Rome (AFP) – Mario Balotelli threatened to leave the pitch on Sunday after apparently hearing racist abuse by Hellas Verona fans before scoring for Brescia in their 2-1 Serie A defeat. With his side a goal down to Eddie Salcedo's powerful header Balotelli, who has been a frequent target for racist chants during his three […]

London (AFP) – Leicester moved up to third in the Premier League as the Foxes fine form continued with a hard-fought 2-0 win at Crystal Palace thanks to second half goals from Caglar Soyuncu and Jamie Vardy. Brendan Rodgers's men smashed Southampton 9-0 last Friday, but were made to work much harder for all three […]

Johannesburg (AFP) – Victory at the Rugby World Cup came as a huge relief to South African sport followers after a string of woeful performances by the national cricket and football teams. The Springboks used forward power to subdue England, then let flying wingers Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe loose to run in the tries […]

Valencia (Spain) (AFP) – Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid each passed up the chance to go top of La Liga on Saturday after Barcelona conceded three goals in seven minutes during a surprise 3-1 defeat by Levante. Lionel Messi converted a first-half penalty at the City of Valencia Stadium for his sixth goal in five […]

Turin (Italy) (AFP) – Matthijs de Ligt made sure Juventus kept hold of top spot in Serie A on Saturday after his first goal for the club saw off local rivals Torino, leaving Inter Milan in second despite Romelu Lukaku taking his league tally to nine with a brace in a 2-1 win at Bologna. […]

Johannesburg (AFP) – A wonderful Saturday for South Africa, with the Springboks becoming world champions, was completed by an epic Soweto derby in which Kaizer Chiefs edged Orlando Pirates on penalties. Chiefs won the League Cup quarter-final shootout 4-2 after a 2-2 draw before a capacity 50,000 crowd in Durban, some of whom had earlier […]

Paris (AFP) – Marseille took advantage of two comical defensive mix-ups to secure a 2-1 win at home to Lille on Saturday that sent them up to fourth in Ligue 1 and alleviated some of the pressure on coach Andre Villas-Boas. Morgan Sanson stroked home the opening goal on 48 minutes after Lille goalkeeper Mike […]

Berlin (AFP) – Fireworks brought play to a halt and tempers threatened to boil over as FC Union defeated city rivals Hertha Berlin 1-0 on Saturday in their first Bundesliga derby since German reunification. A 90th-minute penalty, converted by home striker Sebastian Polter, sealed the hosts' third league win this season on an emotional night […]

Glasgow (AFP) – Celtic eased into a fourth straight Scottish League Cup final as Mohamed Elyounoussi and Scott Brown each scored twice in a 5-2 victory over Hibernian at Hampden. On-loan Southampton winger Elyounoussi is enjoying a new lease of life with the Glasgow giants and opened the scoring with a powerful header from James […]

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Pep Guardiola has accused Liverpool star Sadio Mane of diving as the Manchester City boss lit the fuse on next weekend's explosive clash between the Premier League title rivals. Mane scored Liverpool's winner in the fourth minute of stoppage-time as the leaders scored twice in the final moments to escape […]

Watford (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Frank Lampard said "sloppy" Chelsea need to be more clinical after they survived a tense finish to climb to third place in the Premier League with a 2-1 victory at lowly Watford on Saturday. Lampard's side bounced back from their midweek League Cup defeat against Manchester United to make it […]

Glasgow (AFP) – Celtic eased into a fourth straight Scottish League Cup final as Mohamed Elyounoussi and Scott Brown each scored twice in a 5-2 victory over Hibernian at Hampden. On-loan Southampton winger Elyounoussi is enjoying a new lease of life with the Glasgow giants and opened the scoring with a powerful header from James […]

Valencia (Spain) (AFP) – Lionel Messi scored again but was helpless to prevent Barcelona conceding three goals in seven minutes on Saturday as Levante stormed to a surprise 3-1 victory in La Liga. Messi converted a first-half penalty at the City of Valencia Stadium for his sixth goal in five games only for Levante to […]

Rome (AFP) – Romelu Lukaku continued his red-hot scoring form to shoot Inter Milan top of Serie A with a brace in a late 2-1 win at Bologna, while Roma moved up to third with an enthralling win by the same scoreline over wobbling Napoli. Lukaku tapped home his eighth goal of the season 15 […]

Watford (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Chelsea climbed to third place in the Premier League as Tammy Abraham and Christian Pulisic sealed a 2-1 victory at lowly Watford on Saturday. Frank Lampard's side bounced back from their midweek League Cup defeat against Manchester United to make it five successive league wins. The Blues have won eight […]