Robert Lewandowski described Bayern Munich s trip to Camp Nou as the perfect day after the red-hot striker scored twice in a 3-0 Champions League win over Barcelona.

Bayern kicked off their 2021-22 Champions League campaign with a comprehensive victory at Barca thanks to Lewandowski s brace and Thomas Muller s opener on Tuesday.

Lewandowski has scored in his last 18 appearances for Bayern, netting 29 goals in a run that stretches back to February in all competitions.

In the last three seasons since the start of the 2019-20 season, Lewandowski has scored 113 goals in 93 appearances for Bayern – 36 more than any other player in Europe s big five leagues in that time (Kylian Mbappe and Cristiano Ronaldo on 76 goals each).

It s always nice to be on the pit…

Fulham were relegated from the Premier League following a 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Watford at Vicarage Road on Tuesday.

Goals from Abdoulaye Doucoure, Will Hughes, Troy Deeney and Kiko Femenia left the visitors 16 points adrift of safety with just five games remaining.

Fulham spent close to £100million on new players after earning promotion to the top flight via the Championship play-offs last season.

However, they won just one of their opening 12 Premier League games and sacked Slavisa Jokanovic in November with the team bottom of the table having earned five points from those dozen matches.

Claudio Ranieri, who steered Leicester City to the Premier League title in memorable fashion in 2015-16, was unable to turn things around.

The Italian…

Fikayo Tomori has credited Milan legend and current technical director Paolo Maldini with helping him improve his game after earning an England recall.

Tomori looked destined for a promising future at Chelsea, returning to the club in 2019-20 to play under Frank Lampard having also linked up with him the previous season at Derby County.

In the Championship, Tomori played 47 times as Derby got to the play-offs, and he proved an able back-up option upon his return to Stamford Bridge as he made 15 Premier League appearances – all as a starter – in 2019-20.

But things soon changed, the signing of Thiago Silva at the start of 2020-21 pushing Tomori further down the pecking order – when January came around, he had played in just one Premier League match and was s…

Karim Benzema hailed France s comeback ability as a sign of a great team after Les Bleus fought back to defeat Spain 2-1 and claim the 2021 Nations League.

The Real Madrid forward equalised after Mikel Oyarzabal opened the scoring, the seventh time in 2021 France have fallen behind first – three more times than any other calendar year.

Kylian Mbappe then scored the winner after 80 minutes, his fourth goal involvement at the Finals – more than any other player – to secure Les Bleus second trophy in three attempts after winning the 2018 World Cup and faltering at Euro 2020.

Didier Deschamps side are now unbeaten in 25 competitive matches, only doing better once in their history between 1994 and 1999, and Benzema pinpointed the team s comeback ability as a hal…

Brendan Rodgers says he has always been impressed by Raheem Sterling s drive to be one of the best as he prepares to face the Manchester City forward on Monday.

Leicester City boss Rodgers was in charge at Liverpool as Sterling established himself as a star before moving to the Etihad Stadium ahead of the 2015-16 campaign.

That switch made Sterling unpopular with Reds fans, yet he has established himself as one of the Premier League s top players, winning the Football Writers Association Footballer of the Year and Professional Footballers Association Young Player of the Year awards this season.

While Rodgers was sacked at Anfield soon after Sterling s transfer, he is delighted that the move panned out for the England international.

The Leicester manager r…

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Turning their attention back to Europa Conference League duties on Thursday evening, Aston Villa will travel to Holland when they meet AZ Alkmaar.

AZ Alkmaar

Starting with the hosts, while AZ Alkmaar might have suffered Europa Conference League semi-final heartbreak at the hands of West Ham last season, the Dutch outfit certainly haven’t shown any signs of a hangover. Really flying out of the traps since opening up the 2023/24 campaign and riding a major wave of momentum, Pascal Jansen’s side have continued to shine on either side of October’s international break. Marking their return to domestic duties over the weekend as they cruised their way to a stellar 3-0 romp against Heerenveen, the Cheese Farmers have won each of their …

Fernandinho has rejoined former club Athletico Paranaense after announcing his departure from Manchester City.

The 37-year-old stated his intention to return to Brazil in April before completing his ninth campaign at the Etihad Stadium, and leaves at the end of his contract having made a total of 383 appearances for City.

Fernandinho took over as City captain after David Silva s 2020 departure and featured in five Premier League title wins, the last four of them under Pep Guardiola s management.

But the holding midfielder, who has won 53 caps for Brazil, was reduced to a supporting role during the 2021-22 season, starting just 17 games in all competitions as Rodri enjoyed a terrific campaign at the base of Guardiola s midfield.

On Monday, Athletico Para…

Julian Nagelsmann would like Ralf Rangnick to be handed a long-term role at Manchester United amid widespread reports the experienced coach is to become the club s interim manager.

Rangnick, 63, only took over as Lokomotiv Moscow s head of sports and development earlier this year following an eight-season spell across various roles at RB Leipzig.

But the former Stuttgart and Schalke coach, who is credited for influencing some of football s brightest minds, appears set to join United as interim manager following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer s departure.

Nagelsmann and Rangnick s careers crossed paths at Leipzig between 2019 and 2021, with the latter acting as head of sport and development for RedBullGMBH following his director of football role at both Red Bull Salzburg a…

What the papers say

Real Madrid are keen on making Kepa Arrizabalaga’s loan move from Chelsea permanent, according to the Sun. The LaLiga giants reportedly want to pay no more than £17.5million for the 29-year-old Spain goalkeeper, who cost the Blues £71m five years ago.

Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey, 30, is being eyed by Juventus as a potential replacement for Paul Pogba, reports the Mirror. The Italian club are said to be looking at a loan deal in January, using the wages saved with Pogba reportedly facing a lengthy ban over a failed drugs test and Nicolo Fagiolo suspended for at least seven months over betting breaches.

Liverpool have been given a lift in their interest in Brazilian midfielder Andre according to the Mirror. A previous bid for the 22-year-old f…

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is expecting Steven Gerrard to fight with all he has when Liverpool host Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday.

Reds legend Gerrard was appointed manager of Villa last month following the dismissal of Dean Smith and has won three of his first four games in charge of the Midlands club.

The former England midfielder won a multitude of trophies during his playing days at Liverpool, including the Champions League in 2005 along with three EFL Cups, two FA Cups, the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup.

He started his coaching career leading Liverpool s Under-18s side before joining Rangers in 2018, and last season led the Gers to their first Scottish Premiership title in a decade, ending Celtic s dominance.

Speaking ahead…