Real Madrid interested in Barca-target Lemos

Real Madrid and Barcelona could be set for an off-season battle after both enquired about the availability of Las Palmas defender Mauricio Lemos, according to club technical secretary Luis Helguera.

The uncapped 20-year-old Uruguayan defender has impressed in his 10 La Liga appearances since arriving at the club from Rubin Kazan on loan.

The move was made permanent only recently, with Las Palmas acquiring the defender for €2.5million.

But that could prove a smart acquisition, with the club reportedly fixing the defender's contract with a €30m release clause, meaning the deal be a lucrative one for the club.

"Real Madrid have asked us about Lemos," Helguera told Onda Cero.

"The reality is that a lot of clubs have [asked about him], but there's a difference between asking and making an offer. 

"Barcelona have made an offer, after that, Real Madrid, as well as other clubs, have asked about him. 

"But, as I said, asking and making an offer are different things - they don't have anything to do with each other." 

Leicester stars rising at Euros with no underdogs - Fuchs

Christian Fuchs is unsurprised to see Leicester City's Head Group saints taking Euro 2016 by tempest and trusts a comparative underdog soul has held the competition.

As Claudio Ranieri's first-decision left-back amid Leicester's astounding walk to greatness, Fuchs will at the end of the day need to upset the chances on Saturday when he chiefs Austria against Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal in Paris.

Club buddy Jamie Vardy fell off the seat at half-time to adjust in Britain's 2-1 win over Wales in Lens, while N'Golo Kante has been a key entertainer in helping has France to gather consecutive wins.

In the interim, stun results for any semblance of Iceland, Northern Ireland and Hugary - the last to Austria's detriment - have appeared to take their signs from occasions in the English top flight this term.

"These players, they play at great national squads at a competition where everything is conceivable," Fuchs told a news meeting at the Parc des Sovereigns.

"The alleged 'little groups' don't exist any longer, anyone can beat anyone so it relies on upon the individual players and the squads on the off chance that they can manage this circumstance."

On Friday, Fuchs tweeted an entertainingly ridiculed up picture of Vardy to praise the striker on his Britain abuses, while he wondered about Kante's adventures for Les Bleus.

United States to bed Jones, Wood suspensions

Joined States declared they have documented an official dissent against the suspensions issued to Jermaine Jones and Bobby Wood taking after their win over Ecuador in the Copa America Centenario quarter-finals.

Has USA crushed their South American rivals 2-1 to book their spot in the semi-finals of the opposition, however it included some significant pitfalls.

Jones was demonstrated a straight red card for lashing out at Michael Arroyo in a scuffle created by Antonio Valencia kicking Alejandro Bedoya - likewise seeing the Manchester Joined man sent off.

Minutes after the fact Wood was issued his second yellow card of the Copa, which will keep him out of the semis, alongside Bedoya, leaving mentor Jurgen Klinsmann with a determination cerebral pain.

USA will confront the victor of Argentina and Venezuela for a spot in the Copa America last.

Real Madrid interested in Barca-target Lemos

Genuine Madrid and Barcelona could be set for an off-season fight after both enquired about the accessibility of Las Palmas guard Mauricio Lemos, as per club specialized secretary Luis Helguera.

The uncapped 20-year-old Uruguayan shield has awed in his 10 La Liga appearances since landing at the club from Rubin Kazan on credit.

The move was made changeless just as of late, with Las Palmas obtaining the shield for €2.5million.

However, that could demonstrate a savvy procurement, with the club purportedly altering the shield's agreement with a €30m discharge proviso, which means the arrangement be a lucrative one for the club.

"Genuine Madrid have gotten some information about Lemos," Helguera told Onda Cero.

"Actually a considerable measure of clubs have [asked about him], yet there's a contrast amongst asking and making an offer.

"Barcelona have made an offer, after that, Genuine Madrid, and also different clubs, have gotten some information about him.

"Be that as it may, as I said, asking and making an offer are distinctive things - they don't have anything to do with each other."

Nigeria 2-0 Chad: Keshi's second coming celebrated with three points

The Super Eagles got their 2017 Africa Cup of Nations campaign off to a winning start in Kaduna

Goals from Gbolahan Salami and Odion Ighalo ensured Nigeria began their Africa Cup of Nations 2017 qualifying campaign in winning fashion with a victory over Chad .

After a lethargic, uninspired first half, the Super Eagles improved after the break and took the lead on 69 minutes when Salami finished well after an excellent assist from substitute Ighalo.

The Watford man, who was promoted to the Premier League this season, confirmed the victory with a penalty on 80 minutes after being brought down in the box.

Stephen Keshi’s side played out the final ten minutes with ten men following a red card for Ogenyi Onazi during the pre-penalty melee, but the visitors' man advantage wasn’t enough for Chad to stage an unlikely late comeback.

The match marked Stephen Keshi’s return to the national team top job after being re-appointed by Amaju Pinnick and the Nigeria Football Federation.

The Big Boss opted to include several new faces in his first starting XI back in the hotseat, and understandably, Nigeria were disjointed and lacked cohesion during the opening 45 minutes.

The terrible pitch in Kaduna hardly helped, and the Super Eagles struggled to retain possession in the face of an uneven surface and well-organised Chadian pressure.

Ahmed Musa and Salami both took the opportunity to demonstrate their dribbling ability with the ball at their feet early on, but both—the former in particular—was guilty of poor delivery.

Chad also had their chances, and could have taken the lead on 17 minutes, when Marius Mbaiam's shot flew wide of Vincent Enyeama's post.

Michael Babatunde—returning to the starting lineup for the first time since the World Cup defeat to Argentina last summer—struggled to get a handle on the game from the heart of the park. The midfielder worked tirelessly, but failed to demonstrate the creativity that the Super Eagles were looking for.

After the break—doubtless following some terse words from Keshi—Nigeria began to impose themselves.

Kingsley Madu, one of the debutants, began to show his quality in possession, while his counterpart in the right-back berth, Leon Balogun, was similarly confident with the ball at feet.

It took two changes to break the deadlock, however, with Ibrahim Rabiu replacing Babatunde, and Ighalo coming on for the injured Aaron Samuel.

It was the latter who made the telling contribution, first setting-up Salami for the opener-a powerfully struck shot into the roof of the net-before firing home himself from the spot after winning the penalty.

Onazi’s late red was an unfortunate footnote, with the Lazio midfielder dismissed after shoving a Chad defender in a momentary lapse of discipline.

While the victory ensured that Nigeria got their Group G campaign off to a winning start, Keshi’s return to the side—and the indifferent performance of his chosen team—failed to truly erase memories of the disastrous 2015 qualifying campaign.

There is still much work to be done, both for the Super Eagles to secure a spot in Gabon, and for the Big Boss to mend his tarnished reputation.

BREAKING! Nigerian Player Dies In Malaysia

Nigerian defender David Faramola Oniya died on Saturday after collapsing on the pitch during a friendly match between his Malaysian club T-Team and Kelantan. He was 30.

Local media said the T-Team skipper collapsed three minutes into the match in Kota Bharu and was taken to hospital.

T-Team CEO Syahrizan Mohd Zain said Oniya did not receive medical treatment quick enough.

"He suffered a heart attack but it could have been a different story had the ambulance driver been alert," he told the New Straits Times.

"The driver was at the stands watching the game when Oniya suddenly collapsed and our defender was deprived of oxygen for several minutes."

Syahrizan said the match was called off after 60 minutes after they were informed by the hospital Oniya had died.

"He was pronounced dead at the hospital about 30 minutes later," he told the Star newspaper.

Oniya had only just joined the Malaysian club this season after spells in Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan.

Ronaldo, Lewandowski Hit Hat-Tricks

Yet another Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick propelled Portugal to a crucial 3-2 win in Armenia in Euro 2016 qualifying on Saturday while Poland's Robert Lewandowski hit one of the quickest triples in the competition's history.

Andre Schuerrle also bagged a hat-trick in Germany's 7-0 thrashing of Gibraltar but former European champions Greece's embarrassing campaign continued as they were beaten 2-1 in the Faroe Islands.

Real Madrid superstar Ronaldo scored his third hat-trick in his last three games for club and country as Portugal held on with 10 men for the final half-hour in Yerevan to claim a crucial win in Group I.

Brazilian-born Marcos Pizzelli gave Armenia the lead but Ronaldo equalised from the penalty spot before adding two more in the space of four second-half minutes.

Fernando Santos' side then had Tiago Mendes, the Atletico Madrid midfielder, sent off and were left to hang on after Hrayr Mkoyan pulled a goal back for the hosts.

Portugal have now won four games in a row since starting their campaign with a 1-0 home defeat to Albania and they top Group I by two points from Denmark, who beat Serbia 2-0 in Copenhagen thanks to a goal in each half from Yussuf Poulsen and Jakob Poulsen.

Poland remain top of Group D ahead of World Cup holders Germany after Lewandowski's late hat-trick sealed a 4-0 win against Georgia in Warsaw.

Arkadiusz Milik put the Poles in front before captain Lewandowski doubled their lead in the 89th minute.

The Bayern Munich striker added another in the 92nd minute and completed a remarkable treble in the third minute of stoppage time to secure a handsome win.

It is the second-fastest hat-trick in the history of European Championship qualifying, bettered only by Arif Erdem, who scored three in three minutes for Turkey against Northern Ireland in the qualifying campaign for Euro 2000.

Poland are a point clear of Germany, who won 7-0 against minnows Gibraltar in Faro, southern Portugal, despite Bastian Schweinsteiger having an early penalty saved.

Schuerrle set them on their way and six more goals followed in the second half, including two more from the Wolfsburg forward, a brace from Max Kruse and one each for Ilkay Gundogan and Karim Bellarabi.

Scotland deny Ireland

Scotland remain third, two points better off than the Republic of Ireland, after coming from behind to draw 1-1 in Dublin, Shaun Maloney's shot deflecting in off home skipper John O'Shea to cancel out Jon Walters' opener for Ireland.

The prospect of seeing all four British sides qualify together for a major tournament for the first time since the 1958 World Cup remains a very real one, with Northern Ireland still second in Group F after a 0-0 draw at home to leaders Romania at Windsor Park.

Michael O'Neill's side are a point behind the Romanians and two better off than third-placed Hungary, who boosted their own chances by winning 1-0 in Finland thanks to a late goal by Zoltan Stieber of Hamburg.

However, Greece's disastrous campaign continued as they were beaten 2-1 by traditional minnows the Faroe Islands in Torshavn.

A goal in each half from Hallur Hansson and Brandur Olsen secured a famous win for the hosts, with Sokratis Papastathopoulos of Borussia Dortmund getting one back in vain for Greece.

It is the second time the Euro 2004 winners have lost to the Faroes in this campaign – coach Claudio Ranieri was sacked after a 1-0 loss at home in November.

There has been no improvement yet under his Uruguayan successor Sergio Markarian, and Greece are rock bottom of the group with just two points from six games.

Germany Coach: How We Stopped Nigeria

Germany coach Frank Wormuth has revealed how his team were able to overcome the Flying Eagles in their round of 16 FIFA U-20 World Cup clash which they won 1-0.

Reacting to the win, Wormuth who spoke highly of the Flying Eagles, however said his players deserved to advance at the expense of Nigeria.

He told fifa.com: “I like Nigeria and they are very good technically, which makes them extremely difficult to play against.

“We were able to keep the ball under pressure and that was our only chance to break through their defence. In the end, I give congratulations to my team for finding the answer to the problems Nigeria posed us. They deserved the win and I am very impressed with them.

“I am especially proud of my team’s defence today. Of course, our aim is to get to the final in Auckland but to get there we must go step to step and our next step is Mali. The German mentality is to always think this way. I expect Mali to play in quite a similar way to what we saw today from Nigeria.”

A 19th minute strike by Levin Öztunali was enough for the European champions to see off a lackluster Flying Eagles side.

'Germany Won't Underestimate Gibraltar'

Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger insists the world champions will not underestimate minnows Gibraltar in Saturday's Euro 2016 away qualifier in their bid to top their group.

The Germans are joint second in Group D, a point behind leaders Poland, as they head to Faro, Portugal, for Saturday's tie against the part-timers who have lost all five qualifiers so far, leaking 27 goals in the process.

Germany coach Joachim Loew has sent several star players, including Bayern Munich pair Thomas Mueller and Manuel Neuer, plus Borussia Dortmund winger Marco Reus, on holiday, but the world champions still expect three points.

A shock defeat in Poland and a home draw against the Republic of Ireland means Germany find themselves in the unusual situation of fighting for first place.

The Germans were beaten 2-1 by the United States on Wednesday in their warm-up friendly when the world champions' finishing was again an issue, as it has been since lifting the World Cup last July.

"We won’t make the mistake of underestimating Gibraltar," said Schweinsteiger.

"Of course we know that we’re better than them and it's clear that we have to pick up a win there, but it doesn’t have to be double-digits.

"It has to be a good game from us. We have to find the breakthrough against a team which will sit back a lot."

The game is being held at Faro's Estadio Algarve, Gibraltar's home ground, even though it lies several hundred kilometres from the British territory.

HUGE GULF

The team from the tiny Iberian peninsula have a Scottish caretaker coach in Dave Wilson after Allen Bula was sacked in March, four games into their campaign, having been in charge for four years.

Bula was boss when Germany trounced Gibraltar 4-0 in Nuremberg last November, which was greeted as something of a triumph by the visitors given the huge gulf in class between the two teams.

Wilson's side lost a friendly to Croatia 4-0 last Sunday and a similar scoreline would be a welcome result for both hosts and visitors alike.

Ireland and Poland have already posted 7-0 wins over Gibraltar, whose striker Lee Casciaro scored their first competitive goal in a 6-1 loss to Scotland in March.

Gibraltar's only win in ten matches as a Uefa member nation was a 1-0 success at home against Malta in a friendly in June last year, although European football's newest members have drawn 0-0 with Slovakia and 1-1 with Estonia.

Lukas Podolski is two goals shy of his 50th for Germany going into the match, in which the Inter Milan forward is set to win his 125th cap.

Germany can finish the weekend top of Group D if results go their way with Ireland hosting Scotland in Dublin and Poland at home to Georgia on Saturday.

"It’s especially important to pick up three points," added Schweinsteiger.

"We can’t influence the other results and at the end of the day, the main priority is to qualify for Euro 2016, everything else is of secondary importance."

Chelsea Sign Manea, Hagi Joins Fio

Romania's young defender Cristian Manea has signed for Premier League champions Chelsea from FC Viitorul Constanta while his teammate Ianis Hagi is joining Serie A side Fiorentina, the club said on Thursday.

"Manea and Hagi deals were completed," Viitorul general director Cristian Bivolaru told local media without giving details of the transfer fees or length of contracts.

Manea, who turns 18 in August, made his Romania debut aged just 16 against Albania in a friendly in May 2014.

The teenager, considered one of the best young players in Romania, also attracted interest from Arsenal, Ajax Amsterdam and Udinese before signing for Chelsea, local media reported.

Botosaru said the versatile Manea, who can play at right back, centre back and as a holding midfielder, will probably be loaned out in the Netherlands for the 2015-2016 season.

Ianis Hagi, 16, is the son of former Romania captain Gheorghe Hagi, who founded and owns the club which is known for nurturing young talent in the Black Sea state.

He is an under-17 international and scored once in seven league appearances for Viitorul last season when they finished 11th in the 18-team Romanian league.

Botosaru said there is a possibility Hagi could be loaned back to Viitorul for a season.