Manchester United s Antonio Valencia has led tributes to his brother Christian Benitez, who suffered a fatal heart attack on Monday.

Benitez had made his debut for Qatar Stars League side El Jaish on Sunday before complaining of stomach pains and being rushed to hospital.

Valencia and Benitez were teammates at Ecuadorian club El Nacional from 2004 to 2005, with the pair clinching a Clausura title and making their Ecuadorean national team debuts in their second year together.

With tributes flowing in from around the world, Valencia posted several pictures of Benitez on social media accompanied by a series of emotional messages.

Brother, God is with your family, we love you, Valencia tweeted from his official account.

This strong pain you ve caused me will st…

Brendan Rodgers believes Anfield holds the key to Liverpool maintaining their Premier League title bid.

Liverpool have travelled to Tottenham, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Everton already this season and have only taken four points from those five matches.

Two consecutive defeats – against City and Chelsea – have seen Rodgers side drop from top to fifth in the table, six points adrift of leaders Arsenal.

But the Northern Irishman has not ruled his side out of the title race and feels Liverpool s home matches will prove crucial.

I think it s (the title race) open, he said after Sunday s 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge. What I m looking forward to is we have to play every team (at the top) except Manchester United at home.

We ve had a real tough ru…

Competition: Copa Del Rey
Market: Barcelona to win against Sevilla
Odds:

Barcelona lock horns with Sevilla in the Spanish Copa Del Rey final at the Vicente Calderon tonight, and are big favourites to come out on top to retain their crown. Barcelona recently sealed the La Liga title, while Sevilla are fresh from their Europa League triumph.

Barcelona have had the whole week to prepare for the cup final, and manager Luis Enrique has close to a fully fit side to choose from. The Catalans have ended the season in fantastic form, winning five league games on the bounce, and have beaten Sevilla in the division too.

The visitors aren’t to be underestimated, however. The Rojiblancos have beaten Barcelona at home in the league, but it was early into the sea…

Atletico Madrid defender Juanfran has revealed that he rejected the chance to join Premier League side Arsenal in the close-season.

The 28-year-old, who has been at the club since 2011, confirmed that Arsene Wenger was interested in securing his services.

However, the former Osasuna man, who last week agreed a contract to keep him at the Vicente Calderon Stadium until 2017, was happy to remain in La Liga instead.

It is true that I had an offer from Arsenal, which any player would like to accept, but I like it here, Juanfran told AS.

For me, you know, there is no better club than Atleti. I am very excited and motivated.

Atletico get their UEFA Champions League campaign under way on Wednesday against Zenit St Petersburg, having not featured in the competiti…

Former Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Mohamed Sissoko says the reported feud between Neymar and Edinson Cavani has been exacerbated by media scrutiny.

There are rumours of discontent within the PSG dressing room after Neymar, a world-record €222million signing from Barcelona last month, argued with Cavani over who would take a penalty in the 2-0 Ligue 1 win over Lyon.

Head coach Unai Emery says he has spoken to them about the issue amid reports Cavani was offered a €1m bonus by the club hierarchy to hand over responsibilities from the spot, after he missed the contentious spot-kick against OL.

But Sissoko, who won the league with PSG in 2012-13 during a two-year spell, does not believe the players are that concerned.

It s just the journalists that ma…

Paris Saint-Germain head coach Laurent Blanc has ignored history ahead of his team s Ligue 1 clash against Nice at the Parc des Princes.

Nice have not won in Paris since 2009, while league leaders PSG have not lost a competitive fixture at home since November 2012 when Rennes took the points in a 2-1 triumph.

But despite those statistics, Blanc has argued Claude Puel s Nice, who sit 11th in Ligue 1, will be a tough challenge for PSG on Saturday.

Claude Puel and Nice have their ups and downs, like all teams, but I think he s a competitor and he will not deny the high expectations of his team at the Parc des Princes, Blanc said on Friday.

He has done a very good job with young players. This will give us an open game and I prefer that.

We see that teams defend…

Barcelona have confirmed that Cristian Tello will join Fiorentina on loan for the 2016-17 season.

The 25-year-old, who spent half of last term at the Artemio Franchi after an initial spell with Porto, was pictured in Florence on Tuesday, having arrived to complete a medical.

The deal includes an option for Fiorentina to make the move permanent at the end of the season, with the Serie A club contractually obliged to play the winger in a certain percentage of matches.

FC Barcelona and Fiorentina have arrived at an agreement for the loan of Cristian Tello for the 2016-17 season, a Barca statement read.

The Italian club contractually agrees that the participation of the player remains active during the loan.

The agreement includes an option for Fio…

West Ham would appear to face mission impossible as they aim to overhaul a 6-0 deficit against Manchester City in the League Cup semi-final.

City s thumping first-leg win, which featured a hat-trick from Alvaro Negredo, two Edin Dzeko goals and one from Yaya Toure, has ensured the return meeting at Upton Park is likely to be little more than a formality.

In Manuel Pellegrini s first season at the helm, City have racked up 103 goals in all competitions and go into Tuesday s game in supreme form, boasting 15 wins from a 17-match unbeaten run.

It would take a miracle of epic proportions for Sam Allardyce s Premier League strugglers to turn the tie around and history is not on their side.

West Ham have not defeated City in any competition since a 1-0 win at Upton Par…

Paris Saint-Germain are considering the possibility of going in for Antoine Griezmann of Barcelona next summer, should they lose the services of Kylian Mbappe, according to magazine FourFourTwo.

The 27-year-old French international only just arrived to the Catalan club from Atletico Madrid a few months ago, and he hasn t adapted to playing alongside Lionel Messi as well as they had hoped at the Camp Nou. Head coach Ernesto Valverde recently said that Griezmann had to make an effort to fit in with the team, which further confirms that all is not well concerning the €120 million star.

On the other hand, the Ligue 1 champions apparently believe Griezmann would fit in well with Neymar and Mauro Icardi in their front line. If Mbappe, who has been heavily linked with Real M…

Alan Pardew plans to protect Daniel Sturridge during his loan spell at West Brom, having targeted a spot in England s World Cup squad for the Liverpool striker.

Sturridge has struggled to nail down a regular spot at Anfield since Jurgen Klopp s arrival as manager in October 2015, having scored 21 times in 29 games as Brendan Rodgers side went close to the title in 2013-14.

The 28-year-old penned a deal until the end of the season with the Baggies ahead of the transfer deadline, but with just five starts to his name in all competitions this season, and none since November Pardew is prepared to take it slow to get the best out of the striker.

If Sturridge can recapture his best form at the Hawthorns, Pardew sees no reason why Sturridge would not form part of Gareth…