Real Madrid to tour United States

Fulham moved just one point behind Championship leaders West Bromwich Albion after securing back-to-back victories with a 1-0 win over Blackburn Rovers.

Fellow promotion hopefuls Nottingham Forest are just one point further back in fourth after they condemned Leeds United to a second straight defeat.

In-form Brentford sit fifth after a thrilling win over Middlesbrough and Preston North End, who complete the top six, won 2-1 at Wigan Athletic.

Elsewhere there were victories for Huddersfield Town, Derby County, Cardiff City and Stoke City, while Barnsley drew 1-1 in their Yorkshire derby with Sheffield Wednesday and Reading were held by the same scoreline at home against Hull City.
 

CALAMITOUS CASILLA AT FAULT AS LEEDS LOSE AGAIN

Kiko Casilla m…

He is unlikely to be impressed

After scoring two goals in England’s win over Belarus and helping his Tottenham team to victory over his old club Portsmouth you could forgive Peter Crouch for feeling pretty pleased with himself. In fact, you could probably forgive him having a couple of glasses of wine with his mates and celebrating the fact that life is looking pretty good.

Disciplinarian

Of course, knowing that England manager Fabio Capello is a hard-line disciplinarian and has gone on record to say that he expects England players to be role models and to avoid alcohol and nightclubs, he wouldn’t be daft enough to get himself photographed at a nightclub, looking the worse for wear, in the early hours of the morning.

On to…

Still one of the best

I have long felt that Manchester United and England’s thirty-year old Rio Ferdinand is one of the, if not the, best centre-backs in the world. In his youth he was a wonderful player capable of playing a central midfield role and had as much potential as any youngster of his generation. He also had a mistake in his locker in most of the games he played, which just held him back from being the best.

Errors

Over the years, Ferdinand has eliminated those errors and become the defender that he promised to be.

Recently, Ferdinand has been receiving a large amount of criticism. He made a horrendous mistake for United against Manchester City which very nearly cost his side two points, his hesitation and error for England against Ukrain…

Chris Coleman has talked up Wales and Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey by claiming he could walk into any team in world football.

The 25-year-old will return for Wales in their World Cup qualifier against Serbia on Saturday, playing his first game for his country since their Euro 2016 quarter-final win over Belgium.

Gareth Bale may be the headline act in Coleman s side, but the manager insists Ramsey has the ability to play for any club he wants.

Because I ve seen him up close, in a tournament, I ve seen the level he s at, he could play for anybody, said Coleman.

There s not a team on the planet he couldn t play for when he s at his best.

That s not a biased opinion because I m a Welshman and we all love Rambo  I m looking at it clinically.

…

Brendan Rodgers believes Mario Balotelli was right to brand him the worst coach he has worked under during his colourful career.

Rodgers brought Balotelli to Liverpool from AC Milan in August 2014 but the Italy international rarely got close to his best form and returned to San Siro on loan after a season and a solitary Premier League goal for the Anfield club.

Rodgers is now in charge of Celtic and, as Balotelli finds himself back among the goals at Nice in Ligue 1, he hopes the 26-year-old former Manchester City and Inter star might still realise his potential.

Asked about the striker s comments, Rodgers told talkSPORT: He was probably absolutely spot on. I just couldn’t really connect with Mario.

He was one that came in very late in the window. It w…

Kylian Mbappe claimed he was acting with the support of his France team-mates after prevailing in an image rights dispute with the French Football Federation (FFF).

Paris Saint-Germain striker Mbappe had been involved in a disagreement with the FFF since March, when he refused to show up to a photo shoot organised for the French men s team.

Mbappe desired greater control of his image rights to avoid being associated with certain brands, and pledged to continue his refusal to engage in sponsorship activities after meeting up with Les Bleus for their Nations League fixtures this month.

After a meeting of FFF officials, the governing body said it would work on the outlines of a new agreement concerning players image rights on Tuesday.  

Speaking after open…