Madrid (AFP) – Zinedine Zidane admitted his side had an afternoon to forget on Saturday despite Real Madrid moving seven points clear at the top of La Liga thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo's double in a 2-1 win over Sporting Gijon. Victory extended Real's unbeaten run in all competitions to 31 matches, but Madrid were grateful […]

Paris (AFP) – Monaco kept up their outstanding recent form as Valere Germain scored twice in a 4-0 win over Marseille in the Mediterranean principality on Saturday. Gabriel Boschilia opened the scoring from a free-kick before Germain added two more of his own as Monaco put the game to bed before half-time, with substitute Guido […]

Liverpool (AFP) – Divock Origi and James Milner pitched in with second-half goals as Liverpool finally broke down stubborn Sunderland in a 2-0 victory on Saturday. Jurgen Klopp's side will happily take the three points from this Premier League clash as their patience was pushed to the limits in a war of attrition at Anfield. Sunderland […]

Madrid (AFP) – Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice as Real Madrid were thankful to a late missed penalty from Duje Cop to open up a seven-point lead over Barcelona at the top of La Liga with a 2-1 win over Sporting Gijon on Saturday. Madrid looked set for an easy afternoon as Ronaldo opened the scoring […]

Kingston upon Hull (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Michael Dawson netted a 72nd-minute equaliser as Hull City drew 1-1 against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday to deny Tony Pulis's team a third successive Premier League win. West Brom, the visitors, were bidding to go level on points with sixth-place Manchester United and took a deserved 34th-minute […]

Leicester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Leicester salvaged a dramatic 2-2 draw against Middlesbrough as Islam Slimani converted a penalty deep into stoppage-time at the King Power Stadium on Saturday. Claudio Ranieri's side trailed twice to goals from Middlesbrough striker Alvaro Negredo, but Riyad Mahrez got Leicester's first equaliser with a penalty before his Algerian team-mate […]

Swansea (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Spanish striker Fernando Llorente scored twice in injury-time Saturday to give Swansea a thrilling 5-4 win over fellow strugglers Crystal Palace and drag the Welsh club off the foot of the Premier League. The astonishing finale left Palace bemoaning a sixth straight loss which has sucked them to the brink […]

London (AFP) – Substitute Divock Origi and James Milner struck to send Liverpool top of the Premier League as both they and Manchester City stole past previous leaders Chelsea in Saturday's action. Sergio Aguero scored two scruffy goals as City won 2-1 at Burnley and Liverpool followed suit by downing Sunderland 2-0 after losing Brazilian […]

Al-Ain (United Arab Emirates) (AFP) – South Korea’s Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors won the Asian Champions League 3-2 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw with UAE’s Al Ain in the final's second leg on Saturday. An atmosphere of gloom enveloped the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium as home fans wept after Al Ain squandered a penalty to […]

Berlin (AFP) – Borussia Dortmund were brought crashing to earth on Saturday following their record Champions League win with a 2-1 Bundesliga defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt, who went third in Germany's top flight. It was a first defeat in 10 games for Dortmund and came hot on the heels of their 8-4 romp on Tuesday […]

Berlin (AFP) – Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has hinted ex-Germany captain Philipp Lahm will fill the vacant sports director job at the Bavarian giants, probably for next season. "We all know that a sports manager is also needed at Bayern," said Rummenigge after Uli Hoeness was re-elected as Bayern's president on Friday at the […]

Burnley (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Manchester City overcame Burnley's spirited challenge as Sergio Aguero's double inspired their fightback for a 2-1 win at Turf Moor on Saturday. Aguero's decisive brace took his remarkable scoring run to 33 goals in 34 Premier League games after Dean Marney had given Burnley a surprise lead over the title […]

London (AFP) – England captain Wayne Rooney has been cleared after the Football Association investigated reports he stayed up late drinking while on international duty, British media outlets reported on Saturday. Rooney, 31, apologised for the publication of "inappropriate" pictures of him mingling with wedding guests at England's team hotel between their recent games against […]

London (AFP) – Former Chelsea team doctor Eva Carneiro received death threats following her departure from the club last year, she revealed in a newspaper interview published on Saturday. "Even though I don't have a presence on social media — I think I have made one post ever in my life — some of the […]

Kazan (Russia) (AFP) – The wisdom of awarding Russia the right to stage the 2018 World Cup will come under sharp scrutiny in Kazan on Saturday at the draw for next year's Confederations Cup. Kicking off in Kazan on June 17 and ending in a Saint Petersburg final on July 2, the Confederations Cup involves […]