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MANCHESTER, England - Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær said Cristiano Ronaldo had answered many critics of his value to the team with his display in the 3-2 Champions League win over Atalanta on Wednesday.

Ronaldo grabbed the 81st minute winner with a superbly executed header to maintain his 100% scoring record in group F after three games.

But Solskjær took aim at those who had questioned whether the Portuguese forward, the Champions League record goalscorer, contributed enough work-rate to his side.

Chelsea defeated Swedish opposition Malmö in the Champions League on Wednesday 4-0 in the pouring London rain but suffered a pair of injuries as Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner both left the game early. The Lukaku and Werner injuries took place in the first half.

Lukaku was substituted out after his ankle was caught in a challenge by a Malmö defender. Later on, Werner was sprinting for a ball over the top and pulled up grabbing at his hamstring.

Jesse Marsch’s first season as RB Leipzig manager was always going to be full of growing pains. He had impossibly large shoes to fill in replacing Julian Nagelsmann — who led Leipzig to the 2020 Champions League semifinals, becoming the youngest-ever coach to reach that stage — and Marsch inherited a side in transition with Dayot Upamecano and Marcel Sabitzer following Nagelsmann to Bayern Munich while Ibrahima Konaté signed with Liverpool.

Paris Saint-Germain manager Mauricio Pochettino is confident that Neymar will play for many more years after the Brazil forward this week said that the next World Cup could be his last.

Neymar, 29, said Qatar 2022 could be his final appearance at the tournament because he was not sure if had the "strength of mind to deal with football anymore.”

BARCELONA - Sergio Agüero is finally set to make his Barcelona debut at home to Valencia in LaLiga on Sunday and the Catalans will be hoping the prolific Argentine can lift their spirits after a dismal start to the season.

Agüero joined Barça on a free transfer in the close-season after a trophy-laden decade with Manchester City in which he became the fourth leading scorer in Premier League history and struck 260 times to become the club's all-time top scorer.

Some soccer players are not vaccinated against COVID-19 because their opinions could be swayed by conspiracy theories on social media, England coach Gareth Southgate said.

British media reported last month only seven of England's 20 Premier League clubs have squads where more than 50% of players are vaccinated.

Southgate said he is unsure of how many of his current England squad are fully vaccinated against the virus, which has caused more than 5 million deaths globally according to a Reuters tally. 

MELBOURNE - Daniel Sturridge will come to Perth Glory as a "humble man" seeking to fit into a team ethos, the former Liverpool and England striker said.

Sturridge has signed a one-year contract with the Western Australian outfit for the coming 2021/22 season, which kicks off on Nov. 20 when Perth face Adelaide United.

The 32-year-old's signing has raised hopes the Glory could win their maiden A-League title after several near-misses but Sturridge said he alone could not deliver the hardware fans have long craved.

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