LONDON — Manchester United earned their second win over Brighton & Hove Albion in five days as they booked a place in the League Cup quarter-finals with a 3-0 win at the Amex Stadium on Wednesday.
It was much more comfortable for United than Saturday's dramatic last-gasp 3-2 league victory, Scott McTominay heading in the opener shortly before halftime before Juan Mata and substitute Paul Pogba scored in the second half.
On Dec. 11, 2018, Manchester City and the Columbus Crew agreed on an estimated $7 million transfer fee for American goalkeeper Zack Steffen. After 653 days, the Pennsylvania native can now officially say he has played for Manchester City. The monumental Zack Steffen debut that us American outlets hyped up ended up being a quiet occasion.
It appears that the Kepa Arrizabalaga experiment is ending for Chelsea. The club announced the signing of goalkeeper Edouard Mendy from Stade Rennais on Thursday for a fee of $26 million. The Senegalese international allowed just 0.76 goals per game in Ligue 1 last season, second in the league, but is he the solution to Chelsea's goalkeeping headache, or will he be just another overpaid, underperforming shot-stopper?
It’s been a challenging couple weeks for Americans keeping tabs on Yanks abroad. With Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Sergiño Dest making headlines, Zack Steffen’s new role as understudy to Ederson at Manchester City has been largely overshadowed.
Newly promoted Cádiz, playing in LaLiga for the first time since 2005-06, started the new campaign brightly on Sunday with a 2-0 away victory over Huesca.
There were a couple of feel-good stories on the day, including 35-year-old striker Álvaro Negredo scoring his first LaLiga goal since 2016 after a sojourn abroad that included stints with Manchester City, Middlesbrough and Beşiktaş.
But even better was the first top tier appearance for 41-year-old goalkeeper Alberto Cifuentes, who became the oldest-ever LaLiga debutant and kept a clean sheet.
Chelsea, winner of the 2020 Premier League summer transfer window, was defeated by England’s actual champion Liverpool 2-0 on Sunday in a match that’ll probably force the Blues to dip back into the market in a bid to replace the world’s most expensive goalkeeper.
PARIS — French champion Paris Saint-Germain, missing several players who tested positive for Covid-19, lost 1-0 at RC Lens in its first Ligue 1 game of the season on Thursday after a terrible error by goalkeeper Marcin Bulka.
Pole Bulka, 20, tried to play the ball out along the floor to a teammate but Cameroonian forward Ignatius Gango got there first to fire into the top corner and give Lens a surprise lead in the 57th minute.
It’s been 157 years since the Rules of Association Football were codified at a tavern in London, but the game still remains full of innovation and progressive thinking. Some paradigm shifts are gradual, like the tactical change from an all out 1-1-8 formation to a stubborn 4-5-1, while others metaphorically approach, punch you in the teeth and depart as quickly as they’d arrived.
These are the best sorts of revolutions: the ones that nobody asked for.
Bayern Munich rode its way to becoming the Champions League champion on the back of goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. Of course there was plenty of talent on the field that led to the win, but Neuer kept Bayern in the game by coming up with several huge saves.
PSG opened the match with two clear chances from the get-go. Neuer had to stop the likes of Neymar...