Desmond Sport

Cristiano Ronaldo set another Champions League record as the holders Real Madrid sealed their place in the knockout stages with a 6-0 win at Apoel Nicosia. Zinedine Zidane’s team had the match won by half-time with goals from Luka Modric, Nacho and a Karim Benzema double. Ronaldo got his goals early in the second half, and his two strikes saw him reach 18 goals in the competition in 2017 – more than any single player in a calendar year. Madrid, who have lifted the trophy in each of the past two years, will qualify only as the runners-up in Group H after Tottenham Hotspur came from behind to beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in Germany to ensure top spot. The final match day next month will see the Europa League qualification spot contested by Apoel and Dortmund, who both have two points from their five matches. Apoel will travel to Tottenham while Dortmund face Madrid at the Bernabéu. Napoli kept their hopes of Champions League progress alive with a 3-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in G...

Given one last chance to seize a place at the   World Cup  Italy pressed, they pushed, but they could not prevail, and as a result next summer’s tournament will take place without them. It is their first such failure in six decades, the  Azzurri  joining Holland as Europe’s most notable qualifying failures. Both of them were eliminated by Sweden, whose route to Russia has been far from straightforward. Jakob Johansson’s goal in the first leg ultimately decided the tie in the Swedes’ favour. Here his side’s only ambition was to repel at any cost the waves of attacks rolling towards them, a job they did heroically if not entirely nervelessly. Carlo Tavecchio, the president of the Italian FA, famously said in September that “not qualifying would be an apocalypse”. That day has arrived, with Gianluigi Buffon tearfully admitting his 175th cap would be his last and Daniele De Rossi – a substitute who when asked to warm up in the second half refused because “I wanted t...

The Real Madrid star confirmed Alana Martina was safe and well after joining his ever-growing clan on Sunday. Ronaldo already has three children and recently revealed he was delighted to be welcoming a fourth to the family. Twenty-two-year-old Rodriguez looked to be in good spirits despite her ordeal while Ronaldo Jr flashed a smile at the camera as his father beamed next him. Rodriguez was admitted to hospital this evening in Madrid, around nine days earlier than predicted by the Spanish media. Reflecting on life as a father at the launch of his new clothing line last week, Ronaldo said: "Being a father is a unique and personal journey, something that has changed me completely.