… as Juventus look to overturn Atletico Madrid deficit

Crisitano Ronaldo insists there are “no secrets” behind his success and ability to maintain such a high level of performance for so many years.

The 34-year-old is currently in his first season playing for Juventus in Serie A following on from his summer switch from Real Madrid.

He bagged 450 goals in 438 games for  Los Blancos  in a fantastic nine-year stint playing for the for the Spanish side, and he is now aiming to achieve similar success at the Turin club.

The forward already has 21 goals to his name for Juventus this season, and he insisted his love for the game enables him to keep his standard of playing to such a high level.

“I have no secrets, just my dedication and my passion for this sport,” Ronaldo told  Juventus TV.  

“I love to play football more than anything else. I’ve enjoyed myself in Portugal, England and Spain and I am now doing so in Italy, for me it’s a pleasure to score goals and to help my team win, I’m happy.”

The Portuguese talisman lifted the Champions League trophy four times while he was at Real Madrid, and could be set to claim another triumph in this year’s edition with Juventus.

However, Massimiliano Allegri’s men are currently chasing two goals in their last-16 tie following their first encounter in Atletico Madrid, and will need Ronaldo to help overturn that deficit in their upcoming second leg on Tuesday night.

“The team is confident of playing a great game and I am too,” Ronaldo added. “We are ready to experience a special night, both on the field and in the stands.

“Everyone knows that they are a strong team, they defend very well, they don’t take a lot of risks and they play on the counter-attack, but we are ready, and we will do everything we can to beat them.

“The fine details will make the difference, and we want to win and qualify for the quarter-finals.

“Football is like this, we didn’t expect to lose the first leg 2-0, but anything can happen, and we want to give a great response in our home, in front of our fans.”

Following the clash against Atletico, Juventus then take on Genoa on Sunday as they look to maintain their 18-point gap cushion at the top of Serie A.

FIFA allegedly offered £310m payment by Qatar for World Cup bid

Qatar offered a lucrative lump sum to FIFA just days before it was announced that the country would host the 2022 World Cup finals.

Leaked documents have been revealed which show Qatari state-run broadcaster Al Jazeera signed a television rights agreement making the huge £310 million offer which included a $100 million bonus if Qatar were named as World Cup hosts – as per the Sunday Times.

The ‘success fee’ was due to be paid into a designated FIFA account when Qatar were successful in their World Cup bid, which would have been a huge breach of rules and regulations for the footballing governing body.

Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani controlled Al Jazeera and was the man behind the country’s bid, with the Sunday Times also reportedly seeing proof of a second secret television rights contract worth a further £370m ($480m) tabled by Qatar three years after the first.

FIFA had opened a long-running investigation into corruption surrounding the hosting rights for the 2022 finals, but they cut short their inquiry some time ago and withheld any and all findings.

The Sun reports that the Swiss police are now investigating the contract in question and it is alleged that FIFA were offered close to $1 billion in total payments during certain periods of the Qatari campaign process for the World Cup.

 FIFA have so far declined to comment on the allegations, but the chairman of the UK’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee Damian Collins has called on the organisation to freeze all payments to Al Jazeera and a launch full-scale investigation into the contract