Former England midfielder Jill Scott believes the Lionesses can win the Women’s World Cup and says Sarina Wiegman’s side will be the best-prepared team at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand.

The 36-year-old Euro 2022 winner praised the “humble” squad ahead of their Group D opener against Haiti on July 22 and insists she will have no problem being a pundit this time instead of a player.

She said: “I’ve watched the Lionesses a few times as a player since I’ve retired – they were too fast for me, and too good!”

Scott, who won ITV’s I’m a Celebrity last year after retiring, continued: “We’ve got a great group of girls – grounded, humble, but also incredible players.

“I think it’ll be the best-prepared team going out to…

Tributes have been paid to former Swansea City and Arsenal great Mel Charles, who has died at the age of 81.

Charles, who played as a defender and a striker, spent seven years with Swansea before joining the Gunners in 1959 for a reported fee of £46,750 a record for a transfer between two British clubs at the time.

He also earned 31 caps for Wales and was part of the side that reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 1958, with Brazil great Pele reportedly describing him as the best defender he faced during the tournament.

It s a sad, sad loss, Swansea coach Alan Curtis told the club s official website. Mel was part of a huge sporting family in Swansea. 

Not only was he highly respected as a footballer, he was a fantastic character who enjoyed l…

Bruno Fernandes is relishing the hostile atmosphere at Galatasaray as Manchester United look to keep their Champions League hopes alive.

Erik ten Hag’s side look unlikely to be playing at European football’s top table in the new year after defeats in three of their four Group A matches left them rooted to the bottom of the table.

United have lost away to Bayern Munich and Copenhagen and at home to Galatasaray, meaning another defeat in Istanbul on Wednesday would end their Champions League dreams with a match to spare.

“In the (playing) group the feeling is that we have to win both games we have ahead to hope to go through,” United captain Fernandes said ahead of the trip to Galatasaray and home game against already-qualified Bayern.

“We know th…

Kasper Schmeichel accused referee Michael Oliver of wanting to make himself a hero in Leicester City s 4-0 loss to Liverpool.

The second-placed Foxes were comprehensively beaten by the Premier League leaders at the King Power Stadium on Boxing Day to fall 13 points behind Jurgen Klopp s Reds.

Liverpool went in front through Roberto Firmino s first-half header and scored three times in seven second-half minutes, with the first of those goals coming from a James Milner penalty.

Schmeichel was incensed by the decision to award the spot-kick, which came after Caglar Soyuncu leant into the ball and it struck his arm following a Trent Alexander-Arnold corner.

Asked whether the final score was a fair reflection, Schmeichel told Amazon Prime: I think it was a …

Steven Gerrard is convinced the World Cup break will benefit Liverpool s bid to rescue their season, backing the Reds to make a flying start when the Premier League returns.

Liverpool fell narrowly short of winning an unprecedented quadruple last term, lifting the EFL Cup and FA Cup before finishing as runners-up in the Premier League and Champions League.

Jurgen Klopp s team have failed to mount a similar charge this season, and they entered the World Cup break sitting sixth in the Premier League, a troubling 15 points adrift of leaders Arsenal.

Asked whether it felt like Liverpool had been afforded a second pre-season, former Reds captain Gerrard told the club s website: Yeah, it s an opportunity to get a lot of work in on the training ground, reset a few thing…

Lionel Messi s apparent hint at retirement was misunderstood , according to Barcelona team-mate Luis Suarez.

Messi, 32, said the moment of withdrawal is approaching after winning a record sixth Ballon d Or on Monday, leading to retirement talk.

However, Suarez believes the Argentina star s comments were misunderstood, backing the forward to play for years to come.

[Messi] amazes me because he is a one-off and is making history, Suarez told beIN SPORTS.

As a friend and team-mate, [the Ballon d Or] makes me happy and proud because it s a beautiful moment for him.

[His comments] were misinterpreted. When someone wins a Ballon d Or they are happy but also nervous.

Leo is a human being and gets nervous like the rest of us. He wanted to say …

The draw for the group stage of the Champions League will take place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on Thursday evening.

Here the PA news agency explains how it will unfold.

When is the draw?

The draw is due to start at 5pm UK time on Thursday evening.

How will it work?

The 32 teams will be split into eight groups of four, with the four seeding pots not set to be confirmed until Thursday morning. The identity of the final qualifiers will not be known until Wednesday evening.

Pot 1 will feature European champions Manchester City, Europa League winners Sevilla and six domestic champions. Pots two to four will be based on the UEFA club coefficient rankings.

As usual, teams from the same country will be kept apart until at least the q…

Manchester United captain Harry Maguire was named on the bench for Wednesday s Europa League final with Villarreal.

The centre-back s participation in the final was put into significant doubt this month when he suffered ankle ligament damage during United s 3-1 win at Aston Villa.

United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had previously said he expected Maguire to miss the Gdansk showpiece.

But Maguire at least had a chance of being involved after earning a place among the substitutes as United eyed their first piece of silverware since winning the same competition back in 2017.

Eric Bailly partnered Victor Lindelof at the heart of United s defence, which David de Gea played behind after he was preferred to Dean Henderson in goal.

…

Aston Villa have named Craig Shakespeare as their new assistant head coach in a move that will prompt further questions about the future of John Terry.

The former Chelsea captain, who has been assistant to boss Dean Smith at Villa since October 2018, has been linked with the vacant manager job at relegated Bournemouth.

While Terry s future remains unclear, Villa have secured proven Premier League experience in Shakespeare, who was assistant to Claudio Ranieri when Leicester City won the title in 2015-16 before taking over as manager between February and October 2017.

I was keen to add some additional Premier League know-how onto my coaching team and Craig certainly has that in abundance, Smith said via Villa s website.

He s a vastly experienced coach wh…

Samir Handanovic has waited eight years for trophy success with Inter and is determined not to let the latest chance pass him by.

The goalkeeper and captain of Antonio Conte s team will be tasked with keeping Sevilla out in Friday s Europa League final.

He arrived from Udinese in 2012 with high hopes of being regularly in the hunt for silverware, but the Slovenian has endured a frustrating wait.

Inter s painfully barren run could come to an end in Cologne, and Handanovic says it could be the starting point for a bountiful era.

When I joined Inter it was to be involved in finals such as these, but unfortunately the situation that occurred in the last few years wasn t the best, Handanovic told a news conference.

But we ve now got to the stage whe…