Henrichs signs Leverkusen renewal

There may be a celebratory feel around the Stadium of Light on Sunday as Sunderland and Swansea City enjoy their Premier League survival.

Both teams looked in danger of facing the drop in recent weeks, with Sunderland in particular fearing the worst after a 1-0 home defeat to Everton on April 12 left them rock bottom, seven points adrift of safety.

Since that day, however, Gus Poyet s men have hit a tremendous run of form, with four wins and a draw in their past five matches, which included trips to Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United.

Wednesday s 2-0 win over West Brom their fourth in succession lifted them to 14th in the table, five points clear of the drop zone and with a chance of finishing 12th.

Their visitors this weekend have enjoyed a positive …

Atletico Madrid midfielder Mario Suarez insists city rivals Real are favourites to win the UEFA Champions League final in Lisbon on Saturday.

Diego Simeone s Atletico secured the Liga title, ahead of Barcelona and Real, with a 1-1 draw at Camp Nou on Saturday.

Despite seeing his side finish as Spanish champions for the first time since 1996, Suarez insists the pressure will be on Real this weekend.

While Atletico have only made the final of Europe s premier club competition on one previous occasion, in 1974, Real are set to be involved in the showpiece for a 13th time.

They are clear favourites to win; they are used to playing these type of matches. They are favourites to win just like they were in La Liga, said Suarez.

But we ve given our all and we are a …

Paris Saint-Germain coach Laurent Blanc believes Wednesday s Champions League trip to Malmo will prove to be a special match for Zlatan Ibrahimovic as he returns to the club where he started his professional career.

The 34-year-old made his first-team debut at Malmo in 1999 and represented Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona and AC Milan before touching down at PSG in 2012.

He will return to familiar ground this week, though, and Blanc is well aware of the meaning of Wednesday s encounter for his star striker.

Of course this will be a big game for Zlatan, Blanc said. We knew that this [draw] would lead to two great and special games for him. We see Zlatan every day and we know that he is a person and not a machine.

It is of course fantastic for him to get …

David Moyes professed his delight to see West Ham qualify for the UEFA Europa Conference League knockout stages but warned his side the job is not yet done after a 2-1 victory over Anderlecht.

The Hammers saw off their Belgian Pro League rivals at London Stadium on Thursday thanks to goals from Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen, in a match marred late on by crowd trouble in the stands.

Victory further cements West Ham s place atop Group B with four wins from four, six points ahead of Danish outfit Silkeborg, who they face in a fortnight.

But with sides finishing in first place heading straight to the last-16, and runners-up having to settle for an additional play-off round with teams eliminated from the Europa League, Moyes cautioned there remains work to be done.

Jack Wilshere, who spent a decade with Arsenal before going through shorter spells with West Ham and Bournemouth, is currently without the club. He s been training with the Gunners lately, but manager Mikel Arteta has ruled out his potential return to the club.

The 29-year-old midfielder says he s open to various options, including those abroad.

I d like to try something different, maybe abroad, America or something.

Jack Wilshere is open to opportunities abroad but Australia might be a bit too far

— Football Daily (@footballdaily)

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Street clashes between die-hard fans and police marred celebrations in Saint Petersburg after the city s beloved team Zenit won its second Russian league title, reports said Monday.

The clashes broke out late Sunday after 2,000 Zenit St Petersburg fans descended on the city s famed main street Nevsky Prospekt to fete its 5-0 thrashing of Rostov which assured the team of the league title.

Bottles were thrown at police who then used tear gas to disperse the supporters, Saint Petersburg newsite Fontaka.ru said, adding that 100 supporters had been arrested.

Internet sites showed images of a wounded policeman lying in the street with his head covered in blood. The local police declined to comment.

There had been tensions even on the pitch after the match when…

Rafael Benitez has experienced the finest moment of his professional career as a coach in the Champions League but defeat for holders Inter Milan at home to unglamorous Dutch side FC Twente on Wednesday could bring him his lowest.

The 50-year-old has singularly failed so far to maintain Inter s remarkable form of last term under Jose Mourinho who has little regard for Benitez and has gloated from afar at his discomfort and the wise money is that anything but a win for Inter will see his tenure end after just months in the job.

A Twente victory would even place Inter s chances of reaching the second round in jeopardy as they would go a point ahead of them with just one match remaining.

Group A leaders Spurs can seal their place in the second round in their first …

Ajax s 1-0 win in the Eredivisie on Sunday has been marred by reports midfielder Riechedly Bazoer was the subject of racist taunts from a section of ADO Den Haag supporters. 

Amin Younes scored the only goal of the game as Ajax stayed four points clear of PSV Eindhoven at the top of the table. 

However, reports emerged that Bazoer, who is of Curacaoan descent, was taunted with jungle noises , with the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) announcing they will be investigating the incident. 

Jungle sounds are awful, they tweeted. We will put the images and reports forward to the prosecutor of professional football.

Ajax coach Frank de Boer was angry with the outrageous actions of selected Den Haag fans. 

I could not believe it beca…

Champions Paris Saint-Germain equalled their own Ligue 1 points record with an emphatic 4-0 home victory over Rennes on Friday.

Laurent Blanc s side have now matched their record 2013-14 tally of 89 points and still have three more league matches remaining as they attempt to beat the mark before looking to seal back-to-back domestic trebles in the Coupe de France final against Marseille.

Hosts PSG – who made five changes following their win over Lille in the Coupe de la Ligue final scored twice in the space of four second-half minutes, with Maxwell impressively rounding off a wonderful move before Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck from close range.

Edinson Cavani then hit the crossbar before Ibrahimovic got his second of the match with a powerful finish 12 minutes fro…

There was a worrying incident shortly before France s Euro 2020 game with Germany involving a Greenpeace parachutist and the stadium Spidercam. No, honestly.

The apparent protester, his chute emblazoned with Kick out oil , slowly circled his way towards the Allianz Arena pitch but collided with the mechanism by which the camera was suspended. Debris almost hit Didier Deschamps in the France dugout, while the man was given medical attention after coming to rest on the turf. Nobody was injured, thankfully.

It turned out that surprising wonders dropping from the sky was the theme of the day, as France began their quest for continental glory with a 1-0 win in Munich. That s a circuitous route to talking about the spontaneous brilliance of Paul Pogba. No, honestly.

Tw…