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Cristiano Ronaldo is already in Turin having dinner with Juventus directors and agent Jorge Mendes ahead of tomorrow’s medical. In an effort to avoid crowds or reporters, the Real Madrid star flew in to Turin’s Caselle airport with a private jet during the World Cup Final. He was accompanied by his mother Maria Dolores, girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez and son Cristiano Junior. They then went to La Mandria, where he will be staying tonight ahead of the medical at the J-Centre on Monday morning. Ronaldo had dinner with agent Jorge Mendes, Juve director general Giuseppe Marotta, director of sport Fabio Paratici and Vice-President Pavel Nedved. La Mandria is a large park, some of which is closed off to the public and reserved only for residents. This has prompted some to report Ronaldo has chosen to live in one of these luxury homes overlooking the park. Part of it is a golf course and they had dinner at the Golf Club restaurant. Ronaldo will have his medical tomorrow morning and hold a pr...

It’s official, William Carvalho has joined Real Betis. The Portuguese midfielder, who was wanted by the likes of Arsenal, Man. Utd. and Inter Milan has joined Real Betis. The 26-year-old midfielder recently terminated his contract with former club Sporting Lisbon, from the Portuguese Liga NOS, after an attack on Lisbon’s training centre in May by a group of ultras. They trashed the centre and attacked players and staff, in violent protest against the club’s chairman, who has since been replaced. In retaliation to the attack, Carvalho, alongside Gelson Martins, Bas Dost, Rui Patricio and others, terminated their contracts, making them available on free transfers. Carvalho was wanted by a number of clubs, yet has agreed a deal to move to Betis. The club announced the signing in a hilarious way as, because Carvalho is currently on vacation still, they photoshopped an image of him alongside defender Marc Bartra. View image on Twitter Real Betis Balompié ✔ @RealBetis ...

Manchester United have reportedly been given the chance to match Juventus's offer for Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. Reports in the Spanish press emerged this week suggesting that the Portugal international is on his way to Juve in a £106m deal. The 33-year-old, who has scored 450 goals in 438 games for European champions Madrid, will supposedly be paid wages of £500,000 a week in the Italian capital. In a potential twist, however, The Sun reports that United could yet table an identical bid of their own, giving the five-time Ballon d'Or winner a chance to return to Old Trafford. Ronaldo is said to have grown disillusioned at the Bernabeu after nine years with the club, offering his biggest hint yet after May's Champions League success  that he will move on this summer.

Summer signing Diogo Dalot will reportedly be included in Manchester United’s upcoming pre-season tour after being taken off crutches. It was to be expected anyway. The injury previously reported was not said to be serious, with the 19-year-old completing his medical with the Reds last month. The knock to his knee was sustained during his final weeks at former club FC Porto. According to The Sun, Jose Mourinho will now bring the Portugal Under-21 international on United’s pre-season tour of America.Dalot, who cost United £19 million, has been using the crutches to get around until now. The Sun also quote an Old Trafford source as saying: “Dalot is now off his crutches and can take part in pre-season when it starts. He has been making solid progress and the conditioning team will take a closer look when he returns later next week. “There aren’t any worries about his future fitness. It was just one of those injuries, hence no worries with the medical.” It remains to be seen whether Dal...

Paul Pogba and Lionel Messi take centre stage as the World Cup shifts into high gear at the weekend with the start of the knockout matches in the loaded top half of the draw. Football heavyweights France, Argentina, Portugal and Brazil are all clustered in one section of the competition, with only Spain among recent winners in the other half. The unbalanced nature of the knockout phase increases the chances of an unlikely team reaching the semi-finals -- and of the big guns cancelling each other out. That scenario sparked debate ahead of Thursday's England-Belgium group match -- was it better to win and enter the tougher side of the draw or lose and face potentially easier fixtures down the line? In the event, third-ranked Belgium won 1-0, adding even more firepower to the top half, while if England can get past Colombia they will fancy their chances of reaching a potential semi-final against 2010 winners Spain. The first phase in Russia featured just one goalless draw an...

Bests of all time Victory in football's biggest tournament would play a huge role for either player's legacy, particularly in the long-term, and it looks incredibly likely that the 2018 edition will be the final attempt for both men. As a result, there was always going to keen interest in exactly how Ronaldo and Messi fare. And, well, three games in and their form is diametrically opposed. Ronaldo is in the running for the Golden Boot after scoring four goals in his opening two fixtures, including a stunning hat-trick against a hotly fancied Spain team. MESSI VS RONALDO DEBATE Meanwhile, Messi just found the back of the net in Russia only in his last outing vs Nigeria and missed a vital penalty in the 1-1 draw with Iceland. These developments led to a spike in support for Ronaldo to be considered the greatest of all time, with this summer exemplifying his brilliant form over the last few years. BALAGUE has some answers One of the most interesting tweets, t...

spain celebrates Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal and 2010 winners Spain progressed to the World Cup knockout rounds on a Monday night of high drama dominated by VAR decisions, as Uruguay pipped Russia to top spot in their group. Spain ended up topping Group B by virtue of goals scored after an injury-time strike by Iago Aspas -- confirmed by the video assistant referee -- rescued a 2-2 draw against Morocco in Kaliningrad and will take on the host nation in Moscow on Sunday. Portugal, who finished level with Spain on five points, conceded a late penalty as Iran drew level at 1-1 and faced a heart-stopping moment as Mehdi Taremi put a shot inches wide -- a goal that would have sent the European champions crashing out. Ronaldo was at the heart of a series of VAR incidents in Saransk. First he had a penalty saved by Ali Beiranvand and was later saved by a review as Iran's players called for him to be sent off following an incident with Morteza Pouraliganji. Furious Iran coa...

Unhappy ronaldo It could have been worse if not for Ricardo Quaresma, who started for the first time in the tournament and scored his maiden World Cup goal with a shot that had about as much flare as any in the tournament. Portugal finished second in Group B after a 1-1 draw with Iran on Monday. The 2016 European champions will next face Uruguay on Saturday in the round of 16. "The conclusion and the most important thing is we're going to continue playing," Portugal coach Fernando Santos said. "We had a strong opponent." Quaresma became the only player other than Ronaldo to score for the Portuguese in three games in Russia. The 34-year-old midfielder also became Portugal's oldest scorer in World Cup play by hitting a curling shot from the edge of the penalty area that went beyond the reach of diving Iran goalkeeper Ali Beiranvand. Ronaldo — who had scored all four Portugal goals in its first two games of Group B play — was denied on his pena...

Ronaldo escapes red as VAR fumbles Carlos Queiroz lashed out at Fifa and the VAR system after his Iran team’s 1-1 draw with Portugal and elimination from the World Cup, suggesting the referee could have received instructions not to send off Cristiano Ronaldo during a VAR review for an elbow late in the game. “You stop the game for VAR, there is an elbow. Elbow. Elbow is a red card in the rules, the rules doesn’t say if it’s Messi or Ronaldo,” said Iran’s Portuguese coach of the incident that floored Morteza Pouraliganji. He implied the referee could have been told to be lenient because Ronaldo is such a big name: “I don’t know if it was this but we have the right to know,” he said. He suggested that for VAR to work properly, coaches and fans should be able to hear the communication between the referee and the video assistants, as in rugby, addressing his idea to Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president. World Cup 2018: Iran close to stunning Portugal but Quaresma goal enough for draw ...

C ronaldo celebrates Lionel Messi does not have the same leadership qualities as Cristiano Ronaldo, according to former Barcelona player Emmanuel Petit. Messi has struggled to make an impact so far at Russia 2018, with Argentina on the brink of an early World Cup exit following their humiliating 3-0 defeat to Croatia on Friday. Whereas Ronaldo netted a hat-trick in Portugal's 3-3 draw with Spain before scoring their winner against Morocco, Messi has floundered in front of goal - missing a penalty against Iceland before putting in an underwhelming display in Nizhny Novgorod. Jorge Sampaoli's side must now beat Nigeria to stand a chance of qualifying, although they could still miss out should Iceland manage an unlikely victory over Croatia, and Petit - a World Cup winner with France in 1998 - insists Messi must shoulder some of the blame. "He's not a leader. He's no Ronaldo in that regard. Messi is one of the best players ever, but he needs to show that mentali...