Barcelona (AFP) – Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde has warned his team to beware a "wounded" Real Madrid side as the hosts head into Sunday's Clasico at the Camp Nou without the injured Lionel Messi. "We know what Madrid are like, they are more dangerous when they are wounded," said Valverde at a press conference on […]

London (AFP) – Joe Hart believes his form for English Premier League side Burnley warrants a recall to the England squad after recovering from the hurt he felt at missing out on the World Cup finals he told The Times. The 31-year-old goalkeeper is back garnering positive headlines for his new club after a nomadic […]

Paris (AFP) – Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel has admitted that signing a top-class midfielder remains "a priority" for the French giants after their weaknesses were exposed in another below-par performance in the Champions League. PSG snatched a 2-2 draw at home against Napoli in midweek thanks to Angel di Maria's injury-time goal, but before […]

Barcelona (AFP) – Barcelona will miss Lionel Messi on Sunday – his goals, his dribbles, his presence as much as anything – but the angst will be gone with the help of three weeks' rest and a sling. For the fans that came to see him, not the match or the teams, but him, the […]

Barcelona (AFP) – Barcelona against Real Madrid is a rivalry that goes back 116 years, to a pitch drenched in horse manure and spectators that cheered players falling over as much as them scoring a goal. Barca won that first meeting in May 1902, 3-1, but more than a century on the landscape looks rather […]

London (AFP) – Unai Emery has implored his Arsenal stars to begin matches with more urgency as they head to Crystal Palace biding for a remarkable 12th successive victory on Sunday. Emery's side notched their 11th win in a row on Thursday as Danny Welbeck's late strike sealed a 1-0 success at Sporting Lisbon in […]

London (AFP) – Ruben Loftus-Cheek made a persuasive argument this week to be included in Chelsea's starting line-up at Burnley on Sunday. The reality is, though, the England midfielder has more work to do to convince Maurizio Sarri he is ready for an extended run in the Premier League. A hat-trick in the Europa League […]

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Romelu Lukaku will come under close scrutiny when he faces former club Everton on Sunday, looking to kick start a season that is rapidly turning into a disappointment for him and his Manchester United team alike. The Belgian international was widely criticised after United were beaten 1-0 at home by […]

London (AFP) – Pawel Wszolek scored the only goal of the game as Queens Park Rangers continued to climb up English football's second-tier Championship table with a 1-0 win at home to Aston Villa on Friday. Villa were unlucky to see Jack Grelish hit the woodwork while west London club QPR might well have had […]

Berlin (AFP) – Bundesliga highflyers Borussia Moenchengladbach came unstuck 3-1 at Freiburg on Friday with their in-form striker Alassane Plea unable to add to his record-challenging goal tally. The French forward has helped his team into second with eight goals in nine games and would have equalled a record if he had scored in the […]

Liverpool (AFP) – Jurgen Klopp has jokingly dismissed Cardiff manager Neil Warnock's claim that the Bluebirds will have a "virtually impossible" task trying to beat Liverpool in the Premier League at Anfield on Saturday. The raw statistics seem to justify Warnock's words given Liverpool are currently unbeaten and second only in the table to leaders […]

London (AFP) – Tottenham Hotspur will play their remaining home games in 2018 at Wembley Stadium, the Premier League club announced Friday. Spurs had been hoping to move into a new 62,000-seater stadium near their old White Hart Lane home in north London in September. But chairman Daniel Levy said "factors completely outside of our […]

Madrid (AFP) – Spanish police announced the arrest of seven suspects Friday in a fake tickets scam that cost Barcelona football club 1.5 euros million ($1.7 million). Fraudsters sold more than 2,800 fake tickets for a match between Barcelona and Real Madrid last May, at Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium. At least eight businesses were involved in the […]

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Pep Guardiola has warned his Manchester City players they risk losing their place in his first-team squad if they react poorly to being left out of the starting line-up. The return of Kevin De Bruyne, ahead of schedule, from a knee ligament injury means that competition for places has never […]

Berlin (AFP) – Niko Kovac hopes the Spanish-speaking trio Javi Martinez, James Rodriguez and Thiago Alcantara can help grab another win at Mainz on Saturday to push Bayern Munich up the Bundesliga table. The defending German league champions go into the weekend fourth in the table and four points adrift of leaders Borussia Dortmund, who […]