Paris (AFP) – Patrice Evra scored his first goal for Marseille in Sunday's 2-1 victory over Nice to extinguish the visitors' hopes of claiming an automatic Champions League qualifying spot. Ricardo Pereira and Dalbert both hit the post for Nice inside the opening 15 minutes, but Marseille grabbed the lead when Bafetimbi Gomis headed in […]

Milan (AFP) – Edin Dzeko hit a brace and former AC Milan striker Stephan El Shaarawy added a third as Roma secured a 4-1 win that sent the capital side back up to second in Serie A Sunday. Roma travelled to the San Siro under plenty of pressure after Napoli's 3-1 win over Cagliari on […]

Milan (AFP) – Ciro Immobile hit a brace as Lazio thrashed Sampdoria 7-3 to cut the gap on third-placed Roma to five points in Serie A on Sunday. A week after a 3-1 romp secured the bragging rights in the Rome derby, Lazio extended their impressive end-of-season run of form to lead 5-1 by half-time. […]

London (AFP) – Arsene Wenger bested Jose Mourinho in the Premier League at the 13th attempt as Arsenal beat Manchester United 2-0 on Sunday to revive their challenge for Champions League qualification. Quick-fire second-half goals by Granit Xhaka and United old boy Danny Welbeck at the Emirates Stadium condemned the visitors to their first defeat […]

Liverpool (AFP) – Liverpool's James Milner missed a penalty as his side wasted a chance to bolster their bid to qualify for the Champions League in an uninspiring 0-0 draw with Southampton on Sunday. With rivals Arsenal and Manchester United clashing in Sunday's late kick-off, Jurgen Klopp's team had a golden opportunity to seize the […]

London (AFP) – English football managers should take a leaf out of the late Bobby Robson's book, Manchester United's Jose Mourinho told the Mail on Sunday. Mourinho formed a close friendship with Robson — who died in 2009 from cancer — first as his interpreter at Sporting Lisbon and then at Porto whilst at the […]

Milan (AFP) – Italian football has been hit by a second racist storm inside a week after Juventus defender Mehdi Benatia was insulted live on air during a live, post-match television interview with Italian state broadcaster Rai. Benatia, a Morocco international, was being interviewed following a 1-1 Serie A draw at home with city rivals […]

Washington (AFP) – C.J. Sapong's hat trick lifted the Philadelphia Union to a 3-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls, snapping the Union's 15-match Major League Soccer winless streak. The Union's first victory of this season insured the Red Bulls' own away losing streak continued — now stretching to five matches. Sapong scored in […]

Doha (AFP) – Two years on from the corruption crisis which consumed FIFA, football's governing body meets for its latest annual Congress in Bahrain this week still far from free of suspicion. It was May 2015 in Switzerland, as delegates prepared for that year's Congress, when plain-clothes officers pounced and arrested scores of FIFA officials. […]

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Pep Guardiola says Manchester City are the Premier League's most creative team, but the Spaniard warned his players must show a more ruthless streak despite their 5-0 rout of Crystal Palace. Guardiola's side were in prolific form as they thrashed Palace at Eastlands on Saturday to climb to third place, […]

Glasgow (AFP) – Celtic winger Patrick Roberts says he turned down the chance to go to the under-20 World Cup with England to create history with the Hoops. The 20-year-old had played a key part in firing Paul Simpson's English youngsters to the finals in South Korea, which are due to start on May 20. […]

London (AFP) – Antonio Conte is on the verge of winning the Premier League in his first season at Chelsea and the uncompromising Italian has challenged his players to now go in for the kill. Buoyed by second-placed Tottenham's 1-0 defeat West Ham on Friday, Conte's side host Middlesbrough on Monday knowing they need six […]

Leicester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Craig Shakespeare insisted he is not taking a contract extension as Leicester manager for granted despite enhancing his claims with a 3-0 home win against Watford. The Foxes guaranteed their Premier League safety as Shakespeare took his own tally to 22 points in 10 league games at the helm since […]

Milan (AFP) – Gonzalo Higuain fired a last-gasp leveller past England keeper Joe Hart to save Juventus's blushes in a 1-1 derby draw with Torino that kept the Serie A giants' title celebrations on ice Saturday. Torino looked to be heading for their first derby win over Juve since April 2015 when Adem Ljajic put […]

Madrid (AFP) – Alvaro Morata and James Rodriguez scored twice as a much-changed Real Madrid moved to within three victories of winning La Liga with a 4-0 demolition of Tony Adams's already-relegated Granada. Earlier, Neymar, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez were all on target to take their combined tally for the season to 102 as […]