The Emirates pitch looks in fine condition. Compliments to the groundsmen.

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Leeds Rhinos prop Mitch Garbutt has apologised for the punch that earned him a red card in Sunday's World Club Challenge defeat by North Queensland Cowboys.

Garbutt, 26, was sent off nine minutes from the end of the Super League champions' 38-4 loss for punching Australian Test front rower James Tamou.

Garbutt said: "It was a silly thing that I did. It's not something that I am about, I don't condone violence and it's not something I want kids watching the game to see.

"Everyone that knows me knows I'm not the sort of person that does those things. I sought James out after the game to apologise and we sorted things out, and there were no hard feelings."

Will: Even as a United fan I wouldn't want European wildcards. Qualification irrespective of league position would breed complacency

Antony: Wildcard entries for top three coefficient non-CL qualifiers this season would have promoted Napoli, Fiorentina & Dnipro

Philippa Dasher: Don't get why people are saying Chelsea & Man Utd are the teams that would benefit from wild cards and want them the most. No-one has mentioned the English team that would be the obvious beneficiary & case in point for a wildcard system - Liverpool 

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By the way, did you know that Kiev is known as the most green city in the world?

It has a green zone area which covers 43,600 hectares, of which more than half of which is taken up by woods, public gardens, parks and tree-lined boulevards.

So if the City players fancy a stroll to loosen their legs ahead of the game tomorrow, they should have no trouble finding a decent play to have a walk...

And some final words from Pablo Zabaleta. "We’ve played a lot of games in January and February but I think that tomorrow we will see players who’ve had a rest last weekend. Physically and mentally we must be fresh for tomorrow and play at 100%.

“We know we’ve been playing against the best teams in Europe. In the last four years we’ve been learning a lot about the way you must play in these games.

“We played the best team in the world at this stage for the last two years – I’m not going to say that tomorrow is going to be easy, they have the mentality to play in these types of games as they’ve played in this competition before many times.”

And that's it, all done and dusted in Kiev. Until tomorrow that is...

Manuel Pellegrini: "The important thing is the performance of our important players tomorrow. It’s the first 90 minutes of a 180 minute match, no matter what happens, it’s not over tomorrow.”

Pellegrini is asked about picking a weakened side in the 5-1 FA Cup mauling at Chelsea and defends his selection.

“We had to make a difficult decision against Chelsea but it was the only choice we could make in this moment. We had just 13 players so it was our intention to continue in all competitions and we couldn’t do that," he said.

“This is absolutely different – we will try to continue knowing we have a difficult game tomorrow."

West Ham midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate has had his one-match suspension for being sent off against Blackburn overturned.

He had been dismissed for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity,

Image source, PA

The boss is speaking now and he says the squad is almost the same as that which faced Chelsea ... which might not exactly be music to the ears of City fans.

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Pablo Zabaleta is still doing the talking and he has warned that now not might be a good time to face a Kiev side who are relaxed and fresh after a bit of feet-up time.

“They have had a long break, time to have a good rest and recover some injured players, but we don’t need to think about this," he says.

"It’s not going to be an easy game. Kiev are a great team and have played in the Champions League before. We'll have to be at our best.”

Well, what a treat.

It's not only the boss answering questions from the media in Kiev but trusted defender Pablo Zabaleta too.

"Going from a big defeat on Sunday against Chelsea, now we are 100% focused on the game tomorrow. It is another chance to take a step forward," the Argentine says.

"This is a big chance for us to go on the next round. Tomorrow we need to perform well and see if we can get a result.”

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Liverpool Ladies have put last year's dismal campaign behind them, says striker Rosie White.

The club started the 2015 season as Women's Super League champions, but finished second from bottom, five points above relegated Bristol Academy.

Since then, Scott Rogers has replaced Matt Beard as manager and the squad has seen nine players leave and another nine come into the squad.

"The mood's completely different," 22-year-old White told BBC Sport. "There's a new vibe, new energy, new players and new personalities."

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Valencia president Layhoon Chan insists the players are fully behind Gary Neville and the club did not consider sacking him as manager during a poor run of form.

Neville was appointed boss in December but went nine Primera Division matches without a win - before Sunday's 2-1 win over Granada made it three wins in the space of a week.

"You cannot dismiss a coach for a poor run when the players believe in him - they believe in Gary Neville," Chan told Spanish sports daily AS.

"I do understand the football culture in Spain, but we have belief in what we are doing and we will continue in the direction which we believe is the right one."

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Jared Payne appears increasingly unlikely to face England in Saturday's Six Nations encounter at Twickenham after missing training today.

Ireland remain "hopeful" the Ulster centre can still overcome his hamstring problem in time to start the clash in London, but the 30-year-old must prove his readiness on Thursday.

Rory William Forrest: UCL wildcards will only increase the financial imbalance in the game! Barca president came off very poorly! #greedisgood 

Tom Guy: Wildcards are absolute nonsense, what's the point of Tottenham, West Ham, Leicester etc trying if they've got no chance?

Sid Dodia: If wildcard comes with some ground rules like team reaching semi's five year streak and next season finishing out of top four

Former Manchester United midfielder David Beckham has backed under-fire manager Louis van Gaal. 

Beckham told Talksport: "He is an experienced manager with a great reputation in the game. Sometimes it takes time. It is not easy being manager of Manchester United. 

"I only hear great things about him as a person, as a manager, as a coach. I have met him once before and he treated me unbelievably well. 

"He is manager of Manchester United so there is always going to be criticism."

Image source, AP

We asked you to vote on whether big clubs should get Champions League wildcards. The vote is over now and, perhaps unsurprisingly, 85% of you said no to wildcards.

Millwall say their future will be in jeopardy if land the club leases for a car park at The Den is sold.

Lewisham Council has plans to redevelop an area around the ground in conjunction with property developer Renewal, and rename it New Bermondsey.

Click here to watch BBC London's Jim Wheble speaks to Lions chief executive Andy Ambler and Jordana Malik, a director at Renewal, about the regeneration plans.

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