Harry Kane trains with senior England squad for first time

Harry Kane: England training session at St Georges Park

Harry Kane trained with the England senior squad for the first time on Tuesday ahead of Friday's European Qualifier with Lithuania.

Tottenham striker Kane is tipped to make his hotly-anticipated senior debut, with the 21-year-old having stormed to the top of the Premier League goalscoring charts this season.

Kane's chances of making a start for the European Qualifier at Wembley improved on Monday night after Daniel Sturridge withdrew from the squad through injury.

As one of just three strikers in the 24-man party, Kane now has a good chance of starting either at Wembley or the friendly with Italy in Turin four days later.

Tried and trusted

Ex-England captain Terry Butcher says boss Roy Hodgson should not start with Kane against Lithuania on Friday night, instead holding him back to make his full debut in the friendly with Italy.

Butcher believes Hodgson should not "experiment" for their Group E clash.

"In qualifiers you don't experiment," he told Morning View. "You go with tried and trusted. You go with what you've got. Win the game first and then you may be able to bring him on.

"He'll probably win his first cap, but that will be from the bench. He's in form but he's unknown to the senior international circuit.

"He plays well for the (England) U21s, scoring goals for them and he's done fabulously well, but he's still a novice when it comes to senior international football.

"I think he (Hodgson) will experiment when it comes to the Italy (friendly) game (in Turin). That's the game for Harry Kane. Make his full England international debut in Italy against the Italians - I mean wow! That is something special."

He plays well for the (England) Under 21s scoring goals from them and done fabulously well, but he's still a novice when it comes to senior international football.

Butcher on Kane

Training

Ryan Mason: Joined Spurs team-mate Kane at Burton-upon-Trent

Kane was joined at Burton-upon-Trent by fellow uncapped Spurs team-mate Ryan Mason, who was drafted into the squad after Adam Lallana withdrew because of a groin injury.

Chelsea teenager Dominic Solanke also trained with the senior team after collecting the Youth Player of the Year award.

The 17-year-old made his first-team debut for the Blues in October's Champions League match against Maribor and was given the award for helping the U17s to last year's European Championship.

Solanke, now part of the U18s set-up, was presented with the trophy as Wayne Rooney collected the Vauxhall England Player of the Year award ahead of a training session the forward joined in with.

Dominic Solanke collecting the Youth Player of the Year award

Phil Jagielka and Leighton Baines did not join a shallow-looking squad having played at Queen's Park Rangers on Sunday while versatile midfielder James Milner, who was involved with Manchester City, continued his specific recovery work.

Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling and 33-year-old Michael Carrick all warmed up during the morning session, while Fabian Delph was recovering from a sickness bug, but is expected to re-join the squad later in the week.

Former England captain Terry Butcher stated that Roy Hodgson's England defence are lucky that Joe Hart is the man behind them. Butcher believes the side ar

Danny Rose, Jack Butland and Robert Green, who were added to the squad at the weekend following the withdrawal of Fraser Forster and Luke Shaw, also took part.

Case for defence

Gary Cahill: England's best defender, according to Butcher

Butcher is also concerned by England's lack of quality in defence.

He said: "Centre-half wise, Gary Cahill is the best they've got. I mean John Stones is with the U21s so he quite rightly stays there with a big tournament coming up.

"I see John Stones as possibly being one as staking a claim for a run in the senior team, but Cahill is one that has everything and yet if you look at the World Cup in Brazil last year, him and Phil Jagielka were caught out.

"I think Jagielka will partner him in the game on Friday night because you have to go with your strongest team, but that's an area that concerns me - the England back four.

“Luckily they have Joe Hart behind them and if he plays like he did in the Nou Camp last week then England have got a reasonable chance.

"The back four is the worst part of the England squad and the worst part of the team."

UEFA rules out further video technology after mistaken identity

Gianni Infantino: UEFA rules out further technology

UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino has ruled out the use of video technology in matches for anything other than goalline decisions.

West Brom defender Gareth McAuley was sent off after just 89 seconds of their 1-0 Premier League defeat at Manchester City on Saturday, despite the initial foul on Wilfried Bony being committed by team-mate Craig Dawson.

However, West Brom will not appeal against McAuley's dismissal, though The Football Association is expected to switch the red card to Dawson.

The incident at the Etihad Stadium followed Wes Brown's dismissal during a 2-0 defeat for Sunderland at Manchester United on February 28 - even though John O'Shea was the guilty party. The red card was subsequently overturned on appeal, and was not transferred to O'Shea.

But, despite these high-profile examples of mistaken identity, Infantino toldSky Sports News HQ that further technology to assist officials is not on UEFA's agenda.

"There would be no mistaken identity if you had the additional assistant referees, because they will see immediately what happens and can rectify all decisions," said Infantino. "It is easy to say technology is needed.

'Fantastic'

"I think what is needed, in any case, is an appropriate debate on this topic.

"What does it mean? What are we speaking about here? Technology is already in football with goalline technology.

"But, for everything else, it's very much a judgement question for the referee - and has to remain with the referee as well in the future.

There would be no mistaken identity if you had the additional assistant referees.

Gianni Infantino

"Football is the most fantastic sport in the world - there must be a reason for that."

While the Premier League already uses goalline technology, it is also scheduled to be utilised for the first time in Germany's Bundesliga and Italy's Serie A from the 2015-16 season.

Meanwhile, Infantino is confident UEFA has a good chance of increasing the number of places for European nations at the World Cup from the 2018 finals from the current 13.

"If you look at it objectively based on facts, 19 of the top 32-ranked associations are European," said Infantino.

"The winners of the last three World Cups are European teams. So I think it's absolutely fair to be asking for only one more position - we could ask for more than one.

"But one more would be a good sign. At the end of the day, to crown the world champions you must have the best teams."

Guillem Balague on Gareth Bale, Luis Suarez, Cristiano Ronaldo

Barcelona and Real Madrid's Champions League rivals will not be concerned after watching El Clasico, says Guillem Balague.

Real Madrid lost to Barcelona on Sunday night, but in the first 55 minutes they could have won the game.

They showed a lot of discipline defensively, played with two banks of four, with Gareth Bale very involved defensively and making sure he was always backing up the full-back.

Attacking with the fantastic Karim Benzema, they created a lot of chances. Cristiano Ronaldo was the Disney Ronaldo - a man of moments - and he is still very useful to Real Madrid. He hit the bar, scored a goal, headed the ball on for the disallowed goal and had a chance that Claudio Bravo saved.

Cristiano Ronaldo was the Disney Ronaldo - a man of moments - and he is still very useful to Real Madrid.

Guillem Balague

But he is not a player to get involved in the build-up a lot and when the team drops their level, both physically and mentally, he doesn’t have the strength at the moment to lift them, as we saw when Barcelona scored.

Barca were a team who lost control. They demand their midfielders to get into the box and that leaves a lot of gaps and the team exposed sometimes.

Because of the way Real Madrid defended, it was difficult for Barca to build up, but they changed when Lionel Messi, who has the freedom to do what he wants on the pitch, moved himself moving into the centre, which helped balance things out.

He did that at the end of the first half but the first 10 minutes of the second half it was still Real Madrid who had chances - but then the goal killed it.

It came from a long ball from the back and then great control and a great goal by Luis Suarez which reminded me of Gary Lineker.

Watch Luis Suarez's winner for Barcelona as they beat Real Mdrid 2-1 in Sunday's El Clasico

After that, Sergio Busquets and Xavi came on and they played the other variation of Barcelona which makes it difficult for teams.

It is interesting that the impression from a lot of fans of Barcelona, as well as the media, is that the performance created question marks. Jorge Valdano (former Real Madrid general director) even hinted that it would be very difficult for Barca to beat Paris Saint-Germain.

On the other hand, a lot of Real Madrid fans were expecting less and realised that the team gave more than they expected - it was certainly the best game they have played this season.

Everything is about the result and it was Barcelona who won, but neither of these teams will scare PSG or Bayern Munich. They have a lot of strengths but a lot of weaknesses too.

 

Celta Vigo vs Barcelona

April 5, 2015

Guillem answers your questions...

Sky Sports' Spanish football expert answers your questions on Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez, play acting and Gareth Bale...

Is there a reason why Bale goes missing in so many games? Also, when chances fall to him, he doesn't take them? (@MarkMcLellan1)

GUILLEM SAYS: He is still learning about Real Madrid and how they want him to play. I was disappointed to see him celebrate the way he did against Levante because I knew if he didn’t do the same against Barcelona then people would say 'look, you didn’t do it against Barcelona'. He should just accept criticism and try to improve. I hope Bale is learning from all this and it will make him a better player.

He was missing in the second half of El Clasico, as Neymar was in the first half. Neymar got more involved in the second half when the team played better but both of them have to give more to the team.

 

R Madrid vs Granada

April 5, 2015

Will Bale & Ancelotti be at Madrid next season after both coming in for plenty of stick after last night? (@ManCityArmy1894)

GUILLEM SAYS: I am convinced Bale will be at Real Madrid next season and unless everything gets turned around Ancelotti will not be there. Clearly it depends on results for Ancelotti but I am convinced Bale will stay in Madrid.

Do the Spanish media and fans get embarrassed by all the diving and play acting? It spoils the game every time. (@edmonds_mark)

Javier Mascherano gets booked for a tackle on Cristiano Ronaldo while Sergio Ramos takes a tumble after clashing with Andres Iniesta

GUILLEM SAYS: Yes, there was some of that and it was disappointing but the obsession in Britain with diving is a little bit unhealthy. For me there were other things happening in the game that were more important than that.

It would be good if it disappeared but the way the players reacted tactically, the way the coaches tried to win the game, the individual quality of some of the play, that, for me, is more important.

Why don’t people in Britain focus on that and not always on the diving? I would love to hear from fans about that. I would love the same kind of attitude towards a bad pass for example - ‘Wow! Bad pass, spoils it all the time, embarrassing. All these people earning so much money and they still hit a bad pass sometimes.’ But it is not like that.

Do you think Luis Suarez could get 40-plus goals for Barca as he did for #LFC? Even with Messi in the side? (@MrS007Porter)

GUILLEM SAYS: Not this season obviously, but at some point yes because Barcelona score a lot of goals and because of the style they use now which suits Suarez. They create space by quick transitions and that certainly suits him, so he could be a 40-plus scorer in all competitions.

Is Suarez now more important to Barcelona than Neymar? (@alexwhitaker57)

Gael Clichy and Guillem Balague look back on Neymar's chance to put Barcelona 2-0 up before Cristiano Ronaldo scored for Real Madrid just seconds later.

GUILLEM SAYS: The most important player is Messi and Neymar and Suarez are working around that. The way it is going, a fit Neymar who scores goals is also very important because he loves driving with the ball and he loves using that space that is created by the new style of Barcelona.

Is it true Madrid never bid for Suarez as he doesn't fit their club profile/image? (@gagenewton)

GUILLEM SAYS: That is not true. In fact, Madrid tried to sign him but realised very early that Barcelona had basically convinced him to come.

Do you think if Ronaldo was sold it would solidify RM? Bale barely gets the ball passed to him. (@JEM1429)

Gareth Bale had a goal ruled out for Real Madrid in last nights El Clasico, Bale looks to be onside but was Ronaldo offside.

GUILLEM SAYS: Ronaldo will stay next season, no doubt about it, he will be a Real Madrid player next season. Why do you have to have only one? Barcelona’s dream team had four or five top guys and still played well, like Laudrup, Koeman and Stoichkov. So what is this obsession with only having one?

Do you think it is necessary to have an Alonso/Khedira in the Real Madrid team to win big games? (@aaronh_96)

GUILLEM SAYS: Not Khedira because his mind is somewhere else. For three days he didn’t go to training and there’s not actually a reason for it. He has signed for a German team, some say Bayern some say Schalke.

It would help to have Xabi Alonso but I feel the whole team dropped after 55 minutes physically and mentally and not even Xabi Alonso would have been able to hold that. There have not been enough rotations during the season and that’s the accusation that Real Madrid have got towards Ancelotti.

Liverpool's Adam Lallana pulls out of England squad with groin injury

Adam Lallana: Will not feature for England in their next two games

Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana has pulled out of the England squad to face Lithuania and Italy.

Roy Hodgson is due to meet up with his squad on Monday lunchtime, but it is understood Lallana will not be present after suffering a recurrence of a groin injury in Sunday's 2-1 defeat to Manchester United.

The 26-year-old was withdrawn at half-time at Anfield and although his injury is not thought to be too serious, his absence will be a blow to Hodgson having established himself as a key member of the squad in the qualifying campaign.

Keeper Fraser Forster and full-back Luke Shaw have already withdrawn from the squad, with Rob Green, Jack Butland and Danny Rose earning a call in their place.  

But it's unclear whether Hodgson will call for a replacement for Lallana ahead of Friday night's European qualifier against Lithuania at Wembley, where England will bid to maintain their 100 percent record with a fifth straight Group E win.

One player definitely meeting up this afternoon is Tottenham striker Harry Kane, who has been tipped to earn his England debut against Lithuania after becoming this season's leading Premier League goalscorer following his hat-trick in Saturday's 4-3 win over Leicester.

After Lithuania, England head to Turin for a friendly against the nation that beat them in their World Cup opener last summer.

Manchester United win at Liverpool a 'significant day', says Gary Neville

Gary Neville says Manchester United's performance was as important as the result

Manchester United’s victory over Liverpool at Anfield is a “significant day” in the top-four race, says Gary Neville.

Juan Mata scored twice to give Louis van Gaal’s men a 2-1 victory on Super Sunday, while the Reds had Steven Gerrard sent off 38 seconds after the midfielder came on as a substitute.

United are now five points clear of Brendan Rodgers’ side after an impressive first-half display which, Neville told The Super Sunday Podcast, is as important as the result.

Jamie Carragher says the emotion of the occasion got the better of Steven Gerrard after the Liverpool captain was sent off for a stamp on Manchester United

“I think it’s a significant day, I really do,” said the former full-back. “Significant not just because Manchester United have won, but their performance.

“I didn’t think they were capable of coming here today and performing like they did against Tottenham last week.

“Tottenham were desperately poor in that match – we were there – and I didn’t think Liverpool could be made to look so poor in that first half an hour.

I didn’t think they were capable of coming here today and performing like they did against Tottenham last week

Neville on United's performance

“This has always been, historically, the most difficult place for Manchester United to come and play football in the first 25, 30 minutes. It’s always been a scrap, a fight and I have to say they were absolutely fantastic in that first period of the game.

“I think that will carry a lot with the Liverpool players; that they had to play in that game in the most difficult period against a team that were passing it, and they were chasing shadows. How often do you say that about Liverpool at Anfield? They usually dominate possession.”

Sunday’s result also moves Van Gaal’s men to within a point of third-placed Arsenal and just two behind Manchester City in second place.

Consolidate

The United boss said after the match the key factor was their gap to the teams below them, and Neville agrees, saying his former club should not get carried away and just focus on securing Champions League football next season.

Van Gaal was pleased with his side's first-half display

“I think, if you’re being pragmatic, it would be silly of Manchester United to think upwards, in respect of the title or anything like that,” he added.

“Manchester United have got to consolidate where they are. They’ve got City and Chelsea in a couple of weeks and then they’ve got Arsenal at home, so they’ve got three really difficult fixtures along with Crystal Palace and Everton away.

“There’s five fixtures I’m pointing towards – that’s not to say I’m writing the other ones off, but they stand out as being awkward fixtures and, in some cases, very difficult.

“They only picked up one point off Chelsea and Manchester City in the fixtures early on in the season.

El Clasico talking points as Barcelona beat Real Madrid at the Nou Camp

Mathieu and Suarez celebrate Barca's opener

From Suarez's winner to Neymar's miss, we round up the talking points from Sunday's El Clasico...

Mathieu capitalises on Real’s set-piece weakness

Ahead of kick-off, Real Madrid had conceded a league-high 33 per cent of their goals from set-pieces this season and Jeremy Mathieu, who scored twice against them last season for Valencia, exploited that weakness to head Barcelona in front on 19 minutes.

Only three teams have scored fewer goals from set-pieces than Barcelona in La Liga this term but the France centre-back finished in emphatic fashion after breaking clear of Sergio Ramos and meeting Lionel Messi’s inviting cross – the Argentina international’s 15th assist of the campaign.

Ronaldo punishes Neymar’s miss

Gael Clichy and Guillem Balague look back on Neymar's chance to put Barcelona 2-0 up before Cristiano Ronaldo scored for Real Madrid seconds later.

Neymar was guilty of squandering a number of chances and his first-half blunder in the Real six-yard box, when he failed to turn in Suarez’s cross-shot, was punished just moments later when Cristiano Ronaldo instigated a counter-attack and slotted in himself to make it 1-1. “If Neymar had scored it would have been 2-0 and a different game,” Manchester City’s Gael Clichy told Sky Sports at half-time.  

Instead it was Ronaldo celebrating. The Portuguese had gone two La Liga games without finding the net and hit the bar from close range after 12 minutes but he has now netted seven times in his last eight trips to the Nou Camp.

Sunday’s strike drew Ronaldo level with Real great Raul on 15 El Clasico goals. Messi (21) and Alfredo di Stefano (18) are the only players ahead of him on the list.

Suarez scores winner

Watch Luis Suarez's winner for Barcelona as they beat Real Madrid 2-1 in Sunday's El Clasico.

Gareth Bale thought he’d put Real ahead on 40 minutes but saw his effort ruled out for an offside flag on Ronaldo – however, a former Premier League star was celebrating after the interval when Luis Suarez converted his first El Clasico goal.

Receiving a long pass from Dani Alves, Suarez – who picked up a first-half booking for catching Pepe with his studs - arrowed a shot across Iker Casillas and into the goal. “His run was brilliant, his first touch was brilliant and his finish was brilliant,” said Gerry Armstrong. “He got four or five yards on Pepe and that’s all he needs. Give him a chance at goal and he sticks it in the back of the net.”

The goal was Suarez’s seventh in his last seven games. "Of course he’s a great player but he gives so much to the team,” said Clichy. “We’ll remember the goal but he probably made 10-15 runs like that during the game. He’s a great striker.”

Barca take charge of title race

Luis Suarez celebrates his winner

Real Madrid had won the last two Clasicos but haven’t won three on the spin since 1978 and their defeat on Sunday leaves them four points adrift of their table-topping rivals.

Remarkably Real, who won 19 out of 21 La Liga matches earlier this season, now have a huge task ahead of them to clinch the crown, after losing back-to-back away games for the first time since September 2012.

“Definitely Barcelona will win [the title]. No question,” said West Ham’s on-loan Barca man Alex Song. “I know how it works there. They will win the league.”

With a trip to Atletico Madrid to come, plus Champions League commitments providing a distraction, the title race is certainly not over – but the Catalans undoubtedly landed a crucial blow on their rivals at the Nou Camp.

MSN outshine BBC in Nou Camp

Gareth Bale was frustrated at the Nou Camp

Lionel Messi has scored more goals than Karim Benzema, Bale and Ronaldo combined in La Liga in 2015 and despite Ronaldo’s first-half equaliser, it was a frustrating night for Real’s front three.

Bale completed just 45 per cent of his 20 passes in the opposition half, while Neymar (86.7) and Messi (87.5) were far more accurate for the hosts. The former Tottenham man also struggled to get into the game, with just 40 touches all night.

However, it was Ronaldo who came in for criticism after the match. “Apart from the goal he scored, for me, he didn’t do very well tonight,” Song told Sky Sports. “It was not the great Ronaldo tonight. I didn’t see something special.”

Messi, meanwhile, was deemed to have dropped below his high standards – but an assist and an El Clasico victory to extend Barcelona’s La Liga lead was hardly a bad night’s work. “A lot of players would like to have a bad night like that,” said Clichy. “He didn’t have a great night but everything came from him.”

Liverpool v Manchester United preview: Rivals set for top-four face-off

Jamie Redknapp looks ahead to Manchester United's trip to Anfield

Liverpool and Manchester United go head-to-head at Anfield, live on Super Sunday, in a game that could go a long way to determining which side secures a Champions League place.

Brendan Rodgers’ side are in fantastic form of late, winning their last five Premier League games including important victories over Tottenham, Southampton and Manchester City.

In fact the last time the Merseysiders suffered a league defeat was back in December at Old Trafford.

• vs

• Liverpool v Man Utd

• March 22, 2015

Louis van Gaal’s side triumphed 3-0 that day to move 10 points clear of their great rivals. Liverpool’s recent form has seen that gap cut to just two points but United themselves look to have found form at just the right time.

Last weekend’s 3-0 win over Tottenham was widely acknowledged to be their best performance of the season and sets up the tantalising prospect of two of English football’s giants going toe-to-toe at the top of their game.

Team news

Midfielder Lucas Leiva's fitness will be assessed ahead of Sunday's game.

The Brazil international returned to training this week after a groin problem sustained six weeks ago but may not be ready to go straight into the squad.

Striker Mario Balotelli has recovered from the bout of illness which saw him miss Monday's win at Swansea.

Angel Di Maria is available again for Manchester United after serving a one-match suspension, but Jonny Evans is still banned for the spitting incident with Papiss Cisse earlier this month.

Van Gaal says Luke Shaw and Marcos Rojo are not fit to start for the visitors, but the Red Devils boss may include them on the bench.

Angel Di Maria is available for the match after suspension

Opta facts

If Liverpool avoid defeat in this game they will match the longest unbeaten run of the season seen in the Premier League this season (14 games, recorded by Chelsea).

The Red Devils have lost just one of their last nine Premier League away matches (W4 D4 L1).
Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 14 matches in all competitions at Anfield (W7 D7).

Daniel Sturridge has scored in two of his three Premier League appearances for Liverpool against Man Utd.

Daniel Sturridge has two goals in three league games against Manchester United for Liverpool

Manchester United have won away at Anfield more times than any other team in Premier League history (10).

Only Liverpool v Everton (20) has seen more red cards in Premier League history than Liverpool v Manchester United (15) (including a record by one player in a single fixture – Nemanja Vidic with four).

Merson's prediction

We take a look back at one of the great Premier League comebacks

Liverpool definitely start as favourites to win this game, although I do not think that they can afford to lose as then they will fall five points behind United, and that will be too many to catch up with so few games left to play this season.

If United can get into the final third often enough and get the ball to Ashley Young, then Marouane Fellaini becomes a big threat. However, if they have to start their attacks in their own half and play it forward from there to the Belgian, then I think Liverpool will be able to cope with that OK.

And while United were very good in that match against Tottenham last weekend, I still feel Liverpool will win this game as they will have too much pace and movement up front for the visitors.

PAUL PREDICTS: 3-1