Kai Havertz and Joao Pedro scoring each for his club. There was, however, a moment of great controversy in the game, several minutes before Pedro s equalizer.

Already on a yellow card, Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice appeared to kick the ball away, preventing Brighton defender Joel Veltman from taking a free-kick awarded, and Veltman kicked him instead. Referee Chris Kavanagh decided the incident warranted a second yellow for Rice.

The ball was indeed moving when Veltman tried to take the free-kick, but Kavanagh obviously missed that and as it wasn t a straight red card, the VAR had no authority to intervene.

So many weird events in Declan Rice red card
1. Is it even a fre…

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Looking to climb back to the top of the La Liga table on Thursday night, Real Madrid will travel to the Mendizorroza when they meet Alaves.

Alaves

Starting with the hosts, while Alaves might have enjoyed a real flurry when returning from November’s international break, the Babazorros have come crashing back down to earth over the week. Last seen putting in a nightmare performance away at Girona as they slumped to a 3-0 drumming, Luis Plaza’s side almost find themselves sat in La Liga limbo. Mustering just a single point from any of their previous three top-flight appearances, the former Mallorca boss will be more than aware that his squad faces a huge examination here. Hit with a 3-0 loss when they last met Real Madrid back in Febr…

Ligue 1 champions Lille had just two players named in the competition s Team of the Season, with runners-up Paris Saint-Germain represented by five.

It was an incredible season for Christophe Galtier s Lille, who had finished fourth in the shortened 2019-20 campaign.

A talented squad full of vibrant, youthful attackers – albeit spearheaded by veteran campaigner Burak Yilmaz – clinched Ligue 1 title number four for the club on Sunday, with their success confirmed when they beat Angers 2-1 on the final day of the season.

PSG finished top in the previous three seasons since Monaco s Kylian Mbappe-inspired win in 2016-17.

Indeed, it is only the second time since 2012-13 that the capital club has not won the title… Not that you would know it when looking…

Brighton and Hove Albion are interested in the services of Glasgow Rangers James Tavernier, according to .

The right back s career started at Newcastle in 2009, and during his four-year stint at St. James Park he was sent on loan to a number of lower-division clubs, making only 11 appearances in the Magpies shirt. In 2014 he made a permanent move to Wigan Athletic, but ended up moving on another loan to Bristol City halfway through the season.

In 2015, he joined Rangers and so far he has made a total of 158 appearances in all competitions for the team now led by Steven Gerrard, finding the net 32 times. This summer, a number of offers from West Bromwich Albion were turned down by the club.

The Seagulls are preparing for life without Bruno, a 37-year-old defender…

Will Smallbone is hoping to take a leaf out of set-piece specialist James Ward-Prowse’s book as he attempts to prove himself invaluable to the Republic of Ireland.

The 23-year-old Southampton midfielder, who spent last season on loan at Sky Bet Championship Stoke, was named man of the match on his senior debut for his country in March’s 3-2 friendly victory over Latvia and will hope for a competitive bow in this month’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Greece and Gibraltar.

Manager Stephen Kenny is well aware of Basingstoke-born Smallbone’s dead ball capabilities and having spent time on the training ground with free-kick master Ward-Prowse, he is hoping that might aid his cause.

He said: “I always took set-plays going through the academy at Southampton and…

Harry Maguire is honoured to have replaced Ashley Young as Manchester United s captain, with the England defender claiming it is a dream come true .

Young ended his eight-and-a-half-year stay at Old Trafford on Friday, with the England international joining former team-mate Romelu Lukaku and United loanee Alexis Sanchez at Inter.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer confirmed in his news conference ahead of United s clash with Premier League leaders Liverpool on Sunday that Maguire – signed from Leicester City for a world-record fee for a defender in 2019 – will take the armband, despite having only been at the club since August.

Maguire has since expressed his excitement at having taken over as club captain, while former United skipper Wayne Rooney also congratulated the 26…

An irritated Ernesto Valverde denied he is leaving Ivan Rakitic out of his Barcelona team due to uncertainty about the midfielder s future.

Rakitic was an unused substitute on Saturday as LaLiga champions Barca were held to a 2-2 draw away to Osasuna.

The Croatia international has only played 44 minutes this season, as a substitute in the 1-0 loss to Athletic Bilbao, amid persistent talk he has been offered to Paris Saint-Germain as part of a proposed deal to bring Neymar back to Camp Nou.

Barca head coach Valverde, though, insisted his team selections are purely tactical.

What do you want me to say? he told reporters when asked about Rakitic. Last year he was playing and Nelson [Semedo] was on the bench. The other day he played well and we stuck with th…