France

MILAN — World champions France won the Nations League final with goals from Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappe earning them a 2-1 win over Spain at the San Siro stadium on Sunday.

After a subdued fist half, the game sprung into life in the 64th minute when France full-back Theo Hernandez struck the underside of the bar after a swift break.

Moments later, Spain took the lead when Mikel Oyarzabal latched on to a long pass from Sergio Busquets, held off Dayot Upamecano and fired into the bottom corner.

On Saturday, France Football published Lionel Messi’s first wide-ranging interview since joining Paris Saint-Germain from Barcelona. 

The 30 nominees for the women and men’s Ballon d’Or were released on Friday with several big surprises. The Chelsea Ballon d’Or representation was at an all-time high with ten players (five women, five men) nominated for the award. 

The last time Belgium’s national team missed a major tournament was Euro 2012. Since then, the nation of 11.5 million has quickly become the best international team in the world per FIFA’s somewhat arbitrary ranking system. Despite the success, the last time Belgium was in a final was Euro 1980, losing to Germany 2-1.

Belgium’s chances of seeing a final for the first time in 41 years was blown spectacularly on Thursday when France came roaring back from two goals down to defeat the Belgians in the UEFA Nations League semifinals.

PARIS — France striker Kylian Mbappe on Tuesday fell short of saying he would leave Paris Saint-Germain when his contract expires at the end of the season.

The 22-year-old told the Ligue 1 club he wanted to join Real Madrid during the close season, only for PSG to turn down the Spanish club's offers.

RENNES, France - Paris Saint-Germain suffered their first defeat of the season when they were beaten 2-0 at Rennes on Sunday to drop their first Ligue 1 points of the season.

Rennes won thanks to goals by Gaëtan Laborde and Flavian Tait each side of the interval to end PSG's eight-game winning run in the league.

PSG, only previously beaten in the pre-season Trophée des Champions by Lille, stayed top of the standings with 24 points, six ahead of second-placed Lens who beat Reims 2-0 on Friday. Rennes moved up to seventh on 12 points.

Manchester City looked like a world beater in its first Champions League match of the season, the type of team that can score at will, whenever it wants. Match Day 2 was a different story for Pep Guardiola’s side, and the Bernardo Silva miss vs PSG may haunt the Citizens if they’re unable to claim first place in Group A.

It was billed as the most expensive football match in the world — the $1.10 billion squad value of PSG against the $1.16 billion of Manchester City. There was also the subplot of the most expensive transfer of the summer, City’s Jack Grealish at $135.5 million, versus PSG’s acquisitions of Lionel Messi, Georginio Wijnaldum, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Achraf Hakimi. All five started.  

This is what Reign fans were hoping for when Olympique Lyonnais became the NWSL club’s majority owner last year. This is what fans of all the other NWSL teams were afraid of when one of the league’s best-supported clubs joined together with the most dominant force in European women’s football.

OL Reign’s Lyon connection paid massive dividends in a 3-0 win over the Orlando Pride on Sunday. Two Lyon stars linked up for one of the prettiest goals you’ll see all year, an intricate piece of passing that highlighted the quality of Europe’s best footballers.