Karim Benzema spared Real Madrid but Christian Pulisic s away goal gives Chelsea the advantage after their Champions League semi-final first leg ended 1-1 at Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano.
Zinedine Zidane s side were guilty of a sluggish start in Valdebebas and, although they managed to restore parity, rarely did Los Blancos look likely to take a win to Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea were good value for their 14th-minute lead as Pulisic added the finish to fine individual work, though Benzema – arguably Madrid s only threatening player in the match – netted to draw level with Raul as the joint-fourth leading scorer in the Champions League with 71.
A significantly cagier second period followed and Madrid were even less of a danger to Edouard Mendy s goal, while Chelsea…
Sean Dyche expressed his relief after Everton earned their first three points of the season through a Dwight McNeil brace at Goodison Park.
The hosts conceded early as Marc Guehi put Crystal Palace a goal to the good after 10 minutes, as Everton were again undone following a set-piece.
But a fine second-half display from McNeil saw two excellent finishes carry Everton over the line.
It was the first time this season Dyche s side had managed to maintain a lead, with the Toffees having dropped points from winning positions in their last three Premier League matches.
Following news of a possible takeover for the Merseyside club this week by The Friedkin Group, who also own Roma, Dyche was relieved to secure his first victory of the season, and just a sixth l…
Maybe we´d have scored 200 goals! Wenger regrets not pairing Cristiano Ronaldo with Thierry Henry at
Arsene Wenger regrets missing out on the chance to pair Cristiano Ronaldo with Thierry Henry at Arsenal and jokingly suggested his Gunners side may have scored 200 goals if he had.
Legendary ex-Arsenal boss Wenger has spoken on several occasions of how close he came to bringing Ronaldo to north London and this week claimed the Portugal great had the shirt after a deal was struck with Sporting CP.
Of course, a teenage Ronaldo instead joined Manchester United and became a global name, winning eight major trophies including the Premier League three times and the Champions League.
A move to Real Madrid in 2009 saw Ronaldo scaling even greater heights, becoming Los Blancos record goalscorer and winning another four Champions League medals before joining in Juventus i…
Sporting CP rescued a 1-1 draw at PSV in the Champions League on Tuesday thanks to substitute Daniel Braganca.
Jerdy Schouten had put PSV ahead in the 15th minute, drilling in a stunning long-range effort.
Yet Schouten s finish was matched by that of Braganca who, in the 83rd minute, expertly guided a first-time flick into the roof of the net.
Braganca has now come on as a substitute and been directly involved in a goal in each of Sporting s Champions League games this season.
Sporting, who beat Lille 2-0 in Lisbon, are on four points from two games while PSV have one point after they were defeated 3-1 at Juventus on the opening matchday.
Full time:
D. Bragança
1-1 //
— Sporting CP English (@SportingCP_en)
Data Debr…
Franz Beckenbauer, who led West Germany to World Cup success as a captain and manager, has been remembered as a “visionary” after his death at the age of 78.
Nicknamed ‘Der Kaiser’ (The Emperor) for his commanding style on the field, Beckenbauer was widely recognised as one of the best players in the game’s history.
A dominant midfielder or attacking sweeper, Beckenbauer won the World Cup as a player in 1974 and again as manager in 1990 – one of only three men to have done so.
He also won the European Cup three times in a row with Bayern Munich, the club he had joined at the age of 13 and later went on become a football administrator.
Beckenbauer’s health had been in decline for some time and, on Monday afternoon, Beckenbauer’s family anno…
In what was a hugely nervy affair between two African heavyweights on Thursday night, Egypt sent this year s AFCON hosts packing as they managed to extend on their remarkable winning run from the penalty spot.
Eventually booking their place in the final and a showdown with Senegal for this weekend, the Pharaohs victory against Cameroon in Yaoundé will certainly be remembered as one of the most fruitful nights of Carlos Queiroz s tenure in charge.
Looking to break only more Africa Cup of Nations records on Sunday night, we have taken a look at the key talking points as Egypt stunned the Olembe Stadium in another AFCON thriller.
Egypt come through another penalty thriller
Heavily outplayed throughout the whole first-half and failing to ask any real questions of …
Cristiano Ronaldo should never have been signed by Juventus and the club must try to sell the superstar forward at the end of the campaign, according to former president Giovanni Cobolli Gigli.
Portugal international Ronaldo joined the Italian giants from Real Madrid in a high-profile €100million transfer ahead of the 2018-19 campaign on a lucrative four-year contract.
The five-time Ballon d Or winner guided Juve to back-to-back Serie A titles in his first two seasons at the Allianz Stadium, but the nine-in-a-row Italian champions trail Inter by 10 points this time around with a game in hand to play.
Juventus crashed out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage to Porto on Tuesday, having previously been knocked out by Ajax and Lyon in the quarter-finals a…
Aleksandar Pavlovic has signed a contract extension which will keep him at Bayern Munich until 2029.
Pavlovic s current contract was due to run out in 2027, but the club have chosen to trigger a two-year extension.
The 20-year-old enjoyed an impressive breakout campaign in 2023-24, in which he made 22 appearances in all competitions, scoring two goals and providing two assists.
Pavlovic joined Bayern as a seven-year-old and was handed his debut for the first team in November last year when he came off the bench to assist Harry Kane in a 4-0 victory.
His club form earned him a call-up to Germany s squad for Euro 2024, but he was forced to withdraw after coming down with tonsillitis days before the opener against Scotland.
— FC Bayern M…
Mohamed Salah signed a new three-year contract with Liverpool last summer, thus becoming the best paid player in the history of the club, but so-called reports from outside England about his alleged idea to leave Anfield keep popping up. Actually, they ve been popping up since he started scoring for fun in 2017/18, his first season on Merseyside.
Ramy Abbas Issa, who represents the Egyptian forward, has stepped in to dispel such rumours on more than one occasion this season, and he did it again this weekend, having learned of claims about Salah being open to leaving Liverpool and preferring Spain as his destination. In the past, the 30-year-old was linked with both Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Issa says no move away from Liverpool has been discussed between himself and hi…
Bayern have mountain to climb against Man City, Inter can forget domestic troubles – the Champions L
Is there any stopping Erling Haaland?
The Norwegian has hit 47 goals already for Manchester City this season, including one against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final first leg last week.
City ran out 3-0 winners to take a healthy lead to the Allianz Arena, where Bayern must show the right kind of fight this time as they look to claw that deficit back, while also somehow halting Haaland.
Inter s domestic form has dropped off a cliff, having not won in five and lost four of those, including a shock 1-0 home defeat to Monza on Saturday.
However, they hold a 2-0 advantage over Benfica, who also travel to San Siro with perhaps more hope than belief they can turn it around and reach the semi-finals.
With the assistance of Opta numbers,…