Stoke have announced winger Jermaine Pennant has left the club.

Manchester United have seen an offer for Athletic Bilbao midfielder Ander Herrera rejected by the Spanish club.

Lionel Messi celebrated his fourth successive Ballon d’Or award by once again inspiring Barcelona to a 3-1 victory at Malaga.

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has been hailed as the greatest player of all-time by team-mate and fellow Argentinian Javier Mascherano.

Tito Vilanova insisted Barcelona were not a one-man side after Lionel Messi scored twice and set up another as the Catalan club powered on at the top of the Primera Division with a 3-1 victory over Real Zaragoza.

Schalke captain Benedikt Howedes hopes tomorrow’s Champions League clash with Arsenal will help him forget Saturday’s 3-2 defeat to Hoffenheim.

Helder Postiga left it late to earn Real Zaragoza victory over 10-man Espanyol in the Primera Division.

Tomorrow’s clash with Italy is Spain’s third European Championships final.

Cristiano Ronaldo warned Portugal will be “ready for the fight” when they line up for next week’s European Championship semi-final after his header beat the Czech Republic in Warsaw.

Portugal striker Helder Postiga has been ruled out of next week’s Euro 2012 semi-final through injury, the Portuguese football federation have confirmed.

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.

Juventus last night won their first Serie A crown since 2003 as a Diego Milito hat-trick sunk title rivals AC Milan.

Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice in the second half as Real Madrid provisionally moved 13 points clear at the Primera Division summit with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Real Betis.

Spain

Real Madrid 3 Real Zaragoza 1

Javier Aguirre has had his contract as first-team coach of Real Zaragoza terminated, the Primera Division club confirmed this morning.

GUS POYET says he would die in defence of his fellow Uruguayan Luis Suarez against the Football Association’s charge of racist abuse. The Brighton & manager is not a man given to understatement.

BARCELONA enjoyed another weekend of celebration as Lionel Messi reached another landmark with two more brilliant goals but it was tempered with some bad news on the injury front.

The Spanish Professional Footballers’ Union (AFE) and Liga de Futbol Profesional (LFP) have begun their latest meeting in a bid to find a solution to avert strike action for the opening two rounds of the new Spanish season.

Daniel Sturridge’s first-half double helped Chelsea to a comfortable victory over Rangers in their friendly match at Ibrox.

Wolves have confirmed that new signing Roger Johnson has replaced Karl Henry as skipper for the 2010-2011 campaign.

Celtic have announced that Mexico international Efrain Juarez has joined Real Zaragoza on a season-long loan.

REAL MADRID have beaten Chelsea in the race to sign Fabio Coentrao from Benfica.

Real Madrid have completed the signing of Fabio Coentrao from Benfica on a six-year contract, the Primera Division club have confirmed.

St Etienne are closing in on the loan signing of striker Florent Sinama-Pongolle from Portuguese outfit Sporting Lisbon.

He has the talent, the looks,the superstar girlfriend and he’s played for both Man United and Barcelona. What’s not to like about the defender some believe is the world’s best, says Andy Mitten

RIO FERDINAND is convinced fellow centre-half Gerard Pique would not have taken such giant strides in his career if he had remained with Manchester United.

Republic of Ireland chiefs would consider Jermaine Pennant’s desire to play international football if he made contact.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola was admitted to hospital overnight for treatment on his back problem.

LIVERPOOL’S bid to sign Blackpool midfielder Charlie Adam ended in disappointment last night, with Blackpool — who themselves completed the loan signing of James Beattie from Rangers — holding on to their star man on a busy transfer deadline day.

Fernando Torres and Andy Carroll were looking increasingly as though they would be making big-money moves to Chelsea and Liverpool on one of the most exciting transfer deadline days since the January window began.

Sunderland have confirmed that defender Paulo Da Silva has completed his move to Spanish side Real Zaragoza for an undisclosed fee.

Karim Benzema rescued Real Madrid as they clawed back some of the deficit on Primera Division leaders Barcelona with a 1-0 victory over Real Mallorca tonight.

It has been claimed that Premier League footballer Jermaine Pennant is so rich he forgot he owned a £98,000 Porsche.

Tony Pulis says it was important Stoke waited “until the last minute” before completing the signing of Jermaine Pennant so as to ensure that the price of the deal was right.

Stoke boss Tony Pulis has hailed the all-round impact Jon Walters has made at the club since joining from Ipswich in August.

Stoke boss Tony Pulis has indicated talks are to get under way between the club and Jermaine Pennant about making the winger’s loan move from Real Zaragoza permanent in January.

Real Zaragoza have parted company with coach Jose Aurelio Gay and are set to name Javier Aguirre as his replacement, the Primera Division club have announced on their website.

Jermaine Pennant would like to sign for Stoke permanently when his loan deal with the club runs out in January.

BARCELONA star Lionel Messi is set to spend up to three weeks on the sidelines with an ankle sprain.