Ryan Gauld makes impressive Sporting Lisbon debut

Former Dundee United player Gauld played the whole 90 minutes for Sporting in Monday nights 2-0 league cup win against Vitoria Guimaraes as he continues his fast developement. When the young Scot made his debut for Sporting Lisbon’s first team on Monday night the man who set him on the path to stardom was stunned – because he didn’t expect to see it happen for at least a year. Peter Houston give Gauld his Scottish top-flight chance at Dundee and reckons it’s testament to the 19-year-old’s sublime skills that he has now made the breakthrough at the Portuguese cracks less than six months after signing. Houston couldn’t be more thrilled for his former protege who played the full 90 minutes of the 2-0 Portuguese League Cup victory over Vitoria Guimaraes after stepping up from the B team.

Bayern need a Ronaldo type player says Metzelder

The Germany international believes that although Bayern are a top side, they lack a superstar in the mould of someone similar to Real's Cristiano Ronaldo. The two sides are considered by many to be the outstanding candidates to win the European Cup this season, but the former Germany centre-back believes that his old side have one distinct advantage over the Bavarians. "Bayern just don’t have a player like Ronaldo,” Metzelder told Kicker, adding that one man in particular who would relish a clash between the two outfits is the Germans’ former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola. Madrid saw off Bayern in the semi-final of last season’s competition with a 5-0 aggregate victory, while FCB had beaten Madrid on penalties in the last four in 2011-12 before going on to win the 2013 crown. And the two sides are expected to be among the front-runners for the title this season, with Bayern facing Shakhtar Donetsk in the last 16 and Real Madrid meeting Schalke.

Wenger wants independent diving panel

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger wants to see an independent diving panel set up in order to issue retrospective suspensions for diving. The issue has been prominent after a number of high-profile incidents involving Chelsea players. Wenger says the panel should be made up of people with "experience in the game" to punish "obvious cases". "I am against diving, but the only way players will stop doing it is if they can get punished," Wenger said. Wenger believes naming the guilty players alone "doesn't work" and there is a need to hand out bans following the examination of video evidence. "We should punish after the game," added the Frenchman. "The problem will be to decide when it was obvious diving or not. That is a big issue and sometimes it is not obvious."