Fights

Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte said the club's current focus was on signing younger players who still needed to gain experience.

"If you want to grow faster, you want to try to be more competitive faster, you also need players with a lot of experience because then they increase the experience in your team," he told Italian Sky Sport in an interview.

Conte, who helped Serie A's Inter Milan to win the title last year and break Juventus's nine-year win streak, said Spurs came out of the January transfer window numerically weakened.

Barcelona defender Ronald Araújo apologized for his "unfortunate gesture" in Sunday's 2-2 LaLiga draw away at city rivals Espanyol, saying the "tension" of the match led to the incident.

Araújo appeared to be taking aim at Espanyol midfielder Nico Melamed while he was leaving the field towards the end of the match, which saw both teams have a player sent off.

A Leicester City fan who was arrested for clashing with Nottingham Forest players during their FA Cup fourth-round game at the weekend has been charged with multiple counts of assault, Nottinghamshire Police said on Monday.

Cameron Toner, 19, ran onto the pitch and attacked Forest players while they were celebrating their third goal in a shock 4-1 win over the holders at the City Ground on Sunday.

The São Paulo state football federation called for tough action on Sunday after the semifinal of its flagship youth tournament was interrupted when fans invaded the pitch and threatened Palmeiras players.

Only São Paulo supporters were allowed inside the ground for Saturday evening’s semifinal between São Paulo and Palmeiras in the hugely popular tournament for Under-20 players that takes place every January.

With their team trailing 1-0 in stoppage time at least two of them invaded the pitch and threatened Palmeiras players before being restrained.

LIVERPOOL — Everton's first match of the post-Rafa Benitez era began with a 1-0 Premier League defeat by Aston Villa on Saturday amid a tense and feisty atmosphere at Goodison Park where the visiting team were hit by missiles thrown from the crowd.

A lively first half ended with Emiliano Buendia scoring with a flicked header that arced over Jordan Pickford in goal and the provocative celebrations led to a bottle being launched from the stands and hitting the Villa players.

Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembélé must leave the club before the January transfer window closes for both his sake as well as the Catalan club to ensure they get a fee as his contract ends in June, club director Mateu Alemany has said.

Dembélé, who joined Barcelona from Borussia Dortmund in 2017, has failed to deliver on his potential that made the Spanish club pay $119.11 million for his services, scoring only 31 goals in 129 appearances.

Everton sacked manager Rafa Benítez on Sunday following a 2-1 defeat at Norwich City which left the Merseyside club six points above the Premier League relegation zone in 16th place, after 19 matches.

Appointed six months ago, the former Liverpool manager was a controversial choice for Everton supporters and after a promising start to the season his side slid down the table.

Anthony Martial has denied refusing to be in Manchester United's squad for Saturday's Premier League game against Aston Villa after interim manager Ralf Rangnick said the Frenchman did not want to be involved.

The 26-year-old forward has started only two league games this season and has not featured since a 3-2 win over Arsenal on Dec. 2. Martial's representative has said he wants to secure a move in January to get more game time.

United are struggling for players due to injuries, COVID-19 and the Africa Cup of Nations but Martial played no part in the 2-2 draw with Villa.