AC Milan striker Olivier Giroud is determined to roll back the years as he attempts to add another Champions League crown to his collection of honours.

The Frenchman, who will celebrate his 37th birthday in September, picked up a winner’s medal as an unused substitute in Chelsea’s 1-0 final victory over Premier League rivals Manchester City in 2021 and is refusing to allow age to diminish his hunger for future success.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of Wednesday evening’s eagerly-anticipated semi-final clash with neighbours Inter, Giroud said: “Today I’m more motivated than ever.

Fine-tuning before the big day

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Manchester City defender Kyle Walker was hurt by Mauricio Pochettino s reaction to his departure from Tottenham.

Walker swapped Spurs for City at the start of last season in a deal reportedly worth an initial £45million, going on to win the Premier League and EFL Cup in his first campaign under Pep Guardiola.

But the England international, 28, was saddened after Pochettino wrote in his book that he had disrespected his Spurs team-mates by asking to leave towards the end of the 2016-17 season, which ended in a second-place finish. 

As well as disagreeing with Pochettino s account, Walker was also disappointed that his former manager s version of what he felt was a private conversation was made public, even though he remains grateful to the Spurs boss for helpi…

Barcelona boss Xavi hopes retaining the Spanish Super Cup can help his side get their season back on track.

LaLiga champions Barca face 2022-23 Copa del Rey runners-up Osasuna in the semi-final of the competition on Thursday evening in Riyadh.

The Catalan giants travelled to Saudi Arabia sitting third in the league, seven points adrift of both leaders Real Madrid and second-placed Girona.

Xavi: Hopefully we win this title and it helps us get back on track.

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona)

Xavi, who guided Barca to a 3-1 win over fierce rivals Real in the final of last year’s Supercopa de Espana, told a press conference: “We want to find our game again and keep it going.

“We need to play a complete game against a solid side, who hav…

Market: Rochdale win

Odds: 8/11 @

Looking to potential climb to the top of the National League table on Tuesday night, Rochdale will welcome Maidenhead to the Spotland Stadium.

Starting with the hosts, left frustrated last season as they failed to book a play-off ticket, Rochdale have their sights firmly set on a top-seven finish this time around. Opening the 2024/25 campaign with a routine 3-0 romp away at Boston on August 10th, Jimmy McNulty’s men have continued to shine since getting things underway last month. Last seen over the weekend putting in another dominant performance as they secured a 2-0 victory against Aldershot, the Manchester-based outfit will be confident of laying down another early marker here. Signing off August with a stellar 3-0 win at h…

Best odds: 6/5

Bookmaker:

Portugal and Belgium face each other in the final round of the group stage in the ongoing UEFA Euro Under-21 tournament.

A draw could be enough for Belgium, currently second to Georgia, to secure passage into the quarterfinals, but they ll obviously want to go all the way and make sure by booking all three points. For Portugal, who sit bottom of the group behind third-place Netherlands, nothing but victory gives any hope, and even that won t guarantee anything.

Portugal

Despite never winning the European Under-21 Championship, Portugal has reached the final of the competition three times, with their most recent appearance being in 2021, where they lost to Germany.

In the current tournament, Portugal are obviously facing…

Jean-Philippe Mateta s brace, including a stoppage-time penalty, denied Leicester City their first win since returning to the Premier League as Crystal Palace came from behind to draw 2-2.

Jamie Vardy gave the Foxes a first-half lead with a neat finish and just seconds after the restart, Stephy Mavididi capitalised on some poor defending to double the away side s advantage.

Mateta dragged Palace back into the match with his first goal moments later, but Leicester looked set to hang on despite being put under heavy pressure in the second half.

However, Conor Coady fouled Ismaila Sarr in the box and Mateta coolly dispatched his penalty kick to deny Steve Cooper a first league victory as Leicester manager.

Both sides are still searching for their first win a…

Fulham set to sign Raul Jimenez

Fulham are reportedly close to completing the transfer of Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Raul Jimenez for £5.5 million.

The Cottagers are apparently dealing with the situation regarding the future of Aleksandar Mitrovic, their long-serving star frontman, who is very keen to leave the club in light of a chance to join Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia. They re said to have rejected offers for his services already, and Mitrovic is apparently angry about their stance, believing he was being priced out of the market.

But with Jimenez set to join their ranks now, it stands to reason to assume they ll soon be prepared to consider a selling the Serbia international.

Zaha set for Galatasaray switch

Galatasaray are re…

Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has told Paris Saint-Germain to do whatever it takes to keep Neymar.

Neymar, 27, is heavily linked with a move away from the Ligue 1 champions this close season, with a return to Barcelona mooted just two years after his €222million switch.

While the Brazil star staying at PSG would only make Thomas Tuchel s men stronger, Aulas said they needed to keep the forward.

It s embarrassing for Ligue 1 if at one point the TV rights bidding was done with visibility that included Neymar, he told Le Parisien on Wednesday.

He was before at Barca. With a very big cheque, he arrived in Paris. I think PSG have to do what it takes to keep him.

But as president of OL, I am in a bad position to judge.

Lyon have gone th…

Shakhtar Donetsk eased past Basel 4-1 on Tuesday to book an intriguing Europa League semi-final against Inter.

The 2008-09 UEFA Cup winners made light work of their Swiss opponents in Gelsenkirchen after scoring early through Moraes.

Taison doubled Shakhtar s lead and further goals could and perhaps should have followed long before Alan Patrick s penalty made it three as Basel were dominated in the one-legged last-eight tie.

Shakhtar, who got a late fourth through Dodo, will surely now back themselves to at least cause Antonio Conte s Inter problems next week, although this routine victory did little to test their readiness.

Luis Castro s side led after just 100 seconds with the aid of some generous goalkeeping from stand-in Djordje Nikolic.

M…

Liverpool s quadruple hopes remain intact as they beat rivals Manchester City 3-2 to secure their spot in the FA Cup final.

The Reds and City are neck-and-neck in the Premier League and could yet contest the Champions League final, but Saturday s win at Wembley made it advantage Liverpool in their 2021-22 trophies duel.

While City were without Kyle Walker and only had Kevin De Bruyne on the bench due to injury, Liverpool restored several key players to their line-up after a midweek rest and it was evident throughout a first half that the Reds dominated.

Liverpool were 3-0 up by half-time thanks to Ibrahima Konate s early header and a Sadio Mane double, with City goalkeeper Zack Steffen at fault for the Senegal forward s first goal.

Jack Grealish pulled…