Dundee United completed the double over Motherwell with a comfortable 3-1 win at Tannadice Park on Friday.

Having enjoyed a 4-0 win over Stuart McCall s men in November, Ryan Dow gave Dundee an early lead in the first Scottish Premiership game of the weekend.

Gavin Gunning, who spent time on loan at Motherwell in 2011, doubled the advantage before the break and he went on to complete his brace shortly after half-time with a deflected free-kick.

While John Sutton pulled a goal back, it proved to be nothing more than a consolation as Dundee continued their impressive home form in the Scottish top flight.

Dundee have lost only three times at home in the Premiership all season and took the lead after 21 minutes, when Dow latched on to a weak back pass from Shaun Hu…

Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu highlighted Barcelona s economic strength and vowed to use the money to continue renovating the squad.

LaLiga champions Barca announced in September they are aiming to become the first sports club to generate revenue exceeding €1billion (£810.8bn) after making a profit for an eighth season in a row in 2018-19.

Antoine Griezmann, Frenkie de Jong, Neto and Junior Firpo came in during the close season, while Malcom, Jasper Cillessen, Andre Gomes, Paco Alcacer and Denis Suarez were offloaded on permanent transfers.

A deal for Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar notably did not go through, though, with Barcelona reportedly lacking money to fund a blockbuster return.

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Neymar does not have to leave Paris Saint-Germain to fulfil his goal of becoming the world s best player, according to Brazil team-mate Alisson.

The forward was strongly linked with a return to Barcelona during the transfer window, but no move to Camp Nou came to fruition.

Neymar has instead remained in the French capital, scoring four goals in five Ligue 1 games since recovering from a foot injury.

The 27-year-old did not finish in the top 10 for the 2018 Ballon d Or but, asked if Neymar could become the best player in the world by joining Barcelona, Alisson told Mundo Deportivo:  I think that Neymar can be the best in the world on any team.

Neymar is a high-level player and would be fundamental in any team in the world. If he returns to Barcelona or …

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Odds: 2/5 @

Getting a new era underway on Saturday afternoon, Crystal Palace will welcome Burnley to south London.

Starting with the hosts, finally appointing new boss Oliver Glasner earlier in the week, the former Eintracht Frankfurt manager has a real job on his hands at Selhurst Park. Suffering a late collapse away at fellow strugglers Everton on Monday night as they eventually had to settle for a 1-1 stalemate on Merseyside, the Eagles have recorded just a pair of victories from any of their previous 16 straight appearances across all competitions a run that stems all the way back to November 4th. Opening February with a woeful 4-1 drumming at the hands of bitter rivals Brighton, Glasner will be desperate to improve on Palace’s exten…

Mikel Arteta believes the timing of injuries that hit his squad late in the season ultimately cost Arsenal in their bid to hold off Manchester City and win the Premier League.

The team’s collapse largely coincided with a back injury sustained by defender William Saliba during their Europa League exit to Sporting Lisbon in March, with stand-in centre-back Rob Holding struggling to match the standard set by his team-mate.

Arsenal were also without strikers Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah, defenders Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu and midfielder Mohamed Elneny for large parts of the season as they were eventually chased down by City despite leading the table for 248 days.

It hands the club the unwanted record of the most number of days spent top of the l…

Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas and his team-mates believe they will win their 19th Copa del Rey on Wednesday.

Carlo Ancelotti s men face fellow La Liga giants Barcelona in the final at Valencia s Estadio de Mestalla.

The Copa del Rey decider will be Real s third in the past four years, and they are aiming for their second win.

Casillas said his team felt they would win the trophy, with their last success also coming at the Mestalla in 2011.

Winning is the idea we have, not just me, Casillas told a news conference.

The team has played a good Copa Del Rey. It won t be easy, it will be an exciting match with great players and we need to believe in our chances and our way of playing.

We think we are going to do it.

Real face a Barca side who …

Goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer became the oldest debutant in UEFA Champions League history after being selected by Chelsea on Wednesday.

The former Australia international was named in Chelsea s team to face Steaua Bucharest at the age of 41 years and 66 days.

Only Marco Ballotta, who featured for Lazio against Real Madrid five years ago to the day when he was 43 years and 252 days old, has appeared in Europe s premier club competition at an older age.

Schwarzer joined Chelsea on a free transfer in the close season, having reached the UEFA Europa League final with previous club Fulham in 2010.

He also played in the final of the UEFA Cup for Middlesbrough in 2006, and retired from international football last month having earned a record 109 caps for Australia.

Pr…

Romelu Lukaku s 19th Premier League goal of the season helped Everton beat West Brom 3-0 on Saturday in a win which saw them match their total points tally of 47 from last season, highlighting their marked improvement under Ronald Koeman.

Everton s display emphasised their increased solidity in defence since Roberto Martinez s departure, while there were no signs of that negatively impacting their effectiveness going forward as they equalled last season s record despite having 10 more games to play.

It did take them a little longer than they would have liked to open the scoring, but a brilliant six-minute spell at the end of the first half had Everton well on course to wrapping up a comfortable win, finally making the most of their superiority over a West Brom team whi…

Cristiano Ronaldo s relationship with his teammates has been brought into question in recent months

Cristiano Ronaldo was baited slightly by journalists yesterday ahead of Real Madrid’s Champions League last 16 tie on Wednesday night.

Journalists asked the Portuguese star about Leo Messi’s now infamous passed penalty.

Ronaldo never one to enjoy talking about his nemesis, was visibly annoyed by questions about his relationship with fellow Real forwards Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema, compared to that of Messi’s relationship with Luis Suarez and Neymar.

Always driven to individual success

At times it seems that Ronaldo would be quite happy playing without any teammates. Football is a team game, but the Portuguese’s determination to be the be…

Republic of Ireland could not avenge their World Cup play-off defeat to Denmark as they were held to a goalless draw by a visiting side missing Christian Eriksen in Dublin.

Hat-trick hero Eriksen extinguished Ireland s qualifying hopes in a 5-1 away win last November, but the Tottenham midfielder was not fit to feature in Saturday s rematch in the Nations League.

However, rather than opening the door for Ireland to record a much-needed victory, Eriksen s absence merely sapped the quality from the contest as both outfits struggled to offer anything in the final third.

Denmark at least know Eriksen s return should ensure improvement from this dour display, but there were few positives for Martin O Neill and Ireland to take forward.

The first of very few fir…