business 
Manic March has certainly begun for Chelsea and Manchester City and the packed schedule is clearly taking its toll on both. While Chelsea relished in home comforts on this occasion, registering their 14th WSL win of the season against Leicester, Gareth Taylor’s side faltered and could only return from Dagenham with a point against a … Read more
Raphinha struck a second-half winner to give Barcelona a lion-hearted victory at Benfica on Wednesday as they overcame a red card for Pau Cubarsí early in the game to steal an advantage in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie. Barcelona’s teenage defender Cubarsí was given a straight red card for a last-man … Read more
Dolphins duo Kodi Nikorima and Mark Nicholls have withdrawn from the clash with South Sydney as Cyclone Alfred makes a beeline for the southern Queensland coast. Kenny Bromwich, who was slated to be 18th man, has also pulled out of Friday night’s clash in Sydney. Sean O’Sullivan comes into the side to replace Nikorima while … Read more
Liverpool are fluid. Liverpool are polyvalent. Liverpool press and sit, then strike like jet fighters. Maybe they really are, as Luis Enrique enthused before this game, “a perfect team”. But sometimes, well, sometimes you just need a really good goalkeeper too. Alisson wasn’t just good here in the conventional sense, bullocking around his area like a … Read more
Imagine going about your day when a heavy metal object suddenly crashes in front of your house. You and your neighbours are shocked. You rush out to check what has happened and struggle to make sense of the sight: a misshapen piece of hot metal, blackened by fire and soot, with a cloud of dust … Read more
Ange Postecoglou believes Tottenham’s rejuvenated squad can sense an opportunity in the Europa League to make up for their disappointing season but confirmed that Dejan Kulusevski is set to be out until after the international break. The defenders Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, and their record signing, Dominic Solanke, have all travelled to … Read more
The Lyon head coach, Paulo Fonseca, has been suspended for nine months after his heated confrontation with referee Benoît Millot. Ligue de Football Professional (LFP), the governing body which oversees Ligue 1, announced the ban on Wednesday. Fonseca angrily confronted Millot during his team’s 2-1 league victory over Brest on Sunday. The LFP said in … Read more
Robin van Persie may have found that, for this year at least, fairytales have their limits. Only 10 days have passed since he was tasked with leading the club that forged him and it was a delicious twist of fate that Inter, contributors to a formative moment in his playing career, posed his first Champions … Read more
The home nations are to join together in a bid to host the Women’s World Cup in 2035, a move which, if successful, would mark a “monumental moment in our nation’s sporting history”, according to Keir Starmer, the prime minister. A formal expression of interest in staging the tournament, which could be comprised of as … Read more
Something seemed to break here, and it was not just Xabi Alonso’s proud unbeaten record over Bayern Munich. For Vincent Kompany are cruising to the Bundesliga title and now they are cruising to the Champions League quarter-finals too. They may well sign Leverkusen’s best player Florian Wirtz in the summer, but here they played him … Read more