Former England captain David Beckham claimed on Sunday that his ex-Real Madrid team-mate Zinedine Zidane is the best player of all time.

The 33-year-old Englishman told sports daily Marca that it had been a dream come true to play alongside Zidane for three years at Real.

To train with Zidane for three years (2003-06) was a dream, confessed Beckham, who has been capped over 100 times by his country.

For me he is the greatest player of all time.

Beckham, who is now playing for Los Angeles Galaxy, also believed that the best Spanish player at the moment is Barcelona s playmaker Xavi, who inspired Spain to the Euro 2008 title last month and was judged player of the tournament.

However, Beckham also thinks that goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who he …

Lionel Messi will return from injury for Argentina when they face Panama in the Copa America Centenario on Friday, coach Gerardo Martino has confirmed.

Messi sat out the Group D opener against Chile on Monday after struggling to overcome a niggling back injury in time for the 2-1 triumph.

Martino said after the match he expected the Barcelona forward to be ready to face Panama at Soldier Field.

And, having now returned to full training with his team-mates, the Argentina boss is ready to welcome his talismanic forward back to the fold in Chicago.

Messi trained with the group and is going to play tomorrow [Friday], said Martino. I see no reason to not include him.

The 2015 Copa America runners-up were also without Lucas Biglia in their opening mat…

Tottenham defender Kyle Walker was relieved to hear head coach Mauricio Pochettino verbally agreed to a new contract extension.

As second-placed Tottenham vie for the Premier League title, Pochettino revealed on Friday that he had agreed a fresh contract, which will tie him to the London club until 2021.

And Walker was delighted by the news after Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain reportedly showed interest in the Argentine tactician.

I ve been waiting for someone to say that for ages now! He s said it? Thank goodness for that. I m over the moon, Walker said.

It is a relief. There is always going to be speculation. It happens all the time.

This player is going here, this manager is going there but I think that s not for me to talk abo…

Gareth Bale is confident Tottenham will seal qualification for next season s Champions League.

The winger also believes their disappointing form in the second half of the 2011-12 campaign has proved a positive learning experience.

The north Londoners finished fourth in the Premier League last season but Chelsea claimed the final Champions League place by winning the competition.

Bale insists that Spurs are a more assured team this season under Andre Villas-Boas and has predicted that they will maintain their grip on a place in the top four despite pressure from the likes of Arsenal.

We have learned from our mistakes from previous years and now we can be a lot stronger going in to the finishing end of the season so I hope we can do it, Bale told Tottenha…

Australia defender Sasa Ognenovski admits his side are using the 2011 Asian Cup final loss to Japan as motivation ahead of Tuesday s clash.

Ognenovski was part of the Australia side which lost 1-0 in extra-time to the Japanese in Doha almost 18 months ago.

Speaking ahead of the AFC World Cup qualifying clash between the teams, he told reporters Australia would draw on that loss as motivation.

For the ones who played that night there s a motivating factor there, said Ognenovski, who plays his club football in South Korea.

We felt we probably should have won that and hopefully we can get the result on Tuesday.

We ve just got to make sure that, like in that game, that we play well and that we do the things that we re meant to do right.

T…

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It s the final week of the 2018-19 Ligue 1 season, and fifth place is at stake between Marseille and Montpellier. The visitors currently hold the edge since they own a one-point lead over Les Olympians, but everything is up for grabs here. Who will grab the honour of obtaining a Top 5 finish in France s top-flight?

Marseille

Rudi Garcia s farewell match at Olympique Marseille will be in front of their own crowd, where they have gone W10, D4, L4 across the entire season. However, they haven t looked very good in recent weeks. The French giants have gone W2, D1, L2 over their last five league outings, and at home they re currently riding a two-game losing streak following their 0-3 defeat agains…

Former Liverpool midfielder Gary McAllister admits he has been shocked by the form of Mohamed Salah since his move from Roma.

The Egypt international, who joined for what was then a club-record fee of an initial €42million last June, has scored 28 goals in all competitions in 2017-18.

Salah s latest strikes, including a sublime solo effort, came in the 2-2 draw with Tottenham last Sunday, which took him to 21 league goals in 25 appearances – already six more than he managed in Serie A last season.

McAllister did not expect the 25-year-old to hit the ground running quite so impressively on his return to England s top flight, after he struggled in a short spell with Chelsea.

Watch all 21 of Salah s goals so far 

— Liverpool FC (@…

Atletico Mineiro striker Jo will make his first start this year when the 2013 champions start their Copa Libertadores campaign on Wednesday.

Atletico Mineiro coach Levir Culpi will start striker Jo in his team s opening match of the 2015 Copa Libertadores away to Colo Colo on Wednesday.

Jo has yet to start a match in Mineiro s 2015 campaign with the lanky forward having come off the bench in his team s opening two matches of the Campeonato Mineiro the Minas Gerais state championship.

Mineiro have won both those games but will face a step up in class when they travel to Chile for their clash with Colo Colo, and Culpi will turn to Jo due to his experience the 27-year-old scored seven goals when the Brazilian club won their maiden Libertadores title in 2013.