Alvaro Negredo leaves Besiktas for Al Nasr

Unai Emery insists Arsenal remain the favourites to reach the Europa League final as he prepares to return to the Emirates Stadium with Villarreal.

Former Arsenal boss Emery holds a 2-1 lead over his old club in the semi-final tie going into Thursday s second leg.

Manu Trigueros and Raul Albiol had given Villarreal a two-goal lead in the first leg and the Gunners looked doomed when Dani Ceballos was sent off.

But a controversial penalty that was won by Bukayo Saka and scored by Nicolas Pepe ensures that it is all to play for in the return fixture.

Villarreal have progressed from 15 of their 16 two-legged ties in major European competition when winning the first leg.

— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague)

But the only exception was against…

Juanfran is still hoping to earn a Spain recall despite not playing for the national team for the last two years.

The Atletico Madrid defender, a European champion in 2012, started all four of Spain s games at Euro 2016 but has not featured for them since.

Spain coach Luis Enrique has not named Juanfran in either of his squads to date, with Wolves defender Jonny Castro Otto called up for his month s matches with Wales and England in the absences of Dani Carvajal and Sergi Roberto.

However, the 33-year-old insists he will not turn his back on international football.

I would be happy, until I retire, to be available to the national team, Juanfran told Onda Madrid.

I wish Luis Enrique could have called me up. I feel very proud to wear that shirt.

Aaron Ramsey has become an issue for Juventus, being on a bumper contract but having fallen out of favour.

Ramsey signed with Juve in 2019 on a four-year deal from Arsenal.

The 30-year-old has only made 70 appearances across almost two-and-a-half seasons, including only five this term.

TOP STORY – PREMIER LEAGUE PAIR KEEN ON RAMSEY

Juventus are shopping around Aaron Ramsey with Premier League pair Everton and Newcastle United in the mix, claims Goal.

The Bianconeri are keen to find a buyer for the Wales international midfielder in January although his salary may be a stumbling block.

No formal offers have been tabled yet for the ex-Arsenal star.

Paul Pogba may have played last Man Utd game as club consider cutting lo…

A remarkable 81st-minute Russia own goal on a waterlogged pitch in Split gifted Croatia the 1-0 win they needed to top Group H and qualify for the 2022 World Cup on Sunday.

Russia led the pool coming into the decisive clash after a run of five straight victories, although they showed little ambition of making that six by beating Croatia for the first time in six meetings.

Seemingly happy instead to sit on a goalless draw that would keep them on course for Qatar, the visitors sought to rely on a defensive record that saw them concede just once in their winning run.

That approach looked to have paid off with the game entering the final 10 minutes and Croatia short of ideas, only for an inadvertent intervention from a Russia defender to turn the situation on its hea…

Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman has warned his players not to take Germany lightly in their Euro 2020 qualifier on Sunday.

World Cup winners in 2014, Joachim Low s side offered a meek title defence in Russia as they bowed out at the group stage, and they were subsequently relegated from the Nations League top tier having finished bottom of a group featuring Netherlands and France.

Low caused controversy earlier this month by dropping Thomas Muller, Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels from his squad, while Die Mannschaft were booed off at half-time in Wednesday s 1-1 friendly draw with Serbia in Wolfsburg.

Koeman, who saw his side stretch their unbeaten run to five matches with a 4-0 win over Belarus in their opening Group C game on Thursday, is adamant that Low s m…

Mason Mount pointed to tired minds, tired bodies as he assessed the mistakes that cost Chelsea in their 3-2 Premier League defeat at West Ham.

Jorginho s poor back-pass played Edouard Mendy into trouble, leading to the goalkeeper conceding a penalty which Manuel Lanzini converted, before the shot-stopper made another error late on, allowing Arthur Masuaku s cross to sneak inside the near post.

Mount, who scored a superb volley to make it 2-1 to the Blues shortly before half-time, hinted the fact Chelsea have already played 23 fixtures across all competitions is starting to catch up with them.

We have had a difficult week and the game midweek [a 2-1 win against Watford] we came away with three points where maybe we shouldn t have, Mount told the BBC.

…

Marcus Rashford marked his 100th Premier League appearance with the only goal as Manchester United saw off Leicester City 1-0 on Sunday.

The England striker finished clinically from Paul Pogba s pass to earn United an eighth win in nine league games under caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Their winning run had been halted by Burnley on Tuesday, when the Red Devils fought back from 2-0 down to claim a dramatic 2-2 draw, but the three points rarely looked in much doubt after Rashford s 10th top-flight goal of the season.

Rashford somehow headed over from barely two yards out within the first five minutes, but he soon made amends, controlling Pogba s lofted pass expertly and drilling beyond Kasper Schmeichel.

United eased off after taking the lead and …

Sergio Ramos has assured Spain supporters that the squad is fully united as they prepare to defend their European Championship crown.

Spain, champions in 2008 and 2012, have been rocked by allegations of a sex scandal involving goalkeeper David de Gea claims the Manchester United man has strenuously denied while there remains doubts as to the sincerity of the relationship between players from arch-rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona.

But Madrid skipper Ramos, who will lead Spain out at the Stade de Toulouse if De Gea is preferred to captain Iker Casillas, insists everyone is pulling in the right direction.

He said of De Gea: It wasn t a very good piece of news to receive. But when you re with a team-mate, he has the whole support of the group.

We re not goi…

Sweden have reached the women s football final at the Olympics for the second successive time after beating Australia 1-0 through Fridolina Rolfo s solitary second-half strike.

Peter Gerhardsson s side, seeking to go one better than Rio 2016 when losing to Germany in the final, will face the United States conquerors Canada in Friday s gold medal match.

USA, who had won 36 games in a row against Canada prior to their surprise 1-0 loss earlier on Monday, will now take on Australia for the bronze medal.

Sweden will face Canada in the Gold Medal Match

s solitary second-half strike leaves Australia to battle USA for bronze | |

— FIFA Women s World Cup (@FIFAWWC)

Rolfo was on target twice when Sweden ran out 4-2 winners against Australia…

Jurgen Klopp claimed last season s Champions League final showed why only the result matters as Liverpool prepare for another life-changer .

The Reds have reached European football s showpiece match for a second consecutive season and face Tottenham in Madrid on Saturday.

But Liverpool fell short against Real Madrid a year ago, losing a final in Kiev in which star man Mohamed Salah went off injured and Loris Karius made two dismal errors though it was later revealed the goalkeeper had suffered a bout of concussion during the contest.

Klopp insisted he recovered quickly from that setback yet pointed out that the nature of that defeat showed the result this weekend has far greater importance than the Reds performance.

I actually decided that nig…