Kylian Mbappe opened the scoring as Paris St Germain recorded a 2-0 last-16 first leg victory over Real Sociedad in the Champions League.
The Ligue 1 champions took control of the tie with two second-half goals at Parc Des Princes.
Mbappe struck in the 58th minute before Bradley Barcola’s 70th-minute strike gave the Parisians an aggregate advantage ahead of the return leg in March.
Merci de votre soutien I
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_inside)
Sociedad almost took the lead in the first half. Brais Mendez whipped in a free-kick which tested the PSG defence before Andre Silva failed to score from close range.
After Alex Remiro denied Mbappe, the LaLiga club went close again with a double effort from Takefusa Kubo.
The …
Liverpool are keeping close tabs on Hoffenheim forward Roberto Firmino, .
Brendan Rodgers is looking to sign cover for Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge, and it appears he has made the Brazilian attacker one of his primary targets.
The Reds boss has been impressed with the player s performances in German Bundesliga and he is believed to be pondering a summer bid for his services.
Firmino in the winter transfer window and the Russian giants are set to return for the 22-year-old footballer.
The Brazilian has been club s star performer this season, having bagged 11 goals in 21 Bundesliga outings.
He had joined Hoffenheim from Figueirense in January 2011 and has since scored 26 goals in 95 league outings.
The Bundesliga side are likely to ent…
Charlton have sacked Chris Powell after a weekend which saw them knocked out of the FA Cup and slip to the bottom of the Championship.
The London club dropped to the foot of the second tier over the weekend courtesy of Barnsley s win over Nottigham Forest, and were knocked out of the Cup by League One s Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.
Former Standard Liege boss Jose Riga, currently working within Milan s youth set-up, has been widely tipped to replace the former England left-back, who had been in charge at The Valley since January 2011.
Riga is already well-known by the Charlton hierarchy, with club owner Roland Duchatelet also owning the Jupiler League side.
Duchatelet told the club s official website that talks over a new contract with Powell had broken down,…
Dani Alves has responded to losing his status as the player to provide the most assists for Lionel Messi in LaLiga – and he is not happy.
Luis Suarez overtook Alves tally of 26 assists to Barcelona s talismanic forward when setting up Messi s goal in Sunday s 1-1 draw with Valencia and the right-back – who now plays for Paris Saint-Germain – replied on Twitter to a post confirming the news by saying: Nooooooo!!!
The Brazilian followed up with two tears of joy emojis, though, suggesting he has taken former team-mate Suarez usurping him in good spirits.
Alves ended an eight-year stay with Barcelona to join Juventus in 2016 before moving on to French giants PSG a year later.
Nooooooo!!!
— Daniel Alves (@DaniAlvesD2)
…
A pair of juicy Champions League quarter-finals are on the schedule for Wednesday, with two giants of the game going head-to-head.
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid is the most common meeting in the tournament s history and the Bundesliga leaders take on the LaLiga frontrunners again in Munich in the first leg.
The second of Wednesday s ties looks to be as exhilarating, with the latest chapter of Leicester City s incredible story to be written as the Premier League champions travel to last season s beaten Champions League finalists Atletico Madrid.
Diego Simeone s amazing record in the knockout rounds of the tournament will be tested by the Foxes, who lost for the first time under Craig Shakespeare at Everton on Sunday.
What can we learn from Opta s data ahead…
Manchester City defender Kyle Walker has undergone surgery after suffering a groin injury in the derby win against Manchester United.
The 32-year-old was substituted in the first half of City s 6-3 Premier League victory at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Manager Pep Guardiola said after Wednesday s Champions League win against Copenhagen that the right-back would be out for weeks .
That appeared to put Walker s availability for England s World Cup campaign in doubt, and news of an operation may not soothe national boss Gareth Southgate s concerns.
Guardiola said on Wednesday the problem was something abdominal , with City clarifying on Thursday it was a groin injury to his left leg .
The surgery was successful and a more detailed prognosis will be…
LA Galaxy s play-offs took a hit after they suffered their third consecutive defeat, going down 2-1 to Real Salt Lake in MLS on Wednesday.
The defeat means the Galaxy are winless in their past eight matches and while they dropped down to sixth in the Western Conference, their form means they could find themselves only a point ahead of the post-season chasing pack.
Former Manchester United forward Javier Chicharito Hernandez stung RSL goalkeeper David Ochoa s palms early, before Damir Kreilach scored his 11th goal of the season to put the hosts 1-0 on the stroke of half-time.
Ochoa denied Chicharito again in a 57th-minute fast break, before the latter equalised with 14 minutes remaining midweek.
But in the fifth of six stoppage-time minutes, Anderson Juli…
The on-off transfer of Brazilian midfielder Diego from Juventus to Wolfsburg looks set to be finalised on Friday, the Bundesliga club have announced.
The clubs have agreed the contract which will take the 25-year-old back to the Bundesliga and the Brazilian is set to put pen to a four-year deal estimated to be worth around 15 million euros.
We have signed the transfer agreement with Juventus. This evening we expect Diego s father (his agent) to sign the deal in Wolfsburg, VfL Manager Dieter Hoeness said on Thursday.
The transfer has been on-off for the last few weeks as Diego looks to move on from Juventus, where he struggled to impress last season after his move from Werder Bremen, where he spent three years.
Diego passed a medical in Brunswick on Wedn…
Lithuanian keeper Giedrius Arlauskis has left Unirea Urziceni to join reigning Russian Premier League champions Rubin Kazan. The 22 year old has switched clubs for a reported 2 million euro fee.
Arlauskis started his career with FK Žalgiris Vilnius and joined Unirea from Šiauliai in 2008. He was part of the club s fairytale 09-10 Champions League run, where they beat Rangers and Sevilla and just about missed out on qualification for the knockout stages.
Arlauskis has signed a multi year contract with Rubin, who successfully defended their RPL title last season.
Arlauskis expressed delight at the move, saying that it was a good one for both him and Unirea.
[Source:- Rubin Kazan]
…
Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti always wanted to remain at the Parc des Princes despite interest from this week s Champions League opponents Real Madrid.
The sides meet at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday with Verratti having been the subject of heavy speculation linking him with a move to the Spanish capital during the close season.
Verratti under contract at PSG until 2019 was reportedly of interest to Madrid, although the club stated in June that the rumours were completely untrue .
The 22-year-old told Canal Football Club: It is an issue that is irrelevant now.
It s nice when big teams are interested in you but my priority was always to stay at PSG.
I am grateful to the club and I m happy here. I don t see why I would leav…