Germany should really not be surprised by their earliest World Cup exit in 80 years. The four-time winners should have seen the red flags and heeded the warnings after failing to hit top form for almost a year prior to this tournament.

Kevin-Prince Boateng scored a late winner against his former side as Eintracht Frankfurt came from behind to win 2-1 at Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga.

Captain Manuel Neuer has been left out of the Germany squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Czech Republic and Norway.

England midfielder Jake Livermore revealed how he reached out to Ireland’s Harry Arter when the Bournemouth midfielder’s daughter was stillborn in December 2015.

Hoffenheim suffered their first Bundesliga defeat of the season as they went down 2-1 at RB Leipzig.

Red Bull Leipzig moved back to within two points of Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich with a comfortable 3-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt.

The draw moves the champions onto 24 points, three ahead of Leipzig who have a game in hand.

Bayern Munich pulled three points clear at the top of the Bundesliga today, with Hertha Berlin and Hoffenheim now the teams in pursuit after defeats for Cologne and Borussia Dortmund.

RB Leipzig picked up a first Bundesliga win in their maiden home fixture as an 89th-minute Naby Keita strike secured a 1-0 win over Borussia Dortmund.

This was the night when France began to heal before our very eyes, a night when La Marseillaise was sung louder than it has ever been sung, a night when Antoine Griezmann became a national hero — and when Les Bleus dramatically and deservedly reached the final of Euro 2016.

Bastian Schweinsteiger will lead Germany onto the field for tonight’s Euro 2016 semi-final against France after being passed fit to play.

Thomas Muller says Germany are not afraid of France ahead of tomorrow night’s Euro 2016 semi-final in Marseille.

Northern Ireland 0 Germany 1: Defeat on the night for Northern Ireland but it was one that ended with history being written as Michael O’Neill’s side advanced to the knockout stages of Euro 2016 thanks to the heroics of Michael McGovern and a Turkish win in Lens.

An own goal from Adam Lang and a second-half effort from Thomas Muller saw a dominant Germany side defeat Hungary 2-0 at Schalke's Veltins-Arena home today.

England goalkeeper Jack Butland looks set to miss the European finals after fracturing his ankle in Saturday’s win. Butland is likely to be ruled out with the tournament 10 weeks away.

Tottenham lost their “first final” of the week but head coach Mauricio Pochettino cannot let his side wallow in self pity with the Capital One Cup final fast approaching.

Fiorentina 2 Tottenham 0 (Fiorentina win 3-1 on aggregate)

Tottenham 1 Fiorentina 1

European round-up: Paul Pogba scored one goal and created another as leaders Juventus beat Chievo 2-0.

A Florida man has been charged with first-degree murder after his mother was found decapitated outside their home on New Year’s Eve.

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal admits striker Robin van Persie has been struggling for confidence in front of goal and had “a very bad game” against Arsenal last weekend.

Bayer Leverkusen attacking midfielder Karim Bellarabi is the only uncapped player in Germany’s squad for their upcoming Euro qualifiers against Ireland and Poland.

Angel di Maria inspired Argentina on a Dusseldorf mission over their World Cup final conquerors Germany as the Manchester United new boy scored once and set up three goals in a 4-2 victory.

Germany coach Joachim Low has named a preliminary squad of 30 players for the World Cup, with Fiorentina striker Mario Gomez the biggest name to miss the cut.

At 8.47pm on Sunday night, Italian football returned from its winter break; at 10.37pm, the title race was over.

For Sami Khedira, it is a question of quantity, not even qualification.

Caretaker Ireland manager Noel King says he contemplated contacting former manager Giovanni Trapattoni before naming his new Ireland squad but at the last moment decided against doing so.

Manchester City have confirmed the signing of Spain winger Jesus Navas from Sevilla.

Hostility adds spice to Saturday’s first all-German Champions League final, writes Richard Fitzpatrick

The heartbreaking way in which they lost last season’s Champions League final has helped Bayern Munich steel themselves for this campaign, according to manager Jupp Heynckes.

Barcelona assistant manager Jordi Roura described last night’s 4-0 thrashing by Bayern Munich as an “awful result” with the Catalan club’s hopes of reaching the Champions League final all but over.

Lionel Messi has said Bayern were "superior" to Barcelona in last night’s 4-0 thrashing, with the Catalan club’s hopes of reaching the Champions League final all but over.

Bayern Munich 4 Barcelona 0

Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes has not sought any advice from former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola ahead of his side’s Champions League semi-final tie against the Catalans tonight.

Bayern Munich warmed up for next week’s Champions League showdown with Barcelona by thumping Hannover 6-1 in the Bundesliga.

From the best Bundesliga start to the earliest title success in half a century, Bayern Munich’s record-breaking run this season has seen them back on top with their 23rd German league trophy.

Bayern Munich striker Mario Gomez and Schalke defender Benedikt Howedes have both pulled out of the Germany squad for tonight’s World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan.

Ireland’s Group C rivals Germany eased past lowly Kazakhstan 3-0 last night without deploying any strikers for the first time in a competitive match under coach Joachim Loew as they stayed top of the group.

Unsere Stadt, Unser Stadion, Unser Pokal — our city, our stadium, our cup.

The Bundesliga came back with a bang at the weekend after its month-long hibernation.

When news broke last week that Pep Guardiola had agreed to become the next coach of Bayern Munich, much of the reaction focused on how wise Guardiola had been to choose a ‘real club’ with proper football values over the kind of plastic pop-up projects on offer at Chelsea or Manchester City.

Lionel Messi ended the night on a stretcher instead of the history books as an under-strength Barcelona battled to a goalless draw against Benfica last night.

AC Milan picked up an important victory and did their city rivals Inter a favour by beating Juventus 1-0 at the San Siro last night.

Bayern Munich marched further clear at the top of the Bundesliga following a 5-0 demolition of Hannover today.

Holland and Germany played out a low-key goalless draw in their friendly at the Amsterdam ArenA last night, with both sides missing a number of key players due to injury.

Champions League Matchday Two: the tournament is still at the skirmishing stage, yet the draw has thrown up a fixture that harks back to the good old days of the European Cup, when title winners were not protected by seeding, as they usually are now.

Not for the first time, Italy have upset the order.