Real Madrid are planning a £25 million January swoop for Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, according to .

Gundogan, 22, was the subject of reported interest from Arsenal and Manchester United during the summer transfer window, but the Spanish giants have reportedly won the race for Dortmund s midfield maestro.

The Germany international, who made his debut in a UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier against Belgium in October 2011, has won eight international caps for his country, scoring two goals.

If Gundogan were to sign for Real Madrid, Nuri Şahin currently on loan at Signal Iduna Park would likely rejoin Dortmund on a permanent deal.

Meanwhile, Madrid defensive midfielder Sami Khedira is being linked with a January move to Arsenal despit…

Ex-Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Doll has declared his former club must discard the underdog tag ahead of the UEFA Champions League final.

Saturday s decider will pit Dortmund against Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich, who dominated the German top tier this season to win the title by 25 points ahead of Doll s former employers.

Following Bayern s 7-0 demolition of Barcelona over two legs in the Champions League semi-finals, plus the Bavarian club s emphatic season in the Bundesliga, Dortmund have been installed by most as the underdog in the first all-German final of Europe s premier continental competition.

But Doll, who was head coach of Dortmund in the 2007/08 campaign before Juergen Klopp took over, said his old team have shown enough in the past couple of seas…

Premier League behemoths Liverpool face a goalkeeping dilemma ahead of the new season.

Jurgen Klopp’s decision to install Loris Karius as his first-choice shot stopper has backfired with German custodian costing his team two goals in the Champions League finals against Real Madrid.

Even though it was later reported Karius was suffering from a concussion the Liverpool ‘keeper appears to be still suffering mentally from the Champions League embarrassment and continued to make beginner’s mistakes during preseason.

Jurgen Klopp has voiced his support for Karius but media won’t drop rumours over a new goalkeeper for the Reds.

Mundo Deportivo is now claiming that Barcelona second-choice shot stopper Jasper Cillessen is being targeted. The 29-year-old w…

As for the visitors, while Leeds may have managed to come from two goals down against Millwall last month, the Whites have once again come crashing back down to earth. Putting in what was another worrying display and hit with a shock 1-0 defeat against relegation scrappers Wigan last weekend, Marcelo Bielsa s men have now lost four of their last five matches across all competitions and hold just a three-point buffer from losing their spot in the top-two. Along with collecting just a sole victory on the road since the start of December, there is no doubt that the former Napoli boss will be growing more concerned by his side s issues in the final third. Drawing another blank against the Latics last time out, Leeds have failed to find the net in three of their last four appearances and the…

World Cup hosts South Africa fired coach Joel Santana on Monday after eight losses in nine matches, a national football association spokesman said here.

The 60-year-old Brazilian tasked with building a team capable of holding its own at the 2010 tournament paid the price for a string of poor results and consistent refusal to accept criticism of his hyper-cautious underperformers.

After 1-0 defeats at European middleweights Norway and Iceland last week, the man appointed in mid-2008 said he had not been hired to win friendly fixtures.

Many South African Football Association (SAFA) officials considered this comment an insult to the nation and it became an issue of when rather than if he would be axed.

A SAFA statement said: It was unanimously agreed on Mon…

Rarely will Liverpool have had a more depressing day than they suffered at Craven Cottage yesterday. If something could go wrong for them it did. After the euphoria of the result and the performance against Manchester United last week, their less than impressive start to the season generally was cruelly summed up in the ninety minutes yesterday.

Capitulated

Whilst Arsenal were winning against Tottenham without breaking a sweat, Chelsea were strolling to victory at Bolton and Manchester United were bouncing back with a comfortable win at home to Blackburn, Liverpool lost their sixth game in seven as they capitulated at Fulham.

The defeat, their fifth in eleven league games, leaves them nine points behind Chelsea and seven points behind United. It may be too early…

Brazil coach Tite said his team can still get better, despite extending their winning streak with a comprehensive victory over Argentina in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying.

Philippe Coutinho, Neymar and Paulinho were on target as Brazil upstaged rivals Argentina 3-0 on Thursday to stay top in the South American section.

A point clear of second-placed Uruguay, Brazil have won five consecutive games since Tite replaced Dunga, a run of form the 55-year-old did not see coming.

There are five games on my command, Tite said afterwards.

I am happy and pleased with the performance. [Five games and five victories is] not expected. It was beyond what I imagined. But they are steps for classification. 

This team still can improve a lot, has to learn to s…

Saido Berahino is edging closer to a return for West Brom after improving his fitness, head coach Tony Pulis has said.

Berahino last featured for West Brom in September having been deemed overweight by the club and sent for specialist training in France with the aim of getting him back in shape.

The 23-year-old threatened to go on strike in September 2015 after West Brom repeatedly rebuffed approaches for his services from Tottenham.

He found the net 20 times in the 2014-15 season but has since suffered a dramatic drop-off in form, only managing seven goals in his last 40 appearances.

He s trained well this week but he needs games, Pulis said of Berahino ahead of Monday s meeting with Burnley.

Fitness-wise we re pleased, he s getting there.…

Cody Gakpo and Steven Bergwijn were on target as the Netherlands ran out 2-0 winners over Poland in Nations League Group A4 on Thursday.

The Oranje dominated the first half at the PGE Narodowy in Warsaw and went in at the break 1-0 up thanks to Gakpo s close-range finish after 13 minutes.

Poland threatened an equaliser at the start of the second period, but Bergwijn sealed all three points on the hour mark with a composed finish.

The result means Louis van Gaal s side just need to avoid defeat in their final group game against Belgium on Sunday to progress to the Finals next June.

The Netherlands lost Teun Koopmeiners to injury inside the opening five minutes, but they went ahead when Gakpo applied the finishing touch inside the six-yard box following …

Southampton have already been relegated from the Premier League, but the race to avoid joining them looks set to go down to the wire.

Two of West Ham, Nottingham Forest, Everton, Leeds and Leicester will play alongside the Saints in the Championship next season.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at the relegation battle with two games to go.

West Ham (Leeds H, Leicester A)

We ll be back on Thursday.

See you in Alkmaar, Hammers

— West Ham United (@WestHam)

Given their own plight and their opposition in the final two rounds of fixtures, West Ham will play a deciding role in who goes down. It will take an extraordinary set of results for them to be relegated as they are six points clear of Leeds with a significantly better goal diffe…