The Offside Daily – Ferdinand backs Liverpool starlet, Arsenal striker ahead of schedule on return and Zlatan catches a giant pike

10 of the biggest football stories of the day:

1. Rio Ferdinand has defended Raheem Sterling after the teenager refused to start for England, claiming many English players are too proud to take a rest.

2. Liverpool Ladies striker Natasha Dowie hopes she the club can go onto dominate the WSL after winning back to back titles.

3. Neil Lennon joins Bolton Wanderers as their new manager and claims he wants to change their style of play.

4. Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud is ahead of schedule on his rehabilitation from his broken leg.

5. The office for the Cyprus referees association was targeted with a bomb attack during the early hours of Monday morning.

6. Whilst Peter Reid’s Mumbai City failed to turn up with a 3-0 loss in the inaugural Indian Super League weekend, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and Bollywood icons performed at the opening ceremony. (BBC)

7. Michael Essien takes to Twitter to quash rumours that he contracted the deadly Ebola virus with an obligatory ‘#falsenews’. (Twitter)

8. A top flight match between Brazil’s Flamengo and Cruzeiro witnesses the awkward moment when a player celebrates a goal… without actually scoring. (Yahoo)

9. Wayne Rooney’s match winning strike was all planned and prepared – watch him score an exact replica of Sunday’s strike against Estonia in training. (Mirror)

10. Ultimate footballing ‘God’ Zlatan Ibrahimovic shows the world that he has a dab hand for fishing, catching a gigantic pike. (Daily Mail)

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