Fights

When Inter Milan coach Antonio Conte faces the cameras after a match, it is a case of lighting the blue touch paper and standing well back.

In his first season at Inter, the 51-year-old former Juventus, Italy and Chelsea coach has railed against his own club's "poor planning" and an "insane" fixture list, and even blamed one poor performance on the opposition playing the wrong kind of football.

His latest outburst, however, after a 2-0 win at Atalanta on Saturday that clinched second place for Inter in Serie A, has led to all sorts of intrigue.

Apart from Zinedine Zidane’s masterful headbutt on Marco Materazzi, the most infamous foul in 21st century World Cup finals is certainly Nigel de Jong’s hatchet man kung fu kick into the chest of Xabi Alonso.

It should’ve been a straight red — even referee Howard Webb admitted as much later — but it takes some cojones to effectively end the World Cup final after only 28 minutes. 

USMNT defender Matt Miazga is unable to stray away from controversy. Notable Miazga moments include the American being fined for grabbing another player’s groin and the time he made fun of Diego Lainez’s height during a friendly. The latest Miazga incident is getting suspended for Reading’s next three matches after throwing punches against Derby County.

Luton Town arrived at Swansea City's Liberty Stadium on Saturday embroiled in a relegation battle, but the team became involved in a different kind of fight on the pitch. Luton striker James Collins put the Championship strugglers ahead 1-0 with a 72nd minute header, but the real action kicked off shortly after, following a series of increasingly harsh tackles:

This... well, it escalates. Put it that way. pic.twitter.com/NVuunTqYq9

Barcelona coach Quique Setién has said he does not always see eye-to-eye with his squad as their LaLiga title bid threatens to unravel following Saturday's 2-2 draw at Celta Vigo.

Second-placed Barça trail Real Madrid by two points with six games to go and face a grueling match at home to third-placed Atlético Madrid on Tuesday which they need to win to stay in close contention in the title race.

"It's true that you often have arguments with players as you do in everyday life and that's nothing new," Setién told a virtual news conference on Monday. 

The Rio de Janeiro state championship restarted once again on Sunday as Botafogo — one of the clubs opposed to what they see as a premature resumption of top-level football —— took the field with a banner protesting the decision.

The move to get back underway in Rio has focused attention on the wider confusion surrounding football's stop-start status in the South American nation. Although many clubs are back in training, only Rio has restarted its state league as the daily number of dead and infected due to the new coronavirus remains high.

The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system is not being used correctly in LaLiga, Barcelona manager Quique Setién said on Monday following Real Madrid's controversial win at Real Sociedad.

Madrid beat Sociedad 2-1 to climb above Barcelona at the top of LaLiga but the home side were aggrieved because they had a goal ruled out by VAR for offside and Karim Benzema's winner stood after he appeared to control the ball with his arm.

Colombia's soccer chief and the head of South American football confederation CONMEBOL have written to FIFA complaining of "erroneous and discriminatory conclusions" in the assessment of the country's bid to host the 2023 Women's World Cup.

The Colombian proposal to bring the tournament to South America for the first time received the lowest score in an evaluation of three bids to host the tournament carried out by world soccer's governing body ahead of next Friday's vote.

Football supporters groups from around Europe have criticized attempts to liven up matches in empty stadiums by using artificial crowd noise, describing it as a rebuke to match-going fans.

The fans said that the recent return of football following the coronavirus stoppage, with matches behind closed doors, had shown that supporters were "the lifeblood of the game" and their contribution should be recognized by leagues and clubs.