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Colombia international  James Rodriguez  is relishing the prospect of teaming up with compatriot  Radamel Falcao  at  Monaco  next season. The 21-year-old completed his €45 million transfer from Porto to Monaco last week, with the Atletico Madrid striker expected to follow suit in a deal worth €60m in the upcoming days, and James is keen to help the principality side to success together with Falcao. "It is obviously a good thing that Falcao and I will play together at Monaco. We have already played together at the national team and it can only be a good thing that we will play together at club level, too," he told  El Tiempo . "I am proud that I will be looking to achieve great things with a friend at Monaco. We can do some big things and challenge for trophies. "I had been in talks with Monaco for about two months. It is a very interesting project they have going on." Monaco also secured the services of Joao Moutinho for €25m last week as Russian ...

Kevin Phillips grabbed the golden goal to fire Crystal Palace into the Barclays Premier League and end his play-off final hoodoo. The evergreen striker, who turns 40 in the summer, kept his nerve to blast in an extra-time penalty and dash his former club Watford's dreams of promotion. It was a special moment for Phillips, who had lost all three of his previous play-off finals. It was special too for Manchester United-bound Wilfried Zaha, the young winger who signed off as a Palace player by winning the penalty and ensuring they will join him in the top flight next season. Special too for manager Ian Holloway, whose Blackpool side were beaten by West Ham in last year's final, and who has been the fiercest critic of Watford's controversial use of loan players. And it was special for Palace chairman Steve Parish and his co-owners, who saved the club from going bust three years ago and can now look forward to a windfall in the region of £120million. Those high ...

Serena Williams has stayed top of the WTA women's tennis rankings released today. The American began her quest for the French Open title with a 6-0, 6-1 defeat of Anna Ta-tish-vili in the first round on Sunday. WTA top 10 as of May 27  (previous ranking in parenthesis): 1. (1) Serena Williams, United States, 11,620 points 2. (2) Maria Sharapova, Russia, 10,015 3. (3) Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, 9,005 4. (4) Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland, 6,125 5. (5) Sara Errani, Italy, 5,835 6. (6) Li Na, China, 5,335 7. (7) Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic, 5,175 8. (8) Angelique Kerber, Germany, 5,135 9. (9) Samantha Stosur, Australia, 3,645  10. (10) Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark, 3,625

Bayern Munich have landed back in Germany as the newly crowned Champions of Europe. After partying into the early hours of the morning at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane, Bayern players and staff touched down at a soaked Munich airport with the Champions League trophy to be greeted with a hero's welcome. Philip Lahm and Jupp Heynckes lead the team off a plane where even the pilot was brandishing a Bayern flag.

Branislav Ivanovic is wanted by Monaco after they were rebuffed in a bid to lure Vincent Kompany from Manchester City.  The 29-year-old Chelsea defender has been recommended by coach Claudio Ranieri to Russian owner Dmitry Rybolovlev as the newly-promoted French side undertake an ambitious summer recruiting programme. already hooked They have had a £51.3million offer accepted for Atletico Madrid striker Radamel Falcao, who is set for a medical today, and that follows Friday's £60m deal for Porto's Joao Moutinho and James Rodriguez. Monaco are ready to offer around £25m for Ivanovic, who scored the winning goal in the Europa League final, but he is also wanted by incoming Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho.  The 'Special One' tried to sign Ivanovic last summer for Real Madrid only for Chelsea to increase their asking price, and he will want the Serb to be part of his squad for next season.

Chelsea are set to make Marco van Ginkel the first signing of Jose Mourinho's second spell at Stamford Bridge. A deal has already been put in place to bring the Netherlands Under-21s international, one of the finest emerging talents in Dutch football, from Vitesse Arnhem this summer to strengthen the Blues' midfield. Van Ginkel was central to Vitesse's success in finishing fourth in the Eredivisie and qualifying for next season's Europa League.  A powerful, box-to-box midfielder, who both creates goals and scores them, the 20-year-old is regarded not simply as an addition to Chelsea's squad but as an individual capable of holding down an influential role in Mourinho's team.

Brazil's gifted World Cup hope Neymar has joined Spanish champions Barcelona, on a five-year contract. Neymar chose Barcelona over their Spanish arch-rivals Real Madrid after Santos ended three years of resisting offers for the 21-year-old forward and let him go before next year's tournament in Brazil. Neymar has revealed he is thrilled at the prospect of teaming up with the likes of Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta next season.