Sports

Leeds United have finally ended the uncertainty over their ownership by announcing a group led by Massimo Cellino have bought the club.

The club s former leadership, GFH Capital, announced on Saturday that they had agreed to sell a 75 per cent stake in the club to Eleonora Sport Ltd – a company owned by the Cellino family.

Cellino – twice convicted of fraud – also owns Serie A outfit Cagliari and failed in an attempt to purchase West Ham in 2010.

The Eleonora Sport Ltd defeated a rival bid, chaired by former Manchester United commercial executive Mike Farnan, for control of the club.

A club statement read: Following recent media reports and speculation, GFH Capital would like to confirm that it has agreed to sell a 75 per cent stake in the club to Eleonora …

Julio Baptista has seemingly joined MLS outfit Orlando City after Kaka welcomed the former Brazil international to the club on Tuesday.

There was no official announcement from Orlando City, who signed Italian midfielder Antonio Nocerino in the off-season, but Kaka confirmed Baptista s arrival via Twitter.

Ex-Arsenal, Real Madrid and Sevilla forward Baptista, 34, has been without a club since leaving Brazilian side Cruzeiro in December.

Another life and career moment that we ll course together! Welcome @J_Baptista81 to @OrlandoCitySC #thebeast #labestia, Kaka wrote via his official account.

Baptista only made three league appearances for Cruzeiro last year but helped guide the club to back-to-back Serie A titles in 2013 and 2014, having arrived from Malag…

With both Real Madrid and Juventus wrapping up their domestic titles in recent weeks, it has only heightened the anticipation of the Champions League final on Saturday.

Throughout the thrilling knock-out stages of this season s competition, these two sides have proven themselves worthy of a title tilt in Cardiff, knocking out challengers Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Monaco along the way.

Now, ahead of their meeting, we have analysed the line-ups of both Madrid and Juve, looking at their various strengths and weaknesses in an attempt to separate Europe s very best

Real Madrid (4-3-3)

Keylor Navas: 7/10

Since the departure of Iker Casillas, Navas has established himself as a regular, playing a key role in last season s …

Sean Dyche felt Burnley s defence could have stopped Manchester United s goals in their 2-0 Premier League win at Turf Moor.

Anthony Martial finished off a rapid break to open the scoring on Sunday, with United captain Wayne Rooney poking home a rebound to wrap up the points before the interval.

Burnley failed to record a shot on target for the first time at home this season but the manager was happy with the mentality of his team, despite ruing the goals conceded.

They are very strong, tactically, technically and with game knowledge, Dyche said. We huffed and puffed and stuck at it.

They scored two poor goals from our point of view, we have to make a foul on the first one.

We stuck at it. I am pleased with the mentality of the second half. The…

Arsenal are in advanced talks with Real Madrid over another season-long loan for Dani Ceballos, according to Sky Sports reporter Dharmesh Sheth.

The 23-year-old midfielder spent the 2019/20 with the Gunners and after a decent enough start, he had a rocky period around the middle of the campaign before establishing himself as an important part of the team under Mikel Arteta towards its end.

Apparently, the confidence that Ceballos will be wearing the Arsenal shirt in 2020/21 as well is increasing. Arteta openly declared his wish to have the Spaniard in his ranks again, as well as the player himself wanted to remain in north London.

Real currently have 33 players in their squad and they re working on trimming it down. Apart from Ceballos, they could soon part ways…

Xavi knows he must deliver success at Barcelona to keep his job but insists: I m not going to hide.

The Blaugrana have endured a miserable week, drawing 3-3 with Inter in the Champions League and then losing 3-1 at Real Madrid in the Clasico.

Barca are now relying on favours to advance in Europe and have been knocked off top spot in LaLiga.

Still, coach Xavi is not changing his outlook, reiterating on Wednesday the goal is to win titles .

That is the expectation within the club, and Xavi knows the consequences for failure – although he was amused by the number of messages he received after Sunday s result.

I think we ve made a team to win titles, he said ahead of Thursday s game against Villarreal.

I am excited, people give me encoura…

Aston Villa could be set to part with goalkeeper Brad Friedel in the January transfer window. The USA keeper’s contract expires in the summer.

He has now suspended talks over a new deal after admitting he would be willing to leave the Midlands club if they could find a replacement.

Veteran

At 39 years old he knows that he is not getting any younger and maybe he feels that he should leave the Premier league while still in decent shape.

Goalkeepers are famous for having longer careers than outfield players and Friedel is in good company.

The likes of goalkeeping greats Neville Southall, Dino Zoff and Peter Shilton played at the highest level when approaching their forties or even into their forties. Friedel hasn’t been in the best of form this …

Julio Falcioni has pledged to return Boca Juniors to the place they deserve upon being officially unveiled as the club s new manager.

Falcioni replaces Claudio Borghi at the helm of the Argentinian Primera Division club after the latter resigned following Boca s 1-0 loss to bitter rivals River Plate on November 17.

A giant of South American football, Boca have been Argentina champions 23 times, won the Copa Libertadores on six occasions and taken out the Copa Sudamericana twice.

But the Buenos Aires club has not won domestic honours since 2008, and finished a lowly 11th in the 2010/11 Apertura.

Falcioni joins after leaving league rivals Atletico Banfield, who he led to the 2009 Apertura title.

The 55-year-old is immediately seeking the support of…

Xavi believes Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti and Juventus forward Paulo Dybala have Barcelona DNA and are destined to end up at Camp Nou at some stage in the future.

Verratti is seen as Andrea Pirlo s heir with the Italian national team and has been PSG s premier playmaker since joining from Pescara in 2012.

Dybala, meanwhile, has been one of Juventus undisputed star men this term, scoring 13 Serie A goals and assisting eight more as Massimilano Allegri s side have put together a club-record 14-game winning run to launch themselves into contention for a fifth-straight Scudetto.

Xavi is thoroughly impressed by the duo and feels they would both be a great fit for Barca.

There are two players out there who I really like and who I think have B…

Manchester City full-back Pablo Zabaleta hailed the team s spine after they virtually sealed the club s first Champions League quarter-final appearance on Wednesday.

Joe Hart, Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure, David Silva and Sergio Aguero were crucial to City s 3-1 win over Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine in the first leg of their last-16 tie.

Zabaleta said the win only served to underline the quintet s importance to the squad.

Those players are like the spine of the team, he said.

Joe Hart, David Silva, Kompany, Yaya, Sergio they are the main players of this team.

Vinny has been out for long periods, Silva the same, we lost Aguero with a bad injury too.

It s great they are all back and you need your best players in their best form if you’re goi…