Roar excited by ACL draw

Avram Grant said the whole nation can be proud of Ghana, despite Sunday s shoot-out loss to Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations final.

After suffering a heartbreaking 9-8 penalty shoot-out defeat to Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations final, Ghana coach Avram Grant was still full of praise for his players on Sunday.

With the showdown in Bata still goalless at the end of 120 minutes, Ghana appeared in the box seat to add to their four AFCON titles, only to surrender a two-goal lead in the shoot-out as Ivory Coast triumphed thanks to goalkeeper Boubacar Barry.

Barry saved the penalty of opposite number Brimah Razak before stepping up to convert the winning kick for Ivory Coast s second AFCON trophy.

Not much had been expected of Ghana in Equatoria…

Quique Setien praised Ansu Fati after the teenage forward helped Barcelona to a 2-1 win over Levante in LaLiga on Sunday.

Fati, 17, scored twice in the first half as Barca closed the gap to league leaders and rivals Real Madrid to three points.

He became the youngest player to score a brace in LaLiga in the 21st century, breaking a record previously held by Juanmi Jimenez.

Fati has netted five goals this season and Setien hailed him for stepping up for Barcelona, who are set to be without the injured Luis Suarez until the end of 2019-20.

I think that Ansu is a boy that is emerging, that we all know that has great potential, head coach Setien told a news conference.

You have to understand that you have to give him peace of mind and confidence to …

The 28-year-old has moved to the newly-promoted club on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee following two years at St Andrews.

I m delighted to be here, he told the club s official website.

I feel that I m joining Hull City at an exciting time and the chance to play in the Barclays Premier League was also a huge attraction. It s something that I ve been lucky enough to do before and I wanted to get back to that level.

Hopefully I can help this team to have a good season and push as high up the table as possible. I can t wait for Chelsea on the first day of the season now.

Davies most recently featured in the top flight for Aston Villa in 2010 but has since been playing his football in the Championship.

He started 40 games for Birmingham last season,…

Lyon stars dominate the shortlist for the Best FIFA Women s Player award after the French club won a third consecutive Champions League crown.

Norway s Ada Hegerberg, who hit 15 goals in the tournament, is joined by team-mates Amandine Henry, Wendie Renard, Dzsenifer Marozsan, Saki Kumagai and Lucy Bronze.

Neither of the last two winners of the prize, United States star Carli Lloyd and Netherlands international Lieke Martens, were included on the shortlist.

Lyon s Reynald Pedros leads the nominees for the coach award along with Emma Hayes, who led Chelsea to Super League and FA Cup titles without defeat in either competition.

The Best FIFA Women s Player: Lucy Bronze (England and Lyon); Pernille Harder (Denmark and Wolfsburg); Ada Hegerberg (Norway and L…

Aleksander Ceferin has announced he will not stand for a further term as UEFA president in 2027.

Changes to the UEFA statute which were approved at Thursday’s Congress in Paris made a further term that would extend to 2031 possible, but Ceferin has now ruled that out.

“I decided six months ago that I would not run any more. The reason is that after some time every organisation needs fresh blood, but mainly because I was away from my family for seven years now,” the Slovenian said at a press conference after the Congress.

UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin will shortly attend a press conference here in Paris.

You can watch it here:

— UEFA (@UEFA)

“I intentionally didn’t want to disclose my thoughts before, because firstly, I…

Former Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti believes the era of long managerial reigns will come to a permanent end once Arsene Wenger leaves Arsenal.

The 66-year-old has been in charge of the Gunners since 1996, while Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 having led Manchester United for 27 years.

Ancelotti praised the fact that Arsenal and United s long-term approach is different to that of many teams on the continent but still expects Wenger s tenure to be the last mammoth managerial tenure.

He told The Independent: Maybe clubs like Arsenal, or Manchester United have different ideas and are not just focused on the result they are focused on other things, such as their project.

Other teams such as Real Madrid want to be at the top all the time. PSG, when I …

Market: Milwall double chance

Odds: 8/13 @

Looking to pile even more pressure onto Swansea this weekend, Millwall will host the play-off contenders from behind closed doors on Saturday lunchtime.

Starting with the hosts, while many feel that Millwall might have left it too late to snatch a late play-off spot this season, The Lions are enjoying a real purple patch of late. Making a string of improvements after what was a sluggish start to the 2020/21 campaign, the South London outfit were last seen earlier in the week picking up a 2-1 win away at Stoke. Continuing to climb up the Championship table and smelling a chance to cause what many would bill as an upset in the capital this weekend, Gary Rowett s side have won each of their last three second-tier matchups…

Athletic Bilbao rounded off their season with a 2-0 victory over Deportivo La Coruna at San Mames on Saturday to finish eighth in the final Spanish league table.

Bilbao had been fighting for a Europa League spot, lying sixth with six games left, before falling away at the key stage but their eighth place is their best finish in La Liga since 2004 when they were fifth.

There was nothing but pride at stake for Bilbao or Depor, now down in 10th, but Athletic signed off with a comfortable win thanks to goals from Iker Muniain and Javi Martinez.

Bilbao took a 19th minute lead through teenager Muniain who cut inside before firing a terrific curling shot into the corner.

Muniain is the latest product of Bilbao s impressive youth system and made history in Octob…

Sam Allardyce remained defiant over his record as West Ham manager after assessing his former club s 4-3 defeat to Bournemouth on BBC Match of the Day.

Allardyce left Upton Park after four seasons in charge when his contract was not renewed at the end of the previous campaign.

His successor Slaven Bilic a former crowd favourite when he starred as a defender for West Ham during his playing days oversaw a surprise 2-0 win at Arsenal on the opening weekend of the season.

But that performance has now been followed up by back-to-back home losses to Leicester and Bournemouth, the type of results West Ham largely avoided when Allardyce established them among the early pacesetters last term.

Their form fell away after Christmas as familiar criticisms of Allardyce…

Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion are interested in signing Leonardo Lopes from Hull City in the summer ransfer window, according to . Hull are likely to lose the 21-year-old midfielder this summer after getting relegated from the Championship to League One.

Lopes has been on the books of Hull since 2019 and is rated very highly. According to , the Portugal Under-20 international midfielder made 33 starts and seven substitute appearances in the Championship for the Tigers this past season, scoring two goals and providing three assists in the process.

Both Leeds and West Brom will play in the Premier League next season after winning automatic promotion from the Championship. The chance to turn out at Elland Road or at The Hawthorns could be very tempting for Lopes, a…