Ochoa agent plays down Liverpool link

Premier League club Liverpool are said to have agreed a deal in principle with Real Betis over a summer transfer of in-form full-back Riza Durmisi.

Liverpool were linked with Denmark international last summer and local reports claim Reds have been monitoring the Real Betis star closely ever since.

The 24-year-old has been in fantastic form for Les Verdiblancos since joining from Brondby in 2016 and will be rewarded for his great exploits with a lucrative move to England next summer.

A summer move has been reportedly agreed with Liverpool unsure over the long-term future of Alberto Moreno. The Spaniard kicked off the new season on a high note for the Premier League side but ended up losing his starting berth of late.

Should former Sevilla man leave Liverp…

Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez says Roberto Mancini s recent praise of Robin van Persie will only serve as added motivation for his side.

The English Premier League champions sit seven points behind neighbours Manchester United, and the Italian recently lamented his attacking unit s lack of goals so far this season.

The club s defensive coach Angelo Gregucci revealed this week City were chasing a deal for Napoli forward Edinson Cavani, but Tevez insists this will only spur the current crop on.

Those words were a motivation for the strikers and we know that we need to carry on fighting, Tevez told reporters.

City s front men have shared 10 goals between them in their past three games, with only Mario Balotelli failing to score in that run.

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Liverpool will carry out checks on Curtis Jones after the midfielder missed the 3-0 friendly defeat to Strasbourg on Sunday due to a mystery injury.

A day on from Liverpool beating Manchester City 3-1 in the Community Shield, a largely second-string XI lined up at Anfield for the visit of Strasbourg.

Two goals from Adrien Thomasson and one from Habib Diallo condemned the hosts to a defeat in their last match before the Premier League season gets under way.

Klopp had planned on using Jones, who made just a fleeting appearance off the bench against City, but revealed the 21-year-old had a problem that would need further examination.

It remains to be seen whether Jones is fit to play any part when Liverpool launch their league campaign at Fulham on Saturday…

Manchester City were a class above en route to winning a third Premier League title in four seasons last term but Pep Guardiola s champions face a tricky beginning to the 2021-22 campaign.

Indeed, the Citizens play four of their fellow-dubbed big six sides in their opening seven fixtures, with a trip to Tottenham on the opening day starting their title defence.

City host Arsenal on August 28, before heading to Leicester City on September 11 after the international break. Back-to-back fixtures against Chelsea and Liverpool take place on September 25 and October 2.

The first Manchester derby of the season will take place at Old Trafford on November 6, with United returning for the reverse fixture on March 3.

A traditional busy Christmas period has City sch…

Phil Parkinson is struggling to come to terms with Bradford City s shock 4-2 win at Chelsea in the FA Cup fourth round.

Phil Parkinson believes Bradford City s astonishing 4-2 FA Cup fourth-round victory at Chelsea will take time to fully sink in.

Few gave the League One side much hope of avoiding defeat at Stamford Bridge on Saturday and a routine home win looked on the cards when Chelsea took a 2-0 lead.

However, goals from Jonathan Stead, Filipe Morais, Andy Halliday and Mark Yeates saw Bradford mount an incredible comeback to send the visiting fans wild as they celebrated one of the greatest FA Cup shocks in the competition s long history.

In the first 20 minutes we did okay but then we conceded the first goal and gifted them a second, City boss P…

A plague of mistakes in their 5-2 loss to France on Friday left Switzerland frustrated with their performance at the FIFA World Cup.

France scored three times in the first half at the Itaipava Arena Fonte Nova to take control in Group E and Didier Deschamps men led 5-0 with nine minutes remaining in the match before Switzerland pulled two goals back to add a sliver of respectability to the scoreline.

Throughout the contest in Salvador, the Swiss, who are ranked 11 spots ahead of France in FIFA s rankings, could be seen pointing at each other in frustration as the likes of Karim Benzema, Olivier Giroud and Mathieu Valbuena ran rampant up front.

Switzerland s Johan Djourou claimed after the game that he and his fellow defenders must improve ahead of their final ope…

The 2008-09 UEFA Champions League starts tonight and Soccerway keeps you up to date with all the latest events, including goals, red cards and other major incidents.

All times are in CET

20:53 And there s the first goal of the tournament! Sergio Aguero puts Atlético Madrid in the lead at PSV Eindhoven. 0-1

20:50 The first five minutes have passed and we re still waiting for the opening goal of the tournament.

20:45 The eight first matches of the season have begun!

The first eight matches of the season are about to kick off.

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Liverpool striker Fernando Torres admits he is desperate to avoid a repeat of his recent goal drought.

Torres went six games without a goal until he scored two in the Merseyside derby clash with Everton.

Torres said: “I hope that was my worst run without scoring for Liverpool. I don’t want to go that long again.

“I don’t know exactly what my longest run is without a goal but it’s definitely longer than six games. At Atletico Madrid it was sometimes difficult for me.

During my first year we finished mid-table and it was tough to score so I went a long time without doing so.

Here it is different because this is a really big club. We are challenging at the top of the …

Aston Villa have the release of eight first-team players following their success in winning Premier League promotion at the end of the 2018/19 season.

The names on the list are Mile Jedinak, Alan Hutton, Tommy Elphick, Albert Adomah, Ritchie De Laet, Mark Bunn, Micah Richards, and Glenn Whelan.

Whelan has expressed deep disappointment, not with the release itself which he says he had expected, but rather with the way he found out about it, according to . The 35-year-old didn t learn his fate from manager Dean Smith (though he did say he had a missed call from him), or anyone else from the club, but from a journalist.

Asked if he was going to continue playing, he replied that he wants to play for as long as he is able, and jokingly added that he had just had Rea…

The Mail Online understands that Southampton have failed in their latest approach for Birmingham City forward Che Adams.

The south-coast club had bids for the former England U20 forward turned down back in January and have now seen an £8m offer rejected by the Blues.

Last season was Adams’ third at St Andrews, and his twenty-two goals were more than the previous two campaigns combined.

The Saints current incumbent of strikers only managed fifteen in the league between them, with Danny Ings their joint top scorer with James Ward-Prowse.

Prior to his move to Birmingham, the twenty-two-year-old spent two years will Sheffield United having began his career with non-league Ilkeston.

Having looked in real trouble at the turn of the year, So…