Atletico Madrid 2-0 Celta Vigo: Renan Lodi brace boosts hosts´ top-four hopes

Atletico Madrid boosted their hopes of a top-four finish in LaLiga, as Renan Lodi netted twice in a hard-fought 2-0 home win over Celta Vigo.

Towards the end of a turgid first period, Lodi fired a deflected effort past Matias Diruto to give Diego Simeone s team the lead, then volleyed in a second on the hour, with Geoffrey Kondogbia providing assists for both goals. 

Simeone s solid rearguard stood firm as Atletico closed out the win in the latter stages, piling the pressure on top-four rivals Barcelona, who can move level with the Spanish champions by beating Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.

After Atletico started slowly, Reinildo was forced into a brilliant block by Franco Cervi after 15 minutes.

Correa failed to meet Marcos Llorente s inviting cut-back at …

The whistles hurt me but I have no intention of leaving: Umtiti opens up on Barcelona struggles

Samuel Umtiti was left hurt by the jeers from Barcelona fans but the out-of-favour defender is more determined than ever to be a success at Camp Nou.

The French centre-back arrived from Lyon ahead of the 2016-17 season and played in 50 LaLiga matches over his first two campaigns.

However, a series of knee injuries restricted his involvement over the next three seasons and the defender was reportedly one of several high earners Barca attempted to shift during the past transfer window as the financially stricken giants tried to alleviate their spiralling debts.

The situation came to a head during the Joan Gamper Trophy pre-season game against Juventus in which Umtiti was whistled by spectators when warming up and again a target whenever he touched the ball after c…

Pogba wants ´new challenge somewhere else´ amid Manchester United exit talk

Paul Pogba has hinted he is ready to leave Manchester United after revealing his desire for a  new challenge somewhere else .

The midfielder s future at Old Trafford has been in doubt after an indifferent 2018-19 season, with Real Madrid reportedly interested.

Former club Juventus have also been linked with Pogba, who returned for a second spell at Old Trafford when United paid a then-record fee of £89million in August 2016.

Speaking in Tokyo, the 26-year-old a World Cup winner at Russia 2018 admitted the time could be right to move on.

There has been a lot of talking, a lot of thinking as well. I ve been here for three years in Manchester, it has been going great, he told reporters.

There have been some good moments and some bad moments,…

Eibar 0-3 Barcelona: Griezmann, Messi and Suarez ensure frantic week ends in comfortable win

Antoine Griezmann, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez were all on target as Barcelona coasted to a 3-0 win at Eibar to end a frantic week with a fifth straight victory on all fronts.

Barca opted to travel to the Basque Country early on Thursday amid the political unrest in their home city as a result of nine Catalan political leaders being dealt long prison sentences for their roles in the region s 2017 referendum and subsequent declaration of independence.

The violent scenes that broke out in protest led to the postponement of next week s Clasico with Real Madrid, but it was back to business for Ernesto Valverde s men at Ipurua.

Griezmann opened the scoring with a classy 13th-minute goal and teed up Messi to double the lead after neat work from Suarez, who scored in a…

Guti to leave Real Madrid and return to Besiktas

Guti has announced he will be leaving Real Madrid to join Turkish giants Besiktas as their new assistant coach.

The former Spain international had been working in Madrid s youth system, but will now head to Istanbul to continue his coaching career.

Guti finished his playing career at Besiktas helping them win the Turkish Cup in 2011 and revealed his impending return via an Instagram post.

Today, I want to thank Real Madrid, my home for all the years that I enjoyed as a footballer and a coach, he wrote alongside a picture of him during his playing days at Besiktas.

In a few days, I will make Besiktas my new home, where I will be an assistant coach and where I can continue to grow professionally.

I thank Besiktas for the affection and conf…

Southampton 1 Watford 1: Puel and Mazzarri share the spoils

It ended honours even in the battle between Premier League managerial debutants at St Mary s Stadium as Claude Puel s Southampton battled back to claim a 1-1 draw against 10-man Watford, under the guidance of Walter Mazzarri.

Etienne Capoue drew first blood for the visitors when he made the most of sloppy Southampton defending to finish emphatically in the ninth minute.

Mazzarri employed a 3-5-2 system and used width to attack a shaky home defence in the moments after the opener, with right wing-back Nordin Amrabat to the fore.

Southampton recovered their poise, but, having lost their two top scorers from last season – Sadio Mane and Graziano Pelle – they seemed to lack in cutting edge up front before Nathan Redmond memorably marked his debut just prior to …

EFL looking into reports Liverpool fielded ineligible player against MK Dons

The EFL is looking into whether Liverpool fielded an ineligible player in their EFL Cup third-round victory over MK Dons on Wednesday.

Reports emerged on Saturday suggesting an unnamed Reds player did not meet the registration criteria to feature in the competition.

An EFL spokesperson told Omnisport: We are currently considering the matter.

Liverpool, who have been drawn to face Arsenal in the fourth round next month, could be fined or even expelled from the competition if they are found to have breached the rules, although the latter punishment appears unlikely.

In 2014, Sunderland were given a fine for playing Ji Dong-won in the EFL Cup and Premier League without full international clearance following a loan spell in Germany, citing an administra…

Aguero signs new City deal

Sergio Aguero has signed a new contract with Manchester City, the Premier League title-holders have .

Aguero s old deal was set to keep him at the Etihad until the summer of 2020, but this new one should extend his spell there for 12 more months after that.

When Pep Guardiola secured the signing of Gabriel Jesus from Palmeiras in January, 2017, there were speculations about the future of the Argentina international as his role in the team seemed likely to be diminished. However, even though he was given a chance, Jesus hasn t been able to push him out completely and Aguero kept proving his quality and importance with vital goals. The 30-year-old is the holder of City s all-time record with 204 strikes in 299 appearances in the sky-blue shirt. He has won three Premier Le…

Cameroon 3-3 Serbia: Aboubakar keeps Indomitable Lions alive

Cameroon hit back from two goals down to secure a 3-3 draw with Serbia that preserves both sides chances of advancing to the World Cup round of 16.

The Indomitable Lions, with regular goalkeeper Andre Onana reportedly on his way home after a falling out with coach Rigobert Song, scored first through Jean-Charles Castelletto only for Serbia to seize control through goals from Strahinja Pavlovic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Aleksandar Mitrovic.

It seemed Dragan Stojkovic s men were cruising but they were stung by two goals in three second-half minutes, substitute Vincent Aboubakar s clever finish reducing the arrears before Eric Choupo-Moting brought Cameroon level.

Serbia bossed the bulk of the first half but had to wait until just before half-time to make their s…

We shook hands – Guardiola laments Sancho´s Manchester City exit

Manchester City shook hands on a lucrative contract with Jadon Sancho and did absolutely everything to keep the highly rated England Under-17 international before he joined Borussia Dortmund.

Sancho joined the Bundesliga giants on transfer deadline day, where he will wear the number seven shirt vacated by Barcelona s record signing Ousmane Dembele, after turning his back on the Etihad Stadium due to concerns over his prospects of first-team action under Pep Guardiola

Speaking ahead of Saturday s Premier League match at home to Liverpool, Guardiola confirmed Sancho who is yet to make a senior professional appearance declined to sign a new deal and stopped coming to training before a departure the club tried to avoid.

We arrived at an agreement with Jadon Sancho…