Juventus beat PSV 3-1 on their return to the Champions League on Tuesday, aided by by two quickfire goals from Kenan Yildiz and Weston McKennie in the first half.
The Bianconeri were playing their first match in Europe s elite club competition since 2022-23, when they suffered a humiliating group-stage exit before failing to qualify for the next edition.
Thiago Motta has enjoyed a decent start to life in Turin, though, and that continued on Tuesday as Juve eased past their Eredivisie opponents.
Yildiz gave Juve the lead after 21 minutes with a stunning curling shot from just inside the box, leaving goalkeeper Joel Drommel helpless as the ball crashed off the inside of the post and in.
McKennie doubled their advantage six minutes later, netting inside the …
Gareth Southgate’s England squad selection will be a huge discussion point as next summer’s Euros come into focus.
An unbeaten 2023 is now in the history books and the PA news agency has analysed how Southgate likely sees his options right now.
Goalkeepers
On the plane: Jordan Pickford (Everton).
In the departure lounge: Sam Johnstone (Crystal Palace) and Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal).
Hoping for a late ticket: Nick Pope (Newcastle).
Pickford established himself as England’s number one ahead of the 2018 World Cup and is all but certain to go into his fourth major tournament as the main man between the sticks. Ramsdale had looked his closest contender but David Raya’s arrival at Arsenal has impacted his playing time and could well damage…
Cole Palmer has joined Erling Haaland at the top of the Premier League goal-scorer’s chart after adding four more to his tally in Chelsea’s 6-0 thrashing of Everton.
The Chelsea midfielder surged alongside Manchester City goal machine Haaland in the race for the Golden Boot, with both players currently on 20 in the top flight this season.
Here, the PA news agency takes a look at the top six contenders for the award as the 2023-24 Premier League campaign enters the run-in.
Golden Boot battle
Cole Palmer (Chelsea) – 20 goals in 28 appearances
The 21-year-old’s remarkable first season at Chelsea just keeps getting better. Palmer, who did not score a league goal for Manchester City, has notched 10 in his last five league matches, rocketing into Golde…
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Getting their Nations League adventure underway on Thursday night, Northern Ireland will welcome Luxembourg to Belfast.
Northern Ireland
Starting with the hosts, although Northern Ireland might have endured a real EURO 24 qualifying struggle last year, Michael O’Neil’s men do appear to have turned a recent corner. Signing off their downbeat qualifying campaign with a famous 2-0 victory against Denmark, the Greens should be relishing a return to action on Thursday night. Last seen during June’s international break with a routine 2-0 win against Andorra, the former Stoke boss has seen his squad lose just one of their previous five appearances across all competitions. With a 5-1 loss at the hands of reigning European champions Spa…
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers admits they need to take something from the visit of Atletico Madrid to progress in Europe.
But Rodgers is well aware of the European experience of Diego Simeone and his team and the need to be “intelligent” with their pressure.
Celtic have produced largely encouraging performances in their opening two Champions League games but they sit on zero points, three behind Feyenoord and four behind Atletico and Lazio.
Atletico were seconds away from winning in Rome and have a strong recent pedigree in Europe, which includes reaching two Champions League finals and winning the Europa League three times since 2010.
The hard work continues at Lennoxtown! | |
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC)
Rodgers said: �…
England s Football Association will bid to stage the World Cup in either 2018 or 2022, it was announced on Monday.
Countries were asked by world football governing body FIFA to bid for one of the two tournaments or submit proposals to stage both events.
The FA handed in their plans at FIFA s Zurich headquarters on Monday.
Afterwards, England bid and FA chairman Lord David Triesman, issued a statement, saying: Today marks another step forward on our journey to bring the FIFA World Cup to England and our team are focused on delivering the best bid possible to FIFA.
By declaring our interest for both the 2018 and 2022 tournaments we are maximising our chances of winning the right to host the world s greatest sporting occasion.
England have staged …
Joao Pedro scored twice late on as Brighton avoided an FA Cup upset at Championship side Stoke with a 4-2 comeback win.
The hosts – who had not beaten top-flight opposition in the competition since they reached the final in 2011 – had held the lead for 35 first-half minutes courtesy of Jan Paul Van Hecke’s own goal, after which Steven Schumacher’s team were the better side.
However, Brighton’s Ecuador left-back Pervis Estupinan let fly from 20 yards in the final minute of six added on before the interval and captain Lewis Dunk headed last season’s semi-finalists ahead just after the break.
Dunk’s raised arm conceded the penalty from which Lewis Baker equalised and it needed Pedro’s 14th and 15th goals of the season to see the Premier League team t…
Brazilian football has rather been in the doldrums in recent years. Four years ago the Selecao were humiliated by Germany in the World Cup on home turf. The embarrassing 7-1 defeat was quite simply unacceptable.
However, boss Tite has turned things around. The South American giants endured a difficult start to World Cup qualifying. In the end, though, the Selecao finished a massive ten points clear at the top of the South American qualifying section.
Brazil will head into this summer’s World Cup finals, as .
Tite has immense attacking options
The Brazilian boss has an embarrassment of riches, especially in the attacking third. Obviously, the standout star is PSG’s Neymar, who is the darling of Brazilian football. For nearly a decade, he has been the …
Ahead of his 100th appearance for England, Harry Kane is next targeting 100 goals for his country.
The Three Lions captain is set to make his landmark appearance against Finland at Wembley on Tuesday, becoming the 10th player to reach the milestone, and the first since Wayne Rooney in November 2014.
Kane is England s record goalscorer, netting 66 goals in his 99 appearances so far, and has 17 assists for the national team.
He scored three times for England at Euro 2024, sharing the Golden Boot with five other players, with his last goal coming from the penalty spot against the Netherlands in the semi-final.
Kane started their Nations League opener against the Republic of Ireland on Saturday, a match they won 2-0, though the striker failed to hit the net d…
Kevin De Bruyne inspired Belgium to a 2-1 comeback win over Denmark that secured their place in the knockout stages of Euro 2020.
With Roberto Martinez s side trailing to an early Yussuf Poulsen goal, De Bruyne came off the bench for the second half, his first outing since injury forced him off during Manchester City s Champions League final defeat to Chelsea.
And the 29-year-old quickly provided a brilliant assist for Thorgan Hazard before turning the game completely on its head with an equally superb finish that secured the points.
Just five days on from those traumatic scenes involving Christian Eriksen in Copenhagen, the home fans welcomed their heroes back to Parken by creating an electric atmosphere.
10 Ten of Kevin De Bruyne s last 14 internat…