Month: September 2021

9:00 AM ET Maybe there was something in the air from the beginning. Seeing Mauricio Pochettino and Leonardo, Paris Saint-Germain‘s manager and sporting director, smiling and joking together as the team arrived at the Parc des Princes before their 2-0 Champions League win over with Manchester City; witnessing how relaxed midfielder Marco Verratti was before

6:50 AM ET Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka will be sidelined for three months after suffering a significant injury to his medial knee ligament against Tottenham at the weekend, the Premier League club said on Wednesday. Xhaka had to be taken off after 82 minutes in Arsenal’s 3-1 win against Spurs on Sunday following a challenge

Sep 25, 2021 Alex KirklandESPN FC Real Madrid struggled at home and fell to a shock defeat. David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images Karim Benzema’s penalty wasn’t enough to prevent Real Madrid suffering an embarrassing Champions League upset on Tuesday as minnows FC Sheriff Tiraspol won 2-1 at the Bernabeu. Madrid had the better first half chances —

4:50 PM ET Liverpool players celebrate during their Champions League win against Porto. Getty Mohamed Salah struck twice as Liverpool sauntered to a 5-1 victory against injury-struck FC Porto to seize command of a daunting looking Champions League Group B on Tuesday. Substitute Roberto Firmino also grabbed a brace as Liverpool negotiated a tricky-looking fixture on

6:31 PM ET Alex KirklandESPN FC Sheriff Tiraspol captain Frank Castaneda‘s message to his teammates ahead of their Champions League match at Real Madrid was simple: Why not dream? The motivation worked as the Moldovan champions — the first team in the country’s history to feature in the Champions League group stage — shocked the

6:29 PM ET PARIS — In the grand scheme of things, 263 minutes is the blink of an eye, but not for Lionel Messi. His explosion of relief and joy as he ended his nearly four-hour wait for his first goal in a Paris Saint-Germain shirt — a stunner in a 2-0 Champions League win

10:21 AM ET N’Golo Kante will miss Chelsea‘s Champions League trip to Juventus on Wednesday after testing positive for COVID-19 but boss Thomas Tuchel insisted he will not push his players to increase protection by getting the vaccine. Kante is now quarantining as per government guidelines and joins a growing list of squad members to

11:30 AM ET Tor-Kristian Karlsen Neymar moved from Barcelona to PSG in 2017. EPA/CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON The most recent transfer window was unlike any other, with world-class players like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo moving clubs. But that got us thinking … Drawing inspiration from David Schoenfield’s look at the biggest star every MLB team has

5:00 AM ET The last time a player stood triumphantly towering over a clamour of Camp Nou worshippers it was, of course, Lionel Messi in 2017. Barcelona had just crushed Paris Saint-Germain 6-1 in the greatest European comeback in history, and the little Argentine genius ran to the fans behind the goal, leaping up onto

4:10 AM ET Associated Press UEFA on Tuesday took legal action to remove the judge from a Spanish court case thwarting the attempt to punish Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus for their involvement in the ill-fated Super League breakaway. The move could eventually lead to disciplinary action restarting against the rebel clubs after it was

10:57 AM ET Rob DawsonCorrespondent Mauricio Pochettino has called for time to turn Paris Saint-Germain‘s squad of superstars into a team capable of winning the Champions League. Despite adding Lionel Messi to a forward line that already included Kylian Mbappe and Neymar over the summer, PSG were held to a 1-1 draw by Club Brugge

2:01 PM ET Ellen Fokkema’s love of the game has led to her making history. Soccrates Images for ESPN VV Foarut midfielder Ellen Fokkema has a typical matchday routine: ride her bicycle through the beautiful Friesland fields to the Schatzenburg sports complex in the small village of Menaam, in the north of the Netherlands (about 90