CanCristiano Ronaldobecome a three-time Champions League winner after successes in 2008 with Manchester United and 2014 with Real Madrid?

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Burnley manager Sean Dyche has confirmed the Championship side have held talks with midfielder Joey Barton. 

Premier League club West Ham were close to signing the 32-year-old after his release by Queens Park Rangers this summer.

"Joey is someone I've spoken to for eight weeks," Dyche told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"There are a lot of other suitors - the thing about Joey is what people sometimes forget because of other stuff is that he is a very good player."

Spain are the first nation to have five teams in the Champions League group stages.

Valencia beat Monaco in a Champions League qualifying play-off to reach the last 32 to join join Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Sevilla, who qualified as Europa League winners.

Spanish teams have won four of the last seven Champions League, with Barcelona defeating Juventus in May's final.

Let's just get it out of the way and give it to Real or Barca now shall we?

Image source, Getty Images, EPA, Reuters

They have had more rain in Stormont and the Australia innings has ended at 222-6 after 40.2 overs. There will be an inspection at 17:00 BST to determine the length of Ireland's reply.

Bill Rice
BBC Radio Manchester

Despite missing out on European football entirely last season, Manchester United’s coefficient ranking remains strong thanks to reaching the final in 2011, meaning they are amongst the second pot of seeds for the draw in Monaco. 

The change to the system with the winners of the domestic leagues from the top ranked nations making up pot one means the Reds could be drawn against defending champions Barcelona, five-time winners Bayern Munich or Italian champions Juventus.

Astana made European football history on Wednesday night by becoming the first team from Kazakhstan to reach the Champions League group stage.

They might have been founded just six years ago but Wednesday's 2-1 aggregate victory over Apoel Nicosia of Cyprus confirmed their place in today's draw.  

And if it's tricky away days you're after then look no further. 

If an English team is drawn against them, kick-off time in the Kazakh capital will be at either 15:00 or 17:00 BST.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, .

Stuart Lancaster has spoken of shedding "tears" over a tough selection process for his Rugby World Cup squad.

The most controversial decision is arguably the inclusion of new blood Sam Burgess at the expense of veteran centre Luther Burrell.

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Asked about any drama over his selections, Lancaster said: "Just by me. No tantrums, just tears."

"It's been, for me personally as head coach, a real rollercoaster." 

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has arrived for the group stage draw. How many will he get in this season's competition?

Alan Pardew has been speaking ahead of his short trip across London to face Chelsea on Saturday.

He said: "We’ve not been as fluent as we’d like but we’ve been exciting. This is an exciting team, we can create great moments and that’s what we’ve done really, we’ve had moments.

“We’ve got players who can reduce a game which doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere, give us the lead and win games."

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Spain striker Fernando Llorente has finalised his move to Europa League winners Sevilla from Juventus.

The 30-year-old, who left Atletic Bilbao to join Juve two years ago, has passed a medical and signed a three-year deal.

He became a free agent after agreement was reached with the Italian champions to terminate his contract, which had two years left to run.

Image source, Reuters

Phil McNulty
BBC Sport chief football writer

Manchester United made short work of Club Brugge in the qualifying round to return to the Champions League group stage after a season-long absence - now they await their opponents along with the other Premier League hopefuls champions Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal.

United have come to regard the Champions League as their rightful home while Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is chasing history by attempting to become the first coach to win with three different clubs after previous triumphs with Porto and Inter Milan.

Image source, Getty Images

Piers Newbery
BBC Sport

The Champions League is not the only draw on offer this Thursday afternoon - here at Flushing Meadows we are about to discover the potential path to glory for the likes of Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams at the US Open.

Murray is seeded third behind Djokovic and Federer as he looks to repeat his 2012 triumph in New York, while Williams is the top seed and on course for the first calendar Grand Slam in tennis since Steffi Graf in 1988. 

The draw begins at 16:30 BST.

BBC Tees reports Middlesbrough winger Albert Adomah has submitted a transfer request, although boss Aitor Karanka says he "can't imagine" the scenario.

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The Ghana international, 27, was left out of Tuesday's League Cup win at Burton, with Karanka reluctant to speak of Adomah's future.

"I can't imagine Albert has presented a transfer request," Karanka told BBC Tees.

"I have said many times how important he is for the team I heard from him after the Oldham game (also in the League Cup) and he was very proud to wear the (captain's) armband, so for that reason I can't imagine him handing in a request."

A Question of Sport Teaser

Here's today's Question of Sport Teaser. We'll bring you the answers a little later on. Get your thinking caps on...

Which six teams have appeared in just one Uefa @ChampionsLeague, external Final since 2005?    

Ian Stringer
BBC Radio Leicester Sport

BBC Radio Leicester's Ian Stringer had this to say after Claudio Ranieri's jovial news conference earlier: "In the multi-billion pound age of Premier League football you don’t expect a manager to modify the terms of players' contracts midway through a press conference. 

"Claudio Ranieri joked today that he would offer his defenders a ‘tenner’ bonus if they keep their first clean sheet of the season ahead of Saturday’s trip to take on Bournemouth.  

Image source, PA

"Whilst he wouldn’t be drawn on transfer targets the Italian did confirm that he would be happy if no new faces walked through the door.

"After having the entire room laughing Ranieri ended the press conference by confirming Riyad Mahrez is not for sale - ‘the club doesn’t need money’."

Gary Lineker
MOTD presenter since 1999

It would appear Liverpool forward Daniel Sturridge is back training at Melwood after having hip surgery in May.

He posted this picture on his Instagram...

Image source, Daniel Sturridge

The Manchester Evening News, external is reporting that Manchester City youngster Rony Lopes will join Monaco in an £8.8m deal.