International

Serie A titleholders Juventus were held to a 1-1 draw away to promoted side Benevento on Saturday. Following a majestic cross-field pass from Federico Chiesa, Alvaro Morata gave Juventus a 21st-minute advantage. Paulo Dybala should have added a second but curled his shot wide. But Gaetano Letizia levelled for Benevento in the first half stoppage time. Juventus had more possession in the second half but did little with it, while Benevento looked dangerous when they broke forward. Benevento had six players booked and Juventus one in the second half before Morata lost his cool and was dismissed. The performance of Juve raised further concerns about the team's reliance on 35-year-old Ronaldo. He was not even on the bench on Saturday. Despite having played just five matches he is ...

Thibaut Courtois’ disastrous mistake led to a shock 2-1 home loss by Alaves on Saturday. Lucas Perez gave Alaves the lead in the fifth minute from the penalty spot. It was also the fifth penalty that Madrid conceded in the league in three games. Fernando Pacheco saved a shot from Hazard. And then had a penalty appeal waved away before hobbling off in the 28th minute with a muscle injury. Early in the second half, Joselu made the most of a gift from Courtois to double Alaves' lead. Casemiro pulled back a goal for Madrid in the 86th minute from close range. Isco almost found an equalizer in the sixth minute of added time but his shot bounced off the crossbar. Madrid swallowed a third defeat in 10 league games. Madrid had played 15 previous home games against Alaves in LaLiga, w...

Frank Lampard's Chelsea will host former manager Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur in a mouth-watering London derby on Sunday. Since Abramovich took over no English club has won more major trophies than Chelsea. And Mourinho was the manager for half of those. For 13 of those 16 wins, Lampard, meanwhile, was a player, scoring more goals than anyone else. Mourinho has been sacked twice by Chelsea so it will be a clash to watch out. The injury issues in Liverpool and Manchester City's worst start to a season has opened the door for title bid. Tottenham are flying this season as they are the league leaders while Chelsea are just 2 point behind Tottenham. Regardless of what happens on Saturday’s games, Spurs are guaranteed to have spent at least seven days at the summit this year. ...

Barcelona will be looking to return to winning ways in Spain's top flight this weekend. They welcome Osasuna to Camp Nou on Sunday. Barcelona lost 1-0 to Atletico Madrid last week and are looking for a bounce back. There is no getting away from the fact that this season's Barca league form was extremely disappointing. They have picked up just 11 points from their eight matches to place 13th in the table. Barcelona are already 12 points behind league leaders Real Sociedad but have 2 games in hand. Koeman will now be desperate to address his team's disappointing league form. A strong result on Sunday would lead them nicely into next weekend's clash with Cadiz. Osasuna, meanwhile, will bring a three-game winless run into Sunday's contest. They have picked up just a point from th...

Argentine football legend Diego Maradona has died at the age of 60 after cardiac arrest in his native Argentina. The world football icon underwent a brain blood clot surgery in early November. Maradona was discharged from hospital on stable state after a week of surgery. Maradona captained Argentina to 1986 World Cup along with his excellent individual performances. He is considered to be one of the best player to have graced the sport. Maradona after his playing career had mixed stint of coaching career. He was head coach of Argentina in the 2010 world cup. He was leading Gimansia La Plata in Argentine League until September.

Brazilian Superstar Neymar Junior scored the sole goal as PSG won a vital game against Leipzig on Tuesday to claim all three points. The win gave them fresh hope of qualifying from Champions League Group H. It took just 11 minutes for the hosts to go ahead through Neymar from the penalty spot. Navas tipped over Dayot Upamecano's header in the 12th minute as Leipzig threatened in a low-key opening. In the 38th minute, Leipzig had another strong chance but Navas parried away Amadou Haidara's fierce 18-meter strike. Thomas Tuchel will be relieved to see Marco Verratti, who came on after a six-week injury layoff in the 83rd minute. Three weeks ago, Thomas Tuchel's side endured a 2-1 loss in Germany but, they got their campaign back on track at Parc des Princes. It wasn’t a convin...

In a group B game in the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League, Inter Milan and Real Madrid square off against each other at Giuseppe Meazza. This is a winner-take-all game, as after a poor start to the group stage of the tournament, both teams are below Borussia Monchengladbach and Shaktar Donetsk in the standings. A defeat would essentially destroy all qualifying aspirations for the team on Wednesday that is second-best. Inter Milan have won five out of the last 10 games between the two clubs, with Real Madrid winning four and one being ended in a draw. The last time these two teams played earlier this month, Los Blancos came out on top to give Real Madrid a 3-2 victory. Inter won 4-2 at the weekend against Torino while Real Madrid will be visitingInter with a 1-1 draw against Vill...

Liverpool welcome Atalanta at Anfield knowing that victory would seal their place in the last 16 of the Champions League with two games to spare. Liverpool sits comfortably at the top of Group D, five points clear of their nearest rivals, fresh from dishing out Atalanta's worst ever home European defeat on matchday three. The six-time European champions are again among the favourites to go all the way this season. Liverpool who thrashed Leicester Cityin the Premier League with more than half of their starting XI players missing out. Klopp’s side were dominant from the first minute to the last as they won the game 3-0. Liverpool will be looking for the first time since April 2018. Another victory on Wednesday could see them keep four Champions League clean sheets on the bounce an...

Barcelona lost Gerard Pique to injury in the 1-0 loss to Atletico Madrid, Barcelona's faltering start to the season was plunged into more chaos. Sergio Roberto also went down with a thigh problem. Barca have not announced how long Pique will be out of play, but there is talk that for at least eight weeks the 33-year-old center-back may be sidelined. However, they reported that it will take about two months for Sergi Roberto to heal. Clement Lenglet is the only fit central defender in the Champions League for Tuesday's Dynamo Kiev clash.Due to other fitness concerns, Samuel Umtiti and Ronald Araujo are inaccessible. Ronald Araujo was pulled off at the interval against Juventus last month. Subsequently, Barca missed a central defender against Alaves, Dynamo, Real Betis and Atle...

Liverpool cruised to an impressive 3-0 victory over Leicester City at Anfield as they set a new club record of 64 consecutive undefeated home league games. Without Virgil Van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Jordan Henderson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Thiago Alcantara, there was some cast list to be missed and this was a statement show by Liverpool champions to the rest of the league, with another loss being the only issue when they lost Naby Keita who seemed to injure hamstring. The home side took the lead in the 21st minute when Evans, under pressure from Sadio Mane, headed a James Milner corner into his own net. With Jamie Vardy catching Harvey Barnes in a promising spot, Leicester replied with a smart break, but the left-effort winger's was far from the goal. With Andy Robertso...