Ernesto Valverde hailed the importance of superstar Lionel Messi following Barcelona s eighth LaLiga triumph in 11 years.

Messi came off the bench and scored the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Levante on Saturday – delivering a 26th league crown for Barca.

The five-time Ballon d Or winner s 33rd LaLiga goal of the season saw him clinch his 10th league medal – surpassing Andres Iniesta.

Barca head coach Valverde – whose team are also in contention to win the Champions League and Copa del Rey – heaped praise on Messi post-game, telling reporters: I can t say much more about Leo Messi.

 Leo  
No. 10 for the collection

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona)

Messi is at the centre of all of this. The time he s spent at Barca, as wel…

Brisbane Roar s Nick Fitzgerald will return to former club Central Coast at the end of the A-League season after penning a two-year deal.

The 20-year-old forward has been with the Roar since August 2011, having been signed from the Mariners National Youth League squad after one senior appearance with the Gosford club.

Fitzgerald played a key role off the bench in the Roar s 2011/12 grand final win, but the Australia youth international has made just two starts this campaign.

The league-leading Mariners have now swooped to add Sydney-born Fitzgerald to their squad next season.

With Nick we know exactly what we are going to get, Mariners coach Graham Arnold said.

He is a player of enormous potential.

We believe we can help Nick take hi…

Dynamo Kiev have secured the services of Lazio forward Mauro Zarate, .

After the two clubs agreed on a €10 million transfer fee, the deal is set to be completed by the end of the day.

Zarate, 25, had earlier reached an agreement over the personal terms after spending a couple of days in Kiev.

The player, who was considered one of the talented forwards in world football not so long ago, has found it hard to get regular playing time at Stadio Olimpico over the last two seasons.

Despite impressing at the start of his career at Lazio, the Argentine allowed his temperament to get the best of him and was constantly overlooked by both Edy Reja and Vladimir Petkovic.

As a result, Zarate made just one Serie A appearance during the last two campaigns, al…

Carlo Ancelotti credited Real Madrid s powers of recovery after Saturday s 3-1 win over Espanyol, as Los Blancos prepare to enter a decisive week with a spring in their step.

Madrid appeared in danger of losing more ground on LaLiga leaders Barcelona when Joselu put Espanyol ahead at the Santiago Bernabeu, but the champions responded well to cut the gap to six points.

Vinicius Junior arced a fine strike into the bottom-right corner to level, before Eder Militao s header put Madrid on top and Marco Asensio made the points safe at the death.

Madrid have now claimed 10 points from losing positions in LaLiga this campaign – a tally only bettered by Girona (12).

With the second leg of their Champions League tie against Liverpool and a huge meeting with Clasi…

Mikel Arteta expects Gabriel Jesus to offer a lot to Arsenal as the new-look Gunners hope to hit the ground running with an early statement of intent in the new Premier League season.

Arsenal had been in dire need of attacking reinforcements after allowing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leave mid-way through last season and then letting Alexandre Lacazette s contract expire.

Brazil international Jesus was quickly identified as a primary target and Arsenal sealed his £45million signing in early July, allowing him to link up with Arteta once again having worked together at Manchester City.

Some expressed doubts over Jesus being the right sort of player to fill the void given he had rarely been seen as dependable enough at City to be their first-choice striker – he sp…

Real keen on Aymeric Laporte

Champions League holders Real Madrid have informed Athletic Bilbao of their interest in French defender Aymeric Laporte, .

The two clubs have been in talks over Asier Illarramendi and los Blancos officials took advantage of the opportunity to enquire about the possibility of recruiting Laporte in the summer.

However, as expected, Athletic referred them to the player s €42 million release clause, as they have no plans to negotiate with interested clubs.

Real Madrid apparently see Laporte as a perfect option to form a defensive pairing with Raphael Varane in the future and they could decide to meet the asking price at the end of the season.

With the youngster also on the radar of Manchester United, Arsenal and Bayern …

Wilfried Zaha has declared his happiness at returning to Crystal Palace permanently after a frustrating spell at Manchester United.

Crystal Palace appear to have finalised the permanent re-signing of winger Wilfied Zaha from Manchester United, much to the player s delight.

The 22-year-old twice-capped England international is thought to have agreed a five-and-a-half year contract with the London club.

Zaha moved from Selhurst Park to Old Trafford in 2013 but his career with the then Premier League champions failed to ignite as he made just four appearances in all competitions before joining Cardiff City on loan last January.

An initial return to Palace on loan in August and, following 19 outings and one goal this term, manager Alan Pardew has moved to ma…

World football s ruling body FIFA on Thursday fined the Croatian Football Federation 30,000 Swiss francs after Croat fans racially abused England striker Emile Heskey during a World Cup qualifier.

FIFA warned that further infringements would lead to more severe sanctions .

En route to an eventual 4-1 victory for England earlier this month, Heskey was taunted with monkey chants from a section of the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb when he was booked for fouling Niko Kovac.

England s Football Association then took the case to FIFA.

It is not the first time Croatia s fans have been sanctioned for racist abuse.

Croatia had to pay a small fine during Euro 2008 for racist abuse from their fans during their game against Turkey.

…

Russia coach Guus Hiddink insisted his team will keep learning from their 2-1 defeat to Germany as they prepare for their next World Cup qualifier against Finland on Wednesday.

Goals by Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack and Bayern Munich striker Lukas Podolski put Germany 2-0 ahead at half-time here Saturday before Russian play-maker Andrei Arshavin scored a second-half goal for the guests.

The win puts Germany top of Group Four on seven points, while Russia are fourth in the table ahead of their showdown with Finland in Moscow.

Hiddink praised his side for their response having come close to forcing an equaliser and almost taking a valuable point from Germany.

In the break, I told them they had dropped back into their old ways and were sitting back…

Marcus Rashford labelled Ole Gunnar Solskjaer comparing him to Cristiano Ronaldo as nice , but the Manchester United forward said he still had a way to go to reach those heights.

Rashford was compared to Ronaldo by his manager after starring in United s 2-1 Premier League win over Manchester City last week.

But while happy with such talk, the 22-year-old said he needed to improve to match the five-time Ballon d Or winner and United great.

The Ronaldo thing was nice, definitely a compliment, Rashford told BBC Sport.

But I understand how far I ve got left to go to reach the heights he reached so I am very clear-minded and focused on myself.

Morning, Reds

— Manchester United (@ManUtd)

Rashford came through the academy at Unite…