Paris St Germain sack Christophe Galtier

Pep Guardiola was delighted to belatedly take Manchester City into the Champions League semi-finals but acknowledged his side were potentially a refereeing decision away from another painful exit.

City had lost in the last eight in each of the prior three seasons, beaten by Liverpool, Tottenham and Lyon.

The Spurs defeat was particularly painful, with Fernando Llorente scoring a contentious goal at the Etihad Stadium before a last-gasp Raheem Sterling winner was disallowed.

On Wednesday, at Borussia Dortmund, a handball call went in City s favour as Emre Can was penalised and Riyad Mahrez s spot-kick his first Champions League goal since September 2019 cancelled out Jude Bellingham s opener.

This competition is nice but, at the same time, it s so unfair,…

Southampton have completed their club-record signing of Ghana and Rennes winger Kamaldeen Sulemana for £22million (€24.95m).

Sulemana, 22, arrived at Rennes prior to the 2021-22 season for a €20m fee. He made 11 starts among his 20 appearances during his first Ligue 1 campaign before his season was cut short in February due to a back injury.

He has struggled to force his way back into the club s best XI this time around, with only two league starts to his name, but his stock received a massive boost after a terrific showing for Ghana at the Qatar World Cup.

Sulemana appeared in all three of Ghana s group stage matches, where he clocked the fastest sprint speed (35.7kp/h) out of every player at the tournament.

Saint Sulemana

— Southampton F…

Gaizka Mendieta and Stiliyan Petrov are determined for others not to make the same mistakes and suffer in the way they did, as they outlined the aims behind a new project committed to helping footballers with the transition into life after playing.

The pair are two of five former professionals involved in Player 4 Player, which deals with areas ranging from finance and brand management to education and lifestyle.

They are joined on the seven-strong team by Emile Heskey, Michael Johnson and Gareth Farrelly, plus communications expert Pedro Pinto and entrepreneur Neil Meredith. 

Speaking about the inspiration behind the initiative, ex-Barcelona midfielder Mendieta said: We felt that there was something in football that was kind of missing.

We know it per…

Leaders Barcelona made it eight wins in nine LaLiga matches as Pedri s second-half goal secured a slender 1-0 victory over Girona on Saturday.

Xavi s side struggled in the first half at Estadi Montilivi, with their frustration compounded by the loss of Ousmane Dembele to injury before the break.

They improved after half-time and sealed three points just past the hour when Pedri marked his 100th appearance for the club with his fifth league goal of the season.

The result moved Barca six points clear at the league summit, although Real Madrid can reduce the deficit back to three when they host third-placed Real Sociedad on Sunday.

100 has played his 100th game for in all competitions (67 in , 14 in UEFA Champions League, 8 in Copa del Rey, 6 in UEFA Europ…

Goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma said he has not joined Paris Saint-Germain to sit on the bench, but will stay humble in his bid to oust Keylor Navas. 

Donnarumma left Milan upon the expiration of his contract at the end of June, subsequently joining Ligue 1 giants PSG on a free transfer.

The 22-year-old – who made his Milan debut at the age of 16 in 2015 – is one of five recruits PSG have made this transfer window, including Lionel Messi.

After making 30 Serie A appearances in 2015-16, Donnarumma missed just five league games for Milan over the past five campaigns, establishing himself as one of the world s best goalkeepers.

He only helped his reputation at Euro 2020, playing a starring role as Italy won the competition – indeed, Donnarumma made t…

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Having secured victories in their recent FA Cup third-round matches, both Liverpool and Fulham are aiming to continue their winning momentum by claiming another victory in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semifinal clash on Wednesday evening at Anfield.

Liverpool enter the fixture following a decisive 2-0 victory over Arsenal in the FA Cup, while Marco Silva s Fulham secured a 1-0 win over Rotherham United to progress to the fourth round of the same competition.

Liverpool

In a fashion reminiscent of West Ham, who absorbed substantial pressure at the Emirates Stadium before securing a 2-0 victory, Liverpool became the latest beneficiaries of Arsenal s inefficiency, clinching a relatively surprising victory on Sunday evening …

Nicky Devlin revealed Barry Robson’s desire to bring him to Aberdeen played a huge part in his decision to leave Livingston for the Granite City.

A recently-leaked photograph appeared to showed the 29-year-old Livi captain, a free agent at the end of this season, being paraded by the Dons.

Ahead of the home game against Motherwell on Wednesday night, Devlin, who joined Livingston from Walsall in 2019 revealed the contract “has not all been ticked off yet” but spoke openly about the main reasons behind him opting for Aberdeen.

He said: “I spoke to the manager few times and I know one of his backroom staff up there, Liam Fox.

“Speaking to him (manager) it felt like they were a club pushing the boat out more than any other.

“For me it was…

Cristiano Ronaldo is undoubtedly a great goalscorer no player has managed more in the history of the Champions League.

However, it is also impossible to deny that the Portugal forward is a scorer of great goals, with some of his best saved for Europe s leading club competition.

He is one of only two players to reach a century  the other being Lionel Messi, of course and is a five-time winner, lifting the trophy with Manchester United and Real Madrid.

His 100th goal arrived in Madrid s quarter-final tie against Bayern Munich on April 18, 2017. To mark the achievement, here are six of the best from Ronaldo through the years.

18/04 On this day in 2017, Cristiano Ronaldo scored a perfect hat-trick against FC Bayern München becoming the first player t…

Moises Caicedo’s £100m move from Brighton continues Chelsea’s lavish spending under Todd Boehly’s ownership group and represents another major profit for the Seagulls.

Here, the PA news agency looks at the two clubs’ contrasting approaches in the transfer market.

Boehly breaks the bank

Chelsea became used to unprecedented transfer outlay under former chairman Roman Abramovich but if anything, Boehly and Behdad Eghbali’s Clearlake consortium have taken it to new levels.

Raheem Sterling was the first signing of the new era for a reported £47.5million last summer, with defenders Wesley Fofana (£70m), Marc Cucurella (£60m) and Kalidou Koulibaly (£34m) the other stand-out deals in a window that saw them spend over £250m in all.

A British recor…

Kieran Trippier praised Jordan Henderson’s influence on and off the pitch after England’s vice-captain was booed by sections of the Wembley crowd.

Friday’s friendly against Australia saw the 33-year-old line-up on home soil for the first time since his controversial summer switch from Liverpool to Saudi Arabian side Al-Ettifaq.

Henderson has been a high-profile supporter of LGBTQ+ rights and last month apologised for any hurt he caused by moving to a country where homosexuality is illegal.

The stand-in skipper’s name was met by murmurs before kick-off and the midfielder ended up being booed when substituted, with boss Gareth Southgate left angry by a reaction he felt “defies logic”.

Long-standing international team-mate Trippier, who replaced …