French Clubs

On Tuesday, PSG hammered Real Madrid 4-0 in the UEFA Women’s Champions League with 26-year-old France international Aminata Diallo starting in the defensive midfield role.

Thirty-one-year-old France international Kheira Hamraoui — Diallo’s direct competition for the spot — had started PSG’s first two UWCL games, but Hamraoui had been ruled out of the match due to injuries sustained following an assault by two masked individuals last week that left her requiring stitches. 

Much has been said about Lionel Messi’s slow start to life in Paris, which is basically just to say that the 34-year-old hasn’t played much. Given his reluctance to ever miss a minute with Barcelona — regardless of whether it was a Champions League or second round Copa del Rey match — it’s been weird seeing Messi go over one-third of the league season without scoring or assisting yet.

PARIS — Paris Saint-Germain forward Lionel Messi will miss Saturday's Ligue 1 trip to Bordeaux through injury but could feature for Argentina in this month's World Cup qualifiers, manager Mauricio Pochettino said on Friday.

The 34-year-old Messi, who signed from Barcelona in the off season, is still recovering from "knee and hamstring pains", the club said. He also sat out the 2-2 draw against RB Leipzig in the Champions League in midweek.

On Wednesday morning, the NCAA slammed Oklahoma State’s men’s basketball team with a postseason ban for an infraction that happened four years ago where the only player involved received a mere $300 (players are now allowed to be paid). For fans of college sports, this was yet another case of the NCAA crushing a smaller school for a minor infraction while letting the blue bloods of the sport off scot-free for major violations. 

Lionel Messi said he will return to live in Barcelona with his family when his time at Paris Saint-Germain is over and would like to help the LaLiga club in the role of a technical director.

Messi ended a two-decade stay at the cash-strapped Spanish club, where he is their record scorer with 672 goals, in the off-season and joined PSG on a free transfer on a two-year deal.

PARIS — Angel Di Maria showed his worth as he set up the first and scored the winner to give Paris St Germain a 2-1 win against champions Lille in Ligue 1 after Lionel Messi limped off injured on Friday.

In the absence of Kylian Mbappe, who is suffering from an infection, Di Maria shone throughout the game, providing captain Marquinhos with the equaliser after Jonathan David's opener before finding the back of the net two minutes from time.

With El Clásico, Reds-Red Devils, the Derby d'Italia and Le Classique all falling on Sunday, American viewers were presented with a smörgåsbord of hatred and fury from across Europe. 

Marseille’s standing as an epicenter of football culture and fandom has long been under-appreciated by the English-speaking world, but there’s no denying that — for better or worse — the Vélodrome had the best atmosphere of all the aforementioned games.  

French fans have been unable to behave themselves lately. Whether it’s Marseille ultras storming the training grounds, Marseille and Nice fans brawling during a match or what happened during the Saint-Étienne vs Angers match on Friday, Ligue 1 fans have become a bit too much a story in 2021.

Patrice Evra is full of life and love at 40 years old. The Instagram page for the former French defender with nearly 400 appearances for Manchester United is full of fun, joy and the left back’s favorite phrase: “I love this game.” A recent post saw him joking about his poo to his wife and tennis star Novak Djokovic.