After the Swedish striker missed PSG’s last two games with a heel injury, the French champions have now confirmed that he will not be fit to line up against his old side

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been ruled out of Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League clash with his former club Barcelona and coach Laurent Blanc believes his side must work hard to compensate for his absence.

The French champions line up against Luis Enrique’s men at Parc des Princes on Tuesday in what was billed as a grudge match for Ibrahimovic after his controversial Camp Nou exit and his pre-match comments saying he was denied the chance to win the Champions League by long-term rival and ex-coach Pep Guardiola.

Ibrahimovic missed his side’s last two games against Caen and Toulouse after suffering an injury to his left heel following the match against Lyon.

PSG conducted a medical test on the experienced striker, who has scored five goals in Ligue 1 so far, and have announced that he will not recover in time to feature against his former club.

“The evaluation and various tests performed this morning in the aftermath of the pain in his left heel has not been satisfactory. As a result, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been ruled out of the match against FC Barcelona,” a statement read on the French giants’ official website.

The absence of the club talisman comes as a huge blow to coach Laurent Blanc, who says the task of beating the Spanish side is much greater without the 32-year-old.

“Without Ibrahimovic, it will not be easy, as we know. Tomorrow we need a good team to compensate for his absence.

“The technical staff did everything to try to help recover him as soon as possible.”

Source Goal

The Chelsea boss will risk the Spain international on Tuesday night despite the clash with the Gunners looming on the horizon, while Didier Drogba is out with an ankle injury

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is expecting to start top scorer Diego Costa against both Sporting on Wednesday and Arsenal at the weekend, despite fears over the Spain international’s fitness.

Costa has started life at Stamford Bridge in explosive form, scoring eight goals in seven games in all competitions and racing to the top of the Premier League goalscoring charts.

But Mourinho indicated that the striker is doing “almost nothing” in training due to an ongoing muscle problem, but will risk the former Atletico Madrid man in the Champions League clash in Portugal, despite a meeting with the Gunners being just days away.

“Diego Costa will start (tomorrow’s game) and hopefully he plays on Sunday against Arsenal,” revealed the Portuguese ahead of his side’s Champions League group clash in Lisbon.

Mourinho also confirmed Didier Drogba had not travelled to Portugal and is facing an absence due to injury.

He added: “Didier Drogba will be out for a couple of weeks, he has a problem with his ankle and wasn’t able to travel.”

Chelsea started their Champions League campaign this season with a 1-1 draw against Schalke at Stamford Bridge.

Meanwhile, Costa has fired the Blues to the top of the Premier League table with eight goals, including one against Aston Villa on Saturday.

“He (Costa) cannot be on top of his game,” Mourinho said after the victory. “He’s doing almost nothing in training. He’s just resting and recovering from the tight muscle he has.”

Source Goal

Chelsea’s commanding start to the Premier League season continued with a 3-0 victory over Aston Villa on Saturday as their rivals for the title continued to look vulnerable.

Chelsea’s Diego Costa celebrates with teammate Willian (C) and Cesc Fabregas (R) after scoring a goal against Aston Villa during their English Premier League soccer match at Stamford Bridge in London, September 27, 2014.

Diego Costa scored his eighth league goal of the campaign and Brazilian duo Oscar and Willian were also on target at Stamford Bridge as table-topping Chelsea made it five wins from six.

Champions Manchester City surrendered a two-goal lead at Hull City but earned a 4-2 victory thanks to Edin Dzeko’s double while Manchester United galloped into an early two-goal lead against West Ham United but ended up hanging on for a 2-1 win at Old Trafford having had goalscorer Wayne Rooney sent off.

Phil Jagielka’s stoppage-time thunderbolt earned Everton an unlikely 1-1 draw in the 223rd Merseyside derby at last season’s runners-up Liverpool after Steven Gerrard’s 65th-minute free kick had put the hosts in front.

Surprisingly, Southampton are Chelsea’s closest chasers after a 2-1 home victory against struggling Queens Park Rangers. They are on 13 points with Chelsea on 16.

Fourth-placed Swansea City drew 0-0 at Sunderland and Crystal Palace enjoyed a 2-0 victory over Leicester City.

Arsenal host north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the day’s late kickoff.

Source Reuters

Cristiano Ronaldo continued his hot scoring streak as Real Madrid moved up to fourth in the La Liga table with a hard-fought 2-0 win away to Villarreal.

Real survived an early onslaught from Villarreal and won the game with two goals in eight minutes before the break as Luka Modric drilled home the opener before Ronaldo converted from Karim Benzema’s pass to register his eighth goal in a week.
A third consecutive league victory moves the European champions to within a point of the leaders with Barcelona hosting Granada later on Saturday, whilst Sevilla travel to champions Atletico Madrid.
“We’ve won a difficult game against a team that played well and caused us problems,” said Real boss Carlo Ancelotti.
“But the team controlled the game. We suffered when we had to, played when we had to and I think in the end we showed a good attitude and deserved to win.”
The match started at a high pace with attention from the action on the pitch only momentarily distracted by a banner from a Manchester United fans group begging Ronaldo to return to Old Trafford.
Ronaldo and his teammates had more pressing matters at hand as Villarreal threatened to go in front as Ikechukwu Uche’s low effort was well saved by Iker Casillas, whilst Argentine youngster Luciano Vietto sliced wide when well-positioned inside the box.
However, the hosts’ profligacy in the final third contrasted with Madrid’s killer instinct and Anclelotti’s men went in front when Modric smashed home his first goal of the season from outside the box on 32 minutes.
The visitors doubled their advantage five minutes before half-time thanks to a classic counter-attack as James Rodriguez picked out the run of Benzema and the Frenchman brilliantly teed up Ronaldo to slot home his 13th goal in nine games this season.
Villarreal should have at least halved the deficit before half-time as Casillas made a fine double save from Manu Trigueros and Vietto before the offside flag spared Uche’s blushes as he fired the rebound over when presented with an open goal.
And even when the Spanish captain appeared beaten the ball still wouldn’t go in for Villarreal as Marcelo produced an incredible block to turn Trigueros’s volley over.
Madrid managed to contain Villarreal much better in the second period as Marcelino’s men ran out of steam.
Los Blancos rarely threatened to add to their lead as they reserved their energy ahead of a trip to Bulgaria where they face Ludogorets Razgrad in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Source REUTERS