Off the Pitch

USWNT midfielder Catarina Macario is set to sign with FA Women’s Super League side Chelsea this summer per The Athletic. Her contract with Lyon expires at the end of the season. 

The 23-year-old standout missed all the 2022-23 season with an ACL injury to her left knee that she suffered in June 2022 during Lyon's final league game of the season. She’s nearing a return to action and will be hoping to recover in time for a shot to make USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski’s 2023 Women’s World Cup roster.

The Colorado Rapids suspended midfielder Max Alves on Wednesday for an alleged connection to an illegal sports gambling plot, according to the Denver Post and ESPN.

Alves, a 21-year-old native of Brazil, is under investigation by prosecutors in his home country for being associated with match-fixing, per the reports. One of those matches reportedly was a Rapids game, and Alves allegedly was paid by match-fixers who asked players to shift their performance to the benefit of sports bettors.

CF Montreal announced Wednesday that the visitors' section at Stade Saputo will be closed for Saturday's match against Toronto FC following a fight between the teams' supporters in Toronto on Tuesday night.

Videos circulating on social media showed a small group of supporters exchanging punches in the nosebleed seats at BMO Field during Montreal's 2-1 win in the Canadian Championship quarterfinals.

LIVERPOOL — An early goal by Mohamed Salah was enough to give Liverpool a 1-0 Premier League win over Brentford on Saturday that keeps the pressure on fierce rivals Manchester United in the hunt for Champions League football next season.

Before the game got underway, the Liverpool fans loudly booed, whistled and chanted their team's name as the national anthem was played to mark the coronation of King Charles in London earlier on Saturday.

UEFA will involve fans in the "planning and execution" of finals, it said on Friday as it announced plans to implement recommendations made by an independent panel following the chaos at the 2022 Champions League showpiece.

The Champions League final was delayed by 36 minutes after thousands of Liverpool supporters were unable to get into the Stade de France for the match on May 28, which Real Madrid won 1-0.

A resurgence in form is unlikely to help Liverpool qualify for next season's Champions League as fourth-placed Manchester United are unlikely to slip up on the home stretch, manager Jürgen Klopp said on Friday.

Liverpool are on a five-match winning streak that lifted them up to fifth in the Premier League, four points behind United who have a game in hand, but Klopp does not expect their rivals to drop points.

AC Milan forward Olivier Giroud said that USMNT star Christian Pulisic was a “happy boy” at Chelsea when they played together, compared the American to Eden Hazard and claimed he’d be welcomed in Milan.

Giroud made a guest appearance on the CBS Sports GOLAZO! Network on Thursday and shared his experiences of playing with Pulisic. The 36-year-old Frenchman and Pulisic played together for two seasons at Chelsea in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns, winning the UEFA Champions League in the process.

Here’s what Giroud had to say about Captain America.