Feyenoord striker Robin van Persie is set to retire at the end of the season.

Former Arsenal and Manchester United forward Van Persie rejoined boyhood club Feyenoord in January and has enjoyed his return, but he is not planning on staying beyond the 2018-19 campaign.

The 35-year-old played his role in his side s KNVB Cup triumph last term and will not prolong his career solely in pursuit of the Eredivisie title, insisting his second stint with Feyenoord is already a success as he has rediscovered his enjoyment of the game. 

When should I stop? That is normally at the end of this season. That s the approach, Van Persie said ahead of Sunday s Klassieker against Ajax.

I will be 36 years old and will have been a professional for 18 years. From the age of f…

Verdict: Draw at HT, Chelsea at FT yes

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Chelsea and AS Roma will collide this Wednesday at Stamford Bridge. An authentic battle of giants will meet two attacking-minded teams, and there is a lot at stake. Whoever wins this game will move closer to clinching a berth in the tournament s next round. Kick-off is scheduled at 19:45 BST, and Damir Skomina will be the referee.

Chelsea

Chelsea have looked like two different teams if we compare their form in the UEFA Champions League and the English Premier League. In the continental stage they have won their two matches against Qarabag and Atletico Madrid, but their domestic run has been quite poor. They actually lost two games at home already against Burnley and Manchester City and have …

Prediction: Botev Plovdiv to win 1-0

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Botev Plovdiv and APOEL will face each other in the first leg of the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa Conference League this week. The match will be held at the Natsionalen Stadion Vasil Levski in Sofia and is scheduled to kick off at 6pm UK time on Wednesday.

Botev Plovdiv

Botev Plovdiv finished third in the regular 2021–22 First Professional Football League table with 46 points from 26 matches. They then ended up third again in the Championship round table with 53 points from 31 games and entered the UEFA Europa Conference League playoff round.

The Canaries have won the Bulgarian league title twice in their history so far. The first time was in 1929, and the second was …

By his own stratospheric standards, a return of 25 LaLiga goals is somewhat underwhelming for Cristiano Ronaldo.

It marks the first time since the Portugal superstar s first campaign at the Santiago Bernabeu in the 2009-10 season that he has failed to score 30-plus league goals – on three occasions he has netted 40 or more.

Many observers believe Ronaldo to be a player who, while still technically brilliant, is in physical decline, the frightening bursts of speed and ability to effortlessly glide past helpless defenders perhaps diminishing.

But anyone who doubts his worth to this batch of Galacticos need only look at Ronaldo s incredible run-in that fired Madrid to a 33rd LaLiga title – sealed with a 2-0 win at Malaga on Sunday – and a third Champions Lea…

Market: Both teams to score

Odds: 4/5 @

In what could prove to be an enjoyable affair from Vicarage Road on Saturday afternoon, Watford will welcome Southampton to town.

Starting with the hosts, while Watford might have opened the 2023/24 campaign at the heart of a real Championship struggle, the Hornets do appear to have turned a recent corner. Although Valerien Ismael’s men might face a real uphill battle in their bid to claim a play-off ticket this season, the former West Brom boss should find the mood in his camp at a real high. Last seen putting in another stellar display as they secured a 2-1 win away at Hull, Watford have won three of their previous four second-tier showdowns on either side of November’s international break. With their recent purple p…

Gareth Southgate described the England manager job as the greatest privilege of his life and said he wanted to make sure he was fresh and hungry before committing to remain in the role after the Three Lions World Cup exit.

A year-and-a-half on from reaching the Euro 2020 final on home turf, England were edged out 2-1 in the quarter-finals of Qatar 2022 by France.

The tournament nevertheless marked a turnaround in form for the Three Lions after a dismal Nations League campaign, underlining Southgate s record in his role.

But the former Middlesbrough boss acknowledged he needed time to ensure he made the right call in choosing to remain on board.

I never want to be in a position where my presence is affecting the team in a negative way, he told BBC Sport.<…

Gylfi Sigurdsson s long-awaited move from Swansea City to Everton for a reported £45million ranks as one of the biggest deals in history between two Premier League clubs.

As teams in England s top flight, awash with vast riches from television money, increasingly operate in a different financial sphere to the most of Europe, such blockbusting switches domestic have become more common.

But where does Sigurdsson rank alongside the other occasions when Premier League sides have kept their ample wealth within the division?

ROMELU LUKAKU – Everton to Manchester United £75m

The man whose transfer provided at least some of the funds to lure Sigurdsson from south Wales, Lukaku set a new Premier League record with his move from Everton to Manchest…

Prediction: Match to end in 2-2 draw

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Chelsea and Sheffield United will lock horns with each other in the Premier League this coming weekend. The match between Mauricio Pochettino’s side and Chris Wilder’s team will be held at Stamford Bridge in London and is scheduled to kick off at 3 pm UK time on Saturday.

Chelsea

Chelsea have a terrible campaign last season, and this term things were supposed to be different. Former Tottenham Hotspur head coach Mauricio Pochettino took over as the Chelsea manager in the summer of 2023, and results were expected to be great.

Things are still bad. While there have been occasions when Chelsea have been brilliant, they have been very inconsistent and have struggled to score goals. The …

Stefano Pioli believes Milan could have ridden out their recent slump and still won the Serie A title if not for Napoli s exceptional season.

Milan are fourth in the table, having gone a costly five league matches without a win across January and the start of February.

Still, the Rossoneri were not in a dissimilar position at this stage of last season, in third place before rallying to win the Scudetto.

Pioli received the top honour at the Panchina d Oro – Italian football s coaching awards – on Monday in recognition of that stunning Milan triumph.

But the coach knows there will be no repeat this year as leaders Napoli are 18 points ahead.

Although Milan are five points down on where they were after 23 games of 2021-22, they still only trail I…

Hosts Portugal kick-off the inaugural Nations League Finals against Switzerland on Wednesday, beginning the last act of the 2018-19 European football season.

England take on Netherlands in the other semi-final on Thursday, with the loser condemned to remain at Guimaraes Estadio D Afonso Henriques for Sunday s third-place match.

The tournament will conclude where it began later the same day at Porto s Estadio do Dragao.

A succession of gripping group-stage encounters – notably Netherlands 3-0 thumping of Germany, England s against-the-odds triumph in Spain and Switzerland s remarkable qualification-sealing 5-2 comeback romp over Belgium – won the Nations League a number of early admirers, retaining the feel-good factor around the international game that spille…