Real Madrid fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Club Brugge on Tuesday thanks to a late equaliser from Casemiro.
The visitors stunned the Santiago Bernabeu in the first half through two goals from Emmanuel Bonaventure Dennis, but Sergio Ramos and Casemiro clawed back a point for Zinedine Zidane s side.
A 3-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on matchday one had led to some speculation over Zidane s position as head coach and the nature of their first-half display against Brugge will have done little to ease the pressure.
The comeback, secured after Ruud Vormer s red card, at least spared some of Madrid s blushes and means they are only a point behind Brugge in Group A, who drew with Galatasaray in their opening match.
Dennis made a mess of Perc…
Marcus Forss and Onni Valakari scored debut goals as Finland ended France s 12-match unbeaten run with a shock 2-0 friendly victory.
A much-changed Les Bleus side made a promising start, but 21-year-olds Forss and Valakari struck in the space of three first-half minutes to put Finland in command at the Stade de France on Wednesday.
France debutant Marcus Thuram struck the crossbar before Forss opened the scoring, but the world champions were toothless ahead of their Nations League encounters with Portugal and Sweden.
Finland, who also rung the changes, were solid after rocking Didier Deschamps side with those two first-half goals from out of the blue and famously secured their first win over France, whose previous defeat came against Turkey in June 2019.
…
Kevin De Bruyne is wary of a Manchester United response as Manchester City seek to avoid more derby pain in the Premier League.
City make the trip to Old Trafford for Saturday s showdown against United, who were bundled out of the Champions League via the group stage on Tuesday.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and United are under pressure to bounce back, despite winning four consecutive Premier League matches to be seventh and a point clear of City, but five adrift of leaders Tottenham.
United are looking to beat City for the third consecutive match in the top flight for the first time since a run of four victories from 2008 to 2010, and De Bruyne is not underestimating the Red Devils.
I don t think the game is more important for them, said City star De Bruyne.
Milan striker Olivier Giroud believes it will be a special game when he lines up against former club Chelsea in the Champions League.
Giroud returns to Stamford Bridge for the first time since departing the Blues on a free transfer at the end of the 2020-21 season.
The 36-year-old spent three-and-a-half years with the Premier League side; scoring 39 goals in 119 appearances across all competitions.
He notably scored 11 times then the highest tally by a French player during a single European season as Chelsea won the Europa League in 2019, while adding another six during their Champions League-winning campaign two years later.
And Giroud is excited to be returning to the English capital, where he also scored 105 goals in 253 appearances for Arsenal between…
Lionel Messi would be perfectly suited to Manchester City amid ongoing doubts over his future at Barcelona, according to Pablo Zabaleta.
Barca superstar Messi is out of contract at season s end and the record six-time Ballon d Or winner has been heavily linked with Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain and Premier League giants City.
A move to City for Messi would mean a reunion with former Barca boss Pep Guardiola – the pair teaming up to win two Champions League titles and three LaLiga crowns among other honours between 2008 and 2012.
Ex-City and Argentina full-back Zabaleta backed countryman Messi to swap Barcelona for Manchester.
Mr. Saturday Night
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona)
If Lionel Messi decides to leave Barcelona and he…
Manchester City have completed the £55.5million signing of Belgium winger Jeremy Doku from Rennes, the Premier League champions have announced.
The 21-year-old has signed a five-year deal with the treble winners to become their third major signing of the summer transfer window.
City had an offer for the player accepted earlier this week and formalities have been completed over the past couple of days.
Welcome to City, !
— Manchester City (@ManCity)
Doku said: “This is a great day for me, both personally and professionally. Manchester City are the best team in world football, so to be joining them is something very special for me and my family.
“I am a young player with so much learning and improving to do. Working with (manager) P…
Mauricio Pochettino will leave Chelsea by mutual consent after one season in charge, the club announced on Tuesday.
Despite a poor start to the season, Pochettino led Chelsea to a sixth-place finish, confirming a European place an improvement on their 12th-place finish in 2022-23.
He also led them to the EFL Cup final and the semi-final of the FA Cup.
Only four teams – Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal and Newcastle – had a better xG figure than Chelsea (75.3) in the Premier League in 2023-24, while only three – Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal – had more shots on target than Chelsea (215).
Speculation surrounded Pochettino s position during the latter stages of the Premier League campaign, though he remained tight-lipped about his future.
The A…
Ryan Christie believes the Scotland squad has the “perfect” mix as it looks to take a giant step toward Euro 2024 against Cyprus.
Steve Clarke’s side have won their first four qualifiers to sit top of Group A, eight points ahead of Georgia and Norway and nine ahead of Spain, albeit the Spanish have only played two fixtures.
After thrilling wins, most notably away to Norway and at home to Spain, the Scots are looking to at least extend their unbeaten run to nine games in Larnaca on Friday, hoping to eventually reach a second successive European Championship finals.
Scotland then host England in a 150th anniversary match at Hampden and can qualify that night if results in the other group games go their way.
Stepping it up
— Scotland Nation…
UEFA announced on Tuesday it had received four bids to stage the Euro 2016 championships by Monday s deadline. They are France, Italy, Turkey and a joint bid from Sweden and Norway
European football s governing body will next examine the submitted details of the bids to confirm which are eligible to go forward to the next stage.
UEFA s executive committee will take a final decision on or about May 27, 2010. The 2012 tournament will be held jointly by Poland and Ukraine.
…
Bayern Munich have confirmed that midfielder Jamal Musiala will be out for the time being after picking up a hip injury in their Champions League defeat to Aston Villa.
Musiala, who played in the second half of the 1-0 loss at Villa Park, has been ruled out for Bayern s upcoming Bundesliga fixture against Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
He will also miss Germany s Nations League fixtures against Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Netherlands, with Julian Nagelsmann replacing the 21-year-old in his squad with Stuttgart s Jamie Leweling.
Musiala has been in fine form for Vincent Kompany s side, scoring three goals and laying on three assists in eight appearances in all competitions.
The midfielder also has the joint-most completed dribbles in the Bundesliga t…