Erling Haaland fluffed his lines as Norway were held to an underwhelming goalless draw by Kazakhstan in their Nations League opener.
Norway failed to secure promotion from League B in the last edition of the Nations League in 2022-23, and their attempt to escape Group B3 got off to a frustrating start in Almaty.
Haaland was the joint-leading goalscorer in the 2022-23 tournament (alongside Aleksandar Mitrovic) with six goals, but he was unable to find the target despite being presented with several good chances on Friday.
The Manchester City man sent a 24th-minute header spiralling over the crossbar, then dragged another effort wide from the edge of the six-yard box five minutes later.
Norway dominated possession as newly promoted Kazakhstan dug in to pres…
Abdoulaye Doucoure’s goal saw Everton stave off the threat of relegation on the final day of the Premier League season as Leicester and Leeds suffered the drop.
With the title and top four already sewn up, all eyes had been on the battle at the bottom and the fight for European places.
Here, the PA news agency looks at five things from the final day of the season.
Dyche delivers for Everton
Sean Dyche was perhaps not a fashionable appointment when Everton turned to him after Frank Lampard’s exit, but he has done enough – just enough – to keep the Toffees in the top flight after Sunday’s 1-0 win over Bournemouth. One of Dyche’s biggest decisions was to restore Abdoulaye Doucoure to his starting line-up, and it was the Mali midfielder who got the all-i…
Simone Inzaghi insisted Inter Milan still have work to do to reach the Champions League final despite an impressive 2-0 first-leg victory over AC Milan in the last four.
Inter blitzed their city rivals with two goals in the first 11 minutes through Edin Dzeko and Henrikh Mkhitaryan and could easily have put the tie to bed during a dominant first-half display.
Milan improved after the break but will be grateful to still be in reach of the 2010 champions after a disappointing performance in front of their supporters in the ‘home’ leg of the tie.
The first leg is ours! 0-2 (FT)
— Inter (@Inter_en)
Inzaghi told Amazon Prime Video: “We could have done more than the two goals, but a great match. We’ve already gone through some rounds, we …
Romania have appointed Mirel Radoi as their coach ahead of next year s Euro 2020 play-off with Iceland, the Romanian Football Federation (RFF) has announced.
His appointment was ratified by members of the RFF s executive committee on Tuesday and he will succeed Cosmin Contra after he resigned from the role last week.
Radoi moves up to the senior squad after impressing as the coach of Romania s Under-21 side, who reached the semi-finals of this year s UEFA European Under-21 Championship.
That performance meant Romania qualified for the Olympics for the first time in 56 years, earning promotion for Radoi.
He will lead Romania into a play-off in Reykjavik in March with the winners of that tie taking on either Bulgaria or Hungary for a place at Euro…
Luis Suarez has hailed best in the world Lionel Messi after his former Barcelona teammate helped Argentina qualify for the 2022 World Cup final.
Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 34th minute and set up Julian Alvarez s second goal in the 69th minute to round out an impressive 3-0 victory over Croatia on Tuesday.
The seven-time Ballon d Or winner now has a shot at his first World Cup title, and Argentina s first since Diego Maradona led them to glory in 1986, with Messi having been a runner-up in 2014 when Germany edged La Albiceleste 1-0 in Rio de Janeiro.
You never get tired of showing that you are the best in the world, Suarez, who spent six years with Messi at Barcelona from 2014 to 2020, wrote on Instagram.
The whole world stops …
Manchester City and Manchester United both lost on Saturday, breaking a decade-old wait for the two rivals to fall to a defeat in a 3pm kick-off.
It is rare for both United and City to play in the traditional Saturday slot, but that was the case as Erik ten Hag s side hosted Crystal Palace and Pep Guardiola s Premier League champions headed to Wolves.
Yet neither team will be in a rush to remember this particular afternoon in a hurry, as they both lost in a 3pm Saturday kick-off for the first time since September 28, 2013.
United lost 1-0, with Joachim Andersen s goal making Roy Hodgson the first manager to go unbeaten in five successive Premier League trips to Old Trafford. City, meanwhile, went down 2-1 at Molineux, with Hwang Hee-chan getting the winner for W…
The Champions League quarter-final draw threw up no shortage of intrigue – particularly for Pep Guardiola.
The Manchester City manager will face Bayern Munich for the first time since leaving Germany in 2016.
But that is not the only reunion in the last eight as Carlo Ancelotti again goes back to Chelsea 12 months on from an epic tie at the same stage last season.
It might not be Ancelotti s last meeting with a former side either, potentially facing Bayern in the semi-finals and then Napoli or Milan in the final.
The Madrid coach has a mixed record facing sides he has previously coached, however, while Guardiola has some painful memories to get over.
Stats Perform looks at how the most dominant coaches of the modern era have fared against former…
Kevin De Bruyne has insisted he is not ready to call time on his international career following another influential display for Belgium in their win over Romania.
The Manchester City midfielder scored the Red Devils second goal in Cologne to ensure their first victory at Euro 2024, having lost their Group E opener to Slovakia.
De Bruyne registered five shots against Romania, his most in a European Championship match since 2016 against Hungary (7). No player on the pitch had more shots, shots on target (3), made more tackles (4), or won more fouls (4) than the Belgium captain.
The 32-year-old was the centrepiece of his nation s golden generation that has underachieved on the international stage as a new wave of talent emerges into the limelight, but continues to…
Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone took the positives from his side s performance in a 1-1 draw at Rayo Vallecano on Sunday.
It marked Atleti s third draw in LaLiga this season, with Simeone s side six points back from leaders Barcelona.
Atleti earned a point at Vallecas Stadium thanks to Conor Gallagher s strike after the break following a sloppy first half in which Isi Palazon had put the hosts ahead.
Next up for Atleti is a derby clash with second-place Real Madrid, and Simeone remained optimistic despite his team s indifferent form.
In the first half we had more scoring situations than gameplay. Then we saw intensity, involvement, a lot of people in the opposition s half, attacking in different ways, Simeone told reporters.
I always focus o…
Scotland are falling short in big matches due to the finer details, said Scott McTominay after a self-inflicted defeat to Poland.
McTominay scored a 76th-minute equaliser at Hampden Park on Thursday, as Scotland looked all set to take a 2-2 draw from their Nations League opener.
Yet deep in stoppage time, Nicola Zalewski put away Poland s second penalty of the night to condemn Steve Clarke s team to defeat.
Scotland, who crashed out of Euro 2024 with a whimper, are now winless in their last five home games, their longest such run in 16 years.
It s a difficult one to be honest, McTominay, who has now scored nine in his last 16 appearances for Scotland, told ITV Sport.
I thought we were good in the game, I felt like at half-time when we were 2-0 d…