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Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham has not ruled out playing for Nigeria.

The 21-year-old, who is the Premier League’s joint leading scorer alongside Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero with seven goals, has two senior England caps to his name, won in friendlies against Germany and Brazil in 2017.

Nigeria have been hoping Abraham can be persuaded to switch allegiance to them.

And when asked about the Nigeria interest, he was quoted by The Telegraph as saying: “I have heard the talks and I’ve not really been focused on that yet.

“I think when the time comes, the time comes. We never know.

“You can never say never, whatever comes first really. It is about focusing on Chelsea and hopefully scoring goals and getting victories.”

Abraham netted a hat-trick for the Blues in Saturday’s 5-2 win at Wolves, having scored back-to-back braces in the previous two matches.

The Chelsea academy graduate has made an impact for the club this term after spending the last three seasons on loan at Bristol City, Swansea and then Aston Villa.

On Tuesday he could make his Champions League debut when Valencia visit Stamford Bridge.

And he said: “I have grown up watching big stars playing in the Champions League, and to play in it myself would obviously be a dream.

“Players like the gaffer (Frank Lampard), Didier Drogba and John Terry are great legends. They have been there and done it. I would like to follow the same path.

“I am delighted to be scoring goals for a team I have grown up loving and have always wanted to play for. It is just an amazing feeling and hasn’t kicked in yet.

“Hopefully this is the beginning of a great career at Chelsea. I’m living the dream and I need to keep it running.”

Earlier in the week, England boss Gareth Southgate said, after not naming Abraham in his most recent squad: “I think with Tammy, he’s a young player that we’ve always liked, we know he’ll score goals.

“We felt (that it was a) bit early this time, but we really can see that he can offer us something moving forward. We obviously gave him a cap back in November of 2017.

“So, for sure, we need to make certain that he feels that the opportunity is going to be there. I’m pretty sure he does. He knows us well enough.”

Clement Lenglet has called for Ansu Fati to be given time to mature after the teenager stole the show again for Barcelona.

The 16-year-old became Barca’s youngest ever scorer when he netted against Osasuna prior to the international break and, pushed into the starting line-up, he needed less than two minutes to find the net again.

Fati then set up Frenkie De Jong for the second only four minutes later and, although defensively they were shaky again, Barcelona went on to claim a 5-2 win.

Defender Lenglet told Movistar+ in quotes reported by Marca: “He is only 16 years of age, so we need to be patient with him.

“He makes the most of his minutes and is a great kid who deserves what’s happening to him. We always tell him to listen, work and learn.”

Fati was a threat throughout the 60 minutes he was on the pitch and could have scored again.

In the end it was his replacement, fit-again Luis Suarez, who added two more after defender Gerard Pique had tapped in the third.

The result gave Barca their second league victory of the season but they again looked shaky at the back, with Kevin Gameiro making it 2-1 and substitute Maximiliano Gomez adding a late second.

Lenglet added: “It was a good win against a tough opponent. They play football differently to us. We did things well from the start. We let in two goals again, but I think it was a good performance overall.”

It has been a turbulent week for Valencia, with head coach Marcelino axed by owner Peter Lim and Albert Celades installed in his place.

Celades admitted his side paid for poor starts to both halves, saying on valenciacf.com: “We had a start to the game where we conceded two goals very fast, and against a team like this it is difficult to turn it around.

“But the team responded well, we scored and we could have scored some more. We left with good feelings at half-time, but the start of the second half hurt us. Despite the result, we showed desire to the end and scored a goal in injury time because the players still desired.”

Derby manager Phillip Cocu is hopeful VAR will one day be rolled out in the Sky Bet Championship after seeing two key decisions go against his side in a 1-1 draw with Cardiff at Pride Park.

After taking a sixth-minute lead through Scott Malone, the Rams were denied a penalty 10 minutes later when Martyn Waghorn appeared to be felled by Joe Bennett only for referee Darren England to wave away appeals.

Within 90 seconds, England awarded Cardiff a penalty that was converted by Robert Glatzel, but with Cocu believing there had been a handball in the build-up.

“It’s hard to take, with the decisions on the penalties key,” said Cocu.

“With Waghorn, it’s a clear penalty, and if you go 2-0 up the confidence of the team will be higher and the chance of three points in the pocket is very big.”

In suggesting “it looked like a handball” prior to Cardiff being awarded their penalty, Cocu added: “These decisions are not going our way at the moment but that’s the way it is.”

Asked whether he would like to see VAR for Championship games, Cocu replied: “I think it will happen. It’s a big league.

“Slowly you see more and more leagues, international games working with VAR. Technology comes into football step by step.

“It’s hard to predict but maybe in one or two seasons we will have it, and still there will be discussions about VAR. I’m not saying it’s the solution for everything.”

Although Cardiff boss Neil Warnock hailed referee England’s performance overall, he was left dismayed by his failure to issue a red card late on for a studs-high challenge from Tom Lawrence on Bluebirds skipper Sean Morrison that only earned a booking.

Warnock said: “The ref had a good game. The only thing that disappoints me is that Lawrence didn’t get a red card. That’s what referees should look out for.

“I knew straight away he had left his foot in. If you see it in slow motion you will see what a horrible tackle it was.

“They’re the ones for me, not the diving but the over-the-top ones that could break your leg, craftily done.”

Warnock was at least relieved to see Glatzel get off the mark, with the £5.5million summer signing from Bundesliga 2 side Heidenheim netting his first goal for the club in six matches.

“He’s done ever so well for us,” said Warnock.

“He’s great in the dressing room. The lads love him as well. It’s lovely to get your first goal.”

Warnock, though, could not watch the penalty being taken. He said: “I hate penalties, so it was nice to hear our crowd cheer.

“But I don’t like watching them because I couldn’t take one, I don’t have the…what you call ’em, between your legs. It takes a certain type of person.”

Mauricio Pochettino has played down talk of a potential rift between him and former Tottenham defender Kieran Trippier, who criticised his old club on international duty.

The England right-back departed Spurs this summer for Atletico Madrid after four seasons in a transfer worth £20million and has enjoyed a strong start to life in Spain.

It saw Trippier recalled to Gareth Southgate’s national team and he played the whole 90 minutes in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Bulgaria.

Ahead of the Euro 2020 qualifier, the former Burnley full-back opened up about his Tottenham exit and told reporters: “I had a conversation with the manager, a meeting with the chairman to see what my future was and I didn’t get the impression that they wanted to keep me.”

Pochettino dismissed suggestions there was any bad blood between the pair in his press conference ahead of Saturday’s Premier League fixture at home to Crystal Palace.

He said: “I didn’t see it, but I heard about it. I can explain how I feel. We had a conversation where he explained he was going to move to Atletico Madrid – okay nothing more.

“Yesterday (Wednesday) when Harry Kane arrived back he said to me ‘did you get Kieran’s text?’ I said ‘no’ because I changed my number. Maybe because he doesn’t have the new number.

“Because he (Trippier) believe his words were twisted – I don’t know nothing more. Kieran translated this message to me through Harry Kane. He wanted to tell me. But I’ve got no problem with Kieran.

“In football decisions happen and players move from one club to another. What happened, happened and we need to move on and he needs to think of Atletico Madrid and be happy there.

“There’s no point to talk about if something happened or didn’t happen. The reality is one reality, but who is right in all this process? There’s no point to talk. But I keep very good memories from him.”

During his conversation with reporters, Trippier added: “It’s not nice when you know the club want to sell you. I heard rumours about them selling me and it’s not nice but it happens and it’s football.”

Yet Pochettino’s version of events are slightly different and he pointed out he had faith in the Bury-born defender, hence why he started in the Champions League final against Liverpool.

Trippier candidly stated throughout the 2018-19 campaign that he struggled for form, but still played 38 times for Tottenham in all competitions.

Pochettino added: “After the summer he came to see me, he asked me for a meeting and said ‘gaffer, I think I have a good possibility and for different reasons I would like to accept the offer from Atletico Madrid’.

“He didn’t ask me nothing. Only communicated whether the club were going to accept the offer. Nothing more.

“It wasn’t a conversation – you want me? Or you don’t want me? It was so clear. He played the final, when I had plenty of different options, with Serge Aurier, Davinson Sanchez, Kyle Walker-Peters. But he played the final. My actions talk more than my mouth.”

Although Trippier is no longer part of Tottenham’s team, Pochettino and his coaching staff remain proud of his development.

Before he moved to the club in the summer of 2015, the ex-Manchester City trainee had only played one season in the Premier League, but since has become an England regular, starred at the 2018 World Cup and shone for Spurs.

“We signed him from Burnley when they were relegated, bought him for £4m. He was worried about whether he would play or not play – I said to him don’t worry we are going to provide the best platform for performance,” Pochettino said.

“Later one and a half years he was in the starting XI, he reached the national team, played the World Cup and now he’s with Atletico Madrid.

“We all feel proud to help him to achieve his dream and to reach a level that he wasn’t there at before he arrived at Tottenham.

“That talks very highly about Tottenham, talks very highly about him, and we are more than happy that he is enjoying the new experience in Spain. I hope he has a good life there.”

Mick McCarthy has challenged Troy Parrott to force his way into contention at Tottenham to stand a chance of making the Republic of Ireland senior squad.

The 17-year-old year-old striker has enjoyed a remarkable few days with the Republic’s Under-21s, scoring the winner on his debut against Armenia on Friday evening before adding a double to that first goal after coming off the bench in a 3-1 European Championship qualifier victory in Sweden on Tuesday.

His feat came just hours before McCarthy’s much-changed senior side beat Bulgaria 3-1 in a friendly in Dublin with the manager having resisted the temptation to draft in players from Stephen Kenny’s squad.

Asked afterwards what Parrott had to do to catch his eye, the manager said: “Get in the first team.

“You do realise that the U21s and the U23s where he’s playing is far-removed from where we are playing, don’t you? There’s a huge difference.

“If I think he’s right, I’ll take him. We’ll try and get him watched. It’s interesting – if he hadn’t come on and scored his goals, I wonder what would the questions be had he not come on, because Stephen’s not played him?”

McCarthy, who will be succeeded by Kenny at the end of the current campaign, made 10 changes to the side which secured a 1-1 Euro 2020 qualifier draw with Switzerland on Thursday evening and saw his under-studies do themselves no harm.

Charlton midfielder Josh Cullen impressed on debut, as did substitutes Jack Byrne and James Collins, with the latter marking his bow with the third goal after Alan Browne and Kevin Long had struck either side of Ivelin Popov’s equalising penalty.

All will hope to play some part in the squad for next month’s crucial double-header in Georgia and Sweden, where McCarthy hinted he is once again unlikely to deplete Kenny’s resources.

He said: “You’re all talking about them coming through into the first team. When he gets the job – and it won’t be that long now – he’ll be perfectly placed.

“In the meantime, it’s me that’s come in and [I] could have taken the backlash had we drawn in Gibraltar or lost in Gibraltar, and that’s protected him from that.

“Hopefully we qualify, get to the Euros and it will be seen as a really good decision to have done what we did.”

Michael O’Neill called Northern Ireland’s Euro 2020 qualifying defeat to Germany a “wasted opportunity”.

O’Neill’s side dropped their first points of the campaign after Marcel Halstenberg’s thunderous half-volley and a stoppage-time strike from Serge Gnabry earned Germany a 2-0 win.

Given the gulf in class between the two sides the result was hardly unexpected but O’Neill still felt the sting of disappointment after seeing first-half chances – most notably for Conor Washington – go begging.

“It’s hugely disappointing to lose the game,” O’Neill said. “I think we wasted opportunities and I said that to the players.

“I was proud of how we played. We played with intensity, we played with energy, but when you get chances of the nature that we had against Germany you have to take them and we didn’t take them.”

Roared on by an electric atmosphere, Northern Ireland started the game firmly on the front foot and went close twice through Washington in the opening minutes but could not capitalise on some hesitant defending from Germany, who conceded four second-half goals to Holland on Friday.

O’Neill knew a goal then would have changed everything.

“Then you see what Germany’s mentality would be if they had gone behind,” he said. “But they punished us in the second half and showed their quality.

“It’s a lot harder chasing the ball when you’re behind as opposed to when they’re level.”

Halstenberg’s strike came just three minutes into the second half.

Northern Ireland were clearly rocked by the goal, but they did create further chances, the best of them dragged wide by Stuart Dallas, before Gnabry scored the second.

“I thought we were really going to struggle to get back into the game but we did manage to get back in it with some half-chances,” O’Neill said.

“I thought the second goal had no relevance on the game, it’s not something that gives me any concern. I’m just really disappointed that having created the chances we didn’t take them.”

The result sees Germany join Northern Ireland on 12 points at the top of Group C.

With a trip to Rotterdam to face Holland next, the job gets no easier for O’Neill’s men.

• Holland (a) – Oct 10
• Holland (h) – Nov 16
• Germany (a) – Nov 19

“We can take encouragement,” the manager said. “We can’t control the level of opponents and unfortunately that’s Holland and Germany, we sometimes forget that. You just look at the two panels of players and where they play their club football.

“We take encouragement in terms of how we played but the games aren’t going to get any easier and we’re 100 per cent aware of that. The next games are going to be very difficult and that puts us in a more difficult position.

“You can take a lot of positives. I am disappointed at the minute but I’m very proud of what they gave and when I look back at the game I’ll probably be more positive than at this moment in time.”

Germany coach Joachim Low admitted Northern Ireland had given his side a rough night.

“It was a very difficult 90 minutes against a Northern Ireland team that played very attacking football,” he said. “They pressed us and it was hard to come into the game in the first half. It was a very difficult game and we are very happy to have won the match.”

This Germany team – which included only two players from the side that beat Northern Ireland 3-1 here two years ago – remains a work in progress but Low feels they are moving in the right direction.

“It’s a team that hasn’t played together and they must learn to play themselves into form and get to know each other well,” he said.

“They must get to know each other’s style and that is what we will be doing in the next stage of the qualification.”

Spain coach Roberto Moreno paid tribute to goalkeeper David De Gea after watching his side ease to a 4-0 victory over the Faroe Islands in Euro 2021 qualifying Group F.

De Gea was handed his first start in four games after being usurped as first choice by Chelsea’s Kepa Arrizabalaga since Moreno replaced Luis Enrique as national coach.

And the Manchester United player got a surprise chance to prove his worth as the Faroes created a number of opportunities, including a 73rd-minute effort from Joannes Bjartalid which De Gea saved well.

Moreno told Spanish media: “We must all celebrate De Gea’s big save, just as we celebrated Kepa’s in Romania the other day. It raises competition and is very good.

“We trust David a lot. We always say that players in their careers go through good and bad moments.

“The other day Kepa did very well, and today it was David’s turn. This will be the case for the national team – sometimes it will be one and sometimes it will be the other.”

Moreno was pleased with a win which maintained Spain’s 100 per cent record in the group, despite gloss being added to the scoreline by two late goals from Paco Alcacer following Rodrigo’s early double.

Moreno added: “This has been a good week because we have increased competition in the squad, we have full points and we have scored four goals, so I am happy.

“It is extremely difficult to play against teams like the Faroe Islands, with 11 players in the area, but in the end we were pretty good.

“The objective is almost achieved. You have to keep growing as a group and today was a match to show you want to be a part of the national team – and the players have shown it.”

France coach Didier Deschamps offered a public apology after the wrong national anthem was played for opponents Albania before kick-off in Paris.

A mix-up saw the national anthem of Andorra played by mistake, resulting in a seven-minute delay as Albania would not start the match without the error being rectified.

“I apologised to the bench and the coach,” Deschamps told a press conference.

“It’s something that should not happen, but it happened. I understand the position of the Albanians and it is logical that we waited until the Albanians could have their anthem before that match.”

Once the Euro 2020 qualifier started, France eased to a 4-1 victory that keeps the world champions top of Group H on goal difference.

With Kylian Mbappe and Paul Pogba missing from the side, Bayern Munich winger Kingsley Coman took centre stage with two goals.

“When you have a Kingsley Coman in this form, it’s hard to stop him,” Deschamps said.

“It’s been a while since he’s been with us. He has always had his qualities but he is more decisive and effective.

“When he is like that, it’s hard for his opponents. It’s nice to see him on such a level.”

Chelsea’s Olivier Giroud and debutant Jonathan Ikone were the other scorers before goalkeeper Hugo Lloris conceded a late penalty which was converted by Sokol Cikalleshi.

Deschamps believes his side have improved from their last round of qualifiers and he is looking for them to further strengthen their position against minnows Andorra on Tuesday.

“There were a lot of very good things tonight. But we could have been more efficient,” he added.

“From the start of the second half we lacked the finish on some beautiful moves.

“We did the right thing, even though we relaxed at the end. It’s rare that we made a match with so many passes, I think over 900 – and not just easy passes.

“There is a lot of cohesion, something we did not have a few months back.”

His side may only be a year on from winning the World Cup but Deschamps is looking to the future and believes Ikone could play a significant part.

“That’s also my role. It’s about incorporating young people, looking to the future, and when there is quality they will have game time,” he said.