Football

You look at their roster and you really wonder. How they can not make it? Pochettino's Paris has become a dream team, but is it ready to finally drink the sparkling water of the Champions League spring? The greatest theft in football history Mape's story and his honesty With Ramos and Messi, the mindset changes The puzzle that Pochettino has to put together Paris Saint-Germain can't have any more unfinished business. This time they want to go all the way and be the

REUTERS LIVERPOOL, England, Sept 15 - Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson struck a rare Champions League goal to earn his side a 3-2 victory over AC Milan in a rip-roaring Group B opener at a rocking Anfield on Wednesday. Henderson rifled home in the 69th minute to settle an absorbing contest between the two European heavyweights whose only two previous meetings had been in finals. With Anfield welcoming back fans for a Champions League night for the first time in 18 months, Liverpool had

REUTERS MANCHESTER, England, Sept 15 - Manchester City, last season's Champions League runners-up, crushed RB Leipzig 6-3 in a thrilling Group A game on Wednesday as Christopher Nkunku scored a hat-trick for the German side. It was a hugely entertaining match at the Etihad Stadium and although City manager Guardiola will be happy with the three points he will be concerned about the spaces his team left for the German side to exploit on the break. Nkunku became only the fourth player to

REUTERS BRUGGE, Belgium, Sept 15 - Lionel Messi failed to provide Paris St Germain with any sparkle as the Ligue 1 team's potent attacking trio lacked inspiration in a disappointing 1-1 draw at Club Brugge in their Champions League opener on Wednesday. Making his first start for the French team, the Argentine forward hit the woodwork but was otherwise far from his brilliant best alongside the hugely disappointing Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, who set up Ander Herrera for PSG's first-half opener before being

REUTERS Paris St Germain have been labelled as the side to beat in the Champions League since Lionel Messi joined during the close season but coach Mauricio Pochettino warned that he had not yet turned his stellar cast of players into a team. PSG signed Messi as a free agent from Barcelona to assemble a formidable attacking trio with France striker Kylian Mbappe and Brazil forward Neymar, but they have yet to show what they are capable of together. "We're not a team

REUTERS  Mohamed Salah's 100th Premier League goal helped Liverpool cruise to a 3-0 victory at 10-man Leeds United on Sunday in a match that was marred by teenager Harvey Elliott suffering a dislocated ankle. After a lightning-fast start to the game, Salah became the 30th player to join the Premier League's 100-goal club in the 20th minute, tapping home from close range from a Trent Alexander-Arnold cross. The visitors missed a host of chances to make it 2-0 in the first half, before

Benzema scored either side of a Franco Cervi strike after Santi Mina had given the visitors the lead on four minutes. Vinicius Junior added a third for Real before teenager Eduardo Camavinga scored six minutes into his debut. Benzema sealed his hat-trick with an 87th-minute goal as Carlo Ancelotti's side moved top of La Liga. Despite ongoing construction work, 30,000 supporters were welcomed back to the Bernabeu as Los Blanco played their first match there since beating Barcelona in El Clasico on 1

Brazilian football legend Pele remains in intensive care but is making a satisfactory recovery after having surgery for a suspected colon tumour. The 80-year-old is being treated at the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo. His medical team said that he was "conscious, conversing actively and is maintaining normal vital signs". "With each passing day I feel a little better," the three-time World Cup winner, who has had a number of recent health issues, said via Instagram. He added that "I'm still going

REUTERS Sept 10 - Cristiano Ronaldo could make his second Manchester United debut in the Premier League on Saturday but Newcastle United will do everything they can to be party poopers at Old Trafford, manager Steve Bruce said. Ronaldo, 36, re-joined United from Juventus on a two-year deal last month and the Portuguese forward will be looking to add to his 118 goals at the Old Trafford club where he won eight major trophies in six seasons. Newcastle are yet to win this

European champions Italy became the first national team to go 37 games without defeat as they thrashed Lithuania in a World Cup qualifier. There were suggestions the Azzurri had broken the record during last Sunday's goalless draw with Switzerland. However, Roberto Mancini's side ended any doubt, with Everton's Moise Kean - on loan at Juventus - scoring twice. Giovanni di Lorenzo, Giacomo Raspadori and Edgaras Utkuse's own goal sealed Italy's first win since Euro 2020. Some had claimed Italy had already secured the longest unbeaten streak by

Poland snatched an injury-time equaliser to deprive England of three points in Warsaw and a sixth straight victory in their qualifying campaign for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. England looked on course to maintain that perfect sequence of results in European Group I and take another giant stride towards Qatar after a moment of quality from Harry Kane gave them the lead when he sent a dipping drive past Poland keeper Wojciech Szczesny with 18 minutes left. Gareth Southgate's side had performed

CNA Wales captain Gareth Bale said he is not in favour of a FIFA proposal to hold the World Cup every two years. The 2022 World Cup in Qatar could be the 32-year-old's last opportunity to play in the tournament but the winger said making the competition a biennial event would diminish its appeal. "I like the tradition of every four years. It has that prestige, like the Olympics where it comes around every four years. It feels that little bit more special

CNA DOHA: Australia beat Vietnam 1-0 on Tuesday (Sep 7) to become the first AFC nation to win 10 successive World Cup qualifiers while Japan edged China by the same score to rebound after a shock defeat to Oman last week. Australia's victory, courtesy of Rhyan Grant's first-half winner, left the Socceroos on two wins from two in Group B. Played behind closed doors at My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi because of COVID-19 restrictions, Australia struggled to get past Vietnam's disciplined defence

REUTERS BARCELONA, Sept 7 - Barca president Joan Laporta has insisted that the Super League project is still alive, despite the withdrawal earlier this year of the majority of founding clubs. The Catalans, along with Real Madrid and Juventus are the only three clubs remaining in the seemingly doomed breakaway competition, which was announced in April with 12 founding clubs. The other nine have all withdrawn and signed agreements with UEFA prohibiting them from repeating their actions, but Laporta said Barca were still

Brazil and Argentina's World Cup qualifier was abandoned just minutes after kick-off on Sunday after Brazilian health officials objected to the participation of three Argentine players they believe broke quarantine rules. The visitors walked off the pitch at the Corinthians Arena after the officials came out to stop the game. The dramatic intervention came hours after Brazil's health authorities had said four England-based players for Argentina had to quarantine. Although it did not name the four, the players with English Premier League clubs

There was a strong sense of synchronicity about Wales' dramatic win over Belarus. Gareth Bale was Wales' saviour once more with a late winner in a qualifier. Against lowly opponents. On a troublesome pitch. That was the story in Russia on Sunday, as it was in Andorra in 2014 when Wales started their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign. Their hopes of reaching a first major tournament since 1958 looked to be over at the first hurdle when Andorra, ranked 199th in the world, took

England secured a predictably comfortable win over Andorra at Wembley as the smooth path to next year's World Cup in Qatar continued with a fifth successive victory in their qualifying group. Manager Gareth Southgate made 11 changes from the side that won 4-0 in Hungary in readiness for arguably the toughest test in European Group I, in Poland on Wednesday. Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford was given a debut but was unable to find the net in the usual one-sided contest against Andorra,

Memphis Depay scored twice as the Netherlands secured an important World Cup qualifying victory over Montenegro. The Barcelona forward scored from the penalty spot after he had been hauled down in the box by Dusan Lagator. He struck his second after the break, lashing in from an angle before Giorginio Wijnaldum struck the third. Cody Gakpo then curled in the best goal of the night as the Dutch moved second in Group G, a point behind leaders Turkey, who they host on Tuesday.

TIMES OF INDIA LONDON: Cristiano Ronaldo will wear Manchester United's iconic number seven again after Edinson Cavani agreed to surrender the shirt. Ronaldo followed in a long list of United legends to have worn number seven during his first spell with United from 2003 to 2009. The 36-year-old rejoined United from Juventus last week, but Cavani had the number seven at the start of this season, raising the possibility of Ronaldo having to don a different shirt. But Cavani has agreed to swap

ZEENEWS Lionel Messi started his first match since the final of the Copa America on July 10 and his flicks and jinks frequently ended with him being fouled as Venezuela struggled to contain him. Argentina extended their unbeaten run to 21 games on Thursday (September 2) with a comfortable 3-1 win over Venezuela in their World Cup qualifier in Caracas. Venezuela had beaten Argentina only once in 14 previous World Cup qualifiers and their hopes of doing it again on Thursday were snuffed