Author: Barkha Roy

Indian and Afghanistan footballers were involved in scuffles with each other after the former registered a hard-fought 2-1 win in the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers at the VYBK Stadium in Kolkata on June 12. The Indian team won the match and registered three crucial points to move into second place of Asian Cup Qualifiers Group D. Indian captain Sunil Chhetri opened the scoring with a free-kick in the 85th minute to almost ensure his side a win. However, Afghanistan levelled up from a Zubayr Amiri free header two minutes from full-time before Sahal Abdul Samad’s prolific strike in the 90th minute sealed the game for the…

Champions League finalists Liverpool are willing to trigger teenage sensation Gavi’s release clause at Barcelona this summer, according to various reports from Spain. The 17-year-old La Masia graduate is considered one of the most gifted teenage prodigies in world football at the moment, having been described as a ‘spectacular’ talent by Barca boss Xavi Hernandez. The player has already featured regularly for both the club and Spain national team, contributing six times in 46 appearances for the former while also playing nine times for the latter. However, the midfielder is yet to agree on new terms with Barca and given his contract expires next summer,…

Aymeric Laporte was left frustrated with his omission from the Professional Footballers’ Association Premier League Team of the Year, which includes former Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger and Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk as the English top flight’s best-performing central defenders of the 2021/22 season. The Spain international-back took to social media to demonstrate why he should be in that list by sharing a meme of Jose Mourinho wherein the Portuguese gaffer says, ”I prefer really not to sneak” before sharing his impressive stats from the season. https://twitter.com/Laporte/status/1535172498794373120 Although, he may not have spoken exactly what he thought of the TOTY line-up, he made…

Les Bleus’ disappointing start to the Nations League continues as they earned a 1-1 draw against Ralf Rangnick’s Austria on June 10, courtesy of Kylian Mbappe’s 83rd-minute goal. Bristol City’s Andreas Weimann opened the scoring in Vienna to net his first international goal on his 17th appearance for his country. The 30-year-old striker finished off a slick forward move in the 37th minute with a one-touch build-up from Marko Arnautovic and Conrad Laimer. Credit: UEFA Nations League holders France, however, dominated the game as expected but were off-colour once again. Only after Mbappe and Christopher Nkunku were introduced in the closing 30 minutes did France…

The Dutch international, who arrived at Camp Nou from ACF Ajax for 75 million euros in 2019, has been the subject of transfer speculation given the Spanish club’s dire finances this season. Spanish media outlet Sport had last week reported that the Premier League giants were close to closing on the deal for the midfielder for an estimated fee in the region of 80 million and that this deal would be closed in a matter of days. And on June 3, the same daily had reported the LaLiga giants had accepted that offer “after a few weeks of many doubts”. And now,…

Eight English fans were arrested in Munich ahead of Tuesday’s Nations League tie away to Germany, according to local reports. Three of the fans were arrested for performing the Nazi salute, one for letting off a flare in his hotel room, one for urinating in public and two others were arrested for insulting a police officer. It is a crime to perform the Nazi salute in Germany, with an offender getting punished up to three years in prison for the offence committed, although tourists are often just fined for the offensive gesture. As per the Munich fire brigade, the fan…

Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe has been declared the most expensive football player in the world currently, followed by Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr and Manchester City’s latest signing Erling Haaland. This is according to research group CIES Football Observatory. Mbappe, who recently rejected a move to 2022 UEFA Champions League winners Real Madrid to remain at Parc des Princes, tops the list with an estimated transfer value of 175.7 million pounds. Credit: Getty Images Meanwhile, Madrid’s attacker Vinicius Jr, who scored the only goal in the final of the recently concluded Champions League final against Liverpool, is second at 158.3 million, followed by former Borussia…

Mithali Raj, veteran Indian cricketer, who has made a significant contribution towards popularizing the women’s game, ended her glorious career with a record of 7805 runs from 232 ODIs, the most in the format. The 39-year-old is also the leading run-getter in women’s cricket across all three formats, having scored 10868 runs. The ex-India skipper appeared in 89 T20 Internationals, 232 ODIs and even featured in 12 Tests for her nation. She remains the only Indian batter to register a double hundred in the longest format of the game, having done so against England in Taunton in 2002. Earlier, Raj had decided to retire from the…

Former and current Chelsea players have taken to social media to pay tribute to academy kit man Eric Asiedu, who passed away on May 8. The Blues confirmed the news in a statement as the club described him as a ‘humble and warm character’, who was well-loved by players and staff at the Cobham training ground. “Eric was a hugely popular figure at our Cobham training ground in his role as Academy kitman, always going about his work with an infectious smile and wonderful positivity. He will be sadly missed by us all and the pain of his sudden passing…

Barcelona centre-back Gerard Pique and his Colombian superstar-partner Shakira have jointly confirmed that they were calling time on their relationship of 11 years after the former was allegedly caught cheating on the singer. The couple announced the development in a statement via their PR agency on June 5.”We regret to confirm that we are separating. For the wellbeing of our children, who are our highest priority, we ask that you respect their privacy,”it read. It was reported last week that the couple were reportedly living separately for a few weeks after the Spain international was caught cheating on the pop…