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Real Madrid left-back, Marcelo has responded to the claim that he defrauded the Spanish tax authorities of almost half a million euros in 2013. Marcelo was said to have defrauded the Spanish authorities of £437,000 by allowing foreign companies to handle his image rights.  "My lawyers are looking into the matter," he explained in his post match interview. "I hope they will find a resolution and that the matter will be sorted as soon as possible." Mauricio Pochettino earned many plaudits for his own coaching performance at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday, so impressive were the visitors that the 29-year-old feels Los Blancos won a point. "Pochettino's approach has been bad news for Real Madrid," he admitted. "We have not won the match, but in my opinion we won a point. "It has been a very tough match, Tottenham read the game really well." Karim Benzema failed to find the net on what was a frustrating night for

Real Madrid left-back Marcelo Vieira has been accused of defrauding the Spanish government of £437,000 by Spain tax authorities, according to Sportmail. The Spanish tax authorities said the Brazilian defrauded them of almost half a million euros in 2013. They accused the 29 year-old of using foreign companies to handle his image right four years ago. Marcelo, who has spent 10 years in Spain, has joined the long list of footballers targeted by the Spanish tax authorities. Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Javier Masherano, Angel Di Maria, Fabio Coentrao, Radamel Falcao and Ricardo Carvalho are other players that has been accused by the Spanish tax authorities.

As Zinedine Zidane prepares to set up his side without the crocked Gareth Bale, he admitted he had no answer as to why the Welshman has been so unlucky with injury. Following an impressive performance recently in the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund, his progress has been halted after sustaining another knock. Zidane insisted that the forward will not be rushed back from injury and isn't too worried yet about the persistent fitness problems the player is suffering from, while also brushing off suggestions that he should have been sold in the summer. "He is okay and is doing better every day," he said to reporters at his pre-match press conference. "He was very good in Dortmund but felt some pain in his calf and that worsened after he met up with Wales for international duty. "I can't say if he will be back in a week or 10 days, we just have to wait and see, but he is determined to return as soon as possible and that's good. &qu

Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta has stated that the 2018 world cup in Russia could be his last event in international football. The Spanish midfielder revealed that he could retire from international football after the 2018 world cup in Russia. The 33 year-old believes its time to draw the curtain on a glittering international career with the Spanish national team. "I am realistic. There is a great chance that this World cup will be my last event with the national team," Iniesta told Barcelona-based daily, as reported by AS. "I am aware of the moment, my age and everything it entails, but we will see how things develop. "There are many months to go until the World cup hopefully everything will go well so that i can be in Russia." The Fuenteabilla born central midfielder, who made his international debut in 2006, has represented La Roja on 121 occasions, scoring 12 times. He was part of the victorious Spain side that won the 2010 World cu

Egypt veteran goalkeeper, Essam El-Hadary, is set to become the oldest player to ever featured in World cup history. The Al-Taawoun custodian, who led the pharaohs to their first World cup appearance for the first time in twenty-seven years,  might become the oldest player at next summer's world cup in Russia at the ripe age of 45. El-Hadary is also the oldest player to appear in an Afrcan cup of Nations, he made his international debut in 1996 and has since represented the Pharaohs of Egypt on 156 occasions, winning the African cup of nations four times. The previous record older was Faryd Mondragon who was 43 year-old when he featured for Colombia at the 2014 world cup in Brazil. Other veterans to have graced the world cup are Cameroon legend Roger Milla (42), Pat Jennings (41), former England goalkeeper, Peter Shilton (41) and former Italy goalkeeper, Dino Zoff (40).

Brazil legend Romario has claimed that he was better than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of scoring goals. The 1994 world cup winner said he was better than the Argentine and his Portuguese nemesis in the penalty area. The former Barcelona forward said neither Messi nor Cristiano can break his goal record. "It's true that Messi and Ronaldo have different characteristics to mine and that they are the best players in the world today," Romario said at a lunch of his new book, as reported by Marca. "They are the best in the world along with Neymar. They have both won titles and the ballon d'or, but modesty speaking, I was better than them in the Penalty area. "They will never reach the number of goals that I scored, and I'll beat them by twice the amount." The Brazilian, who also played for Valencia, PSV Eindhoven, Vasco Da Gama, Al-sadd and Adelaide united, scored 929 official goals, according to FIFA .

The thirty-two teams that will represent their countries at next summer's World cup in Russia will be paid a whooping sum of $12 million, according to study. The study revealed that qualified nations to the mundial next year will takes home the sum of $12 million each, which may increase in the knockout stage. The preparation fee for the qualified teams is also set at $2 million. While the 16 eliminated teams in the group stage would pocket a minimum of $10 million each.

Tottenham Hotspur attacker, Bamidele Alli has included Real madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona's Lionel Messi in his dream team. The England international chose his first XI in FIFA 18, the team includes his current Tottenham team-mate Harry Kane and some big names. The 21 year-old called the team 'Delstroyers' and went for 4-2-2-2 formation with Bayern Munich shot-stopper Manuel Neuer starting in goal and he is protected by Marcelo, Sergio Ramos, Jerome Boateng and Alli former Tottenham team-mate Kyle Walker. In Midfield, he chose former Tottenham player, Luca Modric, and Bayern Munic's Arturo Vidal while Lionel Messi plays behind his rival Cristiano Ronaldo on the left with Ali supporting his team-mate Harry Kane on the other side of the pitch. The former MK Dons player received the special 99-rated version of his player card, which make him the most rated player in the squad.

The organisers of the Ballon d'or, France Football, has announced the first five nominees for the coveted award via their official Twitter account. Real Madrid pair, Marcelo and Luca Modric alongside Juventus playmaker Paulo Dybala are among the first five players nominated for the individual accolade. https://twitter.com/francefootball Chelsea's N'Golo Kante, who won the PFA award in England and Paris Saint-Germain's Neymar Junior are also on the list. During the day, France football will announce the other 25 players that will fight for the coveted award. Only selected international journalists will be able to vote. Real Madrid talisman Cristiano Ronaldo, who won the league and the champions league last season, is the favorite to win the award for the fifth time in his career. The Portuguese won the award in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016. If the Portuguese captain wins he will equal Lionel Messi's record of five ballon d'or, which was won in 2009, 2010

Arsenal youngster Alex Iwobi came off the bench to score only goal as Nigeria secured a hard-fought 1-0 win over a resilient Zambian side at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium on Saturday. Iwobi, who missed the doubleheader between the Eagles and the indomitable lions of Cameroon last month came off the bench in the final 25 minutes for Moses Simon and it took him eight minutes of football to ease the nerves in the stands with a calmly taken effort from Shehu Abdulahi's right-wing delivery to hand Nigeria its 6th FIFA World Cup ticket. With the victory, Nigeria became the first Africa country to qualify for the World cup in Russia next summer. The Eagles sit top of group B with 13 points and in second place is Zambia with seven points while Cameroon who defeated bottom-placed Algeria 2-0 on Saturday are placed third.

Real Madrid forward, Cristiano Ronaldo, has revealed why he no longer show much of his skills on the pitch, but rather focuses more on scoring goals. The forward said that at a certain point in his career, he decided to focus less on showing off his skills because goals are needed to win games and not skills. The Portuguese captain scored 118 in 291 appearances for Manchester United between 2003 and 2009, but drew criticism early on for often attempting fancy step-overs and other skills But since he joined the Real Madrid, Ronaldo has upped his rate considerably and is on 411 goals in 401 outings for the club, while in recent times the winger has often played as a centre-forward. Ronaldo told YouTube freestyler Soufiane Touzani, that goals had to come ahead of entertaining supporters. “In a game the most important thing is to win. And goals helps to win. You can mix — first goals, and after tricks and assists after. What the people want is goals, so I try to score goals.”

Due to the size of the local airport, Cristiano Ronaldo and the Portuguese squad traveled to Andorra in a military plane ahead of their World Cup qualifiers this weekend. The European Champions landed in Andorra in a military C-295 plane, which can carry 69 passengers. The Portuguese teams, who qualified to the 2014 World Cup via playoff, will hope to qualify automatically this time around. They are currently three points behind Switzerland, who currently occupy the automatic spot, with two games to go.

Former Arsenal and Manchester City defender Kolo Toure has been appointed as the new assistant coach of Ivory Coast. Toure, who is also a technical assistant with Scottish champion, Celtic, will combine the two coaching roles as he hope to help Ivory Coast qualify for the World Cup. The 36 year-old will work alongside the head coach, Mark Wilmonts, who was the former Coach of Belgium, for the forthcoming Ivory Coast's World Cup qualifiers. The former Liverpool defender joined the coaching staff of his most recent club, Celtic, after he officially retired from the beautiful game last month. "Any club I have been the managers all spoke to me about the next step and wanted me to be involved in coaching " Toure told Press Association Sport. "I love to speak to the players and when I play I like to advice that is what I learned from Martin Keown, Patrick Vieira, Sol Campbell, Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp. "I can still call them and ask for their a

Real Madrid and Spain International full-back Daniel Carvajal has been ruled out of action for two months after he was diagnosed with Pericarditis, according to Marca. The Spainard will not be available for selection for at least two months, joining the likes of Gareth Bale, Marcelo, Karim Benzema, Mateo Kovacic and Theo Hernandez on Real Madrid's treatment table. The Spanish international is suffering from a heart disease known as Pericarditis, which is the swelling and irritation of the thin, sac-like membrane surrounding the heart. The 25 year-old will have to rest his heart very well,  meaning that, he must not train or do any form of exercise as he recovers from the ailment. Real Madrid medical team has formulated a care plan for the former Bayer Laverkusen player, who last played for Real Madrid against Borrussia Dortmund in the Champions League. Another youth product, Hakimi Achraf, who was handed his first -team debut by Zinedine Zidane against Espanyol at the

Following the high political tension that is currently going on in Catalonia, there has been speculations about where Barcelona and other Catalan clubs could end up playing their football if they were to depart the Spanish LaLiga. After his side defeated Brighton and Hove Albions 2-0 at the Emirate stadium on Sunday, the Frenchman was asked about the prospect of his team playing against Barcelona in England and what he would do if that was the case. "I'd try to learn Catalan," he told reporters. "If Barcelona want to join the Premier League, it makes things even more difficult for everybody. "But I don't think they have gotten as far as that. "It is interesting and there will be incidents on the sporting side as Barcelona are a highly political club." When he was asked whether or not he would welcome Barcelona to the Premier League, the Frenchman said the Blaugrana should look closer to home for new teams if they are planning an ex