Messi´s Roma goal wins UEFA award
Lionel Messi has won the UEFA Goal of the Season award for a brilliantly worked strike against Roma in the Champions League. The Barcelona star exchanged slick passes with Neymar and Luis Suarez before dinking an inch-perfect finish past goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny in a 6-1 victory over the Serie A side at Camp Nou last November.
No Barca bid for Mariano, insist Sevilla
Sevilla chairman Jose Castro says Barcelona have not made an offer for defender Mariano but confirmed the club will consider selling Yevhen Konoplyanka for the right price. Barcelona saw Dani Alves leave for Juventus on a free transfer in the off-season, prompting suggestions they might seek to recruit another Brazilian right-back from Sevilla in the form of Mariano.
Napoli pledge funds to earthquake victims
Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis will donate a portion of Saturday’s gate receipts from their home match against AC Milan to the earthquake victims of central Italy. On Wednesday, a quake registering 6.2 on the Richter scale hit the mountainous region of the country 100 kilometres north-east of Rome. At least 247 people were killed by the damage caused as buildings collapsed in the towns of Amatrice, Accumoli and Pescara del Tronto.
Torres agrees Porto return
Atletico Madrid midfielder Oliver Torres has returned to Porto for a second spell on loan until December 31, 2017. The 21-year-old spent the 2014-15 campaign with the Primeira Liga outfit scoring seven goals in 26 league appearance as Porto finished runners-up behind Benfica. He returned to Atletico last term but struggled to hold down a regular starting spot under Diego Simeone.
