The USA centre-back Naomi Girma’s debut for Chelsea ended early as she was brought off with an injury in their 2-2 draw at Brighton. The world’s first $1m women’s footballer, who signed for Chelsea from San Diego Wave in January for a $1.1m (£874,000) fee and has had to wait patiently for her debut while … Read more
Barcelona returned to the top of the La Liga table with a comfortable 4-0 home victory over 10-man Real Sociedad on Sunday. Barça’s sixth straight league win moved them into first place with 57 points from 26 games, one ahead of Atlético Madrid. Real Madrid are third with 54 points after a 2-1 defeat at … Read more
Rodri could be back in action before the end of the Premier League season according to the Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola. The Ballon d’Or-winning midfielder, who was initially ruled out for the remainder of the campaign after sustaining anterior cruciate ligament damage in September, returned to individual training this week. While Rodri has spoken … Read more
Ruben Amorim hit back at Wayne Rooney after Manchester United crashed out of the FA Cup, by claiming that being the club’s head coach aged 40 showed he was not naive. Rooney, who is United’s record goalscorer, called Amorim naive for saying after the holders’ elimination from the Cup on penalties by Fulham that the … Read more
A radical plan to scrap relegation from the Women’s Super League as part of a major expansion of the professional game is to be voted on by clubs at the end of the season. Under proposals developed by the Women’s Professional League Ltd and revealed on Thursday, relegation from the 12‑team WSL would stop from … Read more
No Messi, yes problem When the Houston Dynamo learned that Lionel Messi did not travel with Inter Miami ahead of the teams’ game on Sunday, they proceeded with a now-familiar playbook. Just like Chicago Fire and Vancouver Whitecaps did in similar Messi-less situations, the team apologized to their ticketholders, then bargained with them. “Unfortunately, we … Read more
Billy Gilmour or Philip Billing? That was the dilemma facing Antonio Conte for a season-defining fixture: his second-placed Napoli taking on the Inter side who had just overtaken them with 12 rounds to go. Should he trust in a midfielder who had started only five Serie A games since arriving from Brighton last summer, or … Read more
Manchester United are exploring an early termination from a 10-year lease agreement at their London offices in Kensington in the latest cost-cutting measure proposed by Sir Jim Ratcliffe. United moved into the Kensington Building less than two years ago after the expiry of a 10-year rental agreement on another office building in Mayfair, but with … Read more
The FA Cup ball criticised by the Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, “delivers against all of the testing requirements”, the Football Association has said. Guardiola compared the ball unfavourably to those used in the Premier League and Champions League after his side’s fifth-round victory over Plymouth on Saturday and said it was “not proper”. An … Read more
An egregious non-call by referee Steve Willis allowed Gervonta Davis to salvage a draw on the judges’ scorecards in Davis’s WBA 135lb title defense against Lamont Roach at Barclays Center on Saturday night. Davis (now 30-0-1, 28 KOs), has been fighting professionally for 12 years. At age 30, he’s an elite fighter with a fervent … Read more