Al Hilal progressed to the AFC Champions League s last four after a goalless draw at Al Sadd gave them a 1-0 aggregate win.

The Saudi Arabia outfit hit the road with a slender lead thanks to Salman Al Faraj s fine finish in the first leg.

And they withstood late pressure from their Qatari opponents to book a spot in the competition s semi-finals, where they will play Al Ittihad or Al Ain.

Al Sadd will rue their luck, though, after Saleh Al Yazidi hit the post just three minutes from time.

His left-foot shot beat Al Hilal goalkeeper Abdullah Al Sudairy, but came back off the upright as Al Yazidi – who headed straight at the keeper only moments earlier – was again denied.

Al Sadd dominated first-half possession, but struggled to convert it into …

Karim Benzema s lawyer has claimed a great victory after France s Court of Cassation ruled in his favour in a blackmail case involving him and former international colleague Mathieu Valbuena.

Benzema was charged by police in 2015 in connection to an alleged blackmail attempt targeting Valbuena with a sex tape, a case which is yet to go to trial.

The Real Madrid star has been exiled from France s national team since the incident, and missed out on a place at Euro 2016 on home soil as a result.

Benzema saw an appeal against the charges rejected in December last year, but the Court of Cassation France s court of final appeals in civil and criminal proceedings has backed him.

Defence for Benzema argued that police acted dishonestly as an undercover officer po…

Bacary Sagna says Manchester City remain confident they can win the Premier League title as they prepare to face Norwich City at Carrow Road on Saturday.

Manuel Pellegrini s side are 10 points behind leaders Leicester City, but recorded a comfortable 4-0 win over Aston Villa last weekend and still hold a game in hand over the rest of the top four.

City famously claimed their first Premier League title in 2012 despite sitting eight points behind leaders Manchester United with just six games to play, and a late run of form saw them overhaul Liverpool and Chelsea in their last victorious campaign in 2013-14.

And Sagna sees no reason why they cannot repeat the feat over their final 10 matches this term as they look to sustain their fearsome form at Carrow Road, wher…

Roy Hodgson s decision to recall Jordan Ayew paid dividends at Molineux on Wednesday as the striker scored in Crystal Palace s 2-0 win over Wolves.

Palace have struggled in front of goal this season and it looked as though they would fail to score in a Premier League game for the 10th time this season until Ayew lashed home his first goal for the club with seven minutes remaining.

Captain Luka Milivojevic doubled their tally in stoppage time to complete the victory after Wilfried Zaha had been felled by Ryan Bennett.

For Wolves it is back down to earth with a bump after their win over Tottenham on Saturday, Nuno Espirito Santo s side falling to a fifth home defeat of the campaign.

What a win!

— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC)

After an ent…

According to a recent report from Marca, Premier League side Arsenal are interested in the possibility of signing Luka Jovic from Benfica. The 21 year old forward has been with the Portuguese club since back in 2016, when he made the jump over from Red Star Belgrade. Jovic is also a Serbian international, having appeared for his country at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The Gunners already have a series of high profile forwards in their ranks, but it can never hurt to look around and see what else is out there. Jovic has had a fantastic scoring record for Eintracht Frankfurt throughout the course of the season, with the report suggesting that Arsenal are keeping a very close eye on him.

It’s unlikely that he’d be anything more than a back up at this moment in time courtes…

Raul Ruidiaz converted from the spot in the second half to give Seattle Sounders a 1-1 draw with LA Galaxy in MLS action Monday. 

LA s Oniel Fisher brought down Cristian Roldan in the penalty area in the 49th minute and Ruidiaz beat goalkeeper Jonathan Bond with a Panenka on the spot kick.

That equaliser put Seattle back on top of the Western Conference table on 59 points, one ahead of Sporting Kansas City and Colorado Rapids, while the Galaxy moved up a spot to sixth with the point.

LA had taken the lead in the 19th minute on Javier Chicharito Hernandez s 15th goal of the season, the Mexican star flicking the ball past Stefan Frei with the outside of his right foot. 

Cheeky, Chicha.

What a finish for the opener in Seattle!

— Major …

Pedri and Unai Simon were among a group of six Spain stars at Euro 2020 who received an Olympic Games call-up on Tuesday.

Spain Under-21 head coach Luis de la Fuente, who will take charge of the Olympic team in Tokyo, announced a 22-man list that must be trimmed to 18 for the tournament.

Teenage Barcelona midfielder Pedri has been one of the standout figures in Luis Enrique s Spain team at the European Championship, while Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper Simon got away with a huge mistake in the last-16 game against Croatia, when he conceded an own goal before Spain roared back to earn a 5-3 win.

He carelessly failed to deal with Pedri s back pass and the ball rolled into the net.

They were joined on De la Fuente s squad list by senior Spain colleagues Eric Ga…

Nigeria Premier League club Bayelsa United have announced the death of Aruwa Ameh after suffering from paralysis in a Kaduna hospital.

The 20-year-old striker, who was top scorer in the league in the 2007 season with Kaduna United, moved to Bayela United where he won the league title in 2008.

Ameh passed away while receiving treatment at a hospital in the north western city of Nigeria.

He was admitted to hospital after complaining of pain in his arm after a training session last week.

We are shocked, club chairman Victor Baribote told KickOffNigeria.com.

I have asked the family to keep us informed about the plans they are making, and we will try to be involved as much as possible.

I spoke to him just last week when I was trying to ex…

Manchester United legend Roy Keane has revealed that his professional relationship with manager Sir Alex Ferguson has broken down.

The 40-year-old passed up the opportunity to be part of a celebration of Ferguson s 25th anniversary at Old Trafford, after claiming he was on the receiving end of a legal threat from the club back in 2008.

The way it (my United career) ended, the legal letter, I couldn t have gone and sat there like everything was great. He (Ferguson) would come and we all stand up and clap, I couldn t have done that, Keane said in an interview with The Sunday Times.

Keane s comments provide some context for the recent verbal sparring between the pair in the media.

The Irishman is currently a football pundit following spells managing Sunde…

Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette sees no reason to leave the Ligue 1 outfit despite interest from some of Europe s biggest clubs.

Reports in the British media have claimed Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal are among the Premier League clubs keen on the French forward, who tops the Ligue 1 scoring table with 17 goals this season.

Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas declared late last month he has no interest in selling Lacazette, who is on contract until June 2018, while the 23-year-old striker is keen to help the seven-time French champions back to the top of the league.

Lyon have not played in the UEFA Champions League since 2011-12 but will qualify again if they maintain their current position of second in Ligue 1, while they have not been crowned champions s…