Football News

  Andre Schurrle bolts in his chair, pupils dilated. The conversation has moved on to how much it really means to pull on a Germany shirt. ‘It’s the most important thing for us, without doubt,’ he says. ‘Look at the players who have pulled on that jersey throughout history. You are one of them.’ And so the Chelsea man recounts the names. Beckenbauer, Muller, Matthaus, even Ballack. ‘It means so much to me. When I was young I saw the national team with this pride and history.’ In the build-up to what should prove to be a World Cup to beat any of the previous three, the Germans know what they are and know exactly what they ought to achieve.

Interact with the former Real Madrid attacker and ex-Atletico man as they tweet before, during and after the Champions League final Fernando Morientes and Luis Garcia will be tweeting their thoughts and opinions as Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid do battle for Champions League glory on Saturday. Tweet Fernando Morientes & Luis Garcia! Send your questions to former Real Madrid striker Fernando Morientes and ex-Atletico Madrid star Luis Garcia via @Heineken using #sharethesofa on Saturday. The newly-crowned champions of La Liga are hoping to win European club football's elite competition for the first time ever, but Carlo Ancelotti's men are desperate to at last lift La Decima after a 12-year wait. As the action unfolds at Benfica's Estadio da Luz, Morientes and Luis Garcia will be tweeting for in conjunction with Goal and you can send your questions to the Spaniards - who both won the Champions League during their playing days. To get involved, send your tweets to and us...

Manchester City's director of football Txiki Begiristain will hold peace talks with Yaya Toure before the World Cup in an attempt to head off further trouble with the Ivory Coast midfielder. Toure’s agent Dimitry Seluk attracted widespread ridicule on Tuesday by claiming that the player could quit City this summer because he felt the new Premier League champions and their owner Sheik Mansour did not make enough of an effort to celebrate his 31st birthday during a post-season trip to Abu Dhabi last week. There are concerns that Seluk is trying to engineer a return to Barcelona for his client, who left the Nou Camp in a £24million deal in 2010 and has since established himself as one of City’s best  players, as well as one of the best paid.

It's perhaps no surprise that Yaya Toure wants to have his cake and eat it when the man pulling the strings is his long-time representative and mentor Dimitry Seluk. Those who have become used to Seluk’s bizarre utterances over the years will not have been shocked by the latest outburst in which he accused Manchester City of snubbing his famous client’s 31st birthday. The Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala once bought Brazilian defender Roberto Carlos a £800,000 Bugatti car, he noted. All Yaya got was two birthday cakes.

Liverpool are keen to add Barcelona and Spain forward Pedro to their ranks this summer, as Brendan Rodgers continues to plan for the dual challenge of Premier League and Champions League football next season. The Reds have already been heavily linked with Southampton's Adam Lallana, although no deal is likely for the England international until after the World Cup. But with Rodgers determined to add as many as five players to his squad he has already turned his attention to strengthening other positions. In demand: Barcelona and Spain attacker Pedro has emerged as a target for Liverpool.

Ask Ronald de Boer for his most vivid memories of Louis van Gaal and he is whisked back to De Meer, Ajax’s fabled old training base. This was Van Gaal’s domain, the setting where Manchester United’s new manager worked his magic; filling his players with confidence, plotting their path to glory and drilling passages of play that would become second nature on match days. It was also the place where Van Gaal would be fearsome and intimidating. The Dutch coach takes defeat as a personal affront and De Boer witnessed — as well as received — some of his most ferocious criticisms.

The young keeper feels he has earned a starting role after being a huge part of Atletico Madrid's title win. The future of on-loan Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois remains in doubt after he declared he does not want to share games with Petr Cech. Courtois has spent the past three seasons on loan at Atletico Madrid, since being signed by Chelsea in 2011, and has never played a game for the London-based Premier League club. But after helping Atletico to the La Liga title and into Saturday's UEFA Champions League final, the Belgian is expected to be recalled to Stamford Bridge next season, although he claims it would not be 'the healthiest thing' for him to be in the same squad as Cech, who has been Chelsea's number one goalkeeper for years. "The two of us want to play everything," Courtois said on Wednesday. "Nobody will be happy to play in only the League Cup or FA Cup. "Things are unclear at the moment. I have the biggest respect for Petr Cech...