Sports

Real Madrid s Antonio Rudiger has lauded Barcelona s ridiculous Lamine Yamal following the teenager s rapid rise to stardom for their fierce LaLiga rivals.

Yamal broke into Barca s first-team last term, making 50 appearances in all competitions before announcing himself on the international stage for Spain at Euro 2024.

He became the first Spanish player to register four assists in a single European Championship tournament.

It was also the joint most that any player has ever assisted at a single edition of the tournament that Opta has on record (1980 onwards).

Yamal also broke Pele s record from the 1958 World Cup final for Brazil against Sweden by becoming the youngest player to feature in a major international tournament final at the age of 17 years a…

Real Madrid s Dani Carvajal could be set to miss the rest of the season after suffering a cruciate ligament injury.

Carvajal had to be taken off late on in Saturday s LaLiga meeting with Villarreal, which Madrid won 2-0 thanks to goals from Federico Valverde and Vinicius Junior.

The 32-year-old and the club subsequently confirmed he will have to go under the knife.

Serious cruciate ligament injury confirmed, I ll have to undergo surgery and be off the field for a few months, Carvajal said on Instagram.

Looking forward to starting the recovery process and coming back like an animal. Thank you all for your messages, I feel very loved.

After the match, Carlo Ancelotti said: It looks like a pretty serious knee injury, the dressing room is sad and w…

Look away Liverpool, this may make for painful reading. Manchester City are not quite home and hosed in the Premier League title race, but all signs point to them brushing off Aston Villa on Sunday to clinch the trophy.

Another gripping race for domestic dominance culminates in City hosting Villa, while rivals Liverpool face Wolves at Anfield.

If City drop points, a Liverpool win would make Jurgen Klopp s team the champions. Yet recent history shows us that City rarely stumble against Villa, so a slip-up in the clash with Steven Gerrard s side would be a monumental shock.

A sixth title in the Premier League era beckons, which would rank City outright second behind Manchester United s haul of 13 championships.

Stats Perform takes a look here at key Opta nu…

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is seeking a second away victory in a week as the Champions League returns, with the 3-0 success at Tottenham on Sunday being his first in six domestic games.

Juventus head coach Massimiliano Allegri will also be hoping for a win to seal qualification from Group H with two games to spare, having lost back-to-back Serie A matches.

Bayern Munich and Chelsea will expect more of the same after they both won 4-0 against their opponents last time out in the Champions League.

Stats Perform pick out the key Opta facts ahead of Tuesday s Champions League action.

Atalanta v Manchester United: Ronaldo aiming to hurt Italians once more

United are looking to record their 150th victory in the European …

Mikel Arteta lauded the consistency of Bukayo Saka and his increased hunger to win after Saturday s routine 3-0 victory over Bournemouth at Etihad Stadium.

The Gunners swept aside Bournemouth as Saka s penalty opened the scoring before late second-half finishes from Leandro Trossard and Declan Rice sealed another much-needed victory.

With two games to spare, Arsenal have equalled their Premier League win tally from last season (26), only in 1930-31 (28) and 1970-71 (29) have the Gunners won more games in a single top-flight campaign.

That is in large part thanks to Saka, who became the first player to score 20 goals for Arsenal in a season (all competitions) since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in 2019-20 (29 goals).

He is also the first Englishman to do so fo…

Moises Caicedo has said he struggled with his confidence during his first season at Chelsea because of the pressure of his £115m price tag.

Caicedo, who completed his move to Stamford Bridge from Brighton last year, signed for an initial £100m fee but could see that rise to a British club record £115m due to performance-related add-ons.

The 22-year-old endured a difficult campaign under Mauricio Pochettino, making 49 appearances in all competitions but registering just four goal involvements (one goal, three assists).

He was often outperformed by midfield partner Conor Gallagher, who is expected to complete a move to Atletico Madrid in the coming days despite captaining the Blues to European football last season.

Last season, Gallagher won mo…

In what was a heavyweight Premier League showdown on Wednesday night, Manchester United clinched a lively 2-1 victory against Chelsea at Old Trafford.

While Bruno Fernandes might have missed from the penalty spot after just nine minutes following Enzo Fernandez’s foul on Anthony, Erik ten Hag’s side didn’t have to wait long to open the scoring.

With the red-hot Scott McTominay powering home 10 minutes after Fernandes’ missed spot-kick, United appeared to be cruising towards a deserved first half lead.

However, continuing to shine since arriving from Manchester City over the summer, Cole Palmer produced a wonderful finish just minutes before the interval as the England U21 international notched his fifth Premier League goal of the season.

Although…

England finished their Euro 2020 campaign on Sunday evening with a 4-0 victory over Kosovo. The victory was just another standard one for Gareth Southgate’s team, despite three of the four goals coming in the last 11 minutes. The Three Lions have blown away most their opponents in Group A of qualifying, scoring at least four goals in seven of their eight qualifiers.

The top scorers in qualifying

Considering that England has scored 37 goals in Group A, it is unsurprising that they have been the top scorers in qualifying. Southgate’s team have shown a ruthlessness not always shown by England teams in the past.

The current team always want more and do not seem to rest on their laurels. Striker and captain Harry Kane has scored 12 times in the eight group games. The 26…

English football chiefs pressed for the stiffest available sanctions for those involved in a pitch invasion following Birmingham s League Cup win over Aston Villa on Wednesday that threatened to tarnish their bid to stage the 2018 World Cup.

Just a day before delegates from world football governing body FIFA vote in Zurich on both the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts, there was a scene that Birmingham boss Alex McLeish said was a return to the Dark Ages of the 1980s when English football was synonymous with fan violence.

It was a further public relations problem for England bid bosses after the fall-out from a BBC television Panorama programme broadcast Monday that made allegations of corruption within FIFA.

Police and stewards could not stop some thousand fans po…

Gareth Southgate has confirmed England captain Harry Kane will be fully fit for Euro 2024, saying the back injury which has kept him out in recent weeks has cleared up.

Fears were expressed about Kane s chances of featuring in Germany when he missed Bayern Munich s final two games of the Bundesliga season, returning to England to seek treatment on a back problem.

Kane enjoyed a stunning individual campaign in 2023-24, with no player from Europe s top five leagues bettering his 44 goals in all competitions, though he was unable to end his wait for a first major trophy.

England will hope that arrives in his new homeland in July, and Southgate is confident Kane will be in peak condition for the tournament.

Kane is pretty much clear now. He is quite relaxed…