Sports

Goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who has never won a match with Real Madrid at Deportivo La Coruna s El Riazor stadium, hopes to break this curse when he plays for Spain there on Saturday in a World Cup qualifier against Belgium.

I have never managed to win here but we hope to break this curse with the national squad. After when I come with Real Madrid it will be another story, he told a news conference in La Coruna on Friday on the eve of the match.

Meanwhile, Valencia striker David Villa, the top scorer at the Euro 2008 championship which Spain won, said he hoped to put an end to a three-match goalless streak with the Spanish national team on Saturday.

I am proud to see that people think it is strange that I have not scored during three matches. I hope to score on …

European champions Spain qualified for the 2010 World Cup with two games to spare with goals from Cesc Fabregas, Santi Cazorla and Juan Mata sealing a 3-0 win over Estonia in Merida on Wednesday.

Bosnia Herzegovina s 1-1 draw with Turkey earlier on Wednesday meant Spain could book their ticket to South Africa with victory and they didn t disappoint reeling off an eighth successive win to reach the finals.

Arsenal captain Fabregas scored only his third international goal on 33 minutes to give Spain the lead and substitutes Cazorla and Mata scored late on.

We have eight wins in eight and not many teams have managed that, said goalscorer Fabregas. We can be very proud of what we have done and it gives us a lot of confidence for the upcoming games and the World Cup…

Inter in fresh assault on Lavezzi

that Inter Milan are readying a January bid for long-term target Ezequiel Lavezzi.

The Nerazzurri are expected to spend heavily in January having recently appointed Roberto Mancini as their head coach, and the Argentine is one of the players they are looking at.

With Rodrigo Palacio misfiring at the moment, Mancini believes Ezequiel Lavezzi would be a perfect attacking partner for hotshot Mauro Icardi.

And with the forward s deal at Parc des Princes due to expire in just over a year and a half, Inter are confident they can get their man at a reasonable price in the winter.

According to the latest reports, both Liverpool and Tottenham are keen on Lavezzi as well, and they might decide to act in the upcoming trans…

Jurgen Klopp s agent says his client will not be taking over at Marseille, despite the Ligue 1 club s interest in appointing the former Borussia Dortmund coach.

The start of Marseille s season was thrown into chaos on Saturday when Marcelo Bielsa resigned following defeat to Caen on the opening weekend of the French top flight.

Bielsa s future at the club had been uncertain but, following his departure, Klopp was touted as a potential replacement.

The German enjoyed seven successful years at Signal Iduna Park before departing at the end of last season, with a poll from French newspaper L Equipe this week showing him as many people s ideal choice to replace Bielsa.

However, Klopp s agent Marc Kosicke told Bild: Marseille has expressed great interest, but f…

Hertha Berlin have announced the signing of forward Dodi Lukebakio from Watford in a reported club-record deal.

Lukebakio is said to have cost the Bundesliga side €20million (£18.3m), surpassing the fee of €8.5m spent on Davie Selke two years ago.

The Belgium Under-21 star, capable of playing anywhere across the front line, returns to Germany on a long-term contract after impressing on loan at Fortuna Dusseldorf last season.

Upon joining Hertha, Lukebakio said: Hertha are a big club in Germany and showed a lot of interest in me. I knew very quickly that I wanted to join the club.

I want to play a lot of football here and score loads of goals.

Lukebakio played just 15 minutes for Watford after joining from Anderlecht in January 2018, but h…

Kyle Walker conceded he is still learning on the job as England s right-sided centre-back at the World Cup after coming in for criticism from Rio Ferdinand.

An attacking full-back by trade, Walker has largely impressed since switching to the position for the Three Lions March friendlies against Netherlands and Italy.

But he gave away a penalty for Tunisia s equaliser in England s eventual 2-1 Group G win in Volgograd, with Ferdinand describing Walker s body positioning as criminal .

It s a new position for me, of course I m still learning, the Manchester City defender told reporters.

I ve got great people next to me and the gaffer [Gareth Southgate] as well, who s watching coaching me and making sure I know certain tips in key areas when I m playing in …

Rubin Kazan have won the Russian championship for the second time in a row. A goalless draw with Zenit St Petersburg was enough for the defending champions to retain their crown.

Spartak Moscow could have taken advantage of Rubin s draw to reduce the gap to just two points with one game to go, but instead suffered a 2-3 defeat to the hands of local rivals CSKA Moscow.

As such, Rubin s lead over Spartak now stands at five points and with next week s fixtures still to go, the Kazan outfit are already certain of their second Russian title.

Rubin have formed part of the Russian top flight since 2003, and have never finished lower than tenth place since. In 2008, they won their first championship.

Next week, Rubin finish their season at Kuban Krasnodar.

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Struggling Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart on Sunday sacked coach Markus Babbel just days before their crucial Champions League clash, according to a report by German daily Bild.

Bild.de report the 37-year-old was sacked less than 24 hours after his side drew 1-1 with Bochum which left them third from the bottom of the German league with just two wins to their credit all season with 12 points from 15 games.

Ironically, Stuttgart still have the chance to reach the knock-out stages of the Champions League if they beat Romanian champions Unirea Urziceni at home on Wednesday.

After Saturday s draw, a group of several thousand angry Stuttgart fans, demanding Babbel s resignation, squared off with police wearing riot gear outside Stuttgart s Mercedes-Benz Arena.