Football

LONDON: Harry Kane has said he is frustrated at not winning trophies with Tottenham Hotspur even as the prolific striker continues to win individual accolades every season. Kane was named Premier League Player of the Year at the London Football Awards and the 27-year-old leads the league with 21 goals as he looks to win his third Golden Boot award. However, the north London side blew an opportunity to win their first trophy since 2008 when they lost the League Cup final to

PARIS: Manchester City took a big step towards their first Champions League final as goals by Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez earned them a 2-1 comeback win at Paris St Germain in the semi-final first leg on Wednesday (Apr 28). PSG went ahead courtesy of a Marquinhos header in the first half, but Mauricio Pochettino's side lost control after the break with De Bruyne and Mahrez finding the back of the net in the space of eight minutes to secure City's 18th

LONDON: Europe's soccer governing body UEFA is set to increase the size of the national team squads at this year's European Championship from 23 to 26 players, British media reported on Tuesday (Apr 27). The rule is being changed to lighten the burden on players after the start of the 2020-21 season was delayed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic while the campaign was also compressed to finish by May, in time for the Jun 11-Jul 11 Euros. The decision was taken

Julian Nagelsmann will take over as Bayern Munich coach from next season to replace Hansi Flick, the reigning German champions announced on April 27. Nagelsmann, who is just 33, will move from RB Leipzig on a five-year contract after Flick, whose relationship with the club's powerful sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic has deteriorated over transfer policy, asked to be released from his contract. "I am convinced that Bayern's sporting future will be a very successful one with Julian Nagelsmann," Oliver Kahn, the club's former

LONDON: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola passed on some simple advice to his players from his late mentor Johan Cruyff ahead of the first leg of their Champions League semi-final, away at Paris St Germain on Wednesday night: Enjoy yourselves. "Enjoy the travel, the coffee in the terminal, the night and the dinner, watching the other semi-final, enjoy the press conference, the walk, the training," Guardiola told reporters on Tuesday while describing Cruyff's philosophy. "We are privileged to be one of the best

Chelsea held their own away to Real Madrid but had to settle for a 1-1 draw in Tuesday's Champions League semi-final first leg after Karim Benzema scored an acrobatic goal to cancel out an early strike from Christian Pulisic. Chelsea made a bright start in heavy rain at the Alfredo di Stefano Stadium and deservedly went ahead when U.S. forward Pulisic rounded Thibaut Courtois to score in the 14th minute. Thirteen times European Cup winners Real looked ragged and short on ideas but

MADRID: Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said on Monday (Apr 26) that he was not thinking about any sanctions against the club from UEFA in the wake of the European Super League announcement last week. The breakaway league involving 12 of Europe's major clubs collapsed within three days of its announcement amid a fierce backlash from fans, governing bodies and politicians. Real president Florentino Perez was named as chairman of the project and appears to have been the driving force behind the league,

LONDON: AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Inter Milan's Romelu Lukaku have been fined for unsportsmanlike conduct following an investigation into a verbal clash between the pair during a Coppa Italia match in January. The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) said on Monday that Ibrahimovic had been fined €4,000 (US$4,834), Lukaku €3,000, AC Milan €2,000 and Inter €1,250. The two former Manchester United team mates exchanged insults during the cup quarter-final on Jan 26 and Lukaku had to be restrained at the end of

LEICESTER, England: In-form Kelechi Iheanacho's late stunner earned Leicester City a crucial 2-1 home victory over Crystal Palace which tightened their grip on third place in the Premier League on Monday (Apr 26). Nigerian Iheanacho set up Leicester's equaliser for Timothy Castagne just after halftime, then smashed home an 80th-minute winner to complete the turnaround at the King Power Stadium. He has now scored 12 goals in his last nine games in all competitions for Leicester who are closing in on a place

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said winning felt much better with fans in attendance after beating Tottenham 1-0 at Wembley to lift the League Cup for the fourth consecutive year in front of 8,000 supporters on Sunday. Aymeric Laporte's header eight minutes from time finally rewarded a dominant performance from City as they extended Spurs' 13-year wait to win a trophy. For the first time in 13 months, a football match in England had designated fans from both teams inside the stadium in

Inigo Martinez's late header threw La Liga's title race even further open as leaders Atletico Madrid lost at Athletic Bilbao. Alex Berenguer scored early for the hosts but Stefan Savic looked to have rescued a point until Martinez struck. Atletico remain two points above both Real Madrid and Barcelona, with Sevilla a point further back in fourth. But Barca, winners earlier on Sunday at Villarreal, have a game in hand and can go top by beating Granada on Thursday. Atletico paid the price for a

The Champions League semi-finals next week are expected to go ahead, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said, after a plan by some top clubs to create a Super League caused chaos. "There is relatively little chance that next week's matches will not be played..," Ceferin told Slovenian television Pop TV late Wednesday. "The key thing is that the season has already started. If we cancelled the matches, television stations would have compensation demands," added Ceferin, who is Slovenian. Football's most powerful clubs faced mounting calls on Thursday for reprisals

LONDON: Tottenham striker Harry Kane is in a race against time to be fit for the League Cup final against Manchester City after he missed training on Friday (Apr 23). Kane suffered another ankle injury in the 2-2 draw at Everton last week and missed the midweek win over Southampton. Interim boss Ryan Mason does not know whether the England captain will be available for Sunday's showpiece game against City at Wembley as Spurs hunt their first trophy since 2008. "We're not sure

An own goal by Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno gave Everton a 1-0 win in their Premier League clash at The Emirates on Friday (Apr 23), gifting the Toffees three valuable points in their quest for European football next season and damaging their own hopes. Leno bundled Richarlison's low cross into the net in the 76th minute for the only goal to move eighth-placed Everton to 52 points, one behind Liverpool and three behind fourth-placed Chelsea, while the Gunners stay ninth on 46. As

LONDON: Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham has warned "nothing is off the table" as the governing body seeks to prevent a repeat of the European Super League threat. English football is set for a fan-led review, under the direction of former sports minister Tracey Crouch, following the fall-out from the widely criticised breakaway plans. Twelve of Europe's leading clubs - including the Premier League's "big six" - announced late last Sunday (Apr 18) that they had signed up to compete in the

LONDON: Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan says the new format for the UEFA Champions League is flawed and will add to player fatigue, calling it the lesser of two evils in comparison to the controversial European Super League. UEFA announced this week that they would expand the Champions League to 36 clubs from the 2024-25 season, with teams set to play four more matches compared to the current format. But Germany international Gundogan believes there is nothing wrong with the competition as it

MADRID: Atletico Madrid stayed in control of La Liga's title race by beating struggling Huesca 2-0 at home on Thursday (Apr 22) with goals in each half by Angel Correa and Yannick Carrasco. Correa scored for the third time in two games to give Atletico the lead shortly before halftime, the Argentine dancing through the Huesca defence and getting the help of a deflection to take his shot into the net. Huesca had won two of their last three matches and stayed in

LEICESTER, England: Red-hot striker Kelechi Iheanacho scored an 11th goal in his last eight games in all competitions as Leicester City poured more misery on woeful West Bromwich Albion with an emphatic 3-0 Premier League win at the King Power Stadium on Thursday. Jamie Vardy and Jonny Evans were also on target for the home side, who stayed third on 59 points from 32 games, four clear of fourth-placed Chelsea and West Ham United and on course for Champions League qualification. Second-bottom West

BARCELONA: Lionel Messi scored twice as Barcelona crushed Getafe 5-2 on Thursday (Apr 22) to stay in the hunt for the La Liga title. Messi gave Barca an early lead with the help of a pin-point pass from Sergio Busquets but Getafe pulled level with an own goal by Clement Lenglet. The visitors then conceded a calamitous own goal when Sofian Chakla's backpass deceived keeper David Soria and trickled over the line. Messi extended Barca's lead before halftime, hitting the post then following

PARIS: Football's most powerful clubs faced mounting calls for reprisals over the European Super League fiasco on Thursday (Apr 22), although UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said next week's Champions League semi-finals were unlikely to be affected. Super League chief Florentino Perez, president of Real Madrid, had insisted Wednesday the rebel competition was merely "on standby" despite nine teams pulling out. Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea withdrew on Tuesday, followed by Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan and AC Milan 24