A "fantastic strike" from Barcelona's Raphinha crashes off the crossbar onto the unfortunate Yann Sommer to make it 3-3 against Inter Milan in their Champions League semi-final first-leg clash.
Arnautovic and Martínez on target in 3-1 victoryBarcelona stretch La Liga lead with win at Leganés Inter cruised to a 3-1 win at home to Cagliari thanks to goals from Marko Arnautovic, Lautaro Martínez and Yann Aurel Bisseck to keep their grip on top spot in Serie A. Inter are six points clear of second-placed Napoli, who host lowly Empoli on Monday, with six rounds to go. Arnautovic put the hosts ahead after 13 minutes by blasting the ball home from close range. Roberto Piccoli had the chance to pull Cagliari level when he found himself one-on-one with the Inter keeper Yann Sommer. However, the Swiss reacted swiftly, parrying the effort away. Continue reading...
Patrick Schick swooped to secure a 4-3 win that rescued his side’s identity as elite salvagers of lost causes They did little wrong, but fortune refused to shine on them. Lukas Hradecky spread himself with authority, denying Ermedin Demirovic’s finish, but his block cannoned straight into the onrushing Granit Xhaka and the ball nestled in the net in front of the Cannstatter Kurve. Bayer Leverkusen have been bowed far more often than is habitual in the last few weeks, and now they looked to be down and out. It was one of those actions, one of those days, one of those runs, that said it’s just not your season. In fact, it wasn’t even the first time they’d appeared to be cooked on Sunday evening. That was when Stuttgart’s Nick Woltemade, the throwback striker who has been one of the season’s low-key revelations, slotted a tidy finish past Hradecky for 2-0 less than three minutes into the second half. We have seen Leverkusen react what feels like a hundred times from this – just not in the last week and a half. Continue reading...
It stung Mikel Arteta to let their academy graduates go, but it’s a sign of progress for a wiser and more ruthless club “You’re the future, man. I felt it from the first day. Number 10, captain in the future.” Granit Xhaka knew it. Everyone who saw Emile Smith Rowe play from the moment he joined the Arsenal academy at the age of nine knew it. Problem was, there came a point when Smith Rowe had to stop being the future and that’s how Smith Rowe ends up walking out to play against Arsenal, for someone else, on Sunday afternoon. He’s not the only one. Fulham host Arsenal at Craven Cottage with four ex-Arsenal players in their ranks. Bernd Leno will be in goal. Smith Rowe and Alex Iwobi will be in midfield. Reiss Nelson is injured, but would not have been able to play under the terms of his loan. It is these last three, all graduates of Hale End in east London, who tell the real story: of the Arsenal that was, Arsenal as it became, the Arsenal that might yet be. Continue reading...
Arsenal manager angry at handball against Mikel Merino‘I don’t understand – it’s a deflection. There is no danger’ Mikel Arteta was left fuming after a controversial penalty for Inter ended Arsenal’s unbeaten record in the Champions League. The Arsenal manager felt that his side should also have been awarded a spot kick after Mikel Merino was “punched in the head” by Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer just before the Spain midfielder was penalised for a handball inside his own area. Continue reading...
Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen played out a 1-1 Bundesliga draw at the Allianz Arena on Saturday after a long-range strike from Robert Andrich for the visitors was cancelled out by another from Aleksandar Pavlovic. Leverkusen scored with their first chance in the 31st minute when Granit Xhaka controlled a corner with his chest and set up Andrich outside the box, with the German’s sweeping low shot drilled through a crowd of players into the bottom corner. Continue reading...
Mikel Arteta rejected the idea that Arsenal used 'dark arts' in their 2-2 draw with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium after John Stones and Bernardo Silva criticised their defensive tactics. Arteta suggested his side, who were reduced to 10 players when Leandro Trossard was sent off for kicking the ball away in the first half, had to adapt. Referring to Arsenal's 5-0 loss against Manchester City in 2021 when Granit Xhaka was sent off, he said: 'We’d better learn [from that experience] … if not I would be thick, very thick.' Continue reading...
City playmaker taken off in Champions League matchGuardiola pleased with draw against Italian champions Kevin De Bruyne is an injury doubt for Manchester City’s showdown with Arsenal on Sunday after suffering what appeared to be a groin injury in the Champions League goalless draw with Inter at the Etihad Stadium. The Belgian was hurt when running in on goal and being challenged by Yann Sommer, the Inter No 1, during the first half, afterwards seeming to clutch his groin area. Following treatment De Bruyne continued until the break but was then taken off. Continue reading...
Ivan Toney scored with a no-look penalty as England beat Switzerland in a shootout to reach the semi-finals of Euro 2024 on Saturday, after the match in Düsseldorf finished 1-1 after extra-time. Breel Embolo put Switzerland ahead in the 75th minute but Bukayo Saka pulled England level just five minutes later with a precise strike. Jordan Pickford saved Switzerland's first penalty of the shootout, from Manuel Akanji, and Trent Alexander-Arnold made it 5-4 to take England through to a last-four meeting with the Netherlands ‘It’s my routine’: Ivan Toney vows to stick with no-look penalty at Euros Continue reading...
England beat Switzerland in a penalty shootout to reach the semi-finals of Euro 2024 on Saturday – the match in Düsseldorf finishing 1-1 after extra-time. Breel Embolo put Switzerland ahead in the 75th minute, but Bukayo Saka pulled England level just five minutes later with a precise strike. Saka missed in the shootout at the end of the Euro 2020 final against Italy, and received racist abuse from fans afterwards, but the Arsenal forward was one of five England players to convert from the spot when Saturday's game went to penalties Bukayo Saka rewrites his story to end latest tale of uneasy England success ‘I wasn’t focusing on the past – only on now’: Saka revels in penalty redemption Continue reading...
Switzerland goalkeeper Yann Sommer dives full stretch to turn a long range shot from England's Declan Rice behind.
Breel Embolo pokes home from close range to give Switzerland the lead against England.
Former Arsenal player’s playmaking responsibilities will define his country’s fate against England Over dinner and a few glasses of wine, Switzerland’s two leaders squared things up. It was late in the winter and things were purring along for Granit Xhaka at Bayer Leverkusen. They were already set fair for the Bundesliga title, thanks in large part to his endeavours since arriving from Arsenal, but the other side of the coin was murkier. The national team had qualified for Euro 2024 but their performances had dropped off a cliff. Xhaka had previously been critical of what he perceived as sloppy training sessions and there was an urgent need to find common ground with the manager, Murat Yakin, when the pair sat down for the latest of several earnest chats. Now Switzerland are a win away from the European Championship semi-finals and a sleek, confident team have been remoulded firmly in Xhaka’s image. The captain is, Yakin says, “already a player-coach”. His influence is profound and it will be fundamental if the Nati are to dampen England’s new-found ripple of optimism. There could be an extra piquancy in masterminding victory over a country where he ultimately thrived but was, for long periods of his seven years in north London, not entirely understood. Continue reading...
Manager upbeat after impressive last-16 victory over Italy‘Mood in camp is very good. We are developing together’’ Murat Yakin has guaranteed “we will cause England problems”, as his Switzerland side begin their final preparations for the showdown in Düsseldorf. Switzerland have beaten Italy and held Germany in the tournament and Yakin said his team had no fear of “playing our game” against more favoured nations as they built towards the “big highlight” of a quarter-final. Continue reading...
