Europe

Leicester City opened their title defense in the worst possible fashion on Saturday, losing to a newly promoted Hull City side whose own preseason has bordered on the shambolic.

Leicester became the first ever reigning Premier League champions to lose their opening game, and they’ve been defeated by the early favorites for relegation, Hull City.

Leicester’s far-reaching preseason, including matches against Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, doesn’t appear to have sufficiently readied the East Midlands club. 

The big kick off is here, and, wouldn’t you know it, the stars have aligned in the perfect manner for fans wanting to do nothing but watch football all weekend.

It’s as if Premier League, Liga MX, MLS, Olympic, Bundesliga and La Liga representatives all got together and did this for us. Head to the store tonight, grab all the sustenance you need to survive Saturday and Sunday, and bunker down.

Football is back.

The eagerly anticipated return of Paul Pogba in Manchester United red will go on for at least another five days after the Football Association informed United that the midfielder must serve a one-match ban for a suspension he accumulated in Italy.

Pogba picked up two yellow cards in the Copa Italia, resulting in a one match ban that’s followed him to England. He was cautioned in consecutive matches, the semi-final against Internazionale and the final against Milan, resulting in an automatic one-match ban.

Barcelona midfielder Arda Turan drew the ire of Blaugrana supporters by liking and retweeting photos celebrating Real Madrid’s 11 European Cup wins. The Turkish international then clarified that his “account was hacked for a brief period”, resulting in this outpouring of love for all things Los Blancos.

Two days ago my account was hacked for a brief period. During that period 1 RT was made and 2 photos were "liked" without my knowledge.

Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri has given his thoughts on what it would take for the Foxes to defend their Premier League crown. Essentially, Leicester will need E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to touch down in Piccadilly Circus, London’s equivalent of Times Square.

Ranieri has never been one to champion his own side’s chances, at least in public. Last season, he targeted survival, then the top 10 and finally a Champions League place while the rest of the world declared Leicester City title favorites.

The devastating attack on Nice, France that resulted in the tragic loss of 85 people is still being painfully processed in the country’s fifth most populous city. Local club OGC Nice have now released a beautiful, touching kit paying homage to those victims whose lives were appallingly cut short on France's Bastille Day.

The Ligue 1 club released the following image of the shirt through their official Twitter page:

Having watched Moussa Sissoko appear, and even using that word is a stretch, for Newcastle United on 37 different occasions in the Premier League last season, you could say that his performances for France at the European Championship left me feeling a little salty.

Billed as a box-to-box midfield engine that can grab games by the scruff of the neck, which he’s done on a couple of occasions on Tyneside, his abject performances for the Toon throughout 2015-16 made his Euro something like a slap in the face to Newcastle fans.

Cristiano Ronaldo returned to Real Madrid training on Wednesday with his fitness still a major concern for Real supporters. Ronaldo injured his knee during Portugal’s Euro 2016 final victory over France, and there’s still no firm timetable for his return.