London (AFP) – Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez on Thursday tried to turn the attention back to his club's promotion to the Premier League, a day after the club was raided by British tax authorities. Magpies managing director Lee Charnley was arrested and later released without charge on Wednesday by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs […]

Barcelona (AFP) – Barcelona said on Thursday they will make a complaint to Spanish sporting authorities over comments by Malaga's Qatari owner Abdullah Al-Thani on Twitter describing the Catalans as "scum". "FC Barcelona expresses its rejection and indignation at the content of the tweet published by the president of Malaga, Abdullah Al-Thani, which is counter […]

London (AFP) – West Ham United tried to turn their attention to football again on Thursday following the drama of the club's midweek raid by British tax authorities. Officials from Her Majesty's Revenues and Customs (HMRC) descended upon West Ham's London Stadium and the Premier League club's Rush Green training ground as well as part […]

Berlin (AFP) – Bayern Munich have signed promising France winger Kingsley Coman from Juventus for 21 million euros ($23 million), the German champions and media reports said Thursday. The 20-year-old has been on loan at Bayern since 2015 and they have now triggered an option to buy and given him a three-year contract. "Kingsley Coman […]

Berlin (AFP) – Carlo Ancelotti insisted he is focussed on wrapping up the Bundesliga before assessing how successful his first season at Bayern Munich has been following a shock German Cup semi-final defeat. April has been little short of a disaster for Ancelotti and Bayern. The German champions threw away a 2-1 lead at the […]

London (AFP) – Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said his side know exactly what they must do in the Champions League qualification race after watching them gain a 1-0 win over Leicester City. With time slipping away at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, Wenger threw on Danny Welbeck and Olivier Giroud to finish with four strikers […]

Los Angeles (AFP) – Franco Jara scored the lone goal as CF Pachuca were crowned CONCACAF Champions League winners with a 1-0 shutout of Tigres in an all-Mexico battle Wednesday night. Jara scored in the 83rd minute of the second leg at the Estadio Hidalgo stadium as Pachuca clinched the title 2-1 on aggregate. The […]

Sydney (AFP) – Brisbane Roar keeper Jamie Young needed stitches in a nasty arm gash from a rusty net hook during their AFC Champions League loss in Thailand, a report said Thursday, with the club set to complain. Young was diving to save Muangthong United's 37th-minute goal on Wednesday in Thailand when he slammed into […]

London (AFP) – Jose Mourinho has an opportunity to score a seismic victory over his old foe Pep Guardiola when his Manchester United side visit misfiring Manchester City on Thursday. Guardiola oversaw a one-sided 2-1 win when he and Mourinho resumed hostilities in September and was generally felt to have made a bigger impact than […]

London (AFP) – Mauricio Pochettino claimed Tottenham's gritty 1-0 win at Crystal Palace showed they were ready to pounce if Chelsea stumble in the title race. Pochettino's side closed the gap on leaders Chelsea to four points with five games left after Christian Eriksen's late strike clinched a victory that looked unlikely for long periods […]

Moscow (AFP) – One club represented the mighty Soviet Red Army, the other was named after an ancient gladiator-slave — now Moscow's CSKA and Spartak fight out one of the fiercest rivalries in Russian football. The two teams face off Sunday in a furious city derby that comes with added spice this year: Spartak are […]

Barcelona (AFP) – Real Madrid again made light of the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo as they crushed Deportivo la Coruna 6-2 to maintain the upper hand in the La Liga title race on Wednesday. Madrid and Barcelona are locked on 78 points at the top of the table, but Real have a game in hand […]

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Chris Smalling and Phil Jones still have Manchester United futures, manager Jose Mourinho said on Wednesday, despite his reservations about their refusal to play through the pain barrier. Injuries to Smalling, Jones and Marcos Rojo have left Eric Bailly as United's only fit senior centre-back and Mourinho has publicly called […]

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Pep Guardiola says he has "no regrets" about his first season in England, even though his Manchester City side face the prospect of failing to qualify for the Champions League. Guardiola is set to finish a campaign without a trophy for the first time in a managerial career dating back […]

Santiago (AFP) – The head of South American football confederation CONMEBOL said Wednesday the body lost more than $140 million to graft under former managers indicted in a US corruption investigation. Between 2010 and 2014 "CONMEBOL was defrauded of more than $140 million," its president Alejandro Dominguez told AFP after unveiling the findings of an […]