The theme of the European Championship, which begins tomorrow, is racism. (To be fair to Poland and the Ukraine, the themes of international soccer over the last five years have been racism and goal-line technology. UEFA has made roughly the same progress on the two.) The BBC kicked it off with their sensationalist on the nationalist Ultras. The families of two black English players announced they'd be staying away, while Sol Campbell warned fans to stay home. Italy's Mario Balotelli said he will walk off the pitch if he is the target of racial abuse—either that, or physically kill the abuser. UEFA President Michel Platini held his press conference yesterday, and with all this horrible stuff hanging overhead, he decided to threaten Balotelli. "It's a yellow card. It's not a player – Mr Balotelli – who's in charge of refereeing. "It's the referee who takes these decisions. Referees can finish the game. They have this power in case of racism." It's a fine sentiment—Our officials are prepared and will be in control—but poorly expressed. Since European soccer has taken so much heat about being slow to act on fan racism, it's not savvy PR to essentially tell players "Don't worry about it, guy." If you wanted to cast doubt on your organization's commitment to actually combating racist abuse from the stands, I can't think of a better way than to threaten the victims if they react. Oh, Mario. Even when he doesn't do a thing, only talks about doing a thing, he still manages to start a thing.
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Diego Simeone warned Atletico Madrid against focusing all their energy on stopping Vinicius Junior in Thursday s Copa del Rey quarter-final against rivals Real Madrid.
Vinicius is enjoying another standout campaign for Carlo Ancelotti s men, leading his team-mates for goal contributions (16 – 11 goals, five assists) across all competitions as they bid to follow up last season s LaLiga and Champions League double.
The last Madrid derby was marred by racist abuse being directed towards the winger, who responded by dancing in front of Atletico s supporters after Los Blancos took the lead in a 2-1 win.
The Brazil international will look to guide Madrid to their first Copa del Rey semi-final since 2019 on Thursday, but Simeone is aware he will not be the only threat…
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has expressed his concern about the demands on players in light of changes such as an expanded Club World Cup and more time being added on in games.
After winning the Champions League to complete their treble last term, City will compete in December’s Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia – what is planned to be the final edition featuring seven teams, with the next a 32-side competition taking place in the United States in the summer of 2025.
Meanwhile, the significant increase in time added on seen at last year’s World Cup in Qatar, designed to tackle timewasting, is something set to apply to Premier League matches this season.
Speaking ahead of his side opening their 2023-24 campaign with Sunday’s Community Shield clash agai…
Erik ten Hag s Ajax matched Johan Cruyff s record in Eredivisie following Saturday s 5-2 win over lowly Fortuna Sittard.
Ajax improved their tally to 250 goals in 82 matches under head coach Ten Hag after overturning an early deficit against bottom side Fortuna in Amsterdam.
It is only the second time an Eredivisie team have scored at least 250 goals in their first 82 games under a specific manager after Cruyff s Ajax in 1987, per Opta.
Ten Hag took charge of Ajax in 2017 and the 50-year-old has guided the Dutch giants to Eredivisie, KNVB Cup and Johan Cruyff Shield glory, while he oversaw the club s memorable run to the 2018-19 Champions League semi-final.
250 Ajax have scored 250 goals in 82 Eredivisie games under Erik Ten Hag, it’s only the second ti…
Goals in either half from Stephen Humphrys and Callum Lang gave Wigan a third 2-0 win in the space of a week as 10-man Shrewsbury were seen off in comfortable fashion at the DW Stadium.
The visitors had been on the back foot for the entire game after seeing former Wigan centre-back Chey Dunkley – facing his old club for the first time since leaving in the summer of 2020 – sent off inside four minutes for hauling down Thelo Aasgaard on the edge of the box.
After that, it was only ever a question of when and not if Wigan would break through.
It was Humphrys who opened the scoring after 35 minutes when he was given too much time and space 20 yards from goal.
After Shrews defender Mal Branning hit his own post, Humphrys inexplicably headed wide just after…
Kevin De Bruyne now considers Phil Foden simply one of the guys at Manchester City and hopes the 21-year-old can play a decisive role against Real Madrid on Wednesday.
Foden was long seen as the most promising young prospect at City but had to wait for his opportunity to feature regularly in Pep Guardiola s first team.
Although the midfielder made his senior debut in the 2017-18 season, he was kept on the fringes for his first two years.
Even in 2019-20, when making 38 appearances, scoring eight goals and assisting nine, Foden was restricted to just 18 starts.
Since then, though, the England international has gone from strength to strength, following up 26 goal involvements last term (16 goals, 10 assists) with another 24 this time out (13 goals, 11 assis…
Early Premier League leaders West Ham have signed defender Kurt Zouma from London rivals Chelsea on a four-year deal.
The Hammers revealed they have paid an undisclosed fee, reported to be around £25million, to land the France centre-back.
Zouma, capped eight times by his country, made 151 appearances for the Blues following his move from Saint-Etienne in 2014.
The 26-year-old won two Premier League titles, the Champions League and the EFL Cup during his time at Stamford Bridge.
Zouma has spent loan spells with Everton and Stoke City and he is on the move again in a permanent switch to join David Moyes high-flying side.
Welcome to West Ham United, !
— West Ham United (@WestHam)
I m very happy and very proud, Zouma…
Besiktas and Trabzonspor are interested in signing Cedric Soares from Arsenal in the January transfer window, according to Rudy Galetti. The Italian journalist has reported on X that the two Turkish clubs are already in talks over a deal for Soares.
Soares is out of contract at Arsenal at the end of the season. It is unlikely that the Premier League club will want to hand the 32-year-old Portugal international full-back a new deal. Galetti has added that Soares could leave Arsenal in the January transfer window.
🚨🔥 and are interested in Cedric , among their main targets: both 🇹🇷 clubs already approached his agent and talks are ongoing.
📌 The 🇵🇹 RB whose contract with expires in June could leave already during the winter session. 🐓⚽ …
Substitute goalkeeper Archie Mair was the hero as Notts County beat Chesterfield in a Wembley penalty shoot-out to end a four-year absence from the English Football League.
Mair, on loan from Norwich and sent on in the final minute of extra time for the spot-kick contest, denied Darren Oldaker and Jeff King with full-length saves as County won 4-3 on penalties after the game had been drawn 2-2 after 120 minutes.
Macaulay Langstaff, Ruben Rodrigues, Jodi Jones and Cedwyn Scott were successful from the spot for County, the latter achieving redemption having missed from 12 yards in the promotion showdown with Wrexham last month.
Andrew Dallas’ early penalty seemed set to signal more end-of-season misery for County before John Bostock equalised with just two minute…
Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets says he could talk for five or six hours about the turbulence at the club.
LaLiga giants Barca have been engulfed in drama for much of 2020, following Lionel Messi s public declaration that he wanted to leave the club, Luis Suarez s contentious departure to Atletico Madrid and the appointment of Ronald Koeman as new head coach following Quique Setien s dismissal in the wake of an 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich.
Messi ultimately remained at Camp Nou after it became clear he would be unable to exercise a get-out clause in his contract, while Koeman refuted Suarez s claim that he was forced out of the club.
Busquets – currently on international duty with Spain – holds strong views on the state of his club but suggeste…
Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are in talks over a shock takeover bid for National League side Wrexham, the club confirmed on Wednesday.
Deadpool actor Reynolds and It s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star McElhenney will get the chance to put forward their vision for the Welsh team after a resolution was passed at a Special General Meeting.
Wrexham have been in fan ownership since 2011 but a takeover would see a reported £2million being invested into the club.
A statement said 97.5 per cent of Wrexham Supporters Trust voters (1,223 members) voted in favour of the resolution at a ballot on Tuesday.
Trending across the UK, the interest in tonight’s friendly with has been outstanding, thank you
Still 0-0.
— …