Football

Barcelona forward Raphinha tore into the officiating in their Champions League quarterfinal when his team exited 3-2 on aggregate to Atletico Madrid on Tuesday, having ended both legs with 10 players. The Brazilian did not play in either match but accused the referees Clement Turpin, who officiated the second game, and Istvan Kovacs, of the first, of "robbing" his team. “I think it was a robbery, not just in this match but in the other one (the first leg) as well,” Raphinha told

Argentina will finalize their preparations for the World Cup in June with friendly matches against Honduras and Iceland in the United States, the Argentine football federation said on Thursday. (Depleted world champions Argentina play Honduras on June 6 at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, and Iceland three days later at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. Argentina will be in Group J with Austria, Algeria and Jordan at the World Cup, which starts on June 11 and will be played in the United

Liverpool manager Arne Slot conceded that his side had been conclusively outplayed by Paris Saint-Germain in their Champions League quarterfinal first leg on Wednesday but defended his choice to field three central defenders, while maintaining that the Reds remained hopeful heading into the second leg. “Paris Saint-Germain was much better today and could have scored more than two goals — the good thing is that the players showed fighting spirit all the time and kept going,” Slot said after his team fell, 2-0,

A 1-0 home victory over Sporting in the second leg of a Champions League quarterfinal was a huge swing for Arsenal at the end of their week — an English club recovering from back-to-back elimination rounds in both domestic cups — said attacker Kai Havertz. Havertz scored the winning goal against Sporting in the tie, again as a substitute, which gave Arsenal an edge going into next week’s return leg in London. “A big turnaround for us for sure because we lost the

Al Ain, on Sunday, returned to the top spot in the ADNOC Pro League following a 2-0 win over Ajman at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium. The victory lifts Al Ain to 53 points and returns them to the top, one point clear of second-placed Shabab Al Ahli on 52 points. Ajman stayed in seventh place on 24 points. Al Ain made an explosive start and took just six minutes to go in front. Soufian Rahimi touched home a cross from Amadu Niang to

Music, fireworks and a few rounds of gunfire broke out across Iraq’s capital Baghdad on Wednesday after the national team qualified for its first World Cup in decades. The “Lions of Mesopotamia” cemented its first World Cup appearance since 1986, when the tournament took place in Mexico, with a 2-1 victory over Bolivia on Tuesday night. The lead up to the match had been marred however by the outbreak of the Middle East war since late February, when US and Israel launched attacks

Italy will not be at a third consecutive World Cup after crashing in Tuesday’s (March 31, 2026) frenzied qualification play-off final to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Azzurri fumbling their opportunity of moving on to this summer’s tournament in North America with a miserable 4-1 penalty shoot-out loss. The Bosnians secured a place in Group B, and matches against co-hosts Canada, Switzerland and Qatar, by winning the shootout when Esmir Bajraktarevic delivered the decisive spot-kick in Zenica that sent Italy withering toward yet another

The Premier League may be the world's most popular but it's also one of the most expensive places to watch soccer, and as the arms race for talent escalates, fans are being squeezed. According to a recent UEFA report, English football’s ‘Big Six’ — Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham — pulled in close to 20 per cent more selling tickets for home games in the 2024-25 season as they did a year earlier. Bumper broadcasting deals and commercial sponsorship

As Pep Guardiola wiped away the sting of the Champagne sprayed by his ecstatic players after Sunday’s League Cup final victory over Arsenal, the Manchester City manager faced a crucial question. Nico O’Reilly’s double in the second half had just secured a 2-0 triumph in the Wembley showpiece to give City mental edge over their Premier League title challengers. But will this record-extending fifth League Cup under Guardiola serve as a springboard to catch Arsenal in the title race? Having not masterminded a

Four soccer games in Mexico were postponed when violence erupted near the city of Guadalajara following a military operation that killed the cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera, and Fifa is monitoring the situation in that 2026 World Cup host city. Oseguera — whose nickname “El Mencho” and involvement with the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG turned him into one of Mexico’s most-wanted drug lords — died in custody after suffering injuries during a special forces operation on Mexico’s Pacific coast in Jalisco

Fifa president Gianni Infantino said he is determined to see that Russia's four-year suspension from international competitions "is lifted because it has achieved nothing". Russian clubs and the national team were banned from Fifa and Uefa competitions after their invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. “This ban has not produced anything positive at all; it has only created more frustration and hatred,” Infantino said. “If we could play football in other parts of Europe with Russian girls and boys, it would probably do a power of good.”

Pep Guardiola vowed Manchester City will not give up the Premier League title without a fight after his team failed to get on the scoresheet in a damaging 2-2 draw at Tottenham on Sunday. Guardiola’s team ran riot in north London courtesy of first half strikes from Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo. But City crumbled after the break. Dominic Solanke bundled home to pull one back, meeting the ball off with what appeared to be a kick on the back of City defender Marc Guehi’s leg as

Strutting in like a Neymar with his wing runs and Yamal with his hairstyle, Soham Bhagawati has stunned a lot of footballers in Spain where the Dubai lad plays club football. But what has further startled them is Soham’s Indian passport. “Many people don’t put India on the map in terms of this level of football. They are genuinely shocked when I tell them that I’m an Indian,” the 22-year-old recalled. “But the people here they value the fact that someone has travelled this far out of

Kieran Tierney and Kenny McLean scored injury-time wonder-goals to help Scotland to a 4-2 win over Denmark on Tuesday and book their place at the 2026 World Cup, while Spain also secured their place with a 2-2 draw against Turkey. Belgium romped to a 7-0 win over Liechtenstein to qualify for next year's competition and Switzerland and Austria managed draws to guarantee their places in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Scotland's late action in Glasgow sees Steve Clarke's team qualify for the

Premier League 2025: Man City crush Liverpool in Guardiola's 1,000th match. Manchester City made a winning statement to mark Pep Guardiola's 1000th game in management with a 3-0 victory over Liverpool and moved to within four points of Premier League leaders Arsenal. Missed an early penalty, Erling Haaland could not stop there as he headed his 99th Premier League goal before Nico Gonzalez's deflected strike and a wonder goal from Jeremy Doku confirmed City as Arsenal's main challengers for the title. Liverpool's problems

Pep Guardiola admitted he was not happy to ask Manchester City to play so defensively as Gabriel Martinelli's stoppage-time equaliser rescued a 1-1 draw for Arsenal on Sunday. Guardiola resorted to an unusually conservative second-half game-plan at the Emirates Stadium in a bid to hold on after Erling Haaland's ninth-minute opener. However, the City manager's decision to substitute Norway striker Haaland and withdraw England forward Phil Foden in a switch to a back five ultimately backfired. Arsenal were able to monopolise possession with

On the other hand, Mikel Merino managed to score three goals along a 6-0 away win the Turkey team, while Germany successfully initiated their bid beating Northern Ireland 3-1, as the talented Florian Wirtz scored from a brilliant free kick.  Spain, the reigning European champions, demonstrated relentless offense as Merino scored his first professional hat trick. he also recorded his first ever as midfiel Merino plays for Arsenal. This match also marks as Spains second largest away victory in a world cup qualifier.

Earlier Sunday, City thrashed Al Ain 6-1 to move into the tournament's last 16 after Real Madrid overcame a first-half dismissal to defeat Mexican team Pachuca 3-1. The second round of group games at the tournament was concluded with Juventus proving too strong for Wydad Casablanca and Red Bull Salzburg drawing 0-0 with Al Hilal. City took an early lead through Ilkay Gundogan before 19-year-old Claudio Echeverri scored his first goal for the club from a free-kick with Erland Haaland converting the third from the penalty

Barcelona claimed their 28th La Liga title on Thursday by defeating Espanyol, claiming the title after a city derby win and achieving a seven-point buffer with two matches left to play. Reeling from a Sunday loss where they fell 4-3 to Barcelona, Real were in dire need of victory themselves. Now, they have to win their last three matches, and Barca need to earn no more than one point for Real to have any chance of Barcelona winning the title. The Madrid side's

Arsenal was trailing 1-0 after the first leg of their semi-final of the Champions League tournament and Mikel Arteta was eager for a “special” display in the second leg, especially after PSG's Ousmane Dembele impressed during the first leg.  Dembélé scored at the fourth minute mark during the first half clash at Emirates Stadium. Arsenal had numerous attempts at leveling the score. The match was very intense and both teams missed key chances. PSG squandered further clear chances to seize control of the