Europe

With all due respect to Jordan Henderson and Sadio Mané, there’s no way that Kevin De Bruyne doesn’t succeed Virgil van Dijk as the recipient of the Premier League Player of the Season award.  

On Wednesday, De Bruyne recorded his 18th assist of the campaign in Manchester City’s routine 5-0 victory over Newcastle United. He’s now the only player in the history of the EPL to post 18+ assists in multiple seasons (he also recorded 18 in 2016-17) and only Mesut Özil (19 in 2015-16) and Thierry Henry (20 in 2002-03) have recorded more in a single season.

MADRID — Four of Spain's largest construction firms are competing for a contract to upgrade soccer club Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium, having submitted preliminary offers last week, five sources close to the matter said on Wednesday.

Infrastructure heavyweights Ferrovial, Sacyr, FCC and Acciona have each paired up with local companies to bid for the project called "Espai Barça" — or "Barca Space" — the sources said.

One source in the construction sector said the project was worth approximately 300 million euros ($340 million).

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard said he believes Christian Pulisic has taken his game to another level after the forward scored in Tuesday's 3-2 Premier League victory at Crystal Palace.

LONDON — Tottenham Hotspur's Eric Dier has been banned for four games and fined by the FA over a confrontation with a fan after the London side's defeat on penalties by Norwich City in the FA Cup fifth round in March.

Following the penalty shootout at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, video footage showed England international Dier climbing over seats and confronting a home supporter before he was restrained by security guards and other fans.

MILAN — AC Milan scored three times in five astonishing second-half minutes as they hit back from two goals down to beat visiting Serie A leaders Juventus 4-2 on Tuesday, the first points dropped by the Turin side since the season restarted last month.

Juve appeared to be cruising to another win when Adrien Rabiot put them ahead with a solo goal two minutes after the break and Cristiano Ronaldo added a second with a typical effort, his 26th league goal of the season.

Danny Welbeck's spectacular bicycle kick propelled Watford to three vital points in their battle against Premier League relegation as they came from behind to beat Norwich City 2-1 at Vicarage Road on Tuesday.

Former England international Welbeck scored his first league goal for Watford since joining at the start of the season in the 56th minute and it proved the winner as they moved four points clear of the relegation places with four games remaining. It was his first goal since August 2018 when he was still playing for Arsenal.

On March 13, UEFA announced the postponement of the Champions League amid the coronavirus pandemic. Ever since, fans have been wondering: When will Champions League resume?

With many European nations going on complete lockdown from March to June, playing football became secondary. Nonetheless, soccer is the most important of the unimportant things in life, and players, clubs and fans want to see the competition completed. 

The sight of Tottenham Hotspur team mates Hugo Lloris and Son Heung-min clashing at halftime during their 1-0 victory over Everton on Monday was "beautiful" and a sign that the team are growing up, manager Jose Mourinho has said.

Goalkeeper Lloris and forward Son had to be held apart by team mates shortly after Everton's Richarlison had gone close to an equaliser, with Lloris clearly angry at Son for not tracking back in the build-up to the chance.

A 16-year-old goalkeeper in Russia’s third tier is lucky to be alive after being struck by lightning during a training session on July 4. 

Ivan Zakborovsky can be seen in a video preparing to take a shot on goal while his teammates trained on the near touchline. Right before taking the shot a bolt of lightning struck Zakborovsky. His team, Znamya Truda, tweeted a video of the incident and an update on his condition.

Момент удара молнии

Former France international Franck Ribéry was not only injured playing for Fiorentina on Sunday but returned home to find he had been robbed too, the player said on social media on Monday.

Ribéry limped off with a foot injury after a second half collision in the 2-1 victory at Parma as his Italian club ended a five-match winless run. But celebrations were short lived as on his return to his home in Tuscany the same night he discovered he had been burgled.

The 37-year-old posted a video of ransacked rooms on social media.