London (AFP) – Pedro Obiang and Andre Ayew scored to give West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic the perfect 49th birthday present as the Hammers beat Huddersfield Town 2-0 in the Premier League on Monday. Obiang got the opener via an enormous deflection and Bilic then pumped the air in relief as much as delight […]

Riyadh (AFP) – Carlos Eduardo struck a fine hat-trick as Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal stormed into the semi-finals of the Asian Champions League with a 3-0 rout of UAE's Al Ain on Monday. Victory at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh gave the reigning Saudi champions and continental runners-up in 2014 a 3-0 aggregate […]

London (AFP) – The signing of Brazilian superstar Neymar for a world record fee by Qatari-owned Paris Saint-Germain is "amazing for France", club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi told the Daily Telegraph. PSG paid Barcelona 222 million euros ($264 million) for Neymar, 25, in August before signing Kylian Mbappe on loan with an option to buy the […]

London (AFP) – Crystal Palace on Monday sacked manager Frank de Boer after a dismal start to the Premier League season that has seen them lose all four of their matches without scoring a single goal. The south London club, languishing in 19th place in the league, have been strongly linked with a move to […]

Barcelona (AFP) – Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde warned against snap judgements on his side and Juventus' Champions League aspirations despite losing key players in the transfer market. The sides meet in their competition opener on Tuesday (1845 GMT) in a rematch of a quarter-final clash won 3-0 on aggregate by Juventus last season. Barca are […]

Barcelona (AFP) – Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde warned against snap judgements on his side and Juventus' Champions League aspirations despite losing key players in the transfer market. The sides meet in their competition opener on Tuesday (1845 GMT) in a rematch of a quarter-final clash won 3-0 on aggregate by Juventus last season. Barca are […]

Glasgow (AFP) – Paris Saint-Germain forwards Javier Pastore and Angel Di Maria have been ruled out of the French club's Champions League opener at Celtic on Tuesday with injuries. Celtic striker Moussa Dembele will also miss out, with manager Brendan Rodgers saying Monday the 21-year-old Frenchman is not yet match-fit after suffering a hamstring injury […]

Berlin (AFP) – Disgruntled Germany star Thomas Mueller admits he can envisage leaving Bayern Munich after failing to shine recently for the German champions. Mueller set up two goals for Germany in their 6-0 rout of Norway last Monday in a World Cup qualifier, but produced another poor display on the wing for Bayern in […]

London (AFP) – Chelsea manager Antonio Conte indicated on Monday he will rotate his players for his side's Champions League opener against Azerbaijani newcomers Qarabag. Tuesday's encounter at Stamford Bridge is the second in a sequence of seven matches in 21 days for Conte's Premier League champions. With a midweek League Cup game against Nottingham […]

London (AFP) – Crystal Palace on Monday sacked manager Frank de Boer after a dismal start to the Premier League season that has seen them lose all four of their matches without scoring a single goal. The south London club, languishing in 19th place in the league, have been strongly linked with a move to […]

London (AFP) – Chelsea have vowed to take the "strongest possible action" against any supporters found to have used anti-Semitic language in a chant about the club's new striker Alvaro Morata. The song, aired during Chelsea's 2-1 win at Leicester City on Saturday, describes supporters of rivals Tottenham Hotspur, who have traditional links to the […]

London (AFP) – Crystal Palace on Monday sacked manager Frank de Boer after a dismal start to the Premier League season. "Crystal Palace Football Club have this morning parted company with Frank de Boer," said a statement on the club's website. "We would like to thank Frank for his dedication and hard work during his […]

London (AFP) – Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane says the club are ready for another Premier League title push after some quality late additions to th squad. The London side had an underwhelming start to the season, losing to Chelsea and drawing against Burnley at their temporary Wembley home, but they bounced back with an […]

Berlin (AFP) – Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has fired back at Robert Lewandowski after the Poland hot-shot criticised the Bavarian giants' spending policy. Bayern crashed to a shock 2-0 defeat at Hoffenheim on Saturday which left them sixth in the German league table — their worst position after the first three games since 2010/11. […]

Barcelona (AFP) – A 5-0 derby win, an assist for 105 million euro ($126 million) purchase Ousmane Dembele on his debut and a four-point La Liga lead over Real Madrid ought to have brought some relief to Barcelona's beleaguered board. Yet no sooner had the celebrations died down from Luis Suarez's finish from Dembele's cross […]