Man City's Nasri left out of French World Cup squad

France coach Didier Deschamps named his squad for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil on Tuesday with no place for Manchester City star Samir Nasri, prompting a furious tirade from the player’s girlfriend on Twitter.

Despite helping City to claim a second Premier League title in three years this season, Nasri, who has won 41 international caps, has fallen out of favour with the national team following uninspiring displays during France’s two-legged World Cup qualifier play-off against Ukraine last year.
There have also been questions over his behaviour, with the midfielder receiving a three-match suspension handed down by the French Football Federation following a tirade directed at journalists during Euro 2012.
"Samir is an important player for Manchester City but he has not performed that well with France," Deschamps told French TV channel TF1.
"He is a starter at City, which is not the case with France and he has made clear that he is not happy when he is not (a starter), and I can tell you it can be felt in the squad.
"I built the best squad, I did not pick the 23 best French players."
The decision to leave Nasri out is unlikely to come as a shock to the player, who this month told France’s Canal Plus television that he expected to “watch the World Cup on TV” this summer.
However, it sparked an angry reaction from the player’s girlfriend, British model Anara Atanes.
“F**k france and f**k deschamps! What a s**t manager!” she tweeted shortly after the squad was announced.
“Incase u didnt read my tweet properly.... Ill repeat myself..... f**k FRANCE!!!!! And f**k deschamps!” she added a few minutes later.
Like Nasri, Abidal also failed to make it into the 23-man squad or the seven-man standby list. The 34-year-old has 67 caps for France, but has been used sparingly by Monaco boss Claudio Ranieri during the second part of the season.
Others absentees include City fullback Gael Clichy, with Deschamps instead picking the talented yet inexperienced Lucas Digne of Paris St Germain.
There are eight players aged under 25 in the squad, including the Real Sociedad winger Antoine Griezmann, who made his international debut against the Netherlands in March.
France have been drawn in Group E for the June 12-July 13 tournament, alongside Switzerland, Ecuador and Honduras.

Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur), Steve Mandanda (Olympique Marseille), Mickael Landreau (Bastia)
Defenders: Mathieu Debuchy (Newcastle United), Lucas Digne (Paris St Germain) Patrice Evra (Manchester United), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal), Eliaquim Mangala (Porto), Bacary Sagna (Arsenal), Mamadou Sakho (Liverpool), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid)
Midfielders: Yohan Cabaye (Paris St Germain), Clement Grenier (Olympique Lyon), Blaise Matuidi (Paris St Germain), Rio Mavuba (Lille), Paul Pogba (Juventus), Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle United), Mathieu Valbuena (Olympique Marseille)
Forwards: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Olivier Giroud (Arsenal), Antoine Griezmann (Real Sociedad), Loic Remy (Newcaste United), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich)
Standby players: Stephane Ruffier (Monaco), Loic Perrin (St Etienne), Maxime Gonalons (Olympique Lyon), Morgan Schneiderlin (Southampton), Benoit Tremoulinas (Dynamo Kiev), Alexandre Lacazette (Olympique Lyon), Remy Cabella (Montpellier).

(SPORT) Gerrard: First title with Liverpool is not too far away

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard took comfort in the club’s strongest title challenge for a long time this season after the Merseyside club fell short of being champions for the first time in 24 years.
Liverpool needed to beat Newcastle United at home and hope for West Ham United to stun Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium. Liverpool went behind to a Martin Skrtel own goal but two second-half goals, one from Daniel Agger and the other from Daniel Sturridge, turned the match round but it was not enough as City cruised to a 2-0 win over West Ham and the title.
If someone had said to me that we would go into the last game with a slim chance of winning the league I'd have taken that at the start of the season,” Gerrard. “But as a footballer you always want more.
"We have been unlucky - we gave it a great shot, but we fell a little bit short. But what do we do? We dust ourselves down and go again. It took me until I'm 33 to really experience a proper, genuine title race. This squad is very young, and the experience those lads are going to gain from this rollercoaster is going to be very important. The title is not too far away if we continue to produce performances like we have done this season.
"Before this season the manager gave us the top four as a target - I don't think that'll be his target next season, and it certainly won't be the players'. We've proved this season that we're capable of mixing it with the best and we want another title race, and we want to go one better next year.
"If we add to this team and the squad in the right areas we are capable of challenging. Things have changed here - the supporters know that and the players know that.
"We are genuine title contenders before a ball is kicked next year, and we need to go and prove that we're the top side in the league over 38 games, and not second."