LLORENTE STILL BELIEVES

Athletic Bilbao player Fernando Llorente has said that even though Manchester United are the favourites due to the presence of players like Wayne Rooney, his club do have a chance but it comes to qualify for the next stage of the Europa league.

Manchester United will be facing Spanish club Athletic Bilbao in the last 16 of the Europa league knowing that they are one of the favourites not only to progress to the next round, but also to win the tournament as well.

GALA STILL STRUGGLING

Galatasaray continued their poor form once again, as they failed to beat Antalyaspor.

Galatasaray were coming into the match on the back of a run that has seen them go without a win in the last four matches. The Turkish giants were the favourites ahead of the match, despite their poor form leading up into the encounter.

Fans turned out in large numbers braving the cold weather, which has been plaguing Europe over the last few weeks. Despite the support of the home fans, Galatasaray could not convert their home advantage into their first win in five matches.

ROONEY IN FOR GOAL OF THE YEAR

Wayne Rooney's sensational goal against Manchester city has been named as one of the contenders for the goal of the year award given by FIFA.

The Puskas Award is given by FIFA for the best goal scored by any player during the season. Wayne Rooney will be competing for this award along with Lionel Messi and Brazilian sensation Neymar.

IBRA LEVEL WITH MESSI

AC Milan supremo Massimo Allegri believes that in Zlatan Ibrahimovic they have a player who is equal to both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Whilst Messi and Ronaldo have proven their talent time and again at the highest level - perhaps most notably last season when the two competed for the Primera Liga golden boot award, and outscored all their rivals by over 10 goals each - Ibrahimovic has sometimes flattered to deceive.

TURKISH FA THREATEN CHELSEA

The Turkish FA has said that they will be complaining to the FIFA over Chelsea's approach to Hiddink. TFF president Mahmut Ozgener seems to be suspicious over an illegal move for the services of Hiddink and has cited his intent to bring the matter before Fifa if his suspicions are confirmed.

“Chelsea has a past record for signing players who are under contract, if the same thing happens, we will make a file of the payments we made to Hiddink and we will go to Fifa,” Ozgener told Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.

RONALDO BEATS SCORING RECORDS

Cristiano Ronaldo broke all records when it comes to squaring in the Spanish league after scoring 40 goals this season (and I had a free bet on it too! :) ) After Ronaldo scored his 40th goal for the season, the race was on. Messi, World Player of the Year, would compete with Ronaldo to top the record. Unfortunately for Messi, it would be Ronaldo who would win the personal duel.

FIFA FINANCIAL REPORT SUBMITTED

The FIFA Executive Committee today submitted the financial report for the years 2007-2010 during a two-day meeting held in Zurich. The committee also decided on the hosts of eight FIFA competitions, including the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015™, which will be held in Canada, and the slots per confederation for the 2014 FIFA World Cup™.

ROONEY, MESSI AND RONALDO IN THE SAME SQUAD

A photoshop work of a Manchester City fan has been released online and it features the likes of Rooney, Messi and Ronaldo in the same team. The mocked-up City squad contained 80 players, most added digitally, including Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi and, bizarrely, the 'Where's Wally?' character.

The mix-up occurred after Aris's editorial team, searching the internet for a City team photo, happened upon a mocked-up version shown on the Guardian's website, poking fun at City's sizeable ambitions in the transfer market, and believed it was the real squad.

ROONEY WANTS MORE GOALS

Wayne Rooney does not intend to be deflected from the goal trail after beginning to answer Sir Alex Ferguson's call to reach double figures for Manchester United this season.

Rooney had just three to his name - two of which were penalties - prior to Tuesday night's Barclays Premier League victory over Aston Villa. It took the England star just 50 seconds to add to his haul with a fine finish, before tapping home another in first-half injury-time as United recorded a 3-1 win that kept them in charge of the title race.

MESSI COUSIN GETS SPAIN DEAL

Lionel Messi's cousin has signed for Spanish second-division club Girona.

Girona says on its website that the 22-year-old Emmanuel Biancuchi has arrived from Munich 1860 for an undisclosed fee. The Argentine, who had been with the German club since 2008, plays in midfield.

Like Messi, Biancuchi also played for Newell's Old Boys in Argentina before leaving for Europe.

Messi, the Barcelona and Argentina forward, was recently voted FIFA's world player of the year for the second straight time.

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