Leicester City suffered the biggest margin of defeat by an English side in Champions League history after Andre Silva s double helped Porto secure second place in Group G with a resounding 5-0 victory at Estadio do Dragao.
Claudio Ranieri admitted Leicester face a scrap for top-flight survival following the 2-1 defeat at Sunderland last time out, but their sparkling, unbeaten form in Europe had represented a reprieve from what has been a dismal season so far.
However, the Premier League champions never looked likely to extend their unbeaten record on Wednesday, thanks to a comprehensive first-half display from Nuno Santo s side.
Silva capitalised on weak defending to put the hosts ahead early on, with Jesus Corona s exquisite volley and a deft finish from Yacin…
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is being recruited by AC Milan , according to Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber.
The 38-year-old has spent the past 18 months in MLS, but his contract with LA Galaxy expires in December and he has been linked with a return to European football.
Ibrahimovic played for Milan for two seasons before leaving for Paris Saint-Germain in 2012 and Garber has suggested a return is on the cards.
Zlatan is such an interesting guy, he told ESPN. He keeps my hands full and my inbox full, but he s a thrill-a-minute.
You need to have those guys that break through the clutter like [David] Beckham did in our early days. He is a 38-year-old guy who is being recruited by AC Milan, one of the top clubs in the world.
Ibrahimovic was na…
John Terry has acknowledged he used interest from Manchester City to negotiate a new and improved contract with Chelsea back in 2009.
City were keen to lure the centre-back to the Etihad Stadium at the time and even tabled a formal bid for Terry.
The defender preferred a prolonged stay at Chelsea, though, and used City s offer as leverage to get a better deal at Stamford Bridge.
I met Roman [Abramovich] at the time and told him I want to stay, he told ITV’s Play to the Whistle.
Manchester City had made an offer.
What it does do is it gives you bargaining power to go in and renegotiate a contract.
So it gives you a bit of power.
Terry has struggled to secure regular first-team action at Chelsea this campaign following the arr…
Best Odds: 4/7
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Opening up the 2023/24 Bundesliga campaign this weekend, RB Leipzig will travel to the BayArena on Saturday afternoon when they meet Bayer Leverkusen.
Bayer Leverkusen
Starting with the hosts, enjoying what was an eye-catching end to their pre-season preparations, Bayer Leverkusen will be desperate to keep up that same momentum on Saturday afternoon. Extending on their DFP Pokal adventure last week as they stormed their way to a routine 8-0 romp against lower-league Teutonia Ottensen, Xabi Alonso’s men will know the importance of making another domestic statement here. However, while the one-time Real Madrid superstar might have seen his squad sign off their pre-season run with a stellar 4-0 victory against Premier League outfit West…
Former Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata says it was always his intention to play for city rivals Atletico Madrid.
Morata was on Atletico s books as a youngster and even acted as a ball boy for the club, but it was across the capital at Madrid where he broke through as a professional footballer.
The Spain striker, who had a successful two-year spell at Juventus, joined Chelsea from Madrid in 2017 and became the Blues club-record signing.
After making a strong start at Stamford Bridge, a back injury contributed to Morata subsequently struggling at Chelsea and he slipped down the pecking order after last week s arrival of Gonzalo Higuain on loan from Juve.
Morata joined Atletico on an 18-month loan deal on Monday to complete his return to LaLiga, where …
Ilkay Gundogan looks at his Manchester City team-mate David Silva with great admiration, adamant any player would learn just by watching the Spanish playmaker.
Silva joined City in 2010 after rising to prominence in LaLiga with Valencia, persuading the club to fork out a reported £25million for him.
Initially there were doubts about Silva s suitability to the more physical Premier League, particularly in a central position, but any such reservations were swiftly swept away.
The 33-year-old quickly became a mainstay and his longevity and general excellence have led to some suggesting he is the Premier League s greatest foreign player.
Gundogan believes his colleague is an example to anyone.
You learn more about football in general whe…
Market: Both teams to score
Odds: 4/7 @
In what could prove to be an action-packed affair from the Stadium of Light on Tuesday night, Sunderland will welcome Leeds to the north east.
Starting with the hosts, managing to make what was a crucial return to winning ways over the weekend, Sunderland will now be hoping to find some welcomed stability. Eventually claiming an eye-catching 2-1 victory against West Brom, the result drew a line under their three-match winless run. However, with their sights set on securing another play-off ticket this season, the Black Cats should be excited by their continued success on home soil. Heading into November’s international break with a 3-1 romp against Birmingham, Sunderland have won three of their previous four showdowns at…
According to a recent report from AS, Raphael Varane is considering the possibility of a move over to the Premier League – dependant on whether or not he goes ahead with leaving Real Madrid. The 25 year old, who has already enjoyed an insane amount of success throughout the course of his young career, has spent the last few years developing into one of the best defenders on the planet. He’s been with Real since back in 2011 and made his debut for the French national team in 2013, receiving a great deal of interest from teams across the continent along the way.
The most likely side when it comes to actually signing him would be Manchester United, who are considered to be the frontrunners. Of course, there’s still a lot of work to be done before this could be considered a f…
Crystal Palace have matched an unwanted record in the history of the English football league, after losing eight consecutive matches without scoring a goal.
Manchester United were the latest side to dispatch the Premier League s bottom club, who despite replacing Frank de Boer with Roy Hodgson, remain pointless and scoreless having already become the first Premier League side to go so long without a goal.
Palace s defeat on Saturday saw them join north-east duo Hartlepool United and Sunderland on the eight-match mark, with the latter the last team to endure such a terrible run in the top flight back in January 1977.
And there has been no sign of light at the end of the tunnel for the toothless Eagles, who mustered six shots at Old Trafford though only one registe…
Lille have agreed a deal to sign Jose Fonte, according to RMC.
Fonte started his career at Sporting B in Lisbon, and he went through several clubs in Portugal in search of a regular first team place including Felguiras in the Segunda Liga, and Vitoria Setubal in the Primeira Liga. From there he was loaned out to Pacos Ferreira and Estrela Amadora before he moved to England. He went to Crystal Palace on loan initially and the deal was made permanent in 2008. Two years later he moved to Southampton where he enjoyed six and a half relatively successful seasons, with the Saints having progressed from League One to the Premier League in that time. In January 2017 he moved to West Ham.
The 34-year-old Portuguese defender left the Hammers and signed for Chinese Super League cl…