Football

MADRID: Zinedine Zidane believes he has the backing of Real Madrid but admits he would leave if he ever felt he had lost the club´s support. Zidane has come under scrutiny after enduring his worst ever defeat as Madrid coach on Wednesday, a 3-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League. The result also followed an underwhelming start in ...

LONDON: Manchester City powered to their record Premier League win as the champions scored five times within 18 first-half minutes of an incredible 8-0 thrashing of Watford, while Leicester enjoyed a VAR-assisted 2-1 victory over Tottenham on Saturday. Inspired by Bernardo Silva’s hat-trick, Pep Guardiola’s side ripped woeful Watford to pieces at the Etihad Stadium, eclipsing a 7-0 success against ...

Iran’s authorities have “assured” FIFA that women will be able to attend a World Cup qualifier in Tehran next month, the president of the world’s football governing body, Gianni Infantino, said on Sunday. The FIFA had earlier today demanded Iran allow women free unlimited access to stadiums following the ‘Blue Girl’ incident where a woman football fan died of self-immolation ...

Last season’s runners-up Arsenal romped to an impressive 3-0 victory at Eintracht Frankfurt in their Europa League opener on Thursday as Mason Greenwood spared Manchester United’s blushes and Rangers got the better of Feyenoord. On a night which featured five British clubs in action, Unai Emery’s much-changed side enjoyed the best result of all with youngsters Joe Willock and Bukayo ...

LONDON: Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo has admitted he felt “embarrassed” as he tried to shield his family from allegations he raped a woman in the United States. Ronaldo was accused of sexually assaulting Kathryn Mayorga in a Las Vegas hotel in June 2009. The Portugal forward, a five-time Champions League winner, strongly denied the claims and the investigation was originally ...

Lionel Messi’s signature goal celebration was copied by his four-year-old son Mateo Messi, who did it with sheer elegance and a bagful of cuteness after scoring a free-kick in a viral video on internet. Lionel Messi’s wife Antonella Roccuzzo shared the video of her son Mateo scoring an impressive free-kick goal and then imitating his father’s iconic goal celebration to ...

KARACHI: The world’s football governing body, FIFA, on Friday announced that it has appointed a normalisation committee in Pakistan Football Federation (PFF), with a road-map to conduct its fresh elections. The five-member normalisation committee will be chaired by Humza Khan, a former footballer with the Karachi United Football Club, it said, adding that other members comprised former PFF secretary and ...

LONDON: Liverpool recovered from a shock Newcastle opener to open up a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League with a 3-1 win at Anfield, as Tottenham and Chelsea bounced back to form with big wins on Saturday. Tammy Abraham´s sensational form continued as the English forward scored a hat-trick as Chelsea romped to a 5-2 win at ...

Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to score against 40 different countries. The Portuguese captain’s latest record took also took his international tally to 93 goals when he scored four times to give the European champions a 5-1 win away to Lithuania in their Euro 2020 qualifier on Tuesday. Playing in his 161st international, the 34-year-old notched ...

Cristiano Ronaldo scored four goals as Portugal beat Lithuania in Euro 2020 qualifying. The Juventus forward has now scored 93 international goals, 16 behind Iran legend Ali Daei’s world record. He scored an early penalty, before Vytautas Andriuskevicius equalised. Ronaldo’s 20-yard shot went in off the head of Lithuania goalkeeper Ernestas Setkus and he scored two more from Bernardo Silva ...