Berlin (AFP) – Angela Merkel's chief of staff on Monday joined the growing chorus of criticism of Arsenal's German midfielder Mesut Ozil for reportedly inviting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to his wedding this summer as his witness. The 30-year-old Ozil, who has Turkish family roots, sparked controversy last May when he was photographed with […]

Milan (AFP) – UEFA on Monday opened an investigation into Cristiano Ronaldo's goal celebration after scoring a hat-trick in Juventus' Champions League comeback win against Atletico Madrid last week. European football's governing body said Ronaldo was facing charges of "improper conduct" after he mimicked Diego Simeone's crotch-grabbing 'cojones' gesture in last Tuesday's 3-0 win that […]

Milan (AFP) – Lazio defender Luiz Felipe has rejected a call-up to Italy's Under-21 squad saying he wants to pursue his international career with Brazil. The 21-year-old Brazil-born player moved to Italy in 2016 and was called up by coach Luigi Di Biagio for friendlies against Austria and Croatia after recently receiving dual nationality. "After […]

London (AFP) – Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson is the latest player to drop out of Scotland's opening Euro 2020 qualifier away to Kazakhstan on Thursday. Scotland's captain has a dental problem which requires surgery, but could feature against San Marino on Sunday. The Scottish Football Association (SFA) had earlier confirmed that Blackburn captain Charlie Mulgrew, […]

London (AFP) – Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prowse was drafted into England's squad for Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Montenegro as Fabian Delph, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and John Stones pulled out due to injury on Monday. Ward-Prowse has just one senior international cap but is well-known to England boss Gareth Southgate from their time […]

London (AFP) – Nemanja Matic says Manchester United must not blow their bid for a Premier League top-four finish after they were dumped out of the FA Cup in their second consecutive defeat under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Saturday's 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final defeat at Wolves followed a 2-0 loss in the Premier League Arsenal last […]

Sydney (AFP) – Australia's football body announced its support for the re-election of under-fire Asian soccer chief Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa on Monday, drawing criticism from a prominent campaigner who called it "sickening". Football Federation Australia said it was backing the Bahraini royal's candidacy after discussions with the rest of the 12-member Association […]

Los Angeles (AFP) – Major League Soccer expansion side FC Cincinnati celebrated their home debut with a convincing victory on Sunday, defeating the Portland Timbers 3-0 at Nippert Stadium. Costa Rica international Kendall Waston got the party started for Cincinnati with the opening goal on 15 minutes, nodding in a free-kick to make it 1-0. […]

Milan (AFP) – AC Milan coach Gennaro Gattuso said Sunday he was more upset by an "unacceptable" bust-up between midfielders Franck Kessie and Lucas Biglia on the sidelines at the San Siro than his team's 3-2 derby defeat to Inter. Ivorian Kessie, 22, and Argentina midfielder Biglia, 33, had to be pulled apart by teammates […]

Madrid (AFP) – Even the Real Betis fans were applauding by the end as Lionel Messi scored another spectacular hat-trick to fire Barcelona to a 4-1 victory on Sunday and leave them with one hand on the La Liga trophy. Messi's treble, his second in a month in Seville, fourth of the season and 51st […]

Paris (AFP) – Angel Di Maria scored twice as Paris Saint-Germain eased to a 3-1 victory over Marseille on Sunday to extend their long unbeaten run against their arch rivals and move 20 points clear at the Ligue 1 summit. A group of PSG ultras were boycotting the opening stages of the game over the […]

Seville (Spain) (AFP) – Luis Suarez suffered a "bad sprain" to his right ankle during Barcelona's win over Real Betis on Sunday, coach Ernesto Valverde confirmed. Suarez was taken off for Philippe Coutinho in the 89th minute of the 4-1 victory, in which he scored one goal and set up the second of a Lionel […]

Swansea (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Bernardo Silva has said he wants to "make history" at Manchester City after helping the Premier League leaders move a step closer to an unprecedented quadruple. Silva played a key role in keeping City's four-pronged pursuit of honours on track by sparking a thrilling fightback as Pep Guardiola's side overcome […]

Milan (AFP) – Cristiano Ronaldo was rested and Juventus crashed to their first Serie A defeat of the season at Genoa on Sunday following their Champions League heroics, as Inter won a fiery Milan derby clash 3-2 to move into third ahead of city rivals AC Milan. Ronaldo had fired Juventus into the European quarter-finals […]

Paris (AFP) – Angel Di Maria scored twice as Paris Saint-Germain eased to a 3-1 victory over Marseille on Sunday to extend their long unbeaten run against their arch rivals and move 20 points clear at the Ligue 1 summit. Kylian Mbappe put PSG in front on the stroke of half-time with his 26th league […]