8:33 AM ET Jurgen Klopp has said Liverpool are struggling with physical and mental fatigue this season because they have not had a “two-week break” like Premier League leaders Manchester City. Reigning champions Liverpool face City at Anfield on Sunday having fallen seven points behind Pep Guardiola’s team following Wednesday’s 1-0 home defeat against Brighton.
Month: February 2021
9:11 AM ET Don’t look now, but after years of one-sided champions across the majority of Europe’s “big five” leagues — English Premier League, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Division and French Ligue 1 — we’re staring at the very real scenario of new titleholders almost across the board. With the exception of
9:19 AM ET The full-back position has typically been one of sturdy competence for the United States men’s national team. At right-back, you’ve been witness to the Steve Cherundolos and Timmy Chandlers of the world; the pickings have been a bit slimmer at times on the left, but players like DaMarcus Beasley and Fabian Johnson
11:53 AM ET Sid LoweSpain writer Ronald Koeman described the Copa del Rey as the shortest route to a trophy for a team that, he admitted, “isn’t in a position to win much,” and yet by a little before 11 o’clock on Wednesday night, even that looked like a very, very long way away. They
8:00 AM ET Jose Mourinho has dismissed suggestions he is under mounting pressure as Tottenham head coach and insisted he can still end the club’s 13-year trophy drought this season. Spurs slumped to their third consecutive Premier League defeat for the first time since February 2012 on Thursday as they were beaten 1-0 at home
5:16 AM ET Rob DawsonCorrespondent Marcos Rojo found out his Manchester United career was over on social media after reading that his contract would not be extended, sources have told ESPN. Rojo was still waiting to hear from United officials about whether they would take up their option to extend his deal by another 12
5:23 AM ET Former Manchester United striker Odion Ighalo has joined Saudi Arabia’s Al Shabab from Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua. – Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (U.S. only) Ighalo, who spent the last year on loan at Old Trafford, was unveiled by the Riyadh-based team in a video posted on the club’s
5:41 AM ET Adriana Garcia The Spanish Football Federation’s Competition Committee has opened disciplinary proceedings after Brazilian striker Vinicius Tanque suffered racist abuse during a third division league game at Atletico Madrid’s B team last weekend. While fans are not allowed at first and second division games in Spain due to COVID-19 restrictions, supporters can
5:48 PM ET Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has weighed in to a debate about refereeing by saying many officials in Spain were likely to favour his club’s great rivals Real Madrid. Pique, in an interview on YouTube show “Post United” on Thursday, said that if the vast majority of La Liga referees supported Real Madrid,
2:21 PM ET Europe’s leading leagues will hold an online meeting on Friday to discuss UEFA’s plans to change the Champions League format, with a major reshaping of the group stage on the agenda. UEFA has been consulting with clubs and leagues about how to liven up the group stage and a switch to a
6:28 PM ET Jose Mourinho was right: It is easy to manage Chelsea, especially if their opponents play like his Tottenham Hotspur team did in a 1-0 loss to the Blues. The Tottenham manager had a wry smile on his face when suggesting in the prematch press conference that “I don’t think it’s very difficult
7:14 PM ET The transfer window may have slammed shut, but that doesn’t mean the rumour mill has shut down! Speculation over summer moves are heating up so check out the latest gossip below, and see all official deals here. TOP STORY: Messi will decide his future at season’s end Lionel Messi will wait until
6:27 PM ET MLS announced that it has once again extended its deadline for negotiating a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the MLS Players Association (MLSPA) for 24 hours until 11:59 p.m. ET on Feb. 5. The extension is the second one granted by MLS in the last week after the league said on
5:23 PM ET Associated Press The scene during a match between Serbian rivals Red Star and Partizan. Getty Images Serbian police raided the stadiums of the country’s two biggest football clubs on Thursday after arresting 17 people linked to fan groups accused of organized crime, drug trafficking and murder. Heavily armed riot police ordered all those
2:05 PM ET The great-grandson of Italy‘s late fascist dictator Benito Mussolini hopes he will not be judged by his name after being called up for the youth team at Serie A club Lazio. Romano Floriani Mussolini, 18, has been part of the squad for Lazio’s Under-19 ‘Primavera’ team for the past two matches, including
2:07 PM ET The CONCACAF Champions League will get a revamped format starting in late 2023, including a bigger, but more regionalized group stage in the fall and a 16-team knockout round in the spring. The expanded group stage in the fall will regionalize clubs from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. North America
1:26 PM ET The Champions League match between Bundesliga club RB Leipzig and Premier League champions Liverpool on Feb. 16 will not be played at Leipzig’s stadium, the German Ministry of the Interior confirmed on Wednesday. Last Saturday, flights from the U.K. and other high-risk countries were banned by the German government to stop the
6:36 PM ET Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman says Paris Saint-Germain talk about Lionel Messi “too much” and branded Angel Di Maria‘s latest comments on the forward as disrespectful. Speaking after PSG’s 3-0 win over Nimes on Wednesday, Di Maria claimed there’s a “big chance” his Argentina teammate Messi will make the move to Paris on
11:35 AM ET Artificial Intelligence can drive a car, curate the films and documentaries that you watch, develop chess programmes capable of beating grandmasters and use your face to access your phone. And, one company claims, it can also predict when footballers are about to suffer an injury. Off the field, football has gone through
7:30 AM ET While there wasn’t much to celebrate from a Tottenham Hotspur perspective about their dismal 1-0 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday, there was at least one football fan who was left smiling by the result. Sahil Arora, a Manchester United supporter from New Delhi, India, made £5,000 ($6,790) from Spurs’