Barcelona will return to the National Football Centre at St George’s Park for a training camp this summer.
Barcelona, who are chasing a domestic double of Primera Division and Copa del Rey titles in the coming weeks, will be based at the Staffordshire complex bet-ween July 25-30.
The Spanish giants already used the £105m facility in 2014.
After five days at St George’s Park – home to England’s 24 national teams – Barcelona will travel to Dublin for their opening pre-season friendly against Celtic on July 30.
Players vote Ibra as Ligue 1’s best
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was named the Ligue 1 Player of the Year, after he won the vote of his fellow professionals in the French game for the third time in the last four years.
The 34-year-old Swede becomes the first man ever to win the UNFP award three times after another stellar season in which the Paris St Germain striker was the league’s top marksman, scoring 35 goals in 29 games.
Ibrahimovic, whose contract ends this summer, previously won the award in 2013 and 2014, but lost out to Lyon striker Ale-xandre Lacazette last season.
Robbie Keane back with a bang
Robbie Keane was firing on all cylinders on his return from knee surgery on Sunday, the Irish international scoring twice to help lead Los Angeles Galaxy to a 4-2 victory over New England Revolution in their Major League Soccer showdown.
Two months after undergoing a right knee procedure, the 35-year-old Keane combined well with team-mate Gyasi Zardes to give the Galaxy plenty of optimism moving forward.
Los Angeles (5-1-3) are now undefeated in seven games and are riding high with their veteran striker back to lead the attack.
Klopp backtracks
Manager Juergen Klopp has backtracked on his call for Liverpool fans without tickets to head to Basel for the Europa League final against Sevilla on May 18, and said he regretted making the statement.
Liverpool have been allocated around 10,000 tickets for the final in Switzerland but Klopp urged fans to turn up anyway, prompting UEFA to warn supporters without tickets to stay away from the stadium.
Klopp said: “Last time I spoke about Basel, I spoke like a supporter and I invited all Liverpool fans to Basel.
“That was not too smart, to be honest. Basel is a nice city but it is not ready for us and it was my mistake. Please only people with tickets go there because everything else will be chaos and we don’t want this.”
Ranieri warns Europe’s elite
Fresh from winning the Premier League, Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri has warned Europe’s top clubs not to underestimate his team’s chances in the Champions League.
Leicester, who started the season as 5,000-1 outsiders, were crowned English champions for the first time last week and will go head-to-head with the continent’s elite next season.
“They will want to play against us because we are in Europe for the first time and they think we are underdogs,” the Italian said.
“We are underdogs but we are dangerous. Underdogs can be dangerous teams.”
Afif – first Qatari in Spain’s La Liga
A 19-year-old striker from Qatar who was signed by Spanish club Villarreal yesterday is set to become the first player from his country to play in La Liga.
The transfer of Akram Afif was confirmed by Qatari club Al Sadd, where former Barcelona midfielder Xavi plays.
Having a Qatari national ap-pear in one of Europe’s strongest leagues is seen as a boon for the Gulf country that has spent millions of dollars developing young players as it prepares to host the 2022 World Cup.
Doha-born Afif had been on loan since 2015 to a Qatari-owned team in Belgium’s second division, Kas Eupen, where he scored six goals in 16 appearances.
West Ham sell all season tickets
West Ham United have sold out of season tickets ahead of next season’s move to London’s Olympic Stadium, the Premier League club said yesterday.
Having sold more than 50,000 tickets for the 60,000-seater stadium, West Ham can boast of having more season ticket holders than any other London club and the highest percentage of permanent ticket holders in England’s top flight.
“Having made the bold decision to move to the former Olympic Stadium, we are delighted to see how it has captured the imagination of the Hammers fan base,” club vice-chairman Karren Brady said.