Sports

*As Chelsea Come Calling This Evening Ruben Amorim has claimed “not even the Pope” could make him deviate from his 3-4-3 formation, despite Manchester United’s poor start to the season. Amorim has drawn criticism for sticking rigidly to one system after a start to the season in which United have taken four points from four league games, suffered a shock exit from the Carabao Cup after a second-round defeat to Grimsby, and generally performed poorly. The Portuguese has insisted throughout that run that he is not for turning, a message he reiterated in emphatic, dramatic fashion prior to Chelsea’s visit…

*De Bruyne Pulled Out Early *Newcastle 1 Barcelona 2 *Manchester City 2 Napoli 0 By Louise Taylor, at St. James' Park, & Jamie Jackson, at the Etihad A little more than 24 hours before kick-off on Thursday night, Hansi Flick spoke about how lucky he felt to have acquired Marcus Rashford on loan from Manchester United. Barcelona’s manager was not remotely bothered that his stock had fallen so far at Old Trafford. Rashford, he said, was a forward he had long admired and now believed he could help improve. In the 82nd minute, Rashford walked off wreathed in smiles before…

"I think our focus right now is to ensure that Bafana get maximum points come October [when they face Zimbabwe and Rwanda] because whatever happens, whether there's docking of points or whatever you're saying out there, if we get six points come October, nothing else is going to matter." These were the words of South African Football Association (SAFA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lydia Monyepao, today, while reacting to the breaking news that FIFA has opened disciplinary proceedings over Bafana Bafana's use of an ineligible player, Teboho Mokoena, in a World Cup qualifier away to Lesotho on March 21 this…

5:45pm: Club Brugge KV - Monaco5:45pm: FC Copenhagen - Bayer Leverkusen8:00pm: Eintracht Frankfurt - Galatasaray8:00pm: Manchester City - Napoli8:00pm: Newcastle - Barcelona8:00pm: Sporting CP - Kairat Almaty PHOTO CAPTION: Barcelona's Raphinha celebrates after scoring a goal.

*Liverpool 3 Atletico Madrid 2 *Bayern Munich 3 Chelsea 1 By Will Unwin, at Anfield, and Jacob Steinberg, at Allianz Arena It should have been a lot easier than this for Liverpool but the 92nd-minute roar to celebrate Virgil van Dijk’s winner against Atlético Madrid made the hardship worthwhile. After scoring twice in the opening six minutes through Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah, Liverpool were galloping to victory but were pegged back by two goals from Marcos Llorente, only for their captain to head home a late corner and send Anfield wild in the process. Diego Simeone’s side arrived with…

*Trial Nov 2026 Former Arsenal footballer Thomas Partey has pleaded not guilty to five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault at Southwark Crown Court, London. He currently plays for Spanish La Liga side Villarreal and was in action on Tuesday, September 16, at the 1-0 away loss to Tottenham Hotspurs in UEFA Champions League. The 32-year-old is accused of raping two women and sexually assaulting a third woman. The alleged offences took place between 2021 and 2022, when he was an Arsenal player. Partey spoke on court to confirm his name, date of birth and his not…

18:45 Olympiacos Piraeus - Pafos18:45 Slavia Prague - Bodo/Glimt21:00 Ajax - Inter21:00 Bayern Munich - Chelsea21:00 Liverpool - Atl. Madrid21:00 PSG - Atalanta PHOTO CAPTION: The much-coveted Champions League trophy.

Athletic Bilbao 0-2 Arsenal Benfica 2-3 Qarabag FK Juventus 4-4 Borussia Dortmund PSV 1-3 Union SG Real Madrid 2-1 Marseille Tottenham 1-0 Villarreal PHOTO CAPTION: Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe (in white) takes on Olympique Marseille players during the match.

By Mark Ogden The Champions League returns today and some of the world's biggest clubs are attempting to dethrone reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) by lifting the European Cup in Budapest, Hungary, next May. Six Premier League teams, Spain's heavyweights of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich will all back themselves to topple PSG, while Italian champions Napoli could be a dangerous outsider. Matchday One -- spread over three days -- has thrown up some box office clashes including Bayern Munich against Chelsea, Newcastle at home to Barcelona and City against Napoli. So as club football's most…

ENGLAND: Premier League Burnley - Liverpool 0:1Manchester City - Manchester Utd 3:0 FRANCE: Ligue 1 Lille - Toulouse 2:1Brest - Paris FC 1:2Metz - Angers 1:1PSG - Lens 2:0Strasbourg - Le Havre 1:0Rennes - Lyon 3:1 GERMANY: Bundesliga St. Pauli - Augsburg 2:1B. Monchengladbach - Werder Bremen 0:4 ITALY: Serie A AS Roma - Torino 0:1Atalanta - Lecce 4:1Pisa - Udinese 0:1Sassuolo - Lazio 1:0AC Milan - Bologna 1:0 NETHERLANDS: Eredivisie Excelsior - Sparta Rotterdam 0:1Heracles - AZ Alkmaar 1:2Utrecht - Groningen 0:1Telstar - Sittard 1:3 SPAIN: LaLiga Celta Vigo - Girona 1:1Levante - Betis 2:2Osasuna - Rayo Vallecano 2:0Barcelona…