Ajax captain Davy Klaassen will be hoping to get off to a winning start when the Eredivisie leaders take on Celtic in Thursday s Europa League encounter at the Amsterdam ArenA.

The Dutch giants failed to qualify for the group stage of the Champions League after Rapid Vienna proved too strong in their qualifying tie and have now turned their attention to the Europa League instead.

Joined by Celtic, Fenerbahce and Molde in Group A, Ajax could hardly have been dealt a tougher draw.

The Europa League kicks off against Celtic. I have nothing but good memories of Celtic, Klaassen told the official Ajax website.

It s a beautiful draw. It s a shame that we are not in the Champions League, but the Europa League is great as well.

Normally, we should…

Highly-rated Germany international Julian Draxler is the subject of intense transfer speculation linking him to a move away from Wolfsburg.

Bundesliga side are struggling in the German top tier this season and look set to lose one of their star players who is disillusioned with his life at the club.

French champions are reported to have already agreed personal terms with the 23-year-old midfielder, but Liverpool are still hopeful they can ruin the deal for the Saints.

has learned that Jurgen Klopp is trying to persuade his compatriot into joining Liverpool instead of PSG as the German tactician looks to bolster his ranks with a quality player and a world-class potential.

Julian Draxler is unlikely to be available on the cheap and Wolfsburg will surely b…

Sergio Ramos says Zinedine Zidane leaving Real Madrid was bitter , but the club captain is thankful to the French coach for leading the club to a trio of consecutive Champions League titles.

Zidane resigned from his post after Madrid downed Liverpool in Kiev to defend their Champions League crown again, with Julen Lopetegui confirmed as his replacement.

Lopetegui was subsequently fired by Spain on the eve of the World Cup, Ramos side crashing out of the World Cup at the last-16 stage to Russia on penalties under replacement Fernando Hierro.

And in a social media post the day after Spain s shock exit, Ramos summed up Madrid s 2017-18 season as he looked ahead to the new campaign.

Today our season ends and it s time to look back on the season as a whole, …

Bayern Munich have hit out at suggestions that head coach Thomas Tuchel has touted himself as a replacement for outgoing Barcelona boss Xavi.

Xavi revealed in the wake of Barca’s 5-3 home defeat by Villarreal on Saturday that he would leave the club this summer, sparking a frenzy of speculation over potential successors.

A day later, Tuchel spoke about his ambition to work in Spain one day at a fan event, prompting claims he was setting out his stall for the post soon to be vacated by Xavi, much to the annoyance of his current employers.

Jan-Christian Dreesen Christoph Freund: “We will no longer accept such non-factual statements.”

— FC Bayern Munich (@FCBayernEN)

In a statement issued via Bayern’s official website on Monday, chief exec…

The African clash between Ghana and South Africa at the 2009 World Youth Championship ended in a 2-1 victory to the Ghanaians.

South Africa took the lead through Kermit Erasmus after almost an hour of play at Ismaïlia Stadium, but Ghana s Andre Ayew leveled the score seven minutes later.

Extra time was needed to determine which of the two teams was to advance to the quarter finals, and a goal from Dominic Adiyiah in the 99th minute made the difference in Ghana s favor.

Ghana play their quarter final match against Korea Republic on Saturday, October 9.

…

Neymar s father says he will seek legal and tax assurances for his son before the Brazil captain commits his long-term future to Barcelona.

The Spanish and European champions are in discussions with Neymar over an extension to his contract, which has three years left to run, and the player himself this weekend stated that he will remain at the Camp Nou.

Neymar s success on the field for Barcelona continued as he scored four times during a 5-2 win over Rayo Vallecano on Sunday but his 2013 transfer from Santos has been an on-going source of controversy.

Santos president Modesto Roma Junior last week confirmed he has called on FIFA to investigate a deal that led to the resignation of Sandro Rosell from his position as Barca president in January 2014.

Both …

Memphis Depay does not have any negative feelings about Manchester United having swapped Old Trafford for Lyon.

The Netherlands international joined United from PSV in 2015, but failed to live up to the high expectations and has largely played a bit-part role over the past 18 months.

He was consequently allowed to leave the club for a fee that could rise to €25million, and Depay is keen to get his career back on track at the Ligue 1 giants.

I am not looking for revenge on Manchester United or anything, the 22-year-old said at a news conference. I just want to show what I am capable of again, just like I have done in the past.

I played with some great players at United, like Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba. I learned a lot from them an…

Former English Football League defender Tommy Spurr continues to live with worry even though his son has recently overcome cancer.

The ex-Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn full-back has had to endure every parent’s worst nightmare as his four-year-old boy Rio was diagnosed with Wilms Tumour – a form of kidney cancer – last April.

The disease spread to his lungs and contained anaplastic features which made it harder to cure and more likely to return.

But after nine months of a punishing chemotherapy treatment and 10 days of radiotherapy Rio got the great news last month that there was no longer any evidence of the cancer.

An unbelievably emotional dayAfter a year of hell we finally have some good news

Please read

— Tommy Spurr (@To…

Alejandro Garnacho returned from injury with a bang as the Manchester United teenager wrapped up a victory against Wolves that gets their Champions League qualification quest back on track.

Back-to-back defeats at Brighton and West Ham allowed rivals Liverpool to move within a point of the Red Devils in fourth, as Erik ten Hag’s side risked allowing a positive season to end badly.

United alleviated the pressure somewhat by returning to winning ways thanks to Anthony Martial’s close-range finish and substitute Garnacho’s stoppage-time goal in Saturday’s 2-0 victory against Wolves.

Antony’s intelligent pass set up the France international to score the opening goal – just his fifth in the Premier League this term – in front of former manager Ole Gunnar…

A place in the semi-final of the Coupe de la Ligue will be at stake when Paris Saint-Germain travel to Bordeaux on Tuesday.

The Ligue 1 leaders have already beaten Francis Gillot s side twice this season and another victory at Stade Chaban-Delmas would see them progress to the last four.

Not since May 2011 have Bordeaux beaten the Parisian giants and they come into the game on the back of a 1-0 home defeat against Toulouse.

PSG had to come from behind to beat bottom-of-the-table Ajaccio 2-1 on Saturday, with Blaise Matuidi scoring the winner.

France midfielder Matuidi was also on target when the Ligue 1 champions won 2-0 at Bordeaux in September and Laurent Blanc s men were 2-1 victors in the Trophee des champions back in August.

The other three quarter-fin…