Fights

In many ways the 2004-05 Premier League season marked the beginning of Newcastle United’s fall from grace. Over the course of the previous three years, Newcastle had finished fourth, third and fifth while rubbing shoulders with the likes of Juventus, Inter and Barcelona in European competition.

But the excrement hit the air conditioning in ’04, beginning with an unproductive summer that saw Real Madrid poach Jonathan Woodgate while recruitment was defined by $10 million flop Jean-Alain Boumsong and the rapidly fading star of Patrick Kluivert.

French federation president Noel Le Graet urged the presidents of Lyon and Marseille to stop bickering about whether the Ligue 1 season should be declared null and void amid the coronavirus outbreak. The season has been postponed indefinitely as French authorities try to contain the spread of the coronavirus, which on Saturday had infected 4,499 and killed 91 people in the country. 

"I ask them to regain their composure... and to show dignity," Le Graet told French TV channel TF1 on Sunday. 

Wayne Rooney has criticized England's football authorities over how long they took to suspend matches in the country amid the coronavirus outbreak, saying it felt like players were being treated like "guinea pigs.” 

The Premier League, English Football League, Women's Super League and men and women's FA Cup competitions were suspended on Friday following an emergency meeting sparked by Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta testing positive for the virus a day earlier. 

The Grenal is one of the fiercest rivalries in the world. So with Gremio and Internacional paired up in Group E of the 2020 Copa Libertadores, you knew there would be blood.

We didn’t imagine it would be this much.

Thursday’s Gremio-Inter match at the Arena do Gremio ended 0-0 following a wild brouhaha that resulted in eight red cards. The match was on the verge of being abandoned but was able to finish after 15 minutes of stoppage time as both teams had three players and a substitute sent off. 

Members of the U.S. women's national soccer team voiced frustration on Sunday in the ongoing back-and-forth with their federation over pay equality, as a May 5 trial date in their well-publicized lawsuit against U.S. Soccer inched closer. 

At issue was a letter to membership released on Saturday in which U.S. Soccer President Carlos Cordeiro said the federation "offered to provide identical compensation to our women's and men's players for all matches controlled by U.S. Soccer." 

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Eric Dier's decision to confront a fan in the stands after their defeat by Norwich City in the FA Cup on Wednesday was borne out of frustration with his team's poor performances, former England defender Paul Parker said. England international Dier appeared to be upset at something said after the game and climbed into the crowd, climbing over seats and confronting a home fan before he was restrained by security guards and other fans.

Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri is struggling to impose his style of play on the Turin side and his frustration came out into the open again after a poor performance in their Champions League defeat to Olympique Lyonnais on Wednesday. 

In comments that could be viewed as refreshingly honest or a risky public criticism of his players, the chain-smoking 61-year-old said that his team were struggling to grasp the concept of passing the ball around quickly — a style dubbed "Sarri-ball" by his admirers. 

On Sunday night, following the racist abuse he suffered during Porto's 2-1 victory over Vitoria, Porto forward Moussa Marega took to social media and responded to the Vitoria fans who forced him to walk off the pitch in protest in the 72nd minute.

Marega wrote: “I would just like to tell these idiots who come to the stadium to make racist chants …. go fuck yourself. And I also thank the referees for not defending me and for giving me a yellow card because I defend my skin colour. I hope I never meet you on a football field again! YOU ARE A SHAME!!!!”

Lionel Messi is angry. That’s not conjecture, that’s not rumor, that’s not juice being peddled by MARCA to aid Real Madrid’s LaLiga quest. The six-time Ballon d’Or winner is irate.