Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong is set to miss the team's next match against Athletic Bilbao after the club said in a statement on Sunday he had injured the calf muscle in his right leg.
Dutch international De Jong missed Friday's 0-0 draw away to Sevilla which dented Barca's hopes of winning the Spanish title, with coach Quique Setien saying before the game he was leaving the player out as a precaution.
Trailing Aston Villa 1-0 with just over half an hour remaining, Chelsea manager Frank Lampard turned to Christian Pulisic off the bench and the American responded by scoring the equalizer just five minutes later.
Although Chelsea dominated possession in the first half, it was Villa center back Kortney Hause who opened the scoring in the 43rd minute following a cross from Douglas Luiz.
When Andy Carroll resigned for Newcastle United on a free transfer last August, the local hero was handed a heavily incentivized contract that largely depended on the 31-year-old’s notoriously fickle bill of health.
Real Betis became the first LaLiga club to sack a coach since the season re-started after being halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, firing Rubi who failed to win any of the team's first three matches in their return to action.
Betis lost their first game back 2-0 to Sevilla and drew 2-2 with Granada in mid-week while the final straw proved to be Saturday's 1-0 defeat by Athletic Bilbao, after Sergio Canales missed a late penalty.
LONDON — Adama Traore came off the bench to inspire Wolverhampton Wanderers to a 2-0 win at West Ham United on Saturday — a significant result at both ends of the Premier League table.
The quicksilver Spanish winger was perhaps surprisingly left on the bench for 64 minutes but his introduction enlivened an otherwise humdrum encounter at an empty London Stadium.
Traore's surging run and sublime cross was perfect for Raul Jimenez to head powerfully home in the 73rd minute.
Wolves break through!
Arsenal is in a world of shit right now.
The Gunners looked to be turning things around with three straight Premier League wins before the novel coronavirus pandemic forced the league to shut down. Upon return, Arsenal has looked worse than ever in the Mikel Arteta era. Adding to the shitstorm, Arteta is losing players to injury faster than my partner left the room after I started playing The Last of Us Part II.
BERLIN — Robert Lewandowski struck twice as champions Bayern Munich eased past Freiburg 3-1 on Saturday to secure a record 15th win in a row and the Pole became the first foreign player to score 33 goals in a Bundesliga season.
Additionally, 20-year-old American defender Chris Richards made his Bayern Munich debut, becoming the first American to play for the German giant since Landon Donovan.
Lucien Favre picked Gio Reyna for his first career Bundesliga start in a big second-vs.-third matchup against RB Leipzig on Saturday. The 17-year-old American repaid his manager’s faith, setting up the first goal as Borussia Dortmund clinched second place with a 2-0 victory at Red Bull Arena.
WATFORD, England — Watford's Craig Dawson grabbed a stoppage-time equaliser with an overhead kick to earn his side a 1-1 draw with Leicester City on Saturday and a vital point in their battle for Premier League survival.
England full back Ben Chilwell had put third-placed Leicester ahead in the 90th minute with a thunderous shot, before Dawson's acrobatic finish lifted Watford provisionally a point clear of the relegation zone.
CHILWELL!
AMSTERDAM — The Dutch men's and women's national football team players said on Friday they would no longer grant interviews to a popular TV show due to remarks made by a commentator mocking an anti-racism protester.
In a statement first published on Twitter by men's team captain Virgil van Dijk, the players said they would no longer speak with the Veronica Inside program after the host compared a prominent Dutch black activist to "Black Pete."