ITALY legend Francesco Totti has teased a potential return to professional football.

The 48-year-old retired from the game back in 2017 after spending his entire career with Roma.

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He scored 307 goals and provided 207 assists in 785 appearances for the Serie A giants.

The ex-playmaker is now considered one of the greatest Italian footballers of all time.

But despite calling time on his career seven years ago, Totti has not completely ruled out a return to the beautiful game.

In fact, he is keeping the door wide open.

Speaking at a recent event, Totti revealed: “Some Serie A teams have contacted me.

“I admit that they made me think a little, a little crazy. It would be difficult, but in life you never say never.

“There are players who have played many years after the end of their career.

“It also depends on where you play, with all due respect, but if I were to return to Serie A I would have to train really well.”

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According to Italian outlet La Gazzetta dello Sport, Totti also recently said: “Given the current level of Serie A, I could easily make an impact on the field.”

However, he would not entertain a move to Roma‘s rivals, Lazio.

The Italian continued: “Lazio? I wouldn’t have even considered it.

“I’d be ready in two to three months. I’m still playing at 48. Half an hour, twenty minutes. If I had to do something crazy, I’d do it in Italy, not abroad, but it’s crazy.

“When you turn the page you never know what awaits you. It wasn’t my choice, but in that moment it has to be experienced differently from the context.

“Maybe that’s also why I’ve had that thing inside me. It’s true that there’s a beginning and an end to everything.”

Kamaru Usman is teasing the release of his interview with Belal Muhammad, as long as the UFC champion holds up his end of the bargain.

Muhammad, on his own podcast, recently said that an appearance on Usman and Henry Cejudo’s Pound 4 Pound show went off the rails and that he “verbally broke down Usman” before Usman “tried to get physical.”

According to Usman, Muhammad was one of several guests on that episode, which was recorded in Las Vegas, and he wanted to show respect to the current welterweight titleholder by having him on. He didn’t explain exactly what Muhammad meant by his comments, but said there are plans to release the footage if Muhammad still holds the belt after he fights Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 on Dec. 7.

“In typical Belal fashion, of course, Belal did Belal,” Usman said on his podcast. “So the interview didn’t go as planned. It wasn’t that great of an interview anyways, it wasn’t even that long, but it went the way that it went. That was the biggest moment of his life because that’s all that he seems to want to talk about. I haven’t mentioned it all, because it wasn’t that eventful, but that’s all he seems to want to talk about all the time.

“We hear you, fans, and we will definitely drop the interview if we get really, really low on content, I mean, why not? To be honest, it’s the biggest moment of his life, that’s why he talks about it every second. And if we do drop the interview, it will be the second-biggest moment of his life because it gives him relevance, it gives him a little bit of clout. ‘Look, I was able to maybe tangle with the champ a little bit,’ which wasn’t that eventful. But if he’s able to get through Shavkat Rakhmonov, and we run super, super low on content, why not?”

MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin recently spoke to Muhammad, who said he enjoyed meeting Usman face to face, though he didn’t reveal exactly what went down between them.

“I love anybody that I’m going to get a rise out of because you can tell he takes it personally,” Muhammad said. “He takes everything personally. You’re a champion and you lost your belt, now you’re on a losing streak, now you’ve got that guy that’s better than you, the guy that has the belt, the guy that’s in your division on top and he’s on your podcast that you invited him to.

“Some people, their egos are too big. They can’t sit there and be a professional about it. I think with him, it’s like he’s so used to going back and forth with Colby [Covington], who’s not really good at talking. He’s just stupid, he’s not clever with anything. So when you’ve got somebody that’s intelligent that can treat you and make you look dumb, it’s like, ‘Dang, he got the belt and he got me with words?’ I need to do something to change the rhythm of this whole thing.”

Muhammad and Usman are no strangers to conflict, with Muhammad naming Usman as a potential challenger after defeating Leon Edwards for the welterweight title at UFC 304. Though Usman has lost three straight—including a pair of title fight losses to Edwards—he was a decorated champion in his own right, having successfully defended the 170-pound belt five consecutive times.

However, the UFC eventually announced that the undefeated Rakhmonov would be Muhammad’s first challenger, and it’s a matchup that has Usman intrigued—and ready to face the winner.

“It’s a tremendous fight and I guess rightfully so that’s the fight to make because Shavkat’s a new face,” Usman said. “A guy that’s 18-0, 18 finishes, and has really done the work that you need him to do with the opponents that you put in front of him. So that fight makes sense. We’ve been waiting just for an announcement, just so we can get some movement in that welterweight division and now it seems like we’re finally going to be able to get some clarity.

“As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve got my eye on them. Either one of them, I’ve got my eye on them. Because at some point, either one of them is going to have to come have a conversation with me and I won’t be doing the talking. I’ll be doing the talking in a different way.”

As far as Muhammad is concerned, he still looks forward to the possibility of fighting Usman in the future.

“I hope he does go out there and he fights one of these guys and gets a win because he is a big name in the division, he is a former champion that people look up to and think he’s one of the best to ever do it at welterweight,” Muhammad told MMA Fighting. “For sure, I love fights with build-up like that where I can go back and forth with somebody, making fun of them. There is something there, right?”

Regarding the podcast controversy, Muhammad added, “I think Usman buried it in his backyard or something like that. Somebody needs to dig it up and post it, I don’t know where they’re going with it.”

Lando Norris labelled his United States Grand Prix weekend a “momentum killer” for his Formula 1 title hopes after losing ground to Max Verstappen.

The McLaren driver had gone into the Austin event 52 points behind his Red Bull rival and well aware that, with time running out, he needed to start cutting the deficit dramatically.

But rather than continuing to close down the margin, Norris actually lost five more points after being classified behind Verstappen in both the sprint and the grand prix.

His efforts on Sunday though were not helped by a controversial five-second penalty for overtaking off the track that dropped him from third on the road ahead of Verstappen to behind his rival.

Asked how much the weekend had impacted his title prospect, Norris said: “I mean, quite a bit. It’s a momentum killer.

“But we came in here with our mind open, not expecting to dominate or just win or anything. The fact that Ferrari was so quick showed they’re just as competitive.

“Even if I had come around Turn 1 in first, I would never have finished first or second and only could have finished third.

“The one guy I needed to beat was Max, and that’s the guy I didn’t beat. So, it was an unsuccessful weekend all in all.

“But we gave it a good shot. I tried. It wasn’t good enough, and we have work to do, and I’ve work to do on myself.”

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

While McLaren’s form in the United States was not as good as it has been in recent race weekends, team boss Andrea Stella said he was not surprised that things were more difficult this time out.

He said that the contrast in pace, between dominating in Singapore in the last race and being on the back foot a little in Austin, was down to track characteristics.

“Compared to Singapore here, there’s quite a lot more low-speed braking into low-speed corners, plus wind, and we know that in these conditions, not necessarily our car performs at the best.

“It is not as good as in some medium speed corners, low wind conditions, which we had in Singapore, we had in Zandvoort, and we had in Hungary.

“We know that these three venues that I’ve just mentioned do suit our car, but here I would have expected this event to be the most difficult of the remaining six events.”

Stella also thinks it important to understand that Ferrari’s dominant form in Austin was not a big shock, because analysis of recent races shows that perhaps the Italian squad had not maximised its chances before.

“They have been quick over the previous races pretty consistently,” he added. “If anything, they have not been capable of maximising their potential.

“In Baku, Leclerc, in fairness, was definitely in condition to win the race. In Singapore, we were expecting Leclerc to be competitive for pole position and the same in the race. So, we are not surprised that Ferrari is so close.

“I think the next circuits should be more suitable to the characteristics of our car. We also have to keep developing the car.

“Here, we took some developments to the front of the car, but they were nothing too large in terms of potential lap time impact. We have a couple more things that are coming in the next two races, and we will see if we are in a condition to alter the competitiveness of the car.”

Additional reporting by Alex Kalinauckas

Juventus say their English X account was hacked after a fake post was published announcing the signing of Real Madrid midfielder Arda Guler.

The post showed a photograph of the 19-year-old Turkey international at an airport with the caption: “Welcome to Juventus, Arda Guler. The rising star of football is now part of the Juventus family.”

But the Serie A side later clarified the situation on their Italian X account, external, saying their English account had been “compromised” and to ignore the “false information” published.

Even if Juventus wanted to sign Guler they would be unable to do so until January because the Spanish and Italian transfer windows are closed.

Real signed Guler, dubbed the ‘Turkish Messi’, from Fenerbahce in July 2023 for a fee reported to be around 20m euros (£16.7m).

He has made 23 appearances for the Spanish giants and was part of the Turkey squad for Euro 2024.

The teenager became the youngest player to score on his European Championship debut when he netted Turkey’s second goal in their 3-1 win over Georgia.

Kai Kara-France doesn’t think Kai Asakura deserves a UFC title shot.

Former RIZIN champion Asakura (21-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC) challenges flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja (28-5 MMA, 12-3 UFC) in the UFC 310 co-main event on Dec. 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN2, ESPN+).

Asakura received a title shot immediately after signing with the UFC, which top contender Kara-France (25-11 MMA, 8-4 UFC) says is not right.

“They’ve got the wrong Kai,” Kara-France told Sky Sports NZ. “After my fight, I was calling for the title shot, and I was thinking, ‘Sweet, I’ve got it,’ and then I heard they’re bringing in a guy from Japan and his name is Kai. Bro, he hasn’t even fought yet. I don’t think he earns it. You’ve got to at least show your worth or do something for guys who have been grinding for years in the UFC division, fighting the best guys.

“We’ve proved that we belong here, so I don’t know. That’s just how I feel about it. It’s weird that you can come in off no fights in the UFC and get a title shot. But if it’s going to bring in more attention to this flyweight division, you know, a bit of controversy – Does this guy deserve it? – yeah, he can go out there and prove it.”

Kara-France called for a title shot after scoring a first-round TKO over Steve Erceg at UFC 305 in August. He snapped a two-fight losing skid after back-to-back setbacks to Brandon Moreno for the interim title, followed by a close split decision loss to Amir Albazi.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 310.

Nottingham-born Gabbiadini started his career with York City, then spent four years with Sunderland between 1987 and 1991 before going on to play in the Premier League with Derby County after a stint with Crystal Palace.

His five years on the books of the Rams – which included 227 appearances and produced 68 goals – was the longest he spent at any one club during his career.

The list of his former clubs include Hartlepool, Northampton, Stoke City and Darlington, with loan spells also spent at Birmingham City and Oxford United.

He now reflects on that extensive career as “easy” compared to the health issues he is going through.

“Sport, that was a doddle,” Gabbiadini said.

“Go out on to the field, knock a few people over and score a few goals. That was easy.”

In his latest interview with the BBC, Gabbiadini has again urged anyone worried about potential symptoms to see a doctor straight away having himself experienced only a “slight issue” in his chest.

“Realistically, I was one of them who could have dropped at any time and that has been quite sobering really to understand that,” he said.