Marcel Desailly believes Spain will go down as the greatest national side in history if they claim FIFA World Cup glory in Brazil.

The former defender was part of the France squad that won the World Cup on home soil in 1998, before going on to lift the UEFA European Championships trophy two years later with an extra-time win over Italy in a dramatic final.

Desailly has since seen that achievement bettered by a dominant Spanish outfit, who have won three consecutive major tournaments between 2008 and 2012, playing an attractive, possession-based style of football.

Should they go on and make it four in a row by defending their world title won in South Africa four years ago, Desailly believes they will undoubtedly become the greatest international side of all time.

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Didier Deschamps thanked fans after France landed back in Paris following their cruel World Cup final defeat to Argentina on Sunday.

Les Bleus were looking to become the first team to retain the World Cup since Brazil in 1962, but they were beaten 4-2 on penalties by Argentina after an enthralling 3-3 draw.

Kylian Mbappe s hat-trick helped France recover from 2-0 and then 3-2 down, but Aurelien Tchoumeni and Kingsley Coman failed to convert in the shoot-out as Deschamps men fell to a heartbreaking defeat.

Nevertheless, the team were greeted by a mass crowd as they returned to Paris on Monday, and Deschamps expressed his appreciation for the support after such a crushing loss.

It is our duty with the players to thank all these French men and women who sup…

I for one am not sure which is weirder; the fact that Hatem Ben Arfa is a player, or the fact that believe that he could be the man to salvage their season. Regardless, that is indeed what reports this week have suggested. The Hammers are weighing up either a loan move or a permanent deal, according to , to bring the French international to West London in January.

Newcastle fans may remember Ben Arfa s stunning solo effort against Bolton in 2012, but in three seasons with the Magpies he never managed to score more than five Premier League goals in a campaign. The talent at the Frenchman s disposal is obvious, but his consistency and attitude have often been called into question.

Naturally then, West Ham, who are in free fall this season, are reportedly going to turn t…

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger lauded Theo Walcott as a completely different player after the forward continued his impressive start to the season.

Walcott netted his third Premier League goal of the campaign as Wenger s men claimed a 3-0 win over Chelsea on Saturday.

The England international was hailed by his manager after Arsenal claimed a league win over their London rivals for the first time since October 2011.

You cannot question his performance, Wenger told a news conference.

But I believe more the change in Theo Walcott is his attitude to this season. He s ready to fight, commit and straight away he gets the crowd behind him.

Theo Walcott of that stature is a completely different player.

Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil were also o…

Paris Saint-Germain coach Laurent Blanc feels Lorient s artificial pitch adds an extra element to Friday s Ligue 1 clash between the sides.

Stade du Moustoir boasts a synthetic playing surface and has done since the 2010-11 season after the French Football Federation authorised their use in the top flight in 2009.

And Blanc is wary of the extra pace the pitch adds to matches at Lorient.

Playing on an artificial pitch is a bit different, he said. It makes the play a lot faster.

Lorient s football is based on movement, passes into space, playing the ball on the ground.

Our philosophy is similar to Lorient s, but our formations and tactics are different.

Defending champions PSG are currently eight points clear of second-placed Monaco at the top of Ligue…

Inter defender Stefan de Vrij credited new Juventus signing Cristiano Ronaldo with having a positive impact on Serie A, but rates Kylian Mbappe ahead of him as the best forward he has faced.

Ronaldo joined Juve in a shock transfer in July following nine hugely successful seasons with Real Madrid, with whom he won four Champions League titles.

Many believe Ronaldo s signing is the final piece of the puzzle for Juve in the quest to end their 22-year drought in Europe s elite competition.

The 33-year-old s start in Serie A has been a little slow considering he has not scored in three league outings, though De Vrij does not doubt the impact Ronaldo will have on Italian football.

I confess, at first I did not believe he was coming to Italy, the Dutchman told …

Disgraced former FIFA president Sepp Blatter s appeal against a six-year ban from all football activities has been dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Blatter and his UEFA counterpart Michel Platini were suspended from all football-related activity by FIFA in December 2015 when the adjudicatory chamber of its Ethics Committee ruled a payment of two million Swiss francs, authorised by the Swiss to the former France captain, constituted multiple infringements of the FIFA Code of Ethics.

The FIFA Appeal Committee upheld the Ethics Committee s findings, although it reduced the initial eight-year suspensions to six in light of strong mitigating factors – namely Blatter and Platini s long history of service in football administration.

CAS heard Platini s…

Jurgen Klopp was happy to avoid extra time after Liverpool edged a tight FA Cup third-round replay 1-0 at Plymouth Argyle at Home Park on Wednesday.

Lucas Leiva s first goal since September 2010, a header from Philippe Coutinho s left-wing corner, proved to be enough to book a fourth-round tie at home to Wolves.

Klopp felt his side could have won more comfortably, with Divock Origi seeing a late penalty saved by Plymouth captain Luke McCormick, and that Liverpool should have had another spot-kick when Daniel Sturridge went down in the box.

The longer you don t score the more exciting it can get and you saw that when they started getting really direct, we are not used to it and they hadn t played too often together the back-line,  Klopp told BT Sport.

O…

Liverpool have condemned an offensive and inappropriate chant heard during their Premier League win over Norwich City on Saturday.

The homophobic chant, which could clearly be heard on television coverage of the match, appeared to be aimed at Norwich s on-loan Chelsea midfielder Billy Gilmour.

Liverpool s LGBTQ+ fan group, Kop Outs!, highlighted the issue on social media.

Great result today marred by homophobic chanting by some of our fans targeting Chelsea loanee Billy Gilmour, the group posted.

If you can t support without resorting to bigoted nonsense, you don t understand YNWA [you ll never walk alone].

The club have previously criticised airings of the same chant and shared the post.

Liverpool added: The chant is offensive and inap…

According to , as relayed by , AS Roma striker Edin Dzeko has been offered to Manchester United. It has been reported that the former Manchester City striker was offered to United earlier in January, but the Premier League giants turned it down.

Dzeko has been on the books of Roma on a permanent basis since 2016 following a loan spell from City. The Bosnia and Herzegovina international striker has been superb for the Italian club over the years, and he still remains an important player in the team. According to , the 34-year-old has made 14 starts and one substitute appearance in Serie A so far this season, scoring seven goals in the process.

United do not need a new striker at the moment. Edison Cavani joined the Red Devils on a free transfer in the summer of 2020, whi…