After the embarrassing World Cup failure in 2014, Neymar is dreaming of helping Brazil win Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro.

Neymar is desperate to help Brazil end their hoodoo on home soil and deliver a first Olympic gold at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016.

No team has won the World Cup more times than Brazil s haul of five, but the South American nation failed to lift football s greatest prize on the two occasions it has hosted the tournament in 1950 and 2014.

Indeed, last year s 7-1 semi-final demolition at the hands of eventual winners of Germany was one of the biggest shocks in the history of the World Cup.

Neymar, who missed that match with a broken vertebra, is now determined to help Brazil forget those memories and collect the only major competit…

Liverpool attacker Roberto Firmino is loving life in the Premier League and hopes to stay at Anfield for many more years.

The Brazil international joined Liverpool in June 2015 after four-and-a-half years at Hoffenheim and initially struggled to adapt to the English top flight.

He has since developed into an important first-team player, though, and wants to stay put for the foreseeable future.

Being really honest, I love it here and plan to stay for many years in the future, Firmino told the official Liverpool magazine.

The Premier League is really competitive and tests you all the time.

I think I have had to change the way I play. I was adapted to European football after playing in Germany but English football is very different to the Bundesl…

Gary Neville claimed England s Harry Kane appeared to be playing with an injury throughout the World Cup knockout stages after the striker misfired in the semi-final defeat to Croatia.

Kane, who scored six goals in Russia to equal Gary Lineker s record for England strikes at a single World Cup, struggled as Gareth Southgate s side slipped to a 2-1 extra-time defeat at the Luzhniki Stadium that ended their hopes of glory.

Former Manchester United and England defender Neville, who was capped 85 times in a 12-year international career, said he believed an injury hampered Tottenham talisman Kane in the last three games of the campaign.

I d be amazed if we didn t learn in the next few days that Kane wasn t carrying an injury since the Colombia game, Neville said …

Luton captain Tom Lockyer had an emotional reunion with his team-mates on Monday and admitted to feeling “disconnected” with the football world following his cardiac arrest last month.

The 29-year-old visited the club’s Brache training ground for the first time since an on-pitch collapse during the Hatters’ game against Bournemouth on December 16 left him hospitalised for five days.

He was fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator before being discharged and he revealed he has since been spending time resting and doing jigsaws, as well as a spot of DIY.

Great to see you, skipper!

— Luton Town FC (@LutonTown)

Lockyer relished being back among his team-mates, and was first greeted by great friend Carlton Morris, but confessed…

Giggs – never quite fit enough for the friendlies

The point of mid-season international friendlies surely needs to be questioned. The issue is not a new one and the club v country row has rumbled on for many years.

Fit

There was the famous case of Ryan Giggs always being miraculously fit for competitive Wales matches but never being quite fit for the friendlies. Steve Gerrard made an amazing recovery a few months ago when he was unable to play in an England friendly on the Wednesday but recovered in time to play an important match for Liverpool at the weekend.

In England’s case we have had to watch the absolute farce of the entire team being substituted at half-time, making the game a joke and the winning of an international cap too cheap…

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is confident Paris Saint-Germain are ready for their encounter with a Real Madrid side he has described as one of the best teams in the world .

Top spot in Group A will be up for grabs at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday, the two clubs having both taken maximum points from their opening two fixtures with victories over Shakhtar Donetsk and Malmo.

PSG have only lost to Spanish opposition on home soil twice in 12 matches. The most recent such encounter was a 3-1 defeat to Barcelona in last season s quarter-finals the stage they have been eliminated from in the past three seasons.

But Ibrahimovic who became the French club s all-time leading scorer on 110 goals following a double against Marseille, before adding a further two in the 2-0 win over …

Tottenham s Premier League title challenge in 2015-16 has given them confidence they can go all the way this term, says midfielder Christian Eriksen.

Under the guidance of Mauricio Pochettino, Spurs emerged as the closest rivals to Leicester City last season with a string of consistent displays.

However, their bid faltered after successive draws with West Brom and Chelsea, Spurs handing Leicester the title in the closing weeks before losing their final two matches to finish third.

Tottenham are again in contention entering 2017 and Eriksen believes they are better equipped this time around.

I think so, yes, he told The Times of India. I feel more confident this season in everything we do. We ve had a few years now getting to know the system the manager …

Matthijs de Ligt believes he took a step up in his career by leaving Juventus to join Bayern Munich.

The Netherlands defender was one of football s most exciting prospects when he joined Juve from Ajax for a reported €75million, winning Serie A in his first season with the team before disappointment in the two subsequent league campaigns.

De Ligt then moved to Bayern ahead of the 2022-23 season for a reported €77m and believes the switch put him on an upward trajectory.

Bayern Munich is closer to the philosophy of what the national coach wants on the pitch. You also have to take risks in football, he told NOS.

For me, it s a step up in terms of team. Juventus is a very good team. Only I think Bayern has everything to win the Champions League in te…

Chelsea manager Graham Potter is considering recalling Callum Hudson-Odoi from his loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen in January, according to . Potter, who left Brighton and Hove Albion to replace Thomas Tuchel as the Chelsea manager earlier this month, is a massive fan of the young winger and wants him in his first-team squad.

Hudson-Odoi moved to Bundesliga club Bayer on a season-long loan deal from Chelsea in the summer of 2022. The 21-year-old winger has made two starts and one substitute appearance in the Bundesliga so far this season, providing one assist in the process. The England international has also made two appearances in the UEFA Champions League so far this campaign.

Chelsea are aiming to win the Premier League this season and are also competing in the UEFA …

Giuseppe Marotta believes Antonio Conte can build a dynasty at Juventus similar to Alex Ferguson s at Manchester United.

Conte has lifted back-to-back Serie A and Supercoppa Italiana titles since his arrival in 2011, and with the club eight points clear of Roma, they are on course for a third straight league championship.

Juve general manager Marotta credited the 44-year-old for kicking off a rebuilding process in Turin after the club were stripped of league titles and demoted following a match-fixing probe in 2006.

Conte has since gone on to assemble a fearsome Juventus squad including the likes of Carlos Tevez, Arturo Vidal and Andrea Pirlo.

And Marotta believes the former Juve midfielder will be in the dugout for many years, expecting him to replicate the like…