Kick Off: City sit 4 pts behind leaders Liverpool; Pogba thanks sacked Mourinho

Welcome to All Football's Kick Off, we bring you all important news in the past 24 hours. Make sure you do not miss out.

TOP HEADLINES

Real Madrid 4-1 Al Ain: Modric caps golden 2018 with 3rd straight CWC title

Santiago Solari celebrated his first trophy as Real Madrid's coach with a 4-1 defeat of Al Ain in the Club World Cup final.

Cardiff 1-5 Man Utd: Solskjaer brings free-flowing football back to Red Devils

Manchester United were simply too good for Cardiff City as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer enjoyed victory in his first match as interim boss.

Man City 2-3 Crystal Palace: City stay 4 pts behind Liverpool after shock defeat

Liverpool will lead the Premier League by four points at Christmas after Manchester City suffered a shock 3-2 defeat to Crystal Palace.

MATCH REPORTS

Barcelona 2-0 Celta: Messi & Dembele help Catalans end 2018 as clear leaders

After having to share top spot with Atletico Madrid for a short spell, Barcelona struck out on their own once again by beating Celta Vigo.

Juve 1-0 Roma: Mandzukic header seals 8th straight win in Serie A for Bianconeri

Mario Mandzukic struck the only goal restore Juventus' eight-point lead atop Serie A as the champions eased past Roma.

Chelsea 0-1 Leicester: Vardy goal increases Blues' gap from leaders to 11 points

For the first time since 2000, Leicester City can celebrate a Premier League win at Chelsea, who slipped to a 1-0 defeat.

Arsenal 3-1 Burnley: Magic Auba nets twice to lift Gunners out of brief slump

Ashley Barnes scored a consolation for Burnley, but they failed to mount a comeback as Arsenal ran out 3-1 winners at Emirates Stadium.

Milan 0-1 Fiorentina: Rossoneri's winless run continues & deepens Gattuso crisis

AC Milan have now won just one of their last six Serie A games after Federico Chiesa's strike earned Fiorentina a 1-0 win.

Chievo 1-1 Inter: Spaletti's side drop points at injury time

Inter let a 1-0 lead slip at Chievo as they were held to a draw by Serie A's bottom club.

Frankfurt 0-3 Bayern: Ribery nets brace to hand Bayern 5th straight league win

Bayern Munich moved to within six points of Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund by beating Niko Kovac's former club Eintracht Frankfurt.

Atletico 1-0 Espanyol: Griezmann nets 200th professional career goal

Atletico Madrid moved back above Sevilla in LaLiga at least until Sunday, as Antoine Griezmann's penalty defeated Espanyol.

PSG 1-0 Nantes: Mbappe sends hosts back to winning ways in Ligue 1

Neymar missed Paris Saint-Germain's visit of Nantes, but Kylian Mbappe played a decisive role in his absence with the winning goal.

WHAT THEY SAY

Pogba salutes axed Mourinho after Man United sacking

Paul Pogba tried to bury the hatchet with Jose Mourinho  after Manchester United romped to victory in their first game since he was sacked.

'Absolute lies' - Young asked if Utd players celebrated after Mourinho sacking

United players did not celebrate in the dressing room after discovering Jose Mourinho was sacked and have to take responsibility for his departure, according to Ashley Young.

Sarri: Impossible for Chelsea to catch Liverpool

The Blues suffered a shock 1-0 home to defeat to Leicester on Saturday to leave them 11 points adrift of Jurgen Klopp's Premier League leaders

Neymar reveals how lack of food and money drove him to become successful player

Brazil star Neymar has opened up on the struggles of his upbringing and revealed how a lack of cookies gave him motivation to become a rich and successful footballer.

Klopp reveals one selfie on his phone is with Messi and hints he snubbed Ronaldo

Jurgen Klopp revealed the one selfie he has on his phone is with Lionel Messi and mischievously pointed out that Cristiano Ronaldo was in the same room at the time.

Courtois: It's never nice to be on the bench and I guess that's true for Navas

The Club World Cup triumph in Abu Dhabi is Thibaut Courtois' first success with Real Madrid and the former Chelsea stopper is looking to build on that.

TRANSFER RUMOURS

Mourinho could help Pochettino land Man Utd job with Real Madrid return (Mirror)

Jose Mourinho could help Manchester United land No 1 target Mauricio Pochettino – by making a shock return to Real Madrid.

Juventus reportedly leading the race for Aaron Ramsey

Juventus are reportedly leading the race for Aaron Ramsey as a free agent from Arsenal, as Inter scoffed at his salary demands.

Wenger emerging as the hot favourite to take Gattuso over at Milan (TMW)

Arsene Wenger is emerging as the hot favourite to take over at Milan after Gennaro Gattuso suffered a 1-0 home defeat to Fiorentina.

Man City & Barcelona told Ndombele's €80m asking price could come down

The Lyon midfielder is attracting interest from teams across Europe and his agent admits it is possible "a compromise" with suitors could be reached.

THESE THINGS HAPPEN

Sergio Ramos whistled in Abu Dhabi over Salah injury

The early exchanges of Real Madrid's Club World Cup final were notable for Sergio Ramos, who was involved frequently.

102 goals in La Liga - Barcelona are Europe’s top scoring team in 2018

Barcelona signed off 2018 with a comfortable 2-0 win over Celta Vigo on Saturday at the Camp Nou. The win means that Barca scored 102 league goals in 2018, more than any other team in Europe’s top five leagues.

Former Man United manager Mourinho watches hometown club in Portugal

While Manchester United were preparing for their first match under new boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Jose Mourinho was back at his hometown club almost 1000 miles away.

IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS

5 Ways Solskjaer masterminded the win in his Man Utd debut as coach

Solskjaer got off to a perfect start as Manchester United's interim manager with a 5-1 thrashing of his former club Cardiff.

On This Day: Messi scored 91st goal of a year; Zidane & Nedved won Ballon d'Or

Hi all, welcome to All Football's On This Day! Let's find out what happened today (December 22nd) in football history. If you have more stories and news that happened on this day in history, please post them in the comment area and share them with AFers!

VIDEO OF THE DAY

When you’re top of the league at Christmas

FIXTURES OF THE DAY (CET)

Premier League

17:00    Everton vs Tottenham