Spain’s Sergio Ramos and Juanfran to miss England friendly

Sergio Ramos and Juanfran have withdrawn from the Spain squad for the friendlies against England and Belgium after they were injured in La Liga action.

Ramos hurt his troublesome shoulder while scoring in Real Madrid’s 3-2 defeat at Sevilla, while Juanfran sustained a thigh strain in Atlético Madrid’s 1-0 win at home to Sporting Gijón. Vicente del Bosque has called up Real’s Nacho Fernández and Athletic Bilbao’s Óscar de Marcos to replace them.

Spain host England in Alicante on Friday and play Belgium in Brussels four days later. The matches are a chance for the European Championship holders to test themselves against two in-form teams before they launch their bid for a third consecutive crown at Euro 2016 in France next year.

The Everton winger Kevin Mirallas and Ghent’s Sven Kums have been drafted as injury replacements for Belgium’s friendly against Spainas well as the one against Italy.

Their pair were called up after Marouane Fellaini and Jordan Lukaku withdrew because of injury. Both missed club action at the weekend, with Manchester United’s Fellaini suffering from a calf injury and Lukaku of the Belgian league leaders, Oostende, out with a hamstring strain.

Cristiano Ronaldo: I want to retire with 'dignity', not in USA, Qatar or Dubai

Cristiano Ronaldo said Friday that he wants to end his career “with dignity” and not playing in “the United States, Qatar or Dubai”. The Real Madrid and Portugal star, the subject of a new documentary that premiered on Monday in London, said Thursday in an interview on ITV’s The Jonathan Ross Show that he expected to play six or seven more seasons and hoped to finish his career at the highest level. The remarks ostensibly referenced the recent wave of top players who have finished their careers outside of Europe’s top leagues, among them MLS imports Didier Drogba, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo and David Villa, along with Xavi, the lifelong Barcelona midfielder who signed with Qatari club Al Sadd in May. “That does not mean it’s bad play in the leagues of the United States, Qatar or Dubai, but I do not see myself there,” Ronaldo said. Ronaldo, who turns 31 in February, became Real Madrid’s all-time leading goalscorer last month and has th...

Falkirk chairman calls for restructure of ‘outdated’ Scottish league

The format of the Scottish league is outdated and should be restructured with a 16-team Premiership to help boost football in the country, says the chairman of second-tier promotion-challengers Falkirk . Speaking at the club’s AGM, Doug Henderson said the slide of Scottish football, from falling attendances to the poor performance of the national side and their top clubs in Europe, would continue unless steps were taken to change the current system. Scotland were the only team from the British Isles not to qualify for next year’s European Championship and Celtic , Scottish champions for the past four seasons, regularly fail to make any impact in European competition. Scottish football’s top four tiers are currently organised into a 12-team Premiership with three lower divisions each containing 10 teams. “Reflecting economic reality and the need for premier division full-time football, I believe that we must put vested interest aside and reform our lea...

Young people to lose access to unemployment benefits as part of welfare reforms

YOUNG people will not be able to get unemployment benefits until they turn 25 under reforms introduced by the Turnbull Government today. The coalition has unveiled wide-ranging welfare reforms in parliament today, including changes to the Newstart program. It hopes to stop people aged 22 to 24 getting Newstart or the Sickness allowance, and they will instead be shifted to the Youth Allowance payment. This will reduce the amount of money that they will be able to get, costing a single person living away from home about $90 a fortnight. They will also be required to study in order to qualify for the payments. “The key aim of this measure is to provide incentives for young unemployed people to obtain the relevant education and training to increase employability,” according to an explanatory memorandum for the bill. However, it says Youth Allowance does allow students to earn a higher amount of money from part-time or casual work than Newstart, before this begins imp...

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