Liverpool (AFP) – Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said he felt "massive relief" after Mohamed Salah's double helped his side go seven points clear at the top of the Premier League following a thrilling 4-3 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday. Salah is the league's top scorer with 16 after goals at Anfield that contained huge […]

London (AFP) – Jose Mourinho claims modern footballers have such fragile egos that one Manchester United player asked the Portuguese coach not to criticise him in front of his team-mates. Mourinho was sacked by United in December after a wretched run of results fuelled by the disintegration of his relationship with several key players. Publicly […]

Madrid (AFP) – Casemiro's stunning long-range strike and a late goal from Luka Modric earned Real Madrid a 2-0 win over Sevilla on Saturday and a much-needed boost to their flailing title challenge in La Liga. Madrid began the day 10 points adrift of leaders Barcelona, a gap that will be restored if the Catalans […]

London (AFP) – West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini admitted he left Marko Arnautovic out of the squad for Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth because the Austrian is distracted by talk of a potential lucrative move to China. Arnautovic is looking to force through a transfer to the Chinese Super League after Shanghai SIPG had a […]

Paris (AFP) – Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani both scored hat-tricks as Paris Saint-Germain romped to their biggest-ever home win with a 9-0 Ligue 1 thrashing of Guingamp on Saturday. The runaway league leaders gained sweet revenge on bottom club Guingamp, who had ended their bid for a sixth straight League Cup title earlier this […]

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Paul Pogba celebrated the birth of his first child by scoring a penalty to help defeat Brighton 2-1 at Old Trafford on Saturday as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer became the first Manchester United manager to win his opening seven games in charge. Pogba opened the scoring by winning and converting a spot-kick for […]

Liverpool (AFP) – Mohamed Salah twice benefited from good fortune as 10-man Liverpool showed the mental strength required of champions to beat Crystal Palace 4-3 and extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points on a nervy afternoon at Anfield. Only once previously this season had Liverpool conceded more than […]

London (AFP) – Liverpool moved seven points clear at the top of the Premier League as Mohamed Salah's double inspired a dramatic 4-3 victory over Crystal Palace, while Manchester United stretched their winning streak to seven games as they beat Brighton 2-1 on Saturday. With second-placed Manchester City travelling to bottom of the table Huddersfield […]

Milan (AFP) – Stephan El Shaarawy struck the winner as Roma held off Torino 3-2 to move into the Champions League berths on Saturday as Serie A returned to action after a three-week winter break. El Shaarawy truck the winner midway through the second half after coming on as a substitute in the sixth minute […]

Berlin (AFP) – Borussia Moenchengladbach kept pace with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga title race on Saturday with Alassane Plea netting in their 1-0 win at Bayer Leverkusen. Defending champions Bayern halved Dortmund's lead to three points on Friday with an impressive 3-1 win at Hoffenheim before Dortmund face a tricky away […]

Berlin (AFP) – Germany winger Marco Reus has insisted he will never take the well-worn path of joining Bayern Munich from Borussia Dortmund as the bitter Bundesliga rivals remain locked in a battle for the title. Reus is Dortmund born and bred, having come up through their youth academy, and is in great form on […]

London (AFP) – A further 11 Championship clubs have written to the English Football League to voice their concerns after Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa admitted spying on all his side's opponents this season Leeds lead the Championship, England football's second tier. But their 2-0 win over Derby County last week was overshadowed by Bielsa's […]

Al-Ain (United Arab Emirates) (AFP) – China coach Marcello Lippi revealed a relaxed approach to penalty shoot-outs on Saturday but declared key man Wu Lei fit to face Thailand in their Asian Cup knockout tie. Although Sunday's last-16 game could go to penalties, Lippi, 70, said there was little point practising spot-kicks, and that he […]

London (AFP) – Diogo Jota's hat-trick piled pressure on Leicester manager Claude Puel as the Wolves midfielder's last-gasp strike secured a thrilling 4-3 win on Saturday. Nuno Espirito Santo's side blew a two-goal lead and then wasted a 3-2 advantage, but still finished with all three points in one of the Premier League's games of […]

Abu Dhabi (AFP) – Kyrgyzstan ace Vitalij Lux claims he would rather sit in his hotel room alone than be a sex symbol after his Asian Cup hat-trick sent female fans into a spin. The 29-year-old hunk with the James Dean film-star looks and a name that sounds like a designer shampoo, plundered a midweek […]