Both FC Porto and Sporting Lisbon failed to impress in Sunday’s Liga Sagres matches. Porto lost 1-0 at Maritimo while Sporting only managed a draw at Rio Ave.
FC Porto needed a win at Maritimo in order to close on Braga and Benfica but never managed to break through the opposing defense.
Instead, the only goal of the match was in Maritimo’s favor and was in fact an own goal from Rolando in the 30th minute.
Troubled Sporting Lisbon appeared to be on their way to a good result at R... Read Full Story
Anderlecht are the new leaders in the Belgian Pro League following a 0-2 win at Gent, while Club Brugge crashed to a 3-1 defeat at defending champions Standard Liege.
Ondrej Mazuch put Anderlecht in the lead after 23 minutes at Genk, and Romelo Lukaku added a second and final goal in the dying minutes.
As Brugge lost their match at Standard, Anderlecht surpass their traditional rivals and are now two points ahead.
Milan Jovanovic scored two goals in the first 15 minutes to lead Standard to a... Read Full Story
Carlo Ancelotti has rubbed salt into Manchester United’s wounds over their controversial defeat at Chelsea by suggesting Arsenal are just as big a threat to his side’s Premier League title ambitions.
Chelsea’s 1-0 win, sealed by John Terry’s late header, allowed Ancelotti’s men to open a five-point lead at the top and left his United counterpart, Sir Alex Ferguson, once again aggrieved over his side’s treatment at the hands of a referee.
While Ferguson adm... Read Full Story
Liverpool football club co-owner Tom Hicks has insisted that no star players will be sold.
The Reds are in the midst of a woeful run and lie seventh in the Barclays Premier League, nine points off leaders Chelsea, while they are also on the brink of an early exit from the Champions League.
Failure to reach the knockout stages would be a severe financial blow but Hicks is adamant the likes of Fernando Torres or Steven Gerrard will not be forced to leave Anfield because of cash pressures.
He t... Read Full Story
Manchester City manager Mark Hughes insists he has no fears about his meeting with the club’s owner in Abu Dhabi this week despite his team’s disappointing 3-3 home draw with Burnley.
City fly to the Middle East on Sunday to play a friendly with the UAE national team on Thursday and Hughes will have talks with Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
After a run of only one victory in six Premier League games, the last five of them draws, the potential appears to be there for some awk... Read Full Story
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti knows his first Premier League clash with Manchester United will provide the acid test of his title credentials, but he believes the champions have weaknesses that can be exploited in Sunday’s summit meeting.
Ancelotti’s side have become the top pick to win the English crown after an impressive start under the Italian suggested he has recaptured the magic missing from Stamford Bridge since Jose Mourinho’s departure.
But Ancelotti is well awar... Read Full Story
Gianfranco Zola may be a relative novice in the managerial trade, but already the Italian has experienced more dizzying highs and stultifying lows than many of the most grizzled veterans.
In the space of just over a year, he has led West Ham to a top-half finish in the English Premier League, been forced to contend with myriad off-field financial problems and, most recently, negotiated a slump in form which put his own job prospects on the line.
That Zola has met all these scenarios with equ... Read Full Story
A red rose in her hair, the furious Carmen storms onto a sports pitch to interrupt her two paramours who erupt in bursts of pirouettes and graceful leaps around several footballs.
It’s Bizet’s classic opera but the beautiful, fiery gypsy Carmen is torn between team captain Escamillo and star player Jose as the ballet is given a football twist ahead of South Africa’s World Cup in July next year.
“It’s basically Carmen. We built the ballet around the love triangle... Read Full Story
At least one unauthorised website is touting tickets to next year’s football World Cup in South Africa, Australia’s consumer watchdog said as it warned of potential fraud in online ticketing.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said an international review of thousands of websites, including some 1,400 ostensibly based in Australia, underscored the need for consumer vigilance.
“Results indicate that online ticketing has emerged as an area of concern,&#... Read Full Story
Pohang Steelers coach Sergio Farias is eyeing next month’s Club World Cup after his side won their third continental crown to become the most successful side in Asian football history.
The South Korean outfit shocked two-time champions Al Ittihad 2-1 to lift the AFC Champions League for the first time Saturday, adding to their titles in the former Asian Club Championship in 1997 and 1998.
Their win in Tokyo’s National Stadium over the Saudi giants means they are the first team to... Read Full Story
