Milan (AFP) – Paulo Dybala hit a fifth-minute opener and Gonzalo Higuain added a quick second as Juventus humbled Lazio 2-0 on Sunday to restore their four-point lead over Roma. Despite a poor record against the Turin giants in recent years, Lazio travelled to Turin looking to end the Serie A champions' 26-match unbeaten league […]

Southampton (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Southampton put the row over former captain Jose Fonte's departure to one side as they beat struggling champions Leicester 3-0 in the Premier League at St Mary's on Sunday. Fonte joined top-flight rivals West Ham in an £8 million ($9.9 million, 9.2 million euros) move on Friday, with the Portugal […]

Franceville (Gabon) (AFP) – Star-packed Algeria came to the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon as one of the title favourites, but they need a miracle in Franceville Monday to reach the quarter-finals. A team including African Footballer of the Year Riyad Mahrez must defeat Group B winners Senegal, and hope fellow strugglers Zimbabwe beat […]

Liverpool (AFP) – Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp berated his side's "passive" defending after a 3-2 loss at home to Swansea dealt a major blow to their Premier League title hopes. Relegation-threatened Swansea became the first away team to win a league fixture at Anfield for more than a year as Fernando Llorente scored twice on […]

Stoke-on-Trent (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Jose Mourinho wants record-breaker Wayne Rooney to help Manchester United solve a familiar problem after they failed yet again to turn their dominance into three points in a battling 1-1 draw with Stoke City. Juan Mata's own-goal gave Stoke a 19th-minute lead at the Britannia Stadium before Rooney rescued a […]

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola warned against expecting too much from new arrival Gabriel Jesus after he made an eye-catching debut in their 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur. Substitute Jesus, a £27 million ($33 million, 31 million euros) acquisition from Palmeiras, twice went close to giving City victory, heading narrowly […]

Port-Gentil (Gabon) (AFP) – Uganda coach Milutin Sredojevic admitted the way in which his side were knocked out of the Africa Cup of Nations with a last-gasp defeat to Egypt on Saturday was a crushing blow. "We tried our best but unfortunately it was not enough," said "Micho" after Abdallah El Said's 89th-minute strike, from […]

Milan (AFP) – Lorenzo Insigne and Jose Callejon struck inside the opening minutes as classy Napoli kept their title hopes alive with a 2-1 win at AC Milan on Saturday. A week after seeing Fiorentina stun leaders Juventus 2-1 to carve open the Serie A title race, AC Milan hoped to upset predictions at a […]

Port-Gentil (Gabon) (AFP) – Abdallah El Said scored with a minute left as Egypt snatched a 1-0 win over Uganda on Saturday that leaves them on the verge of the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals and eliminated their opponents. The substitute lashed in from a Mohamed Salah pass to leave the seven-time champions needing only […]

Nice (France) (AFP) – Angry Nice striker Mario Balotelli accused Bastia fans of racially abusing him and screaming monkey chants throughout Friday's 1-1 Ligue 1 draw in Corsica. "Yesterday the result against Bastia was right... We will do more work to try to get our objective. The referee was good too," Balotelli wrote on his […]

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said his side's wasteful finishing rather than a contentious refereeing decision was to blame for their 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday. City were 2-1 up, Dele Alli having hit back for Spurs after goals by Leroy Sane and Kevin De Bruyne, when Raheem […]

London (AFP) – A Matt Ritchie double propelled Newcastle back to the top of the English Championship as they strolled to a 4-0 win over bottom side Rotherham on Saturday. Ritchie's double plus goals from Ireland international Daryl Murphy and Ayoze Perez see the Magpies leapfrog Brighton — who beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 in an […]

Stoke-on-Trent (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Wayne Rooney became Manchester United's outright record goal-scorer on Saturday when he scored his 250th goal for the club to earn a 1-1 draw at Stoke City. AFP Sport selects the five most memorable strikes from his United collection: Manchester United 2 Newcastle United 1 (Premier League, April 2005) Rooney's […]

Berlin (AFP) – Goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky was sent off just 125 seconds into Eintracht Frankfurt's 3-0 defeat on Saturday as second-placed RB Leipzig trimmed Bayern Munich's lead in the Bundesliga. The match at Leipzig's Red Bull Arena had barely begun when Hradecky dropped to the turf to gather a loose ball just outside his area […]

Milan (AFP) – Teenaged forward Federico Chiesa's first Serie A goal for Fiorentina in a 3-0 romp at Chievo boosted La Viola's Europa League hopes on Saturday. A week after stunning champions and leaders Juventus 2-1 to throw the Serie A title race open, Fiorentina travelled to the Bentegodi stadium without suspended Croatia striker Nikola […]