Harry Kane celebrates Bayern Munich win at Oktoberfest, Conor Gallagher scores for Atletico Madrid, Roma fans protest

Published

3 hours ago

September 23, 2024

Harry Kane celebrates Bayern Munich win at Oktoberfest, Conor Gallagher scores for Atletico Madrid, Roma fans protest

Bayern Munich maintained their flawless start in the Bundesliga with an emphatic 5-0 victory over Werder Bremen.

Harry Kane scored just the one goal, but it was a significant one. Kane’s strike made him the top scoring English player in the history of the Bundesliga.

The England captain’s goal moved him above Jadon Sancho, who scored 40 Bundesliga goals for Borussia Dortmund.

However, it was the performance of Michael Olise – who scored twice against Bremen – which got the juices flowing for Bayern boss Vincent Kompany.

Olise, who joined Bayern in a £50m deal from Crystal Palace, has been in scintillating form with five goals in his past three games in all competitions.

“Michael did very well. He’s a special talent. It’s a luxury at Bayern to have so many good players,” Kompany said after the game.

“His start at Bayern couldn’t be much better. He has to keep going this way. I haven’t got the feeling that he’s a player who feels much pressure. He just enjoys football.”

Bayern have scored 29 goals under Kompany – a new club record for the first six competitive matches of a coach since the Bundesliga was founded.

No wonder Kompany allowed Bayern’s players – including Kane, Olise and Jamal Musiala – to don their lederhosen and enjoy the first Sunday of the Oktoberfest festival.

Champions Bayer Leverkusen remain a point behind Bayern after a dramatic 4-3 victory over Wolfsburg.

Victor Boniface scored in the third minute of injury time for Leverkusen, with midfielder Granit Xhaka calling the match a “a giant wake-up call” before next Saturday’s showdown with Bayern.

“We can’t keep going with performances like that. We can’t defend so naively. Sure, we scored four but we can’t do that every weekend,” Xhaka said.

Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund were thrashed 5-1 by Stuttgart, while newly promoted Holstein Kiel got their first-ever Bundesliga point after a 2-2 draw at Bochum.

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Spain v France: Kylian Mbappe continues his bid to become game’s most decorated player in Euro 2024 semi-final

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37 mins ago

September 23, 2024

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Spain v France: Kylian Mbappe continues his bid to become game's most decorated player in Euro 2024 semi-final

Playing against Bondy’s best was no mean feat given the tally of professional footballers among their alumni – which includes Arsenal defender William Saliba – is in double figures.

Project Mbappe didn’t stop there.

While a teenage Mbappe pinned up pictures of Ronaldo and watched old footage of Zinedine Zidane, another Real Madrid superstar, there was a third role model far closer to home – Jires Kembo Ekoko, his adopted brother.

Ekoko was taken in by Mbappe’s parents when he was nine and was selected for the French Federation’s national academy at Clairefontaine before playing professionally for Rennes in Ligue 1.

Ekoko was more than a decade older than Mbappe but had a big impact.

At the age of six, Mbappe had learned the French national anthem, explaining to his teacher that “one day, I’ll play in the World Cup for France”.

It wasn’t only Wilfried and Fayza who believed Mbappe was destined for big things.

Nike came calling with free shoes when he was just 10. A little over six years later, he made his first-team debut for Monaco. But the progress between those two points was not smooth.

Allan Momege was a classmate of Mbappe at Clairefontaine.

“At the time I met him, he wasn’t the player who impressed me the most,” Momege says of Mbappe in the BBC Sport documentary.

“He didn’t stand out for me as a player during the trials. The first time I saw him play, I didn’t think, ‘Wow!’

“There were regional selections and Kylian wasn’t in the best team.”

Matt Spiro, an author and French football expert, echoes Momege.

“Kylian initially found it a bit difficult at Clairefontaine,” he says. “He was there for two years and during the first year, he certainly wasn’t the best in his group. I think even Kylian would admit that.

“Mbappe would play out on the wing and would quite frequently be in a sulky mood. He had a growth spurt, I think towards the end of his first year in Clairefontaine, and by the second year, he was really starting to look the business.

“Then people were thinking, we’ve got a very, very special talent on our hands.”

That talent was picked up by Monaco scouts in July 2013, when he was aged 14.

Moving from the Parisian suburbs to the wealthy, sunny Cote d’Azur at such a young age could have made others go inside themselves.

Not the boy from Bondy.

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Football

'Expertly finished!' – Williams scores early second-half goal for Spain

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2 hours ago

September 23, 2024

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'Expertly finished!' - Williams scores early second-half goal for Spain

Spain winger Nico Williams scores the opening goal in the Euro 2024 final against England in Berlin.

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Football

Watch Clark's sublime free-kick double for St Johnstone

Published

4 hours ago

September 22, 2024

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Watch Clark's sublime free-kick double for St Johnstone

Nicky Clark scores his first St Johnstone goals of the season in stunning style with a pair of second-half free-kicks in the 3-3 draw at Ross County.

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FA Cup tie abandoned after Salford Lionesses goalkeeper suffers medical emergency

Published

5 hours ago

September 22, 2024

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FA Cup tie abandoned after Salford Lionesses goalkeeper suffers medical emergency

The Women’s FA Cup tie between Wythenshawe FC and Salford City Lionesses was abandoned after a player was involved in a medical emergency.

The second round qualifying tie – at Wythenshawe’s Hollyhedge Park ground – was stopped in the 34th minute after Salford goalkeeper Grace Pomfret went down off the ball in “very visible distress”.

The club said Pomfret was treated by medical staff and was conscious as she was helped from the pitch before paramedics took her to hospital.

“Grace is now in a stable condition and being looked after in hospital, and has our full support and best wishes in her recovery,” the club posted on X.

The cause of Pomfret’s collapse has not been specified but it was decided to abandon the match.

A new date for the tie has yet to be confirmed.

“At Salford, we know that the welfare of the people is the highest law and as a family of players and staff it was noted the environment was too upsetting to continue,” the club said., external

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Football

Manchester City 2-2 Arsenal: Pep Guardiola on Rodri injury

Published

6 hours ago

September 22, 2024

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Manchester City 2-2 Arsenal: Pep Guardiola on Rodri injury

Mikel Arteta’s side conceded just 29 goals in the Premier League last season and the Gunners pride themselves on their wall at the back.

With Leandro Trossard shown a second yellow card just before half-time, Arsenal set out to defend their 2-1 lead with everything they had in the second period.

“The space is not there in the team, they equalise the team. Kova [Kovacic] and Ruben [Dias] is destined for the shot,” said Guardiola.

“With Rodri it may have been different or maybe I put Ruben on the right. That’s why I delayed the sub for Kyle [Walker], but Kyle has a really good shot and crosses.

“Grealish created space. Raya made two, three or four saves [and] the second ball was not with us. It’s difficult.

“Congratulations to Arsenal, to be so strong mentally to block, it’s not easy but at the same time we were not easy to do it.”

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Conceding in the 98th minute is a 'big blow' – Arteta

Published

7 hours ago

September 22, 2024

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Conceding in the 98th minute is a 'big blow' - Arteta

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says conceding a 98th minute goal is a “big blow” after Manchester City’s John Stones rescued a late draw against 10-man Arsenal at the Etihad.

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