Alonso has been linked with moves to Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, clubs where he all spent time as a player, having so far done a stunning job at runaway Bundesliga leaders Leverkusen.

Messi, who played for 17 years at Barcelona before signing for Paris St Germain in 2021 and Inter Miami last year, will turn 37 in under three months but knows for sure that his age will not determine when it is time to hang up his boots.

Gareth Southgate has watched his final England international before he names his Euro 2024 squad. Now he faces tough decisions that could make or break the campaign.

With two wins out of two against top-class opposition, Euro 2024 hosts Germany look to have found the right balance under coach Julian Nagelsmann with the tournament on the horizon.

Portugal slipped to a surprise 2-0 defeat to Slovenia in a Euro 2024 friendly in Ljubljana on Tuesday, their first defeat since the arrival of Spanish coach Roberto Martinez who had previously won eleven games in a row.

Angel Di Maria, Alexis Mac Allister and Lautaro Martinez rescued Argentina on Tuesday as the world champions came from behind to beat Costa Rica 3-1 in an international friendly in Los Angeles.

The match, arranged to help combat racism after various incidents of abuse aimed at Real Madrid and Brazil winger Vinicius Junior in Spain, proved a pulsating battle between two of football's heavyweight nations.

The team came from behind to defeat Iceland 2-1 in their playoff final in neutral Poland on Tuesday and book a fourth successive appearance in the continental finals.

The Euro 2024 favourites were left reeling after conceding just eight seconds into their game against Germany in Lyon last weekend, which they went on to lose 2-0.

Brazil snatched a late leveller to share an entertaining and occasionally heated 3-3 friendly draw with Spain on Tuesday.

Jude Bellingham scored at the death to restore English pride on Tuesday to claim a 2-2 draw after Youri Tielemans struck twice for Belgium in the teams' final match before squads are announced for Euro 2024.

Italian club Napoli said they were "stunned" after Italy's football federation (FIGC) on Tuesday dropped a probe into alleged racist comments made by Inter Milan's Francesco Acerbi to Napoli's Juan Jesus due to lack of evidence.

Bangladesh nearly pulled off a highly improbable feat of escaping with a point to maintain their unbeaten run at the Bashundhara Kings Arena in Dhaka yesterday but ended up succumbing to a 1-0 defeat against Palestine in a Group I fixture of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers.

Germany have regained their self-confidence after a 2-0 win against France last week three months before hosting Euro 2024, World Cup winner Philipp Lahm told AFP in an interview.

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were pitted in the same group as the groupings and fixtures of the Women’s T20I Asia Cup was announced by the Asian Cricket Council on Tuesday.

A stoppage-time goal from Michel Termanini condemned Bangladesh to a 1-0 defeat in their  World Cup qualifying campaign at home today, five days after being thrashed 5-0 by the same opposition in Kuwait.

"We have to realise that if we play like this in the matches that lie ahead, we could be in for a big disappointment, and we don't want that to happen to us," Mbappe told reporters on Monday.

The iconic Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid will host a mouth-watering FIFA friendly as it will host five-time world champions Brazil who will take on hosts Spain on Wednesday. 

The teenager, who will join Real Madrid from Palmeiras when he turns 18 in July, became the youngest male player to score at the iconic stadium as he gave Dorival a win in his first match in charge of the five-times world champions.

Argentine captain and Rosario-born Lionel Messi was also threatened in a letter last year after unidentified gunmen attacked a supermarket owned by his wife Antonela Roccuzzo's family.