The fate of the rescheduled Euro 2020 soccer tournament will not be decided until March but organizers UEFA are hoping that vaccination efforts will allow them to stick to their original plan for June's pan-European tournament.
The 24-nation, month-long showpiece, a major revenue generator for the continent's soccer governing body UEFA and the national federations across Europe, was postponed by 12 months after last year's COVID-19 outbreak.
Want to feel old? Gareth Bale’s iconic sprint vs. Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final was seven years ago. An incredible Yunus Musah sprint against Real Valladolid on Sunday brought a wave of nostalgia of Bale's brilliance and showcased the young American’s incredible speed.
In case a refresher is needed of Bale torching Marc Bartra, here is the moment the Welsh man immortalized himself in YouTube “Best Last-Minute Goals Compilations”.
When Spain's soccer federation signed a lucrative deal in 2019 to export its rebooted Super Cup to Saudi Arabia, they did not envisage matches in empty stadiums across southern Spain and tired teams negotiating record snowfall in order to get to them.
But that is what they will get when the mini-tournament begins on Wednesday after coronavirus restrictions in Spain and the gulf state forced organizers to overhaul their initial plans and re-think the competition to fit today's unprecedented times.
There’s no telling what records Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will break in any given week — it’s entirely up to statisticians as to how they want to morph it at this point (most goals on a Tuesday, most goals with a common denominator of five scored across three leagues, most goals by a JUST RETWEET THIS POST GODDAMMIT).
It’s a testament to both the consistent longevity of their greatness and the somewhat curious cases of the historical players they rival, namely Josef Bican and Pelé.
Premier League Leeds United suffered the biggest upset of the FA Cup Third Round when they fell to a 3-0 defeat by fourth-tier Crawley Town on Sunday as Manchester City and Chelsea eased through.
A brilliant solo strike from Nick Tsaroulla in the 50th minute put League Two Crawley in front after a first half in which Leeds had caused them few problems.
Sunday’s FA Cup Third Round meeting between Tottenham Hotspur, fourth-place in the Premier League, and Marine AFC, sixth-place in the Northern Premier League Division One North West, represented a record gap of 161 places in the English football pyramid.
The prospect of the greatest giant killing of all time — and the spectacle of José Mourinho’s side visiting Rossett Park in Merseyside — allowed Marine to compensate for the potential loss in revenue of playing the match behind closed doors by selling 20,000 virtual tickets.
Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois joined coach Zinedine Zidane in criticizing organizers LaLiga for not postponing his side's game at Osasuna on Saturday due to a snowstorm.
The match finished 0-0, denting Real's title bid, after they were ordered by LaLiga to travel to Pamplona the day before the game due to storm warnings, but had to wait for four hours on the icy runway before taking off.
Gianluca Mancini's late goal earned AS Roma a 2-2 draw at home to Inter Milan on Sunday which left the visitors three points behind leaders AC Milan in the Serie A title race.
Lorenzo Pellegrini’s deflected shot put the hosts in front at halftime, but Inter mustered a spirited response and Milan Škriniar headed in a deserved equalizer after the break. Achraf Hakimi put Inter ahead by curling an outstanding shot in off the bar, but Mancini's glancing header leveled the scores with four minutes remaining to clinch a sixth consecutive league draw between the two teams.
Chorley FC, a non-league club, continued its dream run through the FA Cup with a 2-0 win over EFL Championship (second tier) Derby County on Saturday. The team celebrated with a singalong of Adele’s “Someone Like You” in the locker room.
Derby County, which has been hit hard by Covid-19, didn’t field its strongest lineup on Saturday and paid the price with Chorley scoring through Connor Hall and Mike Calveley.
LEIPZIG, Germany — Borussia Dortmund scored three times in the second half, twice with Erling Haaland and once with Jadon Sancho, to beat hosts RB Leipzig 3-1 on Saturday and close the gap to the top spots in the Bundesliga.
After a toothless first half Dortmund improved after the break, taking the lead when Halaand charged down the wing and Marco Reus flicked his cross on with his back heel for Sancho to fire in.