Milan (AFP) – Club legend Francesco Totti has fired a defiant message to Lazio ahead of a capital derby that could help Roma claim the second automatic Champions League spot in Serie A. Even if the 40-year-old talisman can only hope for a cameo role, he said Roma are out to stretch their run of […]

Glasgow (AFP) – Pedro Caixinha says he would resign as Rangers manager if he didn't believe his side could defeat fierce city rivals and champions Celtic on Saturday in their Premiership clash. The sides will clash for the sixth time this season when they meet at Ibrox with Rangers having failed to win — losing […]

Paris (AFP) – Monaco could land a decisive blow in the Ligue 1 title race this weekend with a helping hand from their Cote d'Azur rivals Nice, who host reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain. Leonardo Jardim effectively wrote off his side's chances of lifting the French Cup, fielding a team full of youngsters that was demolished […]

Leicester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – The renewed feel-good factor at Leicester City is seeping away and the Premier League champions still have work to do ahead of Saturday’s trip to West Bromwich Albion. Craig Shakespeare, who took over as manager following title-winning boss Claudio Ranieri’s sacking in February, has lost just three of his 11 […]

London (AFP) – While the race for the Premier League title has become a contest solely between leaders Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, the battle to beat the drop is a more complicated affair. With a maximum of five rounds left, the identities of the bottom three who will be relegated into the second-tier Championship come […]

New York (AFP) – The US prosecution of the massive corruption scandal rocking world soccer scalped a new head on Thursday: the football chief on the tiny Pacific island of Guam. Richard Lai, a 55-year-old US citizen, pleaded guilty Thursday in a federal court in New York to accepting nearly $1 million in bribes from […]

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Marouane Fellaini was sent off for brainlessly headbutting Sergio Aguero as Manchester United's Champions League push was frustrated in a 0-0 draw at Manchester City on Thursday. Booked for tripping Aguero in the 85th minute, Fellaini fouled him again seconds later and then blatantly butted the Argentinian, leaving referee Martin […]

Madrid (AFP) – Wissam Ben Yedder struck a 79th-minute winner as Sevilla defeated 10-man Celta Vigo 2-1 on Thursday to move eight points clear in La Liga's fourth and final Champions League spot. Joaquin Correa rounded off a superb run with a tidy top-corner finish to give Sevilla the lead shortly after half-time at the […]

Miami (AFP) – David Beckham has added Todd Boehly, a part-owner of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers, to his investment group seeking a Major League Soccer club in Miami, newspapers reported Thursday. The Sun-Sentinel and Miami Herald reported that Beckham's long-delayed project, facing new pressure to become a new club soon or risk termination, […]

Paris (AFP) – Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter was called as a witness into a French investigation into the controversial awarding of the World Cups to Russia in 2018 and Qatar 2022, a source said on Thursday. Blatter, the long-time head of scandal-plagued FIFA until he was forced out in 2015 and banned from football, […]

Milan (AFP) – Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said he won't rest key players for Friday's Serie A clash at Atalanta, days before a Champions League semi-final trip to Monaco in the club's pursuit of a historic treble. Juve head to Atalanta with an eight-point lead on second-placed Roma and hoping to take another step towards […]

London (AFP) – The Football Association insisted Thursday they had given Joey Barton "the shortest possible" ban after hitting him with an 18-month suspension from the sport. In a move that the 34-year-old Burnley midfielder plans to challenge fearing it will otherwise end his career, English football's governing body announced Wednesday it had banned Barton […]

Milan (AFP) – Midfielder Claudio Marchisio insists Juventus should confidently believe in their chance of an unprecedented club treble as they look to stretch their Serie A lead away to Atalanta on Friday. "It's an obligation for us to believe in it at this point of the season," said Marchisio, who has struggled with injury […]

Lausanne (AFP) – Former FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke, who is banned from football and the target of a Swiss criminal investigation, has resurfaced in Spain and set up an events management business, sources say. The Frenchman was banned last year for 12 years — reduced to 10 — for ethics breaches and fired by […]

Berlin (AFP) – Germany's head coach Joachim Loew confirmed Thursday that World Cup winner Mario Goetze will not play at June's Confederations Cup in Russia as he recovers from a metabolism disorder. "Mario won't be with us at the Confed Cup," said Loew at an event in Hamburg. "He should take the time, which he […]