London (AFP) – A late Fernando Forestieri goal condemned Roberto di Matteo's Aston Villa to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday in their Championship opener on Sunday. The defeat — which was watched from the directors box by Villa's Chinese owner Tony Xia — provided an early warning to Champions League winning […]

London (AFP) – Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho hailed France midfielder Paul Pogba's imminent arrival from Juventus on Sunday, describing the move as "amazing". Both clubs confirmed that Pogba was due to undergo a medical at United as the most long-running transfer saga of the close season neared a conclusion. Pogba, who left United in […]

London (AFP) – Manchester United beat Leicester 2-1 in the Community Shield at Wembley on Sunday. Here AFP Sports looks at five things we learnt from the annual curtain raiser to the English top-flight season: Pogba deal essential for United United's lengthy courtship of Paul Pogba appears to be reaching a successful conclusion and […]

London (AFP) – Zlatan Ibrahimovic hailed Manchester United's Community Shield win over Leicester City as the start of something big after the Sweden striker secured the first silverware of the Jose Mourinho era. Ibrahimovic marked his competitive debut for United in memorable fashion with a towering header in the 83rd minute to clinch a 2-1 […]

London (AFP) – West Ham manager Slaven Bilic believes striker Andy Carroll could earn an England recall after he grabbed a brace in a 3-2 defeat by Italian champions Juventus on Sunday. The 27-year-old former Newcastle and Liverpool marksman scored both with trademark headers and gave new England manager Sam Allardyce a timely reminder of his […]

Mainz (Germany) (AFP) – Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool suffered a comprehensive 4-0 defeat at Mainz on Sunday in a friendly which exposed some defensive frailties seven days before facing Arsenal in their Premier League opener. Having hammered Barcelona 4-0 at Wembley on Saturday, also in a friendly, the Reds were brought crashing back down to earth […]

Glasgow (AFP) – Scott Sinclair marked his Celtic debut by scoring the winner in an ill-tempered 2-1 victory over Hearts in their Premiership clash at Tynecastle on Sunday. The winger, who completed his £4.5 million (5.3 million euros, $5.9 million) move from English outfit Aston Villa just hours before kick-off, made a surging run to […]

Berlin (AFP) – Mats Hummels expects to run a gauntlet of boos and whistles next Sunday on his first game back in the Bayern Munich shirt — away to his ex-club Borussia Dortmund. The 27-year-old Germany defender, a product of the Bayern academy, signed for Dortmund in 2008, but has rejoined the Munich giants after […]

London (AFP) – France midfielder Paul Pogba's world record transfer to Manchester United from Italian champions Juventus is poised to go ahead subject to him passing a medical, the clubs confirmed Sunday. The long-running saga suddenly took a huge step forward when Juventus announced they had granted permission for the 23-year-old to undergo the medical […]

Berlin (AFP) – Schalke's new signing Coke is expected to miss the rest of 2016 after the Spanish right-back suffered suspected torn cruciate knee ligaments in a pre-season friendly. The Bundesliga club are waiting on an exact diagnosis to hear how long they will be without the Spanish defender, full name Jorge Andujar Moreno but […]

London (AFP) – Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has launched a barb at Claudio Ranieri ahead of the Community Shield by declaring he would not swap careers with his Leicester City counterpart. "I have my career, he has his career," Mourinho said, in comments published by several British newspapers on Sunday. "Ask him if he […]

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) – The USA's women's quest for a fourth straight football gold remains firmly on track after captain Carli Lloyd ensured their 13th consecutive win in the Olympics with a 1-0 victory over France on Saturday. World Player of the Year Lloyd, who also netted the Americans' opener in a 2-0 win […]

Klagenfurt (Austria) (AFP) – New signing Hatem Ben Arfa was among the scorers as Paris Saint-Germain romped to a one-sided 4-1 win over Lyon in the Champions Trophy, the traditional French season-opener, on Saturday. Javier Pastore, Lucas Moura and Layvin Kurzawa got the other goals before Corentin Tolisso grabbed a consolation as the French champions […]

London (AFP) – New signing Sadio Mane scored one goal and made another as Liverpool slickly defeated Barcelona 4-0 in a one-sided friendly match at a sun-soaked Wembley on Sunday. A 34 million pounds ($44.5 million, 40.1 million euros) capture from Southampton, Mane struck a 15th-minute opener and then supplied the cross from which ex-Liverpool […]

Naples (Italy) (AFP) – Napoli have moved to quash speculation surrounding the future of Marek Hamsik by extending the Slovakia star's contract by two seasons. "Napoli is proud to release that Marek Hamsik signed a contract extension until 2020," read a brief statement in English on the club's website on Saturday. The 29-year-old Hamsik, who […]