Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – "We are still not ready to fight for the latter stages, that is the reality," Pep Guardiola's reaction to beating Schalke 3-2 in the first leg of Manchester City's Champions League last 16 tie was not that expected for the competition favourites. City manager Guardiola was frustrated that after taking […]

London (AFP) – Police have charged a Birmingham fan who punched Aston Villa's Jack Grealish in a shocking incident during Sunday's Championship clash on a day of shameful violence in English football. Hours after the incident involving Grealish, a pitch invader appeared to confront Manchester United's Chris Smalling at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium. Grealish did […]

Johannesburg (AFP) – Record three-time trophy-holders CS Sfaxien of Tunisia and Renaissance Berkane of Morocco won at home Sunday to become the first qualifiers for the CAF Confederation Cup quarter-finals. Sfaxien defeated fellow Tunisians Etoile Sahel 2-1 in Mediterranean city Sfax with Nassim Hnid converting a 77th-minute penalty to secure maximum points for the […]

Valladolid (Spain) (AFP) – Real Madrid's losing run is over but Santiago Solari offered no assurances over his future after a chaotic 4-1 victory over struggling Real Valladolid on Sunday. Asked afterwards if it could have been his final game as coach, Solari said: "I cannot answer that. Tomorrow we have a training session and […]

Paris (AFP) – Paris Saint-Germain players ran a gauntlet of hate and abuse after they invited 500 of their diehard fans to witness a training session on Sunday having earlier been blasted as "shameless" and "spineless". Just days after their last-minute exit at the hands of Manchester United in the Champions League, the French giants' […]

London (AFP) – Aston Villa's Jack Grealish was punched by a Birmingham fan in a shocking incident during Sunday's Championship clash while hours later a pitch invader was arrested after appearing to confront Manchester United's Chris Smalling at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium. Grealish did have the consolation of scoring the decisive goal in Villa's 1-0 […]

London (AFP) – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer blamed Manchester United's lack of ruthlessness as the Norwegian suffered his first domestic defeat as caretaker manager in a 2-0 loss at Arsenal on Sunday. Granit Xhaka's early strike and Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang's penalty 21 minutes from time saw Gunners leapfrog United into the Premier League top four. Unai Emery's […]

Berlin (AFP) – Heavy snow caused chaos for relegation-threatened Hanover 96 on Sunday in their 3-2 defeat at home to Bayer Leverkusen while Bayern Munich finished the weekend top of the Bundesliga. Bayern warmed up for Wednesday's crunch Champions League last 16, return leg at home to Liverpool by hammering Wolfsburg 6-0 in Munich on […]

Milan (AFP) – Lorenzo Insigne rescued a late point as Napoli now trail league leaders Juventus by 19 points after a frustrating 1-1 stalemate at Sassuolo on Sunday, as Serie A rivals Inter Milan warmed up for next weekend's derby against AC Milan with a 2-0 win at home to SPAL. Insigne netted the equaliser […]

London (AFP) – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer claimed referee Jonathan Moss should be "disappointed" with his decision to give Arsenal a controversial penalty in their 2-0 win over Manchester United on Sunday. Solskjaer was furious that Moss ruled Fred's challenge on Alexandre Lacazette was worthy of a spot-kick in the 69th minute. The United midfielder made […]

London (AFP) – Liverpool cut Manchester City's lead at the top of the Premier League to a single point on Sunday as Manchester United slipped to their first domestic defeat under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Arsenal. Chelsea, also in the hunt for the Champions League qualification spots, needed a last-gasp equaliser from Eden Hazard to […]

Milan (AFP) – Matteo Politano and Roberto Gagliardini scored in the second half as Inter Milan shook off pre-derby tensions to beat SPAL 2-0 on Sunday to revive their Champions League chase before next week's showdown with local rivals AC Milan. Inter had taken just a point from their last two games, falling at Cagliari […]

London (AFP) – FIFA has been urged to launch an investigation amid claims world football's governing body was offered a secret television deal by Qatar's state-run broadcaster Al-Jazeera just three weeks before it awarded the 2022 World Cup to the Gulf state. Documents published by The Sunday Times appear to show that executives from Al […]

Berlin (AFP) – Croatia striker Andrej Kramaric netted both goals as Hoffenheim saw off bottom side Nuremberg 2-1 on Sunday as Bayern Munich finished the weekend back on top of the Bundesliga. Bayern warmed-up for Wednesday's crunch Champions League last 16, return leg at home to Liverpool by hammering Wolfsburg 6-0 in Munich on Saturday […]

Johannesburg (AFP) – Nkana stretched their unbeaten home record to 60 matches in African competitions when they trounced fellow Zambians Zesco United 3-0 on Sunday to lead a CAF Confederation Cup group. The club based in central city Kitwe have won 43 matches and drawn 17 in Zambia since making their CAF debut 36 […]