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The Nigerian sports administrator lost his appeal last week against a ban from all football-related activities for three years plus a 10,000 Swiss franc ($10,450) fine and will now take

World Player of the Year Messi was compared to Real great Di Stefano by Atletico Madrid coach Quique Sanchez Flores on Saturday after the Argentina forward netted his fourth hat-trick

United’s 29-match unbeaten league was halted by bottom clubWolverhampton Wandererswho claimed a deserved 2-1 victory at Molineux, although the damage was minimised byArsenal’s astonishing capitulation in a 4-4 draw atNewcastle

The Naples club, who won their only two Italian titles in 1987 and 1990 thanks to the magic of Diego Maradona, could have profited fromMilan’s 0-0 draw withLazioon Tuesday but

At the other end of the table, Joe Cole struck in stoppage-time to earnLiverpoola much-needed 2-1 victory overBolton Wanderers. United were well below their best but triumphed 2-1 at West

Earlier Mario Balotelli hit a hat-trick, including two penalties, to helpManchester CitybeatAston Villa4-0 and briefly reach the pinnacle. United looked on course to leapfrog them with a two-point cushion after

Goals from Alex Song, Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott in a nine-minute spell either side of half-time condemned Carlo Ancelotti’s team to another defeat and they have now managed just

With just one league win since October, the champions have slipped to fourth in the standings but they are only six points behind leaders Manchester United after 17 games before

France striker Benzema is profiting from the absence through injury of first-choice centre forward Gonzalo Higuain and followed up on his Champions League triple against Auxerre on December 8 with

Hoffenheimeased pastBorussia Moenchengladbach2-0 with goals to Iceland’s Gylfi Sigurdsson and striker Demba Ba. Schalke, who have won their last three league games after a bad start and qualified top of