Pep Guardiola believes Erling Haaland is a match for Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as a pure goalscorer after the striker netted his 44th goal of the season on Saturday.

Haaland scored twice as Manchester City won 4-1 away at Southampton to move them within five points of Premier League leaders Arsenal, who play Liverpool later in the weekend.

The striker s second, a brilliant acrobatic volley, took him to 44 goals in all competitions in his first season in England, now tied for the most ever by a Premier League player in a single campaign alongside Ruud van Nistelrooy (2002-03) and Mohamed Salah (2017-18).

Of those goals, 30 have come in the league, and Guardiola was full of praise for Haaland after the win, comparing his prolific talisman to two of footbal…

Germany moved to the top of Group D in UEFA Euro 2016 qualification with a convincing 3-1 victory over Poland in Frankfurt.

The World Cup winners were 2-0 up by the 19th minute courtesy of strikes from Bayern Munich duo Thomas Muller and Mario Gotze.

Poland recovered well, with another Bayern man Robert Lewandowski reducing the deficit before the interval with a powerful header.

However, after striking the post, Gotze eventually made sure of the win late on when he tapped home from Muller s rebounded effort.

Northern Ireland moved to within one win of a maiden European Championship finals appearance as they beat the Faroe Islands 3-1.

It looked set to be a frustrating night for Michael O Neill s side after Gareth McAuley s early opener had been …

Roy Hodgson is pleased England s victory over Estonia and the continued 100 per cent record in Euro 2016 qualification has earned them a place in pot one for December s draw.

England made it nine wins from nine thanks to goals from Theo Walcott and Raheem Sterling at Wembley on Friday with a victory over Lithuania on Monday ensuring a perfect campaign.

The seedings for Euro 2016 are based on FIFA rankings and coefficient points and after the victory Hodgson told ITV Sport:   If it s true that this victory will ensure we re seeded for the Euros I think that s important too.

It was as tough as we thought, they were a well-organised team who played quite intelligently.

We had to work hard. We attacked a lot, had the ball and had chances but it was a…

Debutant Laszlo Kleinheisler scored the only goal of the game as Hungary beat Norway 1-0 in Oslo to take a big step towards Euro 2016.

The 21-year-old starred on his senior international bow and netted with a dipping shot midway through an end-to-end first half.

Norway dominated possession after the break but their lack of a proven goalscorer – no one in the squad had more than three goals to their name – showed as they had no cutting edge.

Pal Helland hit the crossbar in the closing stages as the hosts luck deserted them.

The play-off second leg in Budapest on Sunday will now determine who progresses to the tournament in France; with Per-Mathias Hogmo s men knowing anything less than an away victory will see them eliminated.

Norway flew out o…

Sven-Goran Eriksson believes Liverpool and Manchester City are the two best teams in the world and talked up the possibility of the Premier League rivals meeting in this season s Champions League final.

The two teams have led the way in England in recent years, winning each of the last four Premier League titles between them and being the two front-runners again this season.

City sit one point ahead of the Reds at the top of the table, with the two rivals set to meet in a crunch clash at the Etihad Stadium next weekend.

However, while Jurgen Klopp won the 2019 Champions League with Liverpool, Pep Guardiola is yet to taste success in Europe s premier competition with City, despite reaching last season s final.

Speaking exclusively to Stats Perform, Eriksso…

Xavi accepts he played an important part in Gerard Pique deciding to retire after downscaling the defender s first-team role at Barcelona this season.

The head coach revealed he went through some of the most difficult moments of his career when he made the decisions during the off-season that have spurred his former team-mate to quit.

Pique, a Barcelona great who won eight LaLiga titles and the Champions League three times with the club, is set to play his last Camp Nou match on Saturday when Almeria are the visitors.

The 35-year-old will then be available for the match at Osasuna on Tuesday, according to Xavi, but will put a full stop to his playing career after that.

Xavi said coaching friends can make his role unpleasant when big decisions have to be m…

Cameroon forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting is sad for Senegal, Africa and Sadio Mane after his Bayern Munich team-mate was ruled out of the World Cup.

African player of the year Mane was initially expected to feature in Qatar and was named in Senegal s 26-man squad, despite sustaining a leg injury in Bayern s 6-1 win over Werder Bremen on November 8.

But the former Liverpool forward saw his World Cup dreams shattered last Thursday as Senegal confirmed surgery would be required for the 30-year-old s fibula issue, thus ruling him out of the tournament.

Choupo-Moting and Cameroon face Switzerland in Thursday s Group G opener but much of the striker s focus appeared to be with team-mate Mane.

I m very sad for him, and for both Senegal and for Africa. He s a g…

Wembley Stadium will stage an extra four matches during Euro 2020 after UEFA announced Brussels will no longer be used as a venue for the tournament.

Belgium s capital city was due to have three group fixtures and one last-16 tie, but delays over a new stadium forced UEFA s executive committee to make changes to the schedule.

The announcement means London will now host seven games in total, with Wembley already confirmed for the semi-finals and final.

Despite being in the running as alternative options, Cardiff s Principality Stadium and Stockholm s Friends Arena missed out on the chance to replace Brussels.

While the full schedule is still to be confirmed by UEFA, the Stadio Olimpico in Rome will stage the opening game.

Each host nation that …

Verdict: Both teams score

Best odds:

Bookmaker: 

Antwerp host Anderlecht in the derby game of the second round from Jupiler Pro League following a perfect start to this campaign. While both teams won their opening games, a tough contest between the former Belgian champions is expected to occur at Bosuilstadion on Sunday afternoon where over 16, 000 fans are keen to witness the local side s second success.

Antwerp

Antwerp managed to end Clubb Brugge s recent dominance in Belgian s top flight after surprisingly winning the title at the end of 2023. Although the Reds finished the regular season 3rd behind leaders Genk, an excellent run in the championship play-off brought the title to Antwerp. Despite being seen as the underdog in front of Genk and Royal…

Lautaro Martinez struck twice as Inter recovered from two goals down to beat Empoli 4-2 in a thrilling contest and climb above fierce rivals Milan at the top of Serie A.

Empoli had failed to win any of their previous nine away league games yet took the lead inside five minutes at San Siro through Andrea Pinamonti, who is on loan from Inter.

Inter were two goals behind when Kristjan Asllani fired in, but Martinez struck after ex-Milan man Simone Romagnoli had put into his own net to level up before half-time.

Martinez completed the comeback in the 64th minute and Alexis Sanchez added a late fourth as Inter moved one point above Milan, who travel to Hellas Verona on Sunday.

Pinamonti slid in to meet Szymon Zurkowski s cross and give Empoli an early lead,…