Amid the furore of Real Madrid s quite astonishing great escape in the Champions League – well, their latest – it s easy to forget they only won the Spanish title last weekend.
Of course, it had been long foreseen, but Madrid s 35th LaLiga crown was secured with their 4-0 win over Espanyol at the Santiago Bernabeu, leading to a party that had Marcelo climbing statues, Carlo Ancelotti smoking a cigar and David Alaba getting his chair out again.
With a record-extending 17th Champions League final appearance wrapped up, Madrid can turn their attention back to LaLiga knowing they still have a reason to keep themselves sharp, and they could yet equal their best points tally (93) since reaching 100 in 2011-12.
Fittingly, their first league match as champions comes …
Pohang Steelers came from behind to book their AFC Champions League final spot with a 5-4 penalty shootout victory over 10-man Ulsan Hyundai after a 1-1 draw.
Alex Grant nodded in a late equaliser before Pohang scored each of their five penalties, with Davy Bulthuis missing for Ulsan.
A cagey first half saw just two clear-cut chances, with Lee Seung-mo heading against the left post in the sixth minute for Pohang before Ulsan should have gone ahead on the stroke of half-time as Yun Il-lok headed a free-kick wastefully wide after being found unmarked at the back post.
The deadlock was broken seven minutes after the restart when Yoon Bit-garam s low ball across the face of goal was spilled by Jun Lee, allowing Yun to pounce on the loose ball and fire in…
Manchester United are interested in signing Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot in the summer transfer window, according to . Rabiot is out of contract at Juventus at the end of the season, and the report in the Italian news outlet has claimed that United are keen on securing the services of the midfielder on a free transfer.
Juventus are reportedly concerned about handing Rabiot a new contract on current terms. That has opened the door for United to try to get a deal done with the 29-year-old France international midfielder to bring him to Old Trafford for next season and beyond.
Rabiot is one of the best midfielders in Serie A. The 29-year-old has been on the books of Juventus since 2019 and has done extremely well. The France international also starred for Paris Saint-…
Roberto Mancini knows Italy face an uphill climb to qualify for Euro 2024 after they were beaten 2-1 by England but took heart from their second-half display.
Declan Rice opened the scoring and Harry Kane become England s outright record goalscorer with his 54th strike for his country from the penalty spot just before half-time in Thursday s Group C opener at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Argentina-born Mateo Retegui marked his debut with a goal to get the European champions back in the game and there was further hope for Italy when Luke Shaw was sent off in the 80th minute.
England held on to gain a measure of revenge for a defeat in the Euro 2020 final, securing their first away win over Italy since May 1961.
Gareth Southgate s side ended Italy s run o…
Sheffield United continued their fine start to the Championship with a comfortable 2-0 win away to Hull City.
Goals from Gustavo Hamer and Sam McCallum were enough to give Chris Wilder s side victory and send them up to third in the table.
The home side made an encouraging start to the game but fell behind after a stunning Blades counter-attack, with Callum O Hare driving forward before playing in Hamer, who gave keeper Ivor Pandur no chance with a neat finish.
Hull went close to equalising through Abdulkadir Omar s free-kick, but he was thwarted by a flying save from Michael Cooper in the Sheffield United goal.
The away side doubled their advantage in the second half as substitute McCallum swept in a fine effort from Andre Brooks cutback.
Marvin …
Market: Czech Republic win
Odds:
Securing their spot at EURO 2020 in midweek, Czech Republic will look to keep up the party atmosphere when they travel to Group A strugglers Bulgaria on Sunday afternoon.
Starting with the hosts, suffering a 1-0 defeat at home against Paraguay on Thursday night to sum up what has been a woeful year for Bulgaria both on and off the pitch, it really has been a qualifying campaign to forget for the Greens. Now losing six of their last seven matches across all formats and yet to record a single Group A victory this year, fans around Sofia will be most concerned by their side s continued struggles in the final third. Now failing to find the net in each of their last three appearances, Bulgaria also suffered a 2-1 loss when they faced…
England s 2018 World Cup campaign chiefs confirmed Tuesday they have made a formal complaint following disparaging comments about London by the head of Russia s rival bid.
In a recent interview with Russian daily Sports Express, Russia 2018 bid chief Andrei Sorokin referred to London s high crime rate and youth alcohol problems, breaching FIFA rules on talking about rival bidders.
Sorokin later apologised but insisted his remarks were true prompting English officials to lodge a complaint against Sorokin to FIFA last week.
We can confirm a complaint has been made to FIFA, a spokesman for England 2018 confirmed.
English officials are believed to be seeking a formal apology from Sorokin rather than have the case heard by FIFA s executive committee ahead of…
N Golo Kante has been named as a surprise inclusion in France s squad for Euro 2024.
Kante has not played for Les Bleus since 2022, but despite the long exodus from the squad, the Al Ittihad midfielder has been named in head coach Didier Deschamps 26-man squad for the upcoming tournament in Germany.
The squad is headlined by Kylian Mbappe, who has plied his trade for Paris Saint-Germain since 2017 but looks set to move to Real Madrid in the upcoming window. Mbappe s PSG team-mate Bradley Barcola makes the squad for the first time.
Also making the journey to Germany will be Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann and William Saliba, though Bayern Munich s Lucas Hernandez misses out through injury.
Among the notable exclusions are Chelsea s Christopher Nkunku and…
England will not be overly reliant on Jude Bellingham at Euro 2024, so says Gareth Southgate.
Bellingham has shined for Real Madrid this season, helping Los Blancos win LaLiga and the Champions League, scoring 23 goals in the process.
He has also become an increasingly important figure for the Three Lions, who are among the favourites at Euro 2024.
Bellingham was given a break in the wake of the Champions League final, and so sat out England s friendlies against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iceland, with the Three Lions failing to impress in a 1-0 loss in the latter match.
When the topic of Bellingham was raised following that defeat at Wembley, Southgate said: We are not putting everything on Jude.
We ve got a lot of good players and it is a collectiv…
Hosts Ivory Coast will continue to draw strength from adversity as they seek to complete one of the great Africa Cup of Nations comebacks against Nigeria in Abidjan on Sunday.
The Elephants looked down and out after a 4-0 group stage defeat to Equatorial Guinea that led to the sacking of Jean-Louis Gasset and left their tournament destiny out of their hands.
But after squeezing through as one of the best-placed third-placed sides, Emerse Fae has led his side past defending champions Senegal and within 90 minutes of an improbable third continental crown.
Fae, who was given the role on a temporary basis when his side’s future in the tournament was still unsure, said the uncertainty had proved a uniting force in turning their campaign around.
“The way we…