Tottenham Hotspur say next week’s clash with Monaco will be played in front of the highest attendance for a Champions League game in England, with more than 80,000 tickets sold.
The London club are using Wembley Stadium for their second Champions League campaign as their White Hart Lane ground has a reduced capacity owing to work on an adjacent new stadium.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy said: “This is going to be the best attended Champions League home game in Britain ever – what a way for us to mark our return to the competition.”
Arsenal also used Wembley for Champions League home matches in 1998 and 1999, attracting crowds of 70,000.
Rostov gets partial stadium ban
Russian club Rostov have been hit with a partial stadium closure for their next home Champions League match against PSV Eindhoven later this month.
UEFA’s Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body found the club’s supporters guilty of racism during the second leg of their Champions League play-off against Ajax on August 24.
A total of 1,500 seats in the East Stand at the Olimp 2 Stadium will be closed during the match on Sept. 28 as part of the sanction.
Cellino buys more Leeds Utd shares
Leeds United’s ownership model has changed with the club announcing that Gulf Finance House no longer owns shares.
GFH bought Leeds from Ken Bates in 2012 before selling a majority stake to current owner Massimo Cellino in 2014.
In a statement, Leeds United announced the company Cellino operated under, Eleonora Sport, has purchased GFH’s shares for 100 per cent ownership.
The move gives weight to the club being taken over in the coming weeks, as per recent reports.
A consortium fronted by Italian Andrea Radrizzani has been named as a potential buyer.
Benteke brothers
Alan Pardew has revealed Jonathan Benteke, 21, is in contention to make his Crystal Palace debut today at Middlesbrough.
The little-known striker arrived at the club from Zulte Waregem for a nominal fee shortly after his older brother Christian became Crystal Palace’s club record signing for £27.5m.
Christian Benteke is expected to start the Middlesbrough game, setting up the possibility of the brothers playing together at some stage.
“I will be taking Jonathan this weekend,” said Pardew.
“He is a young striker with natural talent, and they are not easy to find. This (transfer) was be-cause of Christian, he highlighted him to us.”
Donovan comes out of retirement
Former United States striker Landon Donovan has come out of retirement to re-sign for the LA Galaxy.
Donovan is Major League Soccer’s all-time record scorer, with 144 goals, and stepped away from the game at the end of the 2014 season after helping the Galaxy land their fifth MLS Cup.
Now 34, Donovan is in contention to make his return for Bruce Arena’s side in tomorrow’s match against Orlando City.
Donovan said: “An opportunity opened up and after discussing it with those close to me, it felt like the right decision to return to a club that has meant so much to me.”
Donovan has previously had spells in Europe playing for Bayer Leverkusen, Everton and Bayern Munich.
Rodriguez says God wanted him to stay
Wolfsburg left-back Ricardo Rodriguez believes he was fated to miss out on a summer move.
The Switzerland international was linked with an array of clubs, including Arsenal, Manchester City and Barcelona, but nobody came in to match the asking price of €25 million.
The 24-year-old said: “I guess it was just meant to be this way. God wanted it this way.
“You just need the right timing for a transfer and it’s a fact that during this transfer window, there were hardly any transfers of players in my position.”
Injured Remy to return to Chelsea
Loic Remy has left Crystal Palace to return to parent club Chelsea after sustaining a thigh injury during a training session.
Remy, who is yet to feature in the Premier League this season, is expected to be on the sidelines for “a number of weeks”, Crystal Palace said.
He joined Crystal Palace on a season-long loan from Chelsea during the transfer window and manager Alan Pardew said the striker had a scan this week to assess his injury.
“It is obviously a blow for the player and for us as a squad, he has just joined us and we were hoping he would play a big part in the team moving forward,” Pardew said.