WTF

Despite playing down a man for over 30 minutes after Ronald Araújo's red card, Barcelona escaped with a 1-0 victory over Valencia at the Camp Nou on Sunday to keep second-place Real Madrid at a comfortable distance.  

Valencia, mired in 19th and desperate for every point, were left fuming at referee Javier Alberola Rojas for his decision to look the other way when Franck Kessié clearly fouled Fran Pérez in the area in the 85th minute.

St. Louis City SC defeated Charlotte FC 3-1 in the club’s first-ever home game at a sold out CITYPARK in front of 22,423 fans. The atmosphere in the brand-new stadium was goosebump inducing.

FIFA's appointment of supermodel Adriana Lima as its global fan ambassador in a Women's World Cup year is "baffling" and sends the wrong message to players and fans, former FIFA Council member Moya Dodd said.

Brazilian Lima will "develop, promote and participate in several global initiatives" in her role as FIFA's first global fan ambassador, the governing body said in a statement on Monday.

If you're a Liverpool or Chelsea supporter disappointed with the season, just remember it could always be a lot, lot worse — you could be a Southampton fan.

The Saints are at the bottom of the Premier League table with only 18 points from 24 matches. They had Nathan Jones as manager for three months. They somehow managed to reach the Carabao Cup semifinals before losing to Newcastle, but the lasting memory there is Jacob Murphy waving off Duje Ćaleta-Car after the defender's red card.

Coaxed onto the pitch by Gerard Piqué and the fulfillment of his appearance fee, Ronaldinho made a brief cameo in the Kings League on Sunday as the 12th man for Ibai Llanos' Porcinos FC team.

The true king was in the building.

Llega la Porcineta con @10Ronaldinho. Histórico. pic.twitter.com/0En1waXvLe

João Klauss found the net on a splendid, decisive goal in the 86th minute to lift expansion St. Louis City to a 3-2 in over Austin FC on Saturday night in Austin, Texas in the teams' season opener.

Expansion St. Louis City shocked the home side by winning its inaugural MLS game, with goals by Klauss and former Austin player Jared Stroud in a span of eight minutes late in the match to produce the come-from-behind upset.

Jared Stroud goal vs. Austin (2-2)

A bizarre Fiorentina disallowed goal vs. Braga confused just about everyone on Thursday when a VAR decision overruled goal line technology.

The introduction of technology to soccer has come with its problems, but most fans can agree the sport is in a better place now. Long past are the days of “no era penal” and Frank Lampard’s ghost goal vs. Germany. Goal line technology and VAR has seen to it that mistakes like those are incredibly rare nowadays.

Heading into Thursday's Europa League playoff between Sevilla and PSV at Philips Stadion in Eindhoven, the Spanish side simply needed to protect the 3-0 advantage they'd earned at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán last week while the Dutch club needed its own remontada.

PSV supporters willed their side forward, but the opening 45 minutes passed without much goalmouth incident. Sevilla's strategy was clear as early as the 33rd-minute when Marcos Acuña was booked for time-wasting over a throw-in.

MADRID - Spain's most capped player Sergio Ramos announced his international retirement on Thursday after being told by new coach Luis de la Fuente that he was not part of his plans.

The 36-year-old Paris St Germain defender, who won the World Cup in 2010 as well as two European Championships, has not played for Spain since March 2021, yet said he should have been given the chance to show he could still be of service to his country.