Soccer

Lyon won a record-extending eighth Champions League trophy in 2021-22 with a 3-1 victory over Barcelona It has been 16 seasons since Arsenal won the Women’s Champions League – the only time a British club have lifted the title. Could this the season when that barren run finally ends? The group stages start this week with Chelsea and Arsenal flying …

Perhaps at last it can be said that the era of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is over. After 12 Ballons d’Or between them in 14 years (their hegemony broken only by Luka Modrić in 2018 and the suspension of the award because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, although the strong suspicion is that Robert Lewandowski would have won …

Real Madrid and France forward Karim Benzema has won the Ballon d’Or – awarded to the best footballer of the year – for the first time. Benzema scored 44 goals in 46 games as he helped Real win the Champions League and La Liga in 2021-22. Lionel Messi (seven) and Cristiano Ronaldo (five) had won the award on 12 of …

Cooper’s side were beaten by Wolves following a penalty by Ruben Neves Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper says a social media post by his club before Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Wolves “was not helpful”. Forest put out a picture of striker Emmanuel Dennis on the Molineux pitch surrounded by wolf cubs with the caption “playtime”. The post was deleted but …

In what started with a classic Karim Benzema performance and ended with three points, Real Madrid moved clear atop the La Liga table with a 3–1 El Clásico win over Barcelona. On Monday, Benzema is expected to be awarded the Ballon d’Or after a stunning year that saw him take home the Champions League title. If he wins, the French …

Arsenal extended their perfect start to the Women’s Super League season by overcoming a stubborn Reading side to narrowly win their first away game of the campaign. Stina Blackstenius swivelled expertly inside the penalty area to give the visitors the lead with a clinical finish in testing conditions at the Select Car Leasing Stadium. The Swede almost doubled Arsenal’s lead …

An afternoon of heavy rain and high emotion, of frayed tempers and exquisite drama, of Manchester City fallibility and, if not necessarily sparks of rebirth for Liverpool, then at least signs that some heat remains yet in the old embers. By the final whistle of a 1–0 Liverpool win, Jürgen Klopp had been sent off, a reinvigorated Mohamed Salah had scored the only goal …

Arsenal have been labelled “very lucky” – but good fortune, a new-found resilience and what boss Mikel Arteta calls “something special” mean they have now made the club’s best start to a top-flight campaign for more than a century. The Gunners claimed victory at Leeds courtesy of Bukayo Saka’s first-half goal, before the Premier League leaders rode their luck and …

Elijah Adebayo has scored 23 goals in 64 Championship starts since arriving from Walsall on January transfer deadline day 2021 Luton Town have reported “disgusting” racist abuse aimed at the Championship club’s striker Elijah Adebayo to the English Football League and police. The Hatters say it is the third time in under 12 months they have reported racist abuse aimed …

As the 2022 World Cup nears, there are plenty of U.S.-centric eyeballs affixed to Christian Pulisic and everything he does—and does not—do for club and country. Such is his importance to the U.S. men’s national team and its chances in Qatar. After the U.S.’s pair of lackluster friendly showings against World Cup–bound teams, one of which Pulisic missed, the Chelsea winger didn’t …