France midfielder Rabiot has a calf problem and could miss Croatia match

France midfielder Rabiot has a calf problem and could miss Croatia match
France’s coach Didier Deschamps hugs Adrien Rabiot as he leaves the pitch after being substituted during their UEFA Nations League quarterfinal match against Croatia, at the Poljud stadium in Split, Mar. 20, 2025. (AP)
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Updated 22 March 2025

France midfielder Rabiot has a calf problem and could miss Croatia match

France midfielder Rabiot has a calf problem and could miss Croatia match
  • “Rabiot has a calf problem and will not train this (Saturday) evening,” Deschamps said

PARIS: France midfielder Adrien Rabiot has a minor calf injury and is doubtful to face Croatia in the return leg of the Nations League quarterfinals on Sunday.
Rabiot came off midway through the second half on Thursday in Split, where Les Bleus lost 2-0.
“Rabiot has a calf problem and will not train this (Saturday) evening,” Deschamps said at a pre-match news conference. “It looks complicated for tomorrow.”
France won the Nations League in 2021 but lost to Croatia 1-0 at home the following year.
Before Sunday’s game, France will pay tribute to all-time leading scorer Olivier Giroud, who retired from the national team last year after scoring 57 goals in 137 matches.
Thierry Henry is second with 51 followed by Kylian Mbappé on 48. Mbappé missed chances to score in Split.


Emery hails ‘fantastic’ Martinez comeback for Villa after failed move to Man United

Emery hails ‘fantastic’ Martinez comeback for Villa after failed move to Man United
Updated 56 min 40 sec ago

Emery hails ‘fantastic’ Martinez comeback for Villa after failed move to Man United

Emery hails ‘fantastic’ Martinez comeback for Villa after failed move to Man United
  • “When I wear the crest, I give nothing less than my all,” Martinez said
  • Emery said Villa needed Martinez as the team look to recover from a slow start to the season

LIVERPOOL, England: Aston Villa manager Unai Emery welcomed the return of Emi Martinez and wants the Argentina goalkeeper to feel “comfortable and confident” in the team after failing to secure a move to Manchester United late in the transfer window.
Martinez, the World Cup-winning ‘keeper from 2022, was left out of Villa’s lineup in their last match before the international break because of the uncertainty over his future at the club.


Now that the transfer window is shut and he stayed at Villa, Martinez regained his place and made some key saves in a 0-0 draw at Everton in the Premier League on Saturday.
“When I wear the crest, I give nothing less than my all,” Martinez said on X after the match.
Emery said Villa needed Martinez as the team looks to recover from a slow start to the season, having failed to score a goal in their first four league games.
“We struggled with his situation,” Emery said, “but we have to get feelings together and feel the collective objective. Today his comeback has been fantastic.
“We have to protect him and feel him inside the group, so he is comfortable and confident.”


Martin won’t resign despite Rangers defeat to Hearts

Martin won’t resign despite Rangers defeat to Hearts
Updated 13 September 2025

Martin won’t resign despite Rangers defeat to Hearts

Martin won’t resign despite Rangers defeat to Hearts
  • A double from Lawrence Shankland delivered a first win at Ibrox since 2014 for top-of-the-table Hearts, who open up a nine-point lead on Rangers
  • Martin was hounded with chants for his exit during the 90 minutes after failing to win any of his first five Scottish Premiership matches

GLASGOW: Rangers manager Russell Martin said he will not accede to fans’ demands to resign after a 2-0 home defeat to Hearts saw the Glasgow giants get off to their worst league start since 1978.
A double from Lawrence Shankland delivered a first win at Ibrox since 2014 for top-of-the-table Hearts, who open up a nine-point lead on Rangers.
Celtic can also go nine clear of their local rivals should the Scottish champions win at Kilmarnock on Sunday.
Martin was hounded with chants for his exit during the 90 minutes after failing to win any of his first five Scottish Premiership matches.
“The fans are entitled to their opinion so I can’t come out here and criticize that,” said Martin after replying “no” to whether he will resign.
“I don’t think many of them (the supporters) wanted me here in the first place.”


The appointment of the former Southampton boss appears to be a misguided first move from Rangers’ new American owners.
Despite overhauling the squad with 13 new signings, Rangers’ hopes of adding to their sole league title in the past 14 years are already fading fast.
“We have a lot of new guys in there. We have a lot of players trying to feel their way in an environment that’s really difficult to feel their way into,” added Martin.
“There’s anxiety at the moment. The players are not the same team we see in training on Thursday and Friday when they go out and play in this environment right now.
“And that’s not a criticism of anyone. But we have to just keep working.”
To rub salt into the home side’s wounds, it was a long-time Rangers target in Lawrence Shankland who did the damage for Hearts.
Shankland spun onto Claudio Braga’s pass to fire the visitors into a deserved lead on 21 minutes.
Rangers showed flashes of sparking into life as Thelo Aasgaard’s effort came back off the crossbar.
However, their first league defeat of the season was sealed when Mohammed Diomande pulled down Harry Milne inside the box eight minutes from time.
Shankland’s penalty was saved by Jack Butland but the Scotland international was first to the loose ball and slotted in.
After investment from Brighton owner Tony Bloom to buy a minority stake in the Edinburgh club in June, Hearts are now aiming to become the first club outside Celtic and Rangers to win the Scottish top-flight since Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen in 1985.
“It is an important win for us in terms of giving belief to a lot of the new lads and the lads who have been here a while who have been scarred by not winning at places like Ibrox,” said Hearts boss Derek McInnes.
Hibernian edged up to third after coming from two goals down to salvage a 3-3 draw with Dundee United.
At the other end of the table, Aberdeen remain rock bottom and without a goal this season after a 0-0 draw at home to Livingston.


Kane hits brace as Bayern thump Hamburg again

Kane hits brace as Bayern thump Hamburg again
Updated 13 September 2025

Kane hits brace as Bayern thump Hamburg again

Kane hits brace as Bayern thump Hamburg again
  • Kane brought his Bayern tally to 93 goals in 101 games while Serge Gnabry, Luis Diaz and Aleksandar Pavlovic also scored
  • Gnabry hammered the ball into the roof of the net just three minutes in

BERLIN: Harry Kane scored in each half as Bayern Munich piled the pain on old foe Hamburg in a 5-0 home win on Saturday.
Kane brought his Bayern tally to 93 goals in 101 games while Serge Gnabry, Luis Diaz and Aleksandar Pavlovic also scored.
Alongside Borussia Dortmund as the only Bundesliga sides to win the European Cup, Bayern and Hamburg have taken different paths since dominating German football in the 1980s.
Bayern have won 12 of the past 13 league titles while Hamburg were promoted last season after seven seasons in the second division.
Gnabry hammered the ball into the roof of the net just three minutes in. Bayern junior Pavlovic finished off a team move six minutes later.
Kane converted a penalty awarded for handball with 26 minutes played. Diaz made it four three minutes later, his fourth goal since joining Bayern in the summer.
Nicolas Jackson came on at half-time, making his debut after moving to Bayern on loan from Chelsea in the summer.
Bayern open their Champions League campaign at home against Chelsea on Wednesday.
The England captain then started and finished off his own move to score Bayern’s fifth and final goal in the 62nd minute.
Since Hamburg’s last win in Munich in 2007, Bayern have won 16 and drawn three of their home matches in the series, scoring 76 goals to Hamburg’s seven, a run which includes two 8-0 wins and a 9-2 victory.
Bayern moved atop the table as the only side with three wins from three.

- Guirassy scores, Dortmund wins -
Serhou Guirassy scored for the eighth straight league match as Dortmund won 2-0 at 10-man Heidenheim.
Heidenheim’s Budu Zivzivadze received a red card 21 minutes for a studs-up challenge just below the knee on Dortmund’s Felix Nmecha.
An acrobatic save from Heidenheim goalie Diant Ramaj, on loan from Dortmund, denied Guirassy from the ensuing free-kick.
The Guinean did not take long to get on the scoresheet, heading in a pinpoint Julian Ryerson cross with 33 minutes played.
In the sixth minute of first-half stoppage time, Karim Adeyemi danced through the Heidenheim defense before squaring to Maximilian Beier who tapped Dortmund two in front.
“Our goal is to become champions, so we have to get points. We did that,” Beier told Sky Germany.
“When you’re a man up the entire game, that makes it easier.”
Asked about Guirassy’s performance, Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl said simply: “Serhou scores again.”
Guirassy, 29, has only failed to score in two of his past 15 matches for Dortmund in all competitions, racking up 18 goals in the process.
Champions League finalists in 2024, Dortmund kick off their European season away at Juventus on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, Freiburg scored three goals in the final 10 minutes to beat Stuttgart 3-1 at home.
Left to carry the mantle up front after Nick Woltemade’s big-money move to Newcastle, Ermedin Demirovic put Stuttgart in front with a classy backheel after 20 minutes, holding up two Freiburg defenders and sliding a slick finish into the corner.
Stuttgart looked set to hold on for victory until Freiburg’s Igor Matanovic kick-started a late flurry, scoring with nine minutes remaining.
Derry Scherhant put the hosts in front five minutes later and Matanovic grabbed another in stoppage time for Freiburg’s first points of the season.
Union Berlin gave away two penalties and finished a man down in a 4-2 home loss to Hoffenheim.
Hoffenheim’s Fisnik Asllani scored a brace, while Andrej Kramaric and Tim Lemperle converted from the spot.
Johan Bakayoko scored his first goal since arriving at RB Leipzig in the summer in a 1-0 win at Mainz.
Promoted Cologne scored in the 14th minute of second-half stoppage time to snatch a point in a 3-3 draw at Wolfsburg, with Jakub Kaminski providing the crucial goal for the visitors against his parent club.


Juventus win seven-goal thriller against Inter with late Adzic goal

Juventus win seven-goal thriller against Inter with late Adzic goal
Updated 13 September 2025

Juventus win seven-goal thriller against Inter with late Adzic goal

Juventus win seven-goal thriller against Inter with late Adzic goal
  • Juventus took the lead in the 14th minute through Lloyd Kelly
  • Inter equalized on the half-hour mark with Hakan Calhanoglu’s strike

TURIN, Italy: Juventus snatched a dramatic 4-3 win at home to Inter Milan on Saturday, with Vasilije Adzic netting a stunning added time winner to send the hosts top of the Serie A standings.
Juventus took the lead in the 14th minute through Lloyd Kelly.
Inter equalized on the half-hour mark with Hakan Calhanoglu’s strike but Juventus were back in front thanks to Kenan Yildiz eight minutes later.
Calhanoglu scored another in the 65th minute to draw Inter level again and 11 minutes later Marcus Thuram’s header from a corner put the away side in front but his brother Kephren headed in from a free kick eight minutes from the end to pull Juve level.
With the game heading for a draw, substitute Adzic smashed home the winner from distance to put Juventus on nine points, three ahead of Napoli, Cremonese and AS Roma who all have a game in hand. Napoli are at Fiorentina later on Saturday. Inter remain on three points.


Manchester City, United attempt to switch season into higher gear

Manchester City, United attempt to switch season into higher gear
Updated 13 September 2025

Manchester City, United attempt to switch season into higher gear

Manchester City, United attempt to switch season into higher gear
  • City lost 2-0 at home to Tottenham and 2-1 at Brighton to fall already six points behind reigning champions Liverpool
  • Erling Haaland has three goals, and City’s only tally since a 4-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers

MANCHESTER: Gianluigi Donnarumma could make his debut in the Manchester City net against visiting Manchester United in Sunday’s Manchester Derby.
City (1-2-0, 3 points) completed the move for Donnaruma from Paris Saint- Germain, for a fee reportedly of at least $35 million, just as the primary transfer window closed earlier this month.
He’ll be in an open competition for the No. 1 spot with James Trafford after City sold Ederson to Fenerbahce.
Trafford started City’s first three matches this season, but back-to-back defeats heading into the international window could cause manager Pep Guardiola to change course immediately.
“He’s so tall and so huge. All the keepers want to save balls and give confidence to the team and personality and he’s a big presence on the bigger stages,” Guardiola said. “He did it in the UEFA Champions League last season at Villa Park and Anfield.”
City lost 2-0 at home to Tottenham and 2-1 at Brighton to fall already six points behind reigning champions Liverpool as the early season table shakes out.
Erling Haaland has three goals, and City’s only tally since a 4-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers on the opening weekend.
City also is winless in the last four derbies, earning only a point in the last two league fixtures while also losing the 2024 FA Cup final 2-1 to United and playing to a draw in the 2024 Community Shield.
And it’s the first time in five years that United (1-1-1, 4 points) has entered the Manchester Derby above City in the table, though they haven’t exactly proved convincing in their own start.
“I think we are a better team (compared to last season),” manager Ruben Amorim said. “If you see any aspect, the data, we are a different team. We are ready to play the game but we have to show on Sunday.”
A stoppage-time penalty from Bruno Fernandes — and a disallowed goal for Burnley via semi-automated offside technology — helped United to a 3-2 home win two weekends ago that was its first victory of any sort this season.
That came on the heels of an embarrassing exit to fourth-tier Grimsby Town on penalties in the second round of the EFL Cup.
But Amorim’s group at least is creating chances at a better early clip than last season, even while some of the finishing is left wanting.
To that end, recently acquired striker Matheus Cunha will be among those absent to injury Sunday and unable to score his first EPL goal in a United shirt.