Neymar returns in scoring style as Brazil beat Croatia

Most of the attention in Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League quarter-final with Barcelona on Wednesday will be on Kylian Mbappe, but Ousmane Dembele is also set to have a big role to play for the French club against his former side.

Mbappe, who is expected to be coming up against Barca in a Real Madrid shirt next season, has 39 goals for PSG in this campaign. Dembele has only one.

However, the player described by newspaper Le Parisien last week as a "tearaway" offers something different, even if Barcelona are all too aware of what the 26-year-old winger can do with a ball at his feet.

The France star returned to his home country last August after six seasons in Catalonia, with PSG paying a reported 50 million euros ($54.3m) to sign him on a five-year deal.

That relatively paltry sum in the modern transfer market for a world-class player corresponded to the amount of his release clause at cash-strapped Barca.

Moving to Paris allowed the Normandy native to team up with Luis Enrique, who he said had previously wanted to sign him when Dembele was breaking through at Rennes.

"PSG had been interested in me for a long time. The first contact was when I was at Dortmund, but at that time my objective was to play for Barcelona," Dembele told sports daily L'Equipe earlier this season.

He admitted leaving Barcelona had not been an easy decision after he flourished under the management of Xavi Hernandez towards the end of his time at the Camp Nou.

"These were my two best years, with a coach who showed confidence in me. But I wanted to sign for PSG. It was more to do with Paris changing my mind than it simply being about quitting Barcelona."

And so fate has dictated that he, like Luis Enrique, will get to come up against Barcelona in this season's Champions League quarter-finals.

Dembele was in a Barcelona shirt the last time the clubs met, in the last 16 in 2021, when Mbappe scored a lethal hat-trick in the first leg in Catalonia.

Their previous encounter was the notorious last-16 tie in 2017, when a Barca side coached by Luis Enrique overturned a 4-0 deficit in the first leg to win 6-1 in the return.

A humiliated PSG exacted revenge in August of that year by signing Neymar Junior from Barcelona, paying the 222 million euros needed to activate his release clause.

Six years at Barca

Barcelona were blindsided and panicked, throwing huge money at replacements for their Brazilian superstar.

They swooped for Dembele, who at the age of 20 had just enjoyed a superb season in Germany at Borussia Dortmund. They agreed to pay 105 million euros plus add-ons for a player still far from the finished article.

That fee, and the even higher sum committed to signing Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool a few months later, heralded the start of Barcelona's serious financial problems which culminated in Lionel Messi leaving the club in 2021, for PSG.

Dembele scored 40 goals in 185 appearances for Barcelona, a much better strike rate than he has managed at PSG, where his only goal in 34 games to date came against Monaco in November.

"If he were a better finisher he might have won the Ballon d'Or," Julien Stephan, the current Rennes coach who worked with a teenage Dembele at the Brittany club, said last week.

Dembele may really need to weigh in with more goals next season once Mbappe has departed, but for now he has at least provided more assists than any other player in France this season, playing usually in a position on the right flank.

However, the lightning fast, fleet-footed dribbler has been deployed in a withdrawn central attacking role in key recent matches -- the Champions League last-16 second leg away to Real Sociedad and the clash with fierce domestic rivals Marseille.

"I think we will see an even better version of Ousmane playing through the middle," said Luis Enrique recently.

"I am not worried about him not scoring enough goals. I am sure he will improve because we see him in training. What he creates is very positive for the team and he is a player who almost can't be stopped."

 Dorival Junior was unveiled on Thursday as the head coach of the Brazil men's national team and he vowed to turn around the side's fortunes after a run of poor results in the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.

Former Sao Paulo coach signed a contract until December 2026 and takes over following the sacking of Fernando Diniz.

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Dorival Jr the answer to Brazil’s woes?

"Today I am here representing the most winning team on the planet, the one that inspires many around the world. And it has the obligation to win again," Dorival told a news conference.

"Our moment is difficult. But nothing that is impossible to reverse quickly."

The five-time world champions have been going through a turbulent period since being knocked out from the 2022 World Cup in the quarter-finals.

That loss on penalties to Croatia led to the departure of coach Tite.

Brazil were then guided by Under-20 coach Ramon Menezes before the interim appointment of Diniz last year.

They have lost three of their six qualifiers to date, winning only two matches. They are sixth in the standings, trailing leaders and World Cup holders Argentina by eight points.

Dorival emerged as the leading candidate for the job after Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti extended his contract with Real Madrid following failed negotiations to manage the South American side.

"There is no one to blame. There is no interference, there is nothing like that. What we need from now on is to look for solutions," the 61-year-old Dorival added.

"We need to deliver a reliable national team, one that gives us all credibility. Brazilian football is very strong, it reinvents itself. It cannot go through the moment it is going through. Let it serve as a lesson so we can find a new way forward."

Dorival's first match in charge will be a friendly against England on March 23.

Starting line-ups for the World Cup third place playoff between Belgium and England in Saint Petersburg on Saturday (1400 GMT kick-off):

Belgium (3-4-3)

Thibaut Courtois; Toby Alderweireld, Vincent Kompany, Jan Vertonghen; Thomas Meunier, Axel Witsel, Youri Tielemans, Nacer Chadli; Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard (capt)

Coach: Roberto Martinez (ESP)

England (3-5-2)

Jordan Pickford; Phil Jones, John Stones, Harry Maguire; Kieran Trippier, Eric Dier, Fabian Delph, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Danny Rose; Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane (capt)

Coach: Gareth Southgate (ENG)

Referee: Alireza Faghani (IRI)

Mario Zagallo, who won four football World Cups for Brazil as either player or coach, including the 1970 side considered by many to be the best ever, has died, according to a post on his official Instagram account on Saturday. He was 92.

A tough and talented left winger, Zagallo played on the team that won Brazil's first World Cup in 1958 and he kept his place in the side that retained the title four years later.

In 1970, he coached a Brazil squad that featured all-time greats like Pele, Jairzinho, Rivellino and Tostao - one that many consider to be the greatest national team ever to play the game. They won Brazil's third World Cup in Mexico.

That made Zagallo the first person in the sport to win a World Cup as both a player and a manager.

Later, he was assistant coach to Carlos Alberto Parreira when Brazil won their fourth title in 1994 in the United States.

His Brazilian fans loved him for his idiosyncratic personality and unapologetic nationalism. He liked to say he was born with victory at his side and was rarely shy to challenge those who said his teams were too defensive.

One of his most famous outbursts came after Brazil won the Copa America in Bolivia in 1997. His team were unfancied but when the final whistle went, an emotional Zagallo, his face red thanks to the rarified air of La Paz, screamed into the television cameras: "You're going to have to put up with me!"

The phrase is still frequently repeated by Brazilians in all walks of life celebrating vindication.

Zagallo was also known for being highly superstitious and believed the number 13 brought him luck. He liked to coin phrases that contained 13 letters, he got married on the 13th of the month, and once even joked he would retire from the game at 13:00 on July 13, 2013.

ACCIDENTAL FOOTBALLER

Nicknamed the Old Wolf, Mario Jorge Lobo Zagallo was born on Aug. 9, 1931, in Maceio on Brazil's impoverished northeastern coast. His family moved to Rio de Janeiro before his first birthday and it was there he fell in love with football.

His first dream was to be an airline pilot but he was forced to abandon that due to poor eyesight. Instead, he studied accountancy and played soccer in his spare time with local side America, then one of the biggest clubs in the city.

"My father didn't want me to be a football player, he wouldn't let me," Zagallo said in an interview published by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). "Back then it wasn't a profession that was respected, society didn't look kindly on it... That's why I say football came into my life by accident."

Zagallo started off as a left midfielder, wearing the No. 10 shirt, which back then, before Pele, had not yet assumed the significance it has today. But intuition told him he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I saw it would be hard to get into the Brazil side wearing the No. 10 shirt as there were lots of great players in that position," he said. "So I moved from left midfield to left wing."

He also moved from America to Flamengo, where he won three Carioca state championship medals. The latter half of his career was spent at city rivals Botafogo, where he won two more state titles.

His first World Cup came in Sweden in 1958, where he started all six matches and played alongside Garrincha and Pele, who was then just 17.

"I was 27 and Pele was 17," he said. "That's why I say that I never played with him, but that he played with me."

Four years later in Chile he was champion again, but he only guaranteed his place after making some tactical alterations. Zagallo would hang back to help mark the rival full back and when his side won the ball he would roar up the wing. It was unusual for forwards to help out in defense and he is credited with changing the way wingers played the game.

MEXICO 1970

As coach, Zagallo led a string of Brazilian clubs, but he made his mark when he was drafted to replace the controversial Joao Saldanha as Brazil coach just months before the 1970 Mexico World Cup.

Brazil's form had been erratic and they were not fancied, but Zagallo pulled the star-studded team together, capping a tremendous show with a memorable 4-1 triumph over Italy in the final.

Zagallo stayed on until 1974, taking Brazil to fourth place in West Germany, but it was a disappointing performance that was followed by spells managing clubs back home and national sides in the Middle East.

He was an assistant to Parreira in 1994, when Brazil won their fourth title, and in 2006, when they were knocked out in the quarter-finals. And he was in charge in 1998 when Brazil lost 3-0 to hosts France in the final after star striker Ronaldo was hit by convulsions just hours before the match.

The 2006 denouement was a tough one for Zagallo, who had been unwell in the lead-up to the tournament. He was clearly finding management a strain, and retired from the game.

Always ebullient and ever popular, he did not disappear from public view, though, and often appeared on television, at gala awards and helping out at the CBF.

He married in 1955 to Alcina de Castro and remained with her until her death in 2012. The couple had four children.

Hosting Werder Bremen on Sunday just one win away from a first Bundesliga title, Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen have their sights set on something even bigger: invincibility.

With 24 wins and four draws in the league this season, Leverkusen are on the cusp of going through a Bundesliga season undefeated.

Not even the mighty Bayern Munich, who have 33 German titles, have managed an unbeaten season in the league.

The unprecedented achievement has led to calls for Alonso's side to receive a golden Bundesliga shield.

In an interview published Thursday on German sports site Kicker, Leverkusen captain Lukas Hradecky said his relentless side would not let up should they beat Bremen on Sunday.

"We want to create something even more special than the championship: finish the league season without defeat.

"If we become champions on Sunday, it will have no impact on how we play in the league," said Hradecky, explaining "We need to live up to our role (as champions)."

Alonso has repeatedly said this season that his side -- who are also well-placed to reach the Europa League semi-finals and are in the German Cup final -- should not get ahead of themselves.

Hradecky, who admitted he had "almost written off the possibility of winning the title" before this season, said keeping the run going was "motivation enough".

"Becoming champions would be outstanding. But there are only five games left (after Sunday) and we won't let up."

"Then it wouldn't just be a championship, but one with a cherry on top."

Bayern, who host struggling Cologne, and Stuttgart, who are at home to Frankfurt, are on 60 points.

If both Bayern and Stuttgart lose on Saturday, Leverkusen will be champions even before they take the pitch against Bremen.

While each and every Leverkusen fan would have taken that deal before the season started, Alonso's men will no doubt want to seal the deal on their own terms -- and in front of their long-suffering fans.

"We have many chances -- thankfully -- but we'll try and do it on Sunday," Alonso said on Thursday after Leverkusen extended their unbeaten run to 42 games in all competitions with a 2-0 win over West Ham in the Europa League quarter-finals.

"We must be motivated, but not over-motivated."