For Paris Saint-Germain, every new season brings a this is it feeling with regards to their Champions League hopes.

It s been the club s obsession ever since the Qatari state poured in their petrodollars back in 2011, and after a few years of building up a head of steam domestically, European success has been the chief aim.

Each pre-season sees the arrivals of new superstars, most years bring a new coach who has the ownership group s vain ambitions thrust upon their shoulders. The faces change, the goal doesn t – and neither, until now, has the ultimate destination.

Here we are in March 2023 and PSG still haven t won Europe s top prize. They find themselves 1-0 down after the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie with Bayern Munich, meaning they need …

Champions League holders Real Madrid resume their European campaign on Wednesday as they once again go up against English opposition in Chelsea.

Now with Frank Lampard in charge again, Chelsea realistically need to win the Champions League just to qualify for it next season, with the Blues languishing 11th in the Premier League.

But after brushing Liverpool aside in ruthless fashion in the last round, Madrid will be massive favourites in the eyes of most people.

Wednesday s other Champions League duel is almost as intriguing. Serie A rivals Milan and Napoli will tussle in San Siro, with any of the four teams in that side of the draw likely fancying their chances of reaching the final.

Ahead of two potentially engrossing matches, Stats Perform picks out th…

Portugal coach Roberto Martinez has warned his team s perfect Euro 2024 qualification record will count for nothing at next year s tournament, though he is content with their group-stage draw.

Portugal were drawn into Group F at Saturday s draw in Hamburg, alongside Turkiye, the Czech Republic and a yet-to-be-decided play-off winner.

Georgia, Luxembourg, Greece and Kazakhstan will battle for the final place in Portugal s group in March s play-offs.

Portugal have won all 10 of their games since Roberto Martinez replaced Fernando Santos in the aftermath of last year s disappointing World Cup exit, scoring 36 goals and only conceding two as they dominated their qualification group.

Having led Belgium to the last three major tournaments, Martinez is experien…

Brendan Rodgers will kick off his second spell as Celtic boss with a home game against Ross County on Saturday, August 8.

The curtain raiser for the reigning Scottish Premiership champions at Celtic Park will be televised live on Sky Sports with a 12:30pm kick-off.

Rangers start their first full season with Michael Beale at the helm with a trip to Kilmarnock later the same day, as they seek to win just a second title since 2011 after finishing seven points adrift of Celtic last campaign.

The game at Rugby Park will kick off at 5:15pm and will also be televised live.

The Glasgow rivals meet in the first Old Firm Derby of the season on matchday 4 with the champions travelling to Ibrox on September 3 for an early test of Rodgers’ second incarnation since r…

England triumphed in the so-named Battle of Britain against Wales, Northern Ireland stunned Ukraine and Germany were thwarted by Poland in another eventful day at Euro 2016.

As ever, we present the pick of the more seldom-seen moments of gold from the tournament in France, featuring England s coronation of a new hero and Will Grigg on you-know-what

MARSEILL-EASE

After a frantic few days in Marseille, it was reassuring to find the pace of life had slowed down significantly on Thursday.

Following the carnage of the weekend when Russian fans went on the rampage around the Old Port and inside the Stade Velodrome not to mention the scenes of anti-social behaviour from thousands of England fans Marseille barely had time to recover before France and …

Manager Phil Parkinson was full of praise for the way his Wrexham side battled with 10 men after a first-half goal from striker Ollie Palmer gave them a 1-0 victory at Crawley.

Wrexham came back three times after having a player sent off to clinch a 3-3 draw at Crewe a fortnight ago and the Red Dragons held firm for the last 24 minutes at the Broadfield Stadium with a man down to move above Crawley and into the top seven.

Palmer’s 13th-minute goal against his former club proved decisive and Parkinson was delighted with the way his men dug in after substitute Andy Cannon received a straight red card for bringing down Adam Campbell only seven minutes after coming on.

Parkinson said: “It was a huge win and there is a great togetherness about this group.

…

World Cup 2018 in Russia promises to be a wonderful tournament across an enormous, and diverse, country.

Here, we map out the day by day schedule for the group stage (all times are host city):

June 14
Russia v Saudi Arabia (Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow 1800)

June 15
Egypt v Uruguay (Ekaterinburg 1700)
Morocco v Iran (St Petersburg 1800)
Portugal v Spain (Sochi 2100)

June 16
France v Australia (Kazan 1300)
Argentina v Iceland (Spartak Stadium, Moscow 1600)
Peru v Denmark (Saransk 1900)
Croatia v Nigeria (Kaliningrad 2100)

June 17
Costa Rica v Serbia (Samara 1600)
Germany v Mexico (Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow 1800)
Brazil v Switzerland (Rostov 2100)

June 18
Sweden v South Korea (Novgorod -1500)
Belgium v Panama (Sochi 1800)
Tunisia v …

From Gerd Muller to Marco van Basten, Alan Shearer to Fernando Torres, some of the greatest strikers to have played the game have had the honour of winning the Golden Boot at a European Championship.

When Europe s finest descend upon Germany for the 17th edition of UEFA s flagship international tournament, a mix of established greats and young prospects will vie to be the continent s best goalscorer.

Can Cristiano Ronaldo mark what will surely be his final major tournament by becoming the first two-time recipient of the Golden Boot, or might Harry Kane or Kylian Mbappe upstage the Portugal legend?

As the build-up to Euro 2024 continues, we delve into the Opta data to assess the chances of the leading contenders, pick out a couple of potential dark horses and ask…

Gareth Southgate described Trent Alexander-Arnold s injury as heartbreaking for the Liverpool full-back, who will miss Euro 2020.

Alexander-Arnold sustained a thigh injury late on in England s friendly win over Austria on Wednesday, and scans the next day confirmed he will face around six weeks out.

His place in the 26-man squad for Euro 2020 had been the subject of fierce debate in the media, but the 22-year-old made the cut.

With three other right-backs in his squad, Southgate will make a call on who replaces Alexander-Arnold in his selection after Sunday s friendly against Romania in Middlesbrough.

But for now, the England manager offered his support to Alexander-Arnold, whose focus will be on returning to fitness ahead of Liverpool s 2021-22 campaign.…

Barcelona host Real Madrid on Saturday with just a point separating the teams in the LaLiga table as they go toe to toe in El Clasico.

With Barca a point behind their rivals, both teams know that victory at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys could have a major impact on the title race, albeit surprise early challengers Girona may go on to have a critical say.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at five memorable meetings between the two Spanish superpowers.

Barcelona 5 Real Madrid 1 – October 2018

Barca romped to a stunning home win with a performance driven by a sensational Luis Suarez hat-trick. Philippe Coutinho opened the scoring after 11 minutes before Suarez got the first of his treble from the penalty spot. Marcelo dragged the visitors back into it jus…