Berlin (AFP) – A German court fined Barcelona striker Ousmane Dembele 10,000 euros ($11,200) on Monday for vacating the house he rented when at Borussia Dortmund littered with rubbish. "The house was a dustbin," Dembele's landlord Gerd Weissenberg told German newspaper Bild. Rubbish "was in every room", he added. French World Cup winner Dembele, 21, […]

London (AFP) – Chelsea striker Gonzalo Higuain is still desperate to earn a permanent move to the Premier League despite a difficult spell since arriving at Stamford Bridge on loan in January. The Argentine has scored just three goals, against already relegated Fulham and Huddersfield, in 11 appearances as Chelsea toil to claim a top […]

London (AFP) – Raheem Sterling has rejected calls for players who receive racial abuse to walk off the pitch, saying that winning matches is a more powerful statement to silence abusers. The Manchester City forward was speaking just days after Tottenham's Danny Rose said he was looking forward to retiring from a game that has […]

London (AFP) – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hopes to replicate the spirit of Manchester United's treble-winners at Old Trafford as he plots a route back to the top for the club. Solskjaer, last month appointed as the permanent United boss, famously scored the injury-time winner in the Champions League final when Alex Ferguson's United side won […]

Liverpool (AFP) – Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says his players are revelling in the pressure to win every game as they chase a Premier League and Champions League double. Klopp's men host Porto in the first leg of their European quarter-final tie on Tuesday after scoring late winners to beat Fulham, Tottenham and Southampton to […]

London (AFP) – Tottenham Hotspur are hoping for a lift from their new stadium as they prepare for the daunting task of playing quadruple-chasing Manchester City in the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday. Spurs won last week in their first match at their new home, beating Crystal Palace 2-0 to move back into third in […]

Barcelona (AFP) – French striker Ousmane Dembele is close to shaking off a thigh strain and was named in Ernesto Valverde's Barcelona squad on Wednesday for the Champions League quarter-finals first-leg at Manchester United. The 21-year-old World Cup winner has excelled on both flanks this season after a slow bedding in process at Barcelona, but […]

Paris (AFP) – Liverpool pair Mohamed Salah and Naby Keita and Ishak Belfodil of Hoffenheim were the standout Africans in the major European leagues at the weekend. Guinean Keita equalised at Southampton with his first Premier League goal and a brilliant solo effort from Egyptian Salah put the Reds ahead en route to a 3-1 […]

London (AFP) – Arsenal defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos bemoaned his team's lack of fight after a costly 1-0 defeat at Everton extended a damaging sequence of results away from home. Unai Emery's team on Sunday missed out on the chance to move into third place in the Premier League, above Tottenham, in the race to qualify for […]

London (AFP) – Maurizio Sarri has questioned the Premier League's "strange" decision to schedule Chelsea's West Ham clash for Monday, just three days before their Europa League away match against Slavia Prague. Chelsea, who are battling for a top-four finish, face a pivotal week, hosting West Ham before heading to Prague for Thursday's game, then making […]

Los Angeles (AFP) – Carli Lloyd headed in two goals as the US women's national team routed Belgium 6-0 in a FIFA Women's World Cup tune-up match on Sunday. Coming off a 5-3 shootout win over Australia on Thursday, the Americans put on an even more dominant offensive display in the first meeting between the […]

London (AFP) – Hugo Lloris has endured a mistake-filled season, but the Tottenham goalkeeper knows his costly blunders will be forgotten if he can lead his side to Champions League success against Manchester City. Lloris will captain Tottenham in Tuesday's All-English quarter-final first leg showdown with City at the north London club's new stadium. And […]

Liverpool (AFP) – Sadio Mane has grown used to playing second fiddle to Mohamed Salah in the two seasons since the latter joined the Senegalese at Liverpool. However, the fact Jurgen Klopp's men top the Premier League in their quest to end a 29-year wait to win the title and face Porto in the first […]

London (AFP) – Raheem Sterling had his own special fanclub in attendance as Manchester City eased into the FA Cup final on Saturday with the England winger paying for 550 pupils of his former school to attend the match at Wembley. However, appreciation of Sterling the player and the man now extends from the estate […]

Paris (AFP) – Paris Saint-Germain squandered the chance to clinch the Ligue 1 title in record-equalling time on Sunday after a 2-2 draw at home to Strasbourg, with Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting's incredible miss from on the goal-line costing his team dear. PSG were handed the opportunity to win their sixth French crown in seven seasons […]