Football

11872 Articles

Man United held to 1-1 draw at lowly West…

An out-of-sorts Manchester United could only draw 1-1 at struggling West Bromwich Albion on Sunday, leaving them second in the Premier League but seven points adrift of Manchester City. West Brom, who need a remarkable turnaround to avoid relegation, stunned their visitors with a second-minute goal from on-loan Senegalese striker Mbaye Diagne who beat defender Victor Lindelof to head home. United looked lethargic for the rest of the half, but their inspirational Portuguese midfielder Bruno Fernandes stepped up yet again in the 44th

Wolves fight back to deepen Southampton misery

Wolverhampton Wanderers mounted a second-half comeback to beat Southampton 2-1 on Sunday, avenging Thursday’s 2-0 FA Cup loss to the Saints and inflicting their sixth league defeat in a row. Danny Ings gave the home side the lead but a Ruben Neves penalty and a superb Pedro Neto goal gave Wolves all three points as they leapfrogged Southampton into 12th in the Premier League, dropping Ralph Hasenhuettl’s side to 13th. Southampton have won only once in their last 11 league matches and Hasenhuettl

Alisson at fault again as Leicester earn comeback win…

An error by Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson helped Leicester come from behind to earn a 3-1 win on Saturday, with the champions losing three successive Premier League games for the first time since November 2014, when they were managed by Brendan Rodgers. Liverpool were forced into another defensive reshuffle due to Fabinho being injured, with January loan signing Ozan Kabak handed his debut. The 20-year-old’s slip let Jamie Vardy in in the first half, only for the Leicester striker to hit the crossbar. It

Champions League: Lionel Messi ‘happy’ leading Barca revival but…

Madrid: Lionel Messi put his arm around Ilaix Moriba, the 18-year-old born in the same year Messi made his Barcelona debut and who was now being given his own chance to play for the club's first team. Ilaix had just set up the opening goal against Alaves on Saturday when he was congratulated by his 33-year-old captain, whose task it is on Tuesday to lead this youthful Barca to an unfancied victory against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last 16. From nurturing

Lionel Messi and Francisco Trincao scored twice as Barcelona…

Lionel Messi and Francisco Trincao scored twice as Barcelona beat Alaves for a seventh consecutive La Liga win. Trincao opened the scoring from a pass by Ilaix Moriba - both players were making their first La Liga starts - and Messi doubled the lead via the inside of the post from outside the box. Luis Rioja gave struggling Alaves hope. Trincao scored again after Messi's shot was saved and then the Argentine netted an excellent 25-yard strike before Junior Firpo's close-range fifth. Messi

The story behind Barcelona’s disastrous rejection of Luis Suárez

“Madness,” Lionel Messi called it, but even he hadn’t imagined it being this mad. One Friday in September Messi walked into the dressing room at Barcelona’s Sant Joan Despí training ground and it hit him. After six years his best friend wasn’t there, so he sent him a message. “It’ll be strange seeing you in another shirt,” it said, and two days on he discovered how strange when Luis Suárez made his Atlético Madrid debut. Introduced as a sub against Granada, 90 seconds later, Suárez

‘The pain is immense’: Neymar to miss reunion with…

Injury looks like ruling PSG’s Brazilian forward out for a month and both legs of the Champions League tie with his former club. The sadness is huge, the pain is immense, and the weeping is constant.” Neymar had already been hit once and Mauricio Pochettino was about to take him off to protect him when he got hit again. As he left the field on Wednesday in Caen, the Paris Saint-Germain manager put an arm around the Brazilian but there was no consolation. He departed

Bayern Munich beat Chelsea and Liverpool to sign Dayot…

Bayern Munich have signed the defender Dayot Upamecano from RB Leipzig with the French centre-back set to join the European champions in July before the 2021-22 season, the Bundesliga club said on Sunday. Upamecano, 22, agreed to sign a five-year contract that will keep him at Bayern until 2026. Financial details of the transfer were not provided but German media reported Bayern had triggered his release clause which is worth around €42.5m. “We’re happy that we’ve been able to sign Dayot Upamecano for

European roundup: Real Madrid defeat Valencia to move second…

Real Madrid continued to cling to the coat-tails of city rivals Atlético in the La Liga title race after winning 2-0 at home against Valencia. First-half goals from Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos won the game as Zinedine Zidane’s team moved above Barcelona and into second place in the table, five points behind leaders Atlético, who have two games in hand. There was a nervous early moment from Jaume Doménech when the Valencia goalkeeper misjudged Casemiro’s long-range shot, diving past the ball before having to desperately flick

Emotional Jurgen Klopp concedes Premier League title following another…

Jurgen Klopp conceded that Liverpool's title defense was over after the Reds suffered a 3-1 defeat at Leicester that the defending champions will not be catching Manchester City. Jurgen Klopp has conceded that conceded that Liverpool's title defense was over after the defending champions capitulated to a 3-1 defeat at Leicester after falling behind to a soft goal on Saturday.

Premier League: Leicester City score thrice in 7 minutes…

With the win Leicester City went second ahead of Manchester United while Jurgen Klopp's side are fourth on the table, 10 points behind leaders Manchester City. Champions Liverpool faced an embarrassing loss to Leicester City on Saturday after looking like winning the game for most parts. After a goal-less first half, Mohamed Salah broke the deadlock in the 67th minute and put the champions ahead and it looked like they would go on to earn the much-needed win, but the defence imploded in

We will play to win and take the fifth…

Al Ahly won in their first game at the FIFA Club World Cup by 1-0 Following Al Duhail’s loss, team’s star striker Almoez Ali deplore giving ‘too much respect’ to the African champions. But The Red Knights are not adopting the same approach again as they defeated Asian champions Ulsan Hyundai FC today.  A face-off of the two Asian rivals will occur at 6:00 pm at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, looking to avoid taking the wooden spoon in the six-team tournament. While Al

Europa League: Arsenal’s Match Against Benfica Switched To Greece…

Europa League: Arsenal's second leg match against Benfica on February 25 will be played in Greece, UEFA announced on Friday. The venues for Europa League ties involving both Arsenal and Tottenham have been switched because of Covid-19 restrictions, UEFA announced on Friday. Arsenal's second leg against Lisbon giants Benfica on February 25 will be played in Greece. The game will be played at the Georgios Karaiskakis stadium of Olympiakos at 1755 GMT. The first leg of the last 32 tie on February 18

Fabinho adds to Liverpool’s injury woes

Liverpool have suffered another injury setback with Brazilian midfielder Fabinho set to miss Saturday's trip to Leicester. Fabinho has largely been used in central defence by Jurgen Klopp this season after Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip suffered season-ending injuries. Klopp does at least now have some centre-back cover with new recruits Ozan Kabak and Ben Davies, signed on transfer deadline day earlier this month, available to make their debuts at the King Power for a crucial game in the battle

Everton reached the FA Cup quarter-finals after edging out…

A magnificent contest swung in both teams' favour before Carlo Ancelotti's hosts - showing huge reserves of resolve and fitness - finally struck the decisive blow when substitute Bernard fired home in the seventh minute of extra time. Spurs dominated the early exchanges and were rewarded when Davinson Sanchez headed in from a corner in the third minute before Everton sprang to life with a three-goal burst inside eight minutes before half-time. Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who later went off with what looked like a

Bayern Munich win Club World Cup final in Qatar

Fullback Pavard scores only goal of final against Mexico's Tigres Benjamin Pavard scored the only goal as Bayern Munich beat Tigres to win the Fifa Club World Cup final in Qatar, their sixth trophy in nine months. Bayern have won the Uefa Super Cup, German Super Cup and are now world champions, to complete a clean sweep of trophies after last season's Treble. Pavard's goal was initially ruled out for a Robert Lewandowski offside but given after VAR consultation. Joshua Kimmich had earlier

PSG’s Neymar injured ahead of Barcelona match in Champions…

Paris Saint-Germain's Neymar is in a race to be fully fit for next week's Champions League clash against Barcelona after the Brazil star was injured in Wednesday's 1-0 French Cup win over Caen. Neymar went down after a robust challenge from Steeve Yago in the 56th minute, holding his left thigh as he left the field to be replaced by Kylian Mbappe. Moise Kean scored the only goal early in the second half before Neymar limped off the pitch raising concerns about participating

Barcelona’s Gerard Pique under investigation for saying refs favour…

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique is facing an investigation from the Spanish football federation over comments he made in a recent interview suggesting referees favour Real Madrid because most Spanish referees are Real supporters. Barcelona defender Gerard Pique is facing an investigation from the Spanish football federation over comments he made in a recent interview suggesting referees favour Real Madrid because most Spanish referees are Real supporters. A federation spokeswoman said Barca have been informed of the investigation into Pique, which will determine whether

Zinedine Zidane says Real Madrid have not given up…

Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane insisted that his side would not give up on winning the La Liga title until it becomes mathematically impossible. Zidane was speaking after Real Madrid beat Getafe 2-0 on Tuesday and praised his players for their professional performance in what was a tricky game. Karim Benzema and Ferland Mendy scored in the second half to give Real Madrid all three points on the day. Having played a game more than Barcelona, Real Madrid are three points ahead of their bitter rivals, who

Duhail clinch emphatic victory over Ulsan

Al Duhail emerged victorious with an impressive 3-1 win over Asian Champions League winners Ulsan Hyundai, fetching them a fifth-place finish in the FIFA Club World Cup Sunday. In the opening matches of the tournament, both sides had lost – Al Duhail to Egypt’s Al Ahly and Ulsan to Mexico’s Tigres UANL. Both sides were left with the rather unglamorous prospect of having to complete the formalities in what is pretty much an event where only the winners are honoured. However, with Edmilson