Kylian Mbappe scored from the penalty spot as Paris Saint-Germain eased to their seventh straight Ligue 1 win on Saturday, beating Nantes 3-0 away to move provisionally three points clear at the top of the table. All the goals came in the second half at the Stade de la Beaujoire, with Ander Herrera opening the scoring two minutes after the restart and Mbappe converting a 65th-minute spot-kick before Pablo Sarabia secured the points late on. PSG have now taken maximum points since starting the season with back-to-back defeats and the reigning champions are three clear of Lille and Rennes at the summit. Lille, who are unbeaten, can rejoin the club from the capital at the top if they beat Lyon on Sunday. Rennes beat Brest 2-1 on Saturday. “I am very happy. We made lots of changes because we f...
Kepa Arrizabalaga has been ruled out of Chelsea’s trip to Manchester United but Frank Lampard has said Petr Cech will not be drafted in as the Blues eye a long-awaited Premier League win at Old Trafford. Spain goalkeeper Kepa made yet another mistake in a 3-3 draw with Southampton last weekend after stepping in to replace Edouard Mendy, who missed out with a thigh injury. Mendy returned for a goalless Champions League draw with Sevilla in midweek instead of Kepa, who will not travel north to face United on Saturday due to a shoulder injury. Chelsea surprisingly added club legend Cech, who retired last year, to their Premier League squad but the 38-year-old keeper is not in the squad to take on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side. Lampard was asked about the status of Thiago Silva and Christian Pul...
Manchester United will approach Saturday’s home English Premier League (EPL) clash with Chelsea in buoyant mood rather than in trepidation. This is after a week which has gone some way to banishing the gloom that was descending on Old Trafford. After going into this month’s international break with a 6-1 home defeat by Tottenham Hotspur, they have emerged from it with a couple of victories which have kick-started their campaign. Last weekend’s 4-1 win at Newcastle United was followed by a 2-1 victory away to Paris St-Germain (PSG) in the UEFA Champions League. For now at least, the critics have been silenced. Chelsea’s visit, however, presents a test of Manchester United’s upswing as they seek their first home league points of the season. This is in the wake of defeats by Crystal Palce and...
The 2020-21 Champions League campaign kicks off tonight, and Chelsea will be hosting Sevilla at Stamford Bridge and hope to secure all three points as they look to emerge top of Group E ahead of the round-of-16. [embedded content] Rennes and Krasnodar are the other teams in the group, and the Blues will fancy their chances of booking a place in the last-16 after doing so last term before getting eliminated at the hands of Bayern Munich in the knockout stage. Finishing second behind Valencia in Group H saw Chelsea draw the Bundesliga giants in the last-16, and they have to top their group this time around to prevent such a scenario. On paper, Sevilla stand between Frank Lampard’s side and that top spot, though, and the La Liga giants are one of the teams to watch out for this season after t...
Champions League holders Bayern Munich will face off against Europa League champions Sevilla in the UEFA Super Cup on Thursday night. Bayern were the in-form team in Europe during the backend of the previous campaign and they won 29 of their 30 matches across all competitions en route to the Champions League trophy. The Bavarian giants beat Paris Saint-Germain by a 1-0 scoreline in the final at the Estadio da Luz in Portugal and hence, celebrated the treble for only the second time in their history, having also won the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal Cup. Hansi Flick’s side recently started their defence of the Bundesliga title in sensational form with a thumping 8-0 victory over Schalke 04 and they will go into the Super Cup encounter as the favourites. Meanwhile, Sevilla, who have a great reput...
Real Madrid midfielder Oscar Rodriguez has joined Sevilla on a five-year contract, the clubs announced on Sunday. Oscar came through Madrid’s youth system but never made an appearance for the first team and has spent the past two years at Leganes, scoring 13 goals and making six assists. The Spaniard was one of Leganes’ key players last term, even as the club were relegated from the top flight. He has earned a particularly strong reputation as a free-kick taker, after scoring four goals last season from 16 attempts. Sevilla have paid Madrid around 15 million euros ($17.9 million) to sign Oscar, according to reports in the Spanish press. “The 22-year-old signs with the club for the next five seasons,” read a statement from Sevilla, who added he has a “powerful shot and an excellent set-piec...
Odion Ighalo is not interested in leaving Manchester United for Paris Saint-Germain, according to MEN Sport. United are understood to have no intention of cutting his loan spell short, and the player himself has insisted there is “no truth at all” behind the speculations. Reports in France initially suggested the Ligue 1 champions were looking to snap up Ighalo, as replacement for Edinson Cavani who leaves as a free agent. Ighalo only extended his loan spell with the Red Devils until the end of January next year. And any summer departure would require the mutual termination of his current deal. The Nigerian striker has netted five goals in 18 appearances since moving to Old Trafford in January 2020 and is delighted to be representing his boyhood club. He is part of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s s...
Super Falcons and Linköpings of Sweden forward Uchenna Kanu has been voted the Polk County Female Collegiate Athlete of the Year, in the 2020 All Sports Awards and Hall of Fame ceremony on Tuesday night in the United States of America. This was announced on the Southeastern University (SEU) official website. Kanu is now the fifth SEU athlete to win the honor in program history. The 23-year-old graduated as one of SEU’s most renowned athletes, setting the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) record for career goals with 157 and points with 366. Also, her 57 goals during the 2018 season were also an NAIA record. She played for Southeastern Fire from 2016 to 2018 signed for Sevilla in 2020 before eventually ending up at Linköpings also this year. In years past, the All Spo...