The boy from the small Argentinian town of Murphy has taken a long and winding road via Barcelona, Southampton, and Tottenham, to see for the first time his family’s ancestral home in Piedmont, Italy, but Mauricio Pochettino feels at home in Turin — and does not think Spurs should feel out of place at the Allianz Stadium where they face Juventus tonight.

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

Real Madrid will have a really difficult job trying to break Juve down, writes Liam Brady.

Both come from old port cities beside the Mediterranean, but the two men arrived at the top of their profession by completely different routes, writes David Shonfield.

Porto 0 Juventus 2: Juventus struck twice in the second half to take control of last night’s Champions League last-16 tie against 10-man Porto.

Gonzalo Higuain scored the winner on his league debut to clinch reigning Serie A champions Juventus a 2-1 opening-day win over Fiorentina.

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.

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.

Barcelona head coach Luis Enrique remained upbeat after his side threw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Villarreal and said: “We’re one point closer to our objective.”

Bayern Munich 4 Juventus 2 AET (Bayern Munich win 6-4 on aggregate): Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich completed an impressive Champions League comeback over 120 minutes to reach the quarter-finals at the expense of Juventus.

This week’s Champions League matches have the feel of accidents waiting to happen, writes David Shonfield.

Juventus have completed the signing of Croatia forward Mario Mandzukic from Atletico Madrid in a €19m transfer deal.

Jose Mourinho has warned clubs wanting to buy Petr Cech this summer that they may have to give up one of their own players to land the Chelsea goalkeeper.

Juventus have reached an agreement to sign German midfielder Sami Khedira on a free transfer, the Italian champions have announced.

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti says under-fire Gareth Bale will remain in the starting line-up against Schalke.

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti believes tonight’s Champions League last-16 first leg against Schalke offers Cristiano Ronaldo a great chance to end his mini goal drought. 

Atletico Madrid were in dreamland as they destroyed rivals Real Madrid with a thumping 4-0 win which blew the Primera Division title race wide open.

It’s no small irony that the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil, although almost universally hailed as one of the best tournaments ever, is destined to retain a unique place in football history, not for all its great games and great goals, but because of one match when, to put it at its mildest, the sublime gave way to the ridiculous.

Real Madrid have not ruled out making a bid to sign Cruzeiro midfielder Lucas Silva in the winter transfer market, according to club coach Carlo Ancelotti.

International Friendly

As Jose Mourinho eased himself into the dugout at Old Trafford, acknowledging his opposite number as he did so, he briefly and pointedly caught the eye of Chelsea’s captain as the defender walked past; it was a look of mutual respect, of shared history, of shared memories.

Winning in Europe at the same time as winning at home is an art, and even experience does not guarantee success.

Last-gasp hero John O’Shea admits the Republic of Ireland might have caught Germany at the right time to take a significant step towards Euro 2016 qualification.

"We really needed to get something [with] Germany missing the quality they were missing - hopefully Germany keep getting stronger now and beat the other teams."

Chelsea forward Andre Schurrle has been ruled out of Germany’s Euro 2016 qualifier against the Republic of Ireland tonight due a bout of flu.

Germany coach Joachim Low has admitted that the mood in the world champions’ camp is less than "brilliant" as they seek to make amends for Saturday’s European Championship qualifier loss to Poland in Warsaw.

While Ireland has spent most of the week discussing a former football great, the air of expectancy surrounding their modern-day icon Robert Lewandowski is only ratcheting up in Poland.

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

Manchester United’s scattergun approach to the transfer window, which has seen chief executive Ed Woodward widely lambasted, delivered an unexpected bullseye on deadline day with the arrival of Radamel Falcao, but also delivered a risky potential sale of Danny Welbeck to top-six rivals Arsenal that drew criticism from Old Trafford fans.

Louis van Gaal refused to comment on Danny Welbeck’s future as speculation mounts the England striker is set to leave Manchester United.

Paul Scholes has expressed fear that Manchester United will descend into long-term decline unless rapid action is taken to strengthen their faltering team.

Manager Arsene Wenger has challenged his Arsenal team to raise their game against direct title rivals and deliver a first Premier League crown for a decade.

Arsene Wenger admits Manchester United are one of the clubs trying to sign Thomas Vermaelen but the Arsenal boss would prefer to see the defender move abroad.

Germany’s World Cup winner Toni Kroos has joined Real Madrid from Bayern Munich for an undisclosed fee.

Germany 1 Argentina 0

For all the talk of this possibly being the coronation of Lionel Messi and for all his moments of brilliance that have elevated this tournament above the average, facing him tomorrow is a story just as remarkable.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is set to step up his summer recruitment drive after a deal was agreed with Barcelona for “fantastic” Chile international Alexis Sanchez.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger last night hailed Alexis Sanchez as "a fantastic footballer" after Chile star agreed to join the Gunners from Barcelona on a long-term contract for a fee in the region of £35 million.