Gareth in early pick for Russia

Buffon is charged for ref rant

GARETH SOUTHGATE plans to give his World Cup stars three weeks’ extra notice of their requirement for World Cup duty by naming his final squad on Wednesday.

Two days earlier he has to submit a long-list of 35 names and will be restricted to those players when he comes to name his final 23.

He does not then have to register that final choice with FIFA until June 4, but Southgate, right, yesterday announced he would be going public on May 16. He will discuss his selection with the media the following day.

Southgate has always been clear he wanted to name his squad early, rather than using the Wembley clash with Nigeria on June 2 as a final trial.

England’s final warm-up game will be against Costa Rica in Leeds on June 7 before they kick off their Russia 2018 campaign against Tunisia on June 18 in Volgograd. JUVENTUS goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has been charged over his “bag of rubbish” comments he made about referee Michael Oliver.

UEFA announced that the Italian has been charged with breaching their “general principles of conduct” following his outburst after his side’s Champions League quarter-final exit to Real Madrid.

After Oliver awarded Real Madrid a last-gasp spotkick – which Cristiano Ronaldo converted to knock Juventus out – Buffon, above, was sent off for protesting.

Buffon, 40, went on to say Oliver had a “bag of rubbish for a heart”. He has yet to apologise.

Oliver and wife Lucy were offered police support in the wake of the incident, after both were targeted by social media trolls.

UEFA said the case will be dealt with on May 31.