Former Ireland stopper Packie Bonner has revealed his long-time friend, Netherlands goalkeeping coach Frans Hoek, had planned Tim Krul’s decisive late entrance into Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final.

Swansea’s Spanish stars face a daunting trip to Valencia in their first-ever Europa League group stage campaign as long-haul journeys to Russia, Moldova and northern Norway beckon for Tottenham.

Slaven Bilic overshadowed the announcement of Croatia’s preliminary 27-man squad for Euro 2012 by confirming that he would be standing down after the tournament.

Slaven Bilic has announced he will step down as coach of Croatia’s national team after Euro 2012.

Celtic have confirmed that Beram Kayal will miss the rest of the season after the midfielder underwent ankle surgery.

MANCHESTER UNITED may be squirming at the thought of spending Thursday nights in the Europa League but they will probably have to wait until next week before finding out whether they will suffer the even greater indignity of being shunted into a Tuesday afternoon slot.

Patrice Evra has admitted Manchester United’s players need to “look in the mirror” in the wake of their humiliating Champions League exit.

MANCHESTER UNITED crashed out of the Champions League following defeat in Basle last night.

Basle 2 Manchester United 1

KENWYNE JONES last night expressed his pride after his late header secured Stoke the point they needed against Dynamo Kiev to secure a place in the Europa League knockout stages.

Two goals in the final two minutes saw Udinese overcome Atletico Madrid 2-0 and maintain their unbeaten record in Europa League Group I this evening.

Celtic midfielder Beram Kayal has signed an extended contract that ties him to the club until the summer of 2015, it was announced today.

Shamrock Rovers' chairman Jonathan Roche has said the Tottenham Europa League fixtures were "a dream come true" for the fans.

Irish giantkillers Shamrock Rovers have landed a plum tie against Premier League stars Tottenham in the Europa League group stage draw today.

NORWICH suffered a stunning 4-0 home defeat at the hands of npower League One leaders MK Dons as the three newly-promoted Premier League clubs exited the Carling Cup at the second-round stage last night.

Arsenal were today handed a Champions League play-off draw against Italian side Udinese.

Arsenal will be hoping to avoid Udinese and Rubin Kazan when the draw is made tomorrow for the Champions League play-off round in Nyon.

SHAMROCK ROVERS came into last night’s Champions League qualifier knowing they were facing formidable opposition in Copenhagen, a team studded with full internationals and players with knockout stage experience of Europe’s biggest competition.

Celtic are poised to move for Israel striker Omer Damari after wrapping up a deal that should bring Kenya midfielder Victor Wanyama to Parkhead.

Shamrock Rovers have been drawn against Flora Tallinn of Estonia in the Champions League First and Second Qualifying Round draw today.

Rangers boss Ally McCoist hopes to sign Israel striker Tomer Hemed by the end of the week.

Celtic today suffered a further blow to their Clydesdale Bank Premier League title aspirations after midfielder Beram Kayal was ruled out for the rest of the season.

BERAM KAYAL grabbed his first goal for Celtic to give the Bhoys a narrow 1-0 win over St Johnston and extend their Clydesdale Bank Premier League over bitter rivals Rangers.

St Johnstone 0 Celtic 1

Celtic midfielder Beram Kayal has praised manager Neil Lennon for making the players feel they have been together for years.

GLENN LOOVENS admits Celtic will be relying on football’s habit of throwing up “strange” outcomes when they attempt to overturn a 3-0 deficit in the second instalment of their Champions League tie with Braga.

It is understood that Paddy McCourt has agreed a two-year extension to his current deal with Celtic.

Celtic have announced the signing of Israel midfielder Beram Kayal.

Gary Hooper arrived at Celtic Park today to finalise his transfer from Scunthorpe.

Celtic fans could soon be welcoming their sixth new player of the summer as negotiations began with Maccabi Haifa for the £1.2m signing of Israel international Biram Kayal.

South Africa’s all-time leading goalscorer Benni McCarthy was today left out of the Bafana Bafana squad for the World Cup finals.

BAYERN are notgood enough.Franck Ribery’s blunt verdict on his own team back in December may have seemed overly pessimistic as they embarked on a run of nine league wins in a row and went top of the Bundesliga for the first time in two years.

OLYMPIACOS striker Jaouad Zairi is adamant Bordeaux will put their recent struggles behind them and pose a significant threat in tonight’s Champions League encounter.

Unirea Urziceni coach Roni Levy hopes to expose Liverpool’s weaknesses in their Europa League last-32 tie at Anfield tomorrow.

Wigan manager Roberto Martinez says there is still work to be done before Daniel de Ridder completes a loan move to Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

JUVENTUS crashed out of the Champions League with a miserable performance in front of their own fans as they capitulated to a rampant Bayern Munich at the Stadio Olimpico last night.

Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni has been fined €25,000 for his criticism of coach Louis van Gaal.

REAL MADRID took a step closer to the last 16 of the Champions League after easing past FC Zurich 1-0 in a match that saw the return to action of Cristiano Ronaldo following injury.

Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeness has revealed his club received a bid of €65m plus Jose Bosingwa from Chelsea for Franck Ribery in the summer.

Manchester United 3 Everton 0

MICHAEL CIANI scored at both ends and Bordeaux missed two penalties as the French champions leapfrogged Bayern Munich to move to the top of Group A last night as the visitors finished the game with nine men.

AC Milan edged a thrilling contest with Real Madrid 3-2 at the Bernabeu in the pick of tonight's Champions League games.

CRISTIANO RONALDO added another two goals to his growing Real Madrid collection as the Spanish giants continued their barnstorming start to the season by seeing off 10-man Marseille with a 3-0 win at the Bernabeu.

Cristiano Ronaldo added another two goals to his growing Real Madrid collection as the Spanish giants continued their barnstorming start to the season by seeing off 10-man Marseille 3-0 with a second-half blitz at the Bernabeu.