Gareth Bale missed a chance to announce himself as Cristiano Ronaldo s Real Madrid successor after struggling to fill the void left by the Portuguese superstar in the Champions League semi-final stalemate at Manchester City.
Speaking on the eve of the first leg at Etihad Stadium, Bale said he had no interest in seeing himself as a leading star who Madrid turn towards for inspiration.
A little more than an hour before kick-off, he had no choice in the matter.
Rumours whipping around pre-match soon became established as facts. Cristiano Ronaldo was not included in the Madrid squad, handing City a considerable lift.
Ronaldo missed Saturday s 3-2 win over Rayo Vallecano and, in his absence, head coach Zinedine Zidane expected the man with an astonishing 16 go…
West Ham are making light work of Europa League Group H as they made it three wins from as many matches with Thursday s 3-0 defeat of Genk.
The Belgians travelled to London having lost four of their previous five matches across all competitions and West Ham piled on the misery to go six points clear at the top of the group.
Genk looked bright during the early exchanges but West Ham grew into the occasion and went ahead on the stroke of half-time, Craig Dawson s looping header finding the net.
West Ham put the game beyond Genk with a quickfire double just before the hour, Issa Diop and then Jarrod Bowen scoring 72 seconds apart to leave David Moyes men on the brink of qualification for the knockout phase.
West Ham briefly appeared to have fallen behind ear…
Market: Under 2.5 goals
Odds: 5/6 @
Two Championship sides who have shown some worrying issues in front of goal, Derby and Preston will face off at an empty Pride Park on EFL Cup duties on Tuesday evening.
Starting with the hosts, although Derby might have made it clear that they had a play-off finish at the top of their agenda after returning to action back in June, things have really not gone to plan for Phillip Cocu. Signing off the extended 2019/2020 campaign by collecting just three points over their final five Championship contests, the former PSV boss has also seen his side endure what has been a difficult summer of preparations. Failing to win any of their pre-season contests and also needing penalties to come past League Two debutants Barrow in the las…
Arsenal are determined to sign Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig in the summer transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that the Gunners are keen on signing a new striker, and that the North London club have made Sesko their number one target for the summer of 2024.
Sesko is one of the best young forwards in Europe and is a very good goalscorer. The 20-year-old Slovenia international has scored 11 goals and given two assists in 34 matches in all competitions for RB Leipzig this season. Leipzig are fifth in the Bundesliga table at the moment with 49 points from 26 games, a point behind fourth-placed Borussia Dortmund.
Arsenal are at the top of the Premier League table at the moment with 64 points from 28 matches, level on points with Liverpool, who are second,…
Even my grandson could see that was a penalty – Andreazzoli furious with officiating after Inter def
Aurelio Andreazzoli claimed even his four-year-old grandson could see that was a penalty after he was left furious with the refereeing in Empoli s 2-0 defeat to Inter.
Danilo D Ambrosio headed in the opener for Inter after 33 minutes but Empoli felt Nedim Bajrami had been fouled at the other end by the Nerazzurri centre-back.
Federico Dimarco subsequently added a second following Samuele Ricci s dismissal for a reckless challenge on Nicolo Barella, leaving Andreazzoli fuming over the standard of officiating in Wednesday s Serie A clash.
I want to be very clear that I have never talked about referees, because I think they ought to be defended as a profession, Andreazzoli told Sky Sport Italia.
However, I want to know what exactly Paolo Valeri was doing …